History

It all started with two bored IT Guys, a couple of 28.8 modems and Doom. The first games were back in the Autumn of 1995 between two villages in the central belt of Scotland. It took a good few phone calls between Satan and Walker to get the game set up ("What parity are we using ?", "HELLO, HELLO, shit...") as this was in the time before mobile phones were commonplace. But once it was set up, both were hooked for life. About the same time, Numb and Vadir were experimenting with C&C in the same way and coming to the same conclusions. This wasn't like any other computer gaming experience. You knew that you weren't hunting some dumb programmed predictable computer bot, you were hunting and killing an intelligent unpredictable human player that you could laugh at when you got to work the next day. It was love at first kill - this didn't just open the door for us, it kicked it down and set fire to it...

A good few games were played in this way and a number of other people at the place we worked got interested in it. Then along came the game that REALLY started it all - Duke Nukem. At this point there were a handful of players, mostly from the IT Department at the now defunct Seagate Microelectronics in Livingston. Everyone got Duke and everyone upgraded their computers to be able to play it. Thats when IPX network gaming was discovered, and FridayNightGaming was truly born. Satan and Walker had concocted a network boot disk that allowed Duke to be played against each other across the network. Everyone who had a computer and was interested was invited to come and play a networked game in the main conference room. This group comprised the original members of FridayNightGaming (or SGS as it was known at the time - SeagateGamingSquad or SadGirlySociety - take your pick :)). The original members were Satan, Walker, Numb, Squeeler, Virus and Vadir. This took the old two player modem game to a new level and we were all totally hooked at that point. Every friday night from then on we would descend on various members houses and play all night till the sun came up. I can still remember some of the levels - like hiding in the toilets in HotelHell waiting for someone to come in to get the rocket launcher...

A number of other games using the same engine were played for a while (the BUILD engine), and a few of us had turned our hands to making custom maps. Shadow Warrior ("Sticky Bohm Rike U") and Blood (Shotguns Akimbo anyone ?) were also strong favourites for a while.

Then came the game that changed it all again - Quake. This was just a quantum leap ahead of Duke. It was ahead of its time and no one quite know what to make of it. It added teamplay modes to the mix and a new level of addiction was reached - now teamplay mattered and it was no longer just single skills that counted, but the ability of the team to work together (or not). It was also modifiable, and in the end this is what ensured its sucess against the more characterful and appealing Duke. The ThreeWave capture the flag modification was released that pitted the two teams against one another trying to capture a flag at the enemy base and return it to your base. Numb was responsible for introducing this to FNG and it's never been the same since. Multiplayer gaming had morphed into team gaming and it was here to stay with all of us. There was nothing like screaming insults across the room at both your teammates ("Where the f^!& were you ??") and your opponents ("Take that !").

By early 1998 Quake 2 had been released and Unreal. Unreal was about 3 years ahead of its time and no one really had the hardware to run it well. Quake 2 on the other hand took over as the main game. By this time Burner and Gogs had joined the ranks. However dark clouds lay on the horizon. Seagate Microelectronics got into financial trouble and the plant ended up closing early 1999. Just before it closed FNG had all but dissolved - Walker had left and gone to America (Houston, TX), Satan had family commitments, Squeeler had family commitments, Virus and Gogs had work commitments and the games got scarcer and scarcer.

The story could have ended here, with each of the members going their separate ways in life, but it was not to die so easily. The small group that remained managed to keep things ticking over through Half Life, Sin, Counterstrike, Midtown Madness and Unreal Tournament. Then towards the end of 2000, both Satan (in Scotland) and Walker (in Houston) acquired cable modems. In the two years that he had been away Walker had once again started building a gaming group of like minded workmates, and they too had ended up playing mainly Unreal Tournament. An experiment was tried one friday night with UT CTF to see if transatlantic gaming would work and be viable. The answer was a resounding yes and the schism was repaired. The two halves of FridayNightGaming were reunited and fresh blood was added to the mix in the form of Izirbat, MackDaddy, Death, Experiment, Akasha (Satans Wife) and 12" Avenger.

The main games played now are Strikeforce, TacOps and Return to Castle Wolfenstien. This is something that is a part of everyone of us and is something that is in our blood. It still kicks the door in and sets fire to it!

Links

	SF 2004 Main Site
	Lairds Computer Services
	Submit Express
	The Other FNG
	SharePoint MOSS WSS Courseware


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