I will just indulge the forum to reflect on a few of the highlights of the year for me.
1) Completed 538 games, not bad going. Did not discover a use for the Support/Hold option until I had played well over 100 games.
2) I have really enjoyed the live anon gunboat format but to master the skill of playing those games and understanding the various nuances and unwritten rules has been great fun but takes time.
3) I have set up and played in a few gunboat tournaments which were great fun.
4) I have played some very good players, most who have wiped the floor with me but I have beaten SplitD in a head-to-head once which was tres jolie, once is not enough but it’s a good start.
5) I have enjoyed participating in the forum, sometimes I have even made serious contributions to debate. The quality of the troll has had to rise to meet the increased expectations of the contributors who have become more sophisticated and fluent in their debate, of course there are always a few notable exceptions (you know who you are). There have been a number of occasions when my ironic humour has caused confusion but you can’t please all of the people all of the time, some people never.
6) I was a little surprised by receiving offensive PMs when first joining but I tried to hold my own and have sent out a little broadside if I felt the level of disrespect warranted it. Nuff respect for the few people who subsequently came back to me and apologised.
7) I think the Mods have been entertaining for different reasons but in recent months they have come good which seems to coincide in part with jmo joining the team, keep up the good work guys.
8) I think the most controversial post which attracted the most vitriol was when I suggested that people may want to contribute financially for use of the site, I was genuinely surprised by some players extreme reactions to the suggestion that people who enjoyed the site could pay the person who built the site and pays for its upkeep.
9) The one big confusion and disappointment for me (which I have voiced on a number of occasions) has been the cheats, especially in anon gunboats when it is that more obvious. I still don’t fully understand why they bother, if some of these people spent as much time learning the game as they do cheating they wouldn’t need to cheat.
10) A couple of other interesting things happened this year, London staged the greatest show on Earth with the 2012 Olympics in August, as an Englishmen that filled me with immense pride. It also gave us an opportunity to see Mitt Romney in the flesh in the UK, not the sharpest button in the biscuit tin it has to be said and a very unpleasant man; it was a very positive and inspirational message to send around the world that Obama the Muslim Communist was elected as U.S. President again, even though he could do a lot better I’m sure Romney would have been a total douche-bag (whatever that means).
So thanks to all once again for a great year, to quote Vinnie Jones from the film Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels, “It’s been emotional”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U4Pvodwm0U