The History of Universal Gaming

[Moonface]

Universal Gaming has been around for 15 years now, and in that time a lot has happened that some of you may want to look back on as memories or to see what sort of things went on before you found us. There's a lot to cover, so for my own sanity and to not flood you all with a wall of text, I'll be breaking everything down into parts:

• The Original Forum - Part 1 (Founding / Board Indexes / Images)
  
• The Original Forum - Part 2 (Site Features / Non-Implemented Ideas / Notable Community Trends)
  
• The Original Forum - Part 3 (Notable Threads / Site Statistics / Forum Closure)
  
• Universal Gaming - Parts TBD
  

I hope to cover each part at regular intervals, and I'll update the above list with links to each post covering the respective part. Anyway, if you want to see how it all began, let's get started with our first part! 

The Original Forum (2006 - 2008) | Part 1
We weren't always called Universal Gaming. If we go from the very moment the community was founded, we were known as Elite SmashBash Luigi Forums, founded on the InvisionFree platform on October 15, 2006 by @Mr EliteL. However, that name lasted less than 24 hours, and the forum was for the next few years known as Elite Gamers Forum.

The Board Index
If you were lucky enough to find us on day one, you would've seen Mr EliteL's very interesting index layout that existed for the first 24 hours:

Original Layout

Games Zone
   - Game stuff
    - Mario
   - Worms
   - Rayman
   - Tekken
RPG
   - RPG stuff
General
   - General thing
Arguements or complaints
   - Argues
   - Complain
Art
   - Everyone's art
Strangeness!
   - Complete and utter oddness

It has no precise order, but given how chaotic it is I really don't think it would matter much what order it takes.  
Fortunately no one had to suffer from it for long as the index layout was changed to something a little more sensible the next day. Unfortunately, the admin logs aren't clear on what was actually used because a lot of the areas were renamed, and the logs fail to provide what the new names were. So instead, here's what the forum layout ultimately ended up like at some point:

Final Original Board Layout

Information Board
   - Information Board
   - Questions & Suggestions
   - E-Shop Beta
        - E-Shop Beta Products
   - VIP Access Area
Games & Consoles
   - Games Zone
   - Console Lounge
GFX Dungeon
   - GFX Dungeon
   - Comic Corner
Social Life
   - Social Life Discussion
        - Media Center
        - Tech Sector
        - Sports Broadcast
   - Forum Games & Randomness
   - RPG Ground
   - Complaints, Problems & Arguments!
   - Website Showcase
   - Introductions
   - Battlegrounds
        - Normal Battles
        - Tournaments
        - Arena Construction
EGF Crews
   - EGF Crews
        - Elite Overlord Crew
        - GameREvolution_
   - EGF Crew Battles
Competitions
   - Game Competitions
        - Special Events
        - Completed Matches
        - Incomplete Matches
        - Archive
   - GFX Competitions
        - Completed Matches
        - Incomplete Matches
The Junkyard
   - The Junkyard

As the second forum layout might imply, there were some interesting things in there back in the day, thanks to a lot of implemented ideas and features being just whatever sounded cool to a group of 13-16 year olds. Here's a look at some of the areas in the final board index that benefit from a more in-depth look:

• E-Shop - This was a forum area where members could establish their own stores to offer products or services. We had no currency system on the board, so currency was your post count minus however much you had spent in the store already. The person you bought something from got absolutely nothing because apparently we didn't want to actually make an economy back in the day. I also never removed the term "Beta" from its name because I apparently decided it would be the 2007 forum equivalent to a 2017 game that never leaves early access.
  

• VIP Access Area - The first and only time we have ever had an exclusive area for qualifying members. It was essentially a toss up between a staff area and a share things you didn't want to be public because no one is 18 yet and we're all scared of the boards non-existent pedophile crisis. Not much ever happened in there, with the only notable things being sneak peeks at new skins, the work being done for a ZetaBoards conversion (which didn't occur for this iteration of the board), and a post a picture of yourself thread (see: aforementioned pedo crisis).
  

• Battlegrounds - This was a forum area where you could set up matches between game characters and/or your RPG characters in a fight where members would then write up their version of the match and the outcome. The idea didn't go far, considering there was only three matches ever to take place:
   - Crash Bandicoot vs. Ganondorf vs. King (Tekken) vs. Mario vs. Mewtwo vs. Rayman vs. Snake vs. Sonic vs. Spyro vs. Homer Simpson (why?!)
   - Leonardo (TMNT) vs. Link vs. Ratchet vs. Shadow the Hedgehog
   - Mario, Rayman, Spyro and Link vs. Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Wolverine
  

• EGF Crews - Ah, what a fun one this was. Crews were basically the boards version of a clan system, where you could make your own crew and members could join it. You could only be part of one crew at a time, and each crew got their own private forum area. There was meant to be some competition system where the crew with the most points at the end of a month got some prize, but I don't think that ever actually went anywhere. Planning wasn't a strong suit of this iteration of the forum.  
  

• Game Competitions - Inspired by a similar feature on an old wrestling board I was a member of, the Game Competitions area was more than just a simple X vs. Y ordeal. There was a division and ranking system at play, with championship titles and PPV style events (see the wrestling inspiration yet?). Challenging and beating someone in a flash game would get you up the rankings, and if you were the person below the current champion of that division you got to challenge them for their title at the next PPV event that would be held (usually at the end of each month). You could go solo in the Junior or Undisputed divisions, or team up for the Tag Team division. Our Summer Meltdown event originally started out as one of the big events for our Game Competitions, before being repurposed into a standalone forum event after the competitions areas were toned down to be less of a dick measuring contest.
  

Forum Imagery
For lack of a better title name, this section will share all the most notable images that were made for the forum itself, such as banners, skins, and wallpapers! Click each respective bullet point title to see all the relative imagery.

• Forum Area Banners - Both the original and final board indexes had image banners in some of the areas that gave them a visual identity. The idea was inspired from another forum that did the same thing.
  

• Game Competitions PPV Banners - As already mentioned, the Game Competitions had PPV style events, of which most had banners made for them. A few are even animated!
  

• Skins - We had quite a few skins for the original forum, and you can see the header images for all of them via the link. Unfortunately the only screenshot I have showing the old skins in their entirety only features a few of them, but as you can see the colours in the header image basically went into everywhere else, so you can probably get a rough idea of how the rest of the skins would look.
  

• Wallpapers - I made a few wallpapers for the original forum, with each one based on each of the three "official" skins. No, I won't ever make another wallpaper for this forum, and if you look at the images you'll agree it's probably for the best.
  

That's everything for this part! I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say about what I've shared so far, and I hope you all look forward to seeing the upcoming parts of our history.
If you want to ask me about anything in this post, I'll do my best to answer your questions.

[ShiraNoMai]

Some of this stuff I don't even remember, and it blows my mind how in-depth we got into this shit lmao

[Mr EliteL]

Ah, the early days. Even if it did include things that turned out bad, was still a good time and we all had a lot of time on our hands being so young, and if we didn't have school or family stuff, EGF was where we were.

I'll say it again though, wish I was more thoughtful initially when I first created the forum by myself, I pretty much made it catered to me in a way what with only having Tekken, Worms and whatever have their own place, yet what on Earth I thought would be in their respective areas I have no idea. Single topics and possibly brand new games from the series having their own like we do now is so much better.

Need to add more, was on work break but have to go back....

[Moonface]

@Mr EliteL: I'm guessing those game specific areas stayed for a bit after the first few days because of how the Games Zone banner features only those games. Unless I just used them for lack of any other ideas.

[Mr EliteL]

Somehow didn't notice that when I looked at it first, as in today, probably noticed back then.

I remember really liking the Tech board theme for some reason. Even after we had new ones for EGF that one stuck with me, although the last EGF theme was the best really. The first UG theme, wow that's quite dark, but it's the one I remember the least, actually wait no that would be the Vector theme, got completely confused with that, somehow thought it was the Wii theme at first. Speaking of I will never forget that one though, with how blinding it was.

Battlegrounds I think was born from either other forums doing something similar or from a website I found with characters from different series duking it out, and wanted us to try the same. But what the heck were those matches, firstly none are 1-on-1, and secondly it features way too many characters, with some being completely pointless in being there as they'd be defeated/dead within seconds. Sometimes is good to pit people who have opposite powers, or use a similar weapon, but that second fight I'd never have thought to have that line-up....nowadays. Wait was I the one who made all three of them up?! I don't even remember but feel like it's very likely.

I forgot that about Game Competitions, well OK I remember it was wrestling themed with the belts but forgot what happened, who had what and if any belts were won off the champions.

[Karo]

I remember the battleground truly only the most epic of battles were fought in there!

If only those that we lost survived....but it probably for the best...

They were weak and the weak are not worthy of being of THE ELITE!

[Moonface]

Battlegrounds I think was born from either other forums doing something similar or from a website I found with characters from different series duking it out, and wanted us to try the same. But what the heck were those matches, firstly none are 1-on-1, and secondly it features way too many characters, with some being completely pointless in being there as they'd be defeated/dead within seconds. Sometimes is good to pit people who have opposite powers, or use a similar weapon, but that second fight I'd never have thought to have that line-up....nowadays. Wait was I the one who made all three of them up?! I don't even remember but feel like it's very likely.

I forgot that about Game Competitions, well OK I remember it was wrestling themed with the belts but forgot what happened, who had what and if any belts were won off the champions.

You came up with every single fight in that area I believe. I wonder if it was what you tried after EWF (Elite Wrestling Federation) didn't work out because I think you and I were the only members into wrestling.

As for championship changes, here's the matches each title had (winners are in bold):

Undisputed Championship
Moonface vs. Mr EliteL vs. Karo
Moonface © vs. Mr EliteL
Moonface © vs. Mr EliteL vs. ShiraNoMai
Moonface © vs. ShiraNoMai

Junior Championship
Mr EliteL © vs. Ghostsrevolt
Ghostsrevolt © vs. Mr EliteL
Mr EliteL © vs. Ghostsrevolt vs. GoldenFrankO

Tag Team Championship
Mr EliteL & Luigi the Homie vs. Moonface & General KaToe
Mr EliteL & Luigi the Homie © vs. Moonface & ShiraNoMai vs. GoldenFrankO & Karo
Mr EliteL & Ghostsrevolt © were the final champions, but no match caused this outcome. Instead, Ghostsrevolt won a contest to replace LTH after they were banned so that EL wasn't a solo tag champion.


As for Battlegrounds, I believe all the match write-ups are still on the original board and I could always paste them in here if anyone really wants to read them.

[Nightingale]

Oh! A topic featuring history *AND* gaming? What a cruel thing to do! Don't you know I have places to be?!

[Mr EliteL]

Yes Nightingale, look at it aaallll!

Oof, thought so. Past self why didn't you come up with better match-ups dang it?
Also I don't particularly want re-read whatever was written up for the fights, most likely cringe worthy.

Ah that Junior Championship looked the best as it changed hands each time, but don't get how I was the champion in the first match.

[Moonface]

Ah that Junior Championship looked the best as it changed hands each time, but don't get how I was the champion in the first match.

The first match for that title was an open invitational where anyone could enter, and the winner became the champion.

@Nightingale: At least it's being broken down into smaller, more digestible pieces. The first board was only used for two years and I've had to split that into three posts alone. I'm scared how much I'll actually find for UG prior to the move to this current board.

[WR91]

Interesting. Very interesting.