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c3THE PARTY 2000 - c2Back to the Roots

c5Is it really worth to visit??

ac
c3BY GHANDY/DARKAGE^GODS^HUGI

as
c5(The article was written before TP, but deals with subjects also
interesting to read about now... Ed.).


When  I  visited  c2THE  PARTY  c5for  the  first  time in 1993 it was a fantastic
experience for me.  At that time I was only in touch with the illegal cracking
Scene  of  the  Amiga.   Things  like  c2friendship c5and good manners were really
abstract  &  unknown  in  the experience that I had at that time.  The illegal
Scene  was  in this period totally dominated by nothing else than money, money
and  not  to forget by money.  And then, accidentally, I came up with the idea
of  travelling  into  deep,  deep Denmark, to Herning to be more precise.  And
this holiday c2changed my whole life.  c5Looking back I`m happy that I did it.

Entering  the  partyhalls  filled  up  by  a  tribe  of creative, talented and
friendly people, this really gave me a sign that it would be the right time to
think  over  some  things once again.  Would this, what I was currently doing,
really  satisfy  me,  was it the right way to go?  The visitors of the TP3 had
shown  me different possibilities.  They had presented me what else you can do
with  an Amiga except using Amiexpress (BBS program), Bleep (blueBox software)
or  Ncomm  (terminal  proggy).   Remembering  seven years back, it already had
begun  to  go  on  my  nerves to lead a group doing nothing else than removing
copyprotections  from games and releasing the effort and work of other people.
When  the  normal  gamers  were  then  playing our cracks, was it the software
companys`  benefit or ours?  They, the programmers made the game and worked on
it  for  a  long  time  and  we  had  simply  removed  the  password-  or  Rob
Northern-protection in a few minutes or hours.  During the same night the game
went  round the whole world, and some days later it was available for anybody,
also for those who didn`t have access in hot bbs systems.  A project that took
months to be finished, destroyed in a few hours.

But  what  was  really  killing  me  was  the fact in which way people treated
eachothers.   In  some  exceptions  people  were friendly, but mostly c2crackers
c5treated  eachothers  in  a very, c2very negative and agressive way.  c5For example
the  leader  of  CLASSIC wanted to hurt me when he saw me at the partyplace of
TP3  because  my former group FAITH had released the OCS version of "Oskar" in
co-op  with HOODLUM just a few hours before his group was ready to release it.
And  believe  me, he didn`t only want to hurt me with words.  But later during
the party I learned how different things are in the c2DemoScene, c5how positive it
all  was  and  is.  That was the main reason for me giving up my membership of
the  oh-so-elite-cracking  scene and starting to mailtrade demos & diskmags in
the  first  weeks of 1994.  I was infected by the demovirus that had conquered
me; it was a cold, but not a bad cold.  From that time on - THE PARTY did play
a  very important role my life, once I even gave up my job & income to be able
to travel to Denmark again.  It surely sounds crazy but it is true.

Years passed by and things changed quickly!  Each year, Touchstone & Rahiem of
Essence  and  Jazz of Haujobb were asking themselfs if it would be worth to go
to  Denmark again as they were organising a bustrip on their own.  Yes, it was
sort  of worth to travel there as it still was the c2biggest Scene event c5and NO:
It definatly was depressing to see all the gambling kids over there instead of
productive  Sceners.   It  was  nice  to have the possibility to meet a lot of
friends  as  at that time TP was the infinite Scene meeting, but it was at the
same way frustrating to see how fast things were going downwards.

And  now,  in  the  year of God(s) c22000, c5the organizers of THE PARTY invite us
again  to  another issue of their c2gamblers & network-leechers conference.  But
c5this  time  they try to suggest us that everything is going c4BACK TO THE ROOTS!
c5And that everything is getting better and cooler again for us Sceners.


Curious  as  I  am,  I  wanted  to  hear  how they want to be able to turn the
steering wheel at 180 degrees!!!  c2Jacob Richard Thornber aka Morph, c5one of the
mainorgs  behind  the  TP-team  was  friendly  and careless enough to reply my
questions.



This is how he starts:

c6MORPH:   c5"The  Party  has since the beginning tried to to what is best for the
scene.   In the past time, The Party was where the big groups gathered to show
off,  meet  the  members and look at the productions from other groups.  Sadly
this  has in the last few years changed, because of the fact that the scene is
getting  smaller and smaller.  We therefore want c2to do what WE can, c5to prevent
the scene from fading away, and letting the scene guide us to what they want.

We  have  also  realized that without the lamers, the gamers, the porn people,
the  quakers and etc.  we cannot hold a party as big as The Party, and with as
many interesting things.  Therefore, we will try to devide the halls into hall
1  (c2the  scene people, c5who will have the chance to reserve before anyone else,
as soon as our reservation system goes online) and hall 2 & 3 (for the rest of
the  'lot.)  We  will  announce that the best place for "non-scenenish-people"
will be in hall 2&3"


c6Comment from Ghandy:  c5I would then recommend to exclude any non-scenish people
to  be  able to organise a pure Scene happening.  Even if this would mean that
your party is a lot smaller then.  I`m sure this would make most Sceners being
more  happy,  maybe  only  to gather with around 700 other Sceners, instead of
having thousands of lame players around.


c6GHANDY:   c5When you ask yourself what makes a party being oldskool, then a good
invitation  intro or dentro should quickly come into your mind.  What about an
c2intro for TP2000??


c6MORPH: c5"At  the  moment no.  We have thought a little about it though, so don't
be  surprised  if  something  pops  out  all  of  a sudden.  8-) We have a mpg
invitro/teaser made ready, which will be put up for d/l ASAP"

c6Comment  from  Ghandy:   c5Well,  I more thought about an intro for the Amiga/PC
like  for example that one from c2Polka Brothers c5many years ago.  Wasn`t it done
for  TP7?   And  please  remember  how  nice  it  was with all the photos from
previous   issues  and  historical  moments  of  THE  PARTY!   A  welldesigned
invitationintro could have brought a lot of good old memories and last but not
least it could have brought many lost oldskool sceners back on your event.

But sorry, an mpg stream or maybe a flash4 intro , even if it`s modern to make
one now, but both cannot produce any nostalgic feelings.


c6GHANDY:   c5What was typical for TP way back in 1993 & 1994?  Yes, surely it was
the fact that it was presented by the leading Amiga demogroups of that time!!!
Wearing  a  t-shirt with the Lemon, Spaceballs & Silents letters made you feel
quite  proud,  but  wearing  a  piece  of  textile  from  a group of guys that
abviously only want to get an additional income makes me vomit.


c6Ghandy asking: c5"Are there now any groups presenting the party (as in 1993)?"


c6MORPH: c5"No,  no groups will be presenting The Party.  The reason for the groups
in  the  earlier  days was that nobody could have a party without a group.  We
have  a  c2bunch  of  people instead, c5who really want to do the best they can to
make a great party (but if you want a group name, Camelot could be on of them,
as one of our main organizers are in the Commodore 64 group Camelot)"


c6Comment from papa Ghandy:  c5Quite sad, this is, another wasted chance, but it`s
only my humble opinion.


c6Ghandy  is  still  interrogating:   c5What will you do against all those network
leechers  that  only  come  to download mpegs of porno stuff or simply want to
collect illegal warez ?


c6MORPH: c5"The  Party  does  consider to install c2filters c5to prevent that will deny
the  packets  which  many games are using in Hall 1.  Or at least in the area,
where the sceners are sitting."


c6GHANDY: c5They consider installing filters? That`s all??


c6MORPH: c5"That should be all for now."
c5Yes, honestly it is all for now and I`ve heard enough.  What the heck on earth
should  happen  that could convince me from staying the time between christmas
and the new years` day at home??  I guess nothing at all!  Normally one should
not  write  negative articles as such, but honestly, I highly doubt it will be
worth to go there for c2Sceners.

c5If  your  target  is  to burn 200 new CD-ROMS with the latest WIN-warez, or if
you`re  seeking  for  the  hottest  hardcore  pornos, maybe then you should go
there,  but  else, better let it be, c2the risk of becoming disappointed c5is much
too high!

See  you  all  at  the  one  and only existing major demoparty in Europe - the
c2Mekka^Symposium  in  Germany!!  c5Even if the entrance fee is getting higher and
higher  each  year  and  even  if  more  and  more commerce shines through the
curtain, it`s still worth to go there!!


If  you want to inform yourself about the concept of c2TP2000 - Back to the roots
c5-  beam  yourself to http://press.theparty.dk.

Or  join the news area in c2SCENET c5at http://scenet.de to read which Amiga groups
actually have agreed to boycott this "Scene event".

Closing

Anyway, I wish you all a merry christmas, don`t try it at TP!  ;-) and a c2happy
new year!!  c5If you party at home, in contrary to TP, you should have no energy
problems!  (batteries included?) Have a life after x-mas!

And thanks to Morph for taking the time to reply my questions.

e

