Back from the Dead

[Abaddon]

Hey everyone!

This isn't some weird hack or email lost in the internet for years and
years.

We are back.

In 2006 I started AthensGamersUnite.com as a place for local gamers to meet
and talk about what we love- gaming. At the time I felt like the Athens
gaming community was vibrant but fragmented- and I saw an opportunity to
help contribute and bring people together. Thinking back 11 years ago when
I was basically still a kid fresh out of college printing out fliers to
hand out at Tyches and Classic City Comics and Games is crazy. I wasn't
sure if anyone would even show up to the digital party I was trying to
throw. What happened was you, the community, took it and ran with it and
made it something great. So many people came out of the woodwork to make
AthensGamersUnite a great place to coordinate meetups and games, show off
painted miniatures, organize tournaments, or talk about the new MMO. The
site developed a life of its own and I had the privilege of meeting some
amazing people.

Unfortunately after Classic City Comics and Games closed the site kinda
took a downturn. I tried to keep it alive but one day I woke up and
decided I didn't want to spend the money to keep something alive that
wasn't really being used anymore. In 2011 I sent a message out to everyone
that the site was closing. It was bittersweet and I just hoped that the
gaming community would continue to grow.

The last few years have shown an explosion of interest in tabletop gaming
not only locally but all over the world. We are now lucky enough in Athens
to have multiple gaming stores plus a board game cafe! Wow! Honestly 5
years ago I never would have seen this coming. I have tried to stay
involved with the community as much as I can, but it has been hard to put
aside time these days between work and two young kids. I still meet with
my game group a few times a month and we still make our yearly trip to
Gencon. While talking with some friends about how we could contribute to
the community I started to wax nostalgic about the "good ole days". Not
pixelated avatars on a computer screen but throwing dice, opening card
packs, laughing and meeting wonderful people. I wanted to be in the mix
again. I wanted to bring back AGU.

So recently I dug up some old database backups and after struggling to
figure out how to restore them (phpbb has come a long way), here we are.
You will notice that the last posts are from September 2009- I haven't been
able to find a backup more recent but I figured this was about the time
people really stopped posting so nothing of value was lost. If you get
bored just read some of these old posts and take yourself back in time a
decade.

So what am I trying to accomplish here? Whats the point? Well, lets just
call it an experiment. These days, there are tons of mature platforms out
there for communities- facebook, reddit, meetup. Why would anyone use a
message board? I don't know. I'm just to start posting (and re-organzing
the different sections) and if anyone wants to join me, that is great.
That's it.

I didn't mean to ramble on but the kids are in bed, a beer in hand, and my
mind is wandering back in time. Back to Classic City Comics and Games at
the 40k tournament, at Tyches for Tuesday night board game night, at
Devin's house on Saturday playing miniatures. And this is just part of my
story, I know there are other stories out there happening right now, and I
wanted to give the community a chance to share them.

Thanks fdor reading, take care and may your dice always be 20s!

Philip Schifano (Abaddon)

--
Thanks,

Abaddon and Friends

[HurricaneGirl]

What a pleasant surprise! Welcome back!!

[NegativeK]

Trippy!

[kabniel]

It is difficult to maintain something like this when you have those other platforms. Who knows what'll happen I suppose.

[Knight of Roses]

Good to see you back. Always good to have more ways for gamers to connect.

[SlimCreeper]

I'm not in Athens anymore, but Good For This!

[greenlantern1]

It is a blast from the past! Interesting to see some of the old posts.
I have not done too much gaming lately, but I am glad to know the Athens gaming scene is coming back.