Four years!

It's been roughly four years since I first started playing Dogfight, give or take several days. Four years since I picked up my now-outdated Kindle Fire and downloaded it, for the sole reason that summer vacation had started and I was a bored teenager with nothing to do. I had no idea what was in store, and I certainly didn't know I'd still be poking around still long after.

There's a certain phenomenon within the the study of psychology and neuroscience that refers to how time seems to speed up as one ages, and how events that happened during one's younger years seem to be much more profound than events that happen down the line. Most of us have many fond and vivid memories of our past, and thinking back to some of these things can make us wisty-eyed and nostalgic. I'm surprised to say that this online video game is one of the few on my list.

Dogfight has changed. The original game is making way for the transition towards DF Elite. The majority of the people I met and had such great times with, I seldom see anymore. The spirit of the community has shifted, and the game itself has evolved in fundamental ways. Some argue it's for the better, others want things to go back the way they were. Still, things inevitably move forward, and I accept it for what it is.

Regardless of what people think is in store for the future of Dogfight, the experiences of the past are still something I hold dear to my heart. Even though I am yet to make MORAF, I can confidently say that I’ve gotten so much out of this game and the people that make it up. Below is a collection/compilation of my favorite memories that I’ve shared with this community. This is a personal recollection, my experiences and opinions of Dogfight is different than everyone else’s so none of this is fact.

It’s simply a personal walk I’m taking down memory lane, and you all are welcome to join me...

This is my first post, on my old account (now banned, a result of a hostile hijack). “Luna6” was my username.

4 years ago, Luna wrote: Is this where newbies introduce themselves? Well, hiya, I'm Luna6. I discovered Dogfights when I was looking for a good airplane game. I've always had an interest in them, so I knew this game was for me.

Perhaps you've seen me around in the multiplayer, Ive been playing for 3 days. (This is my first ever post) You'll have to forgive me if I really sucked, I'm just getting the hang of it. See you in the skies!

Back then, there were very few squads to choose from, as opposed to the dozens of squadrons available today. Enigma and the 111th Falcons were the top choices. I chose the 111th, mostly because my first games were played with members of the Falcons, and they were very helpful and friendly. It was a very surprising positive attitude towards new players I hadn’t seen before on online games. I wanted to be a part if it...

3 years, 11 months ago, Luna wrote: Hiya! I'm Luna6 (Lieutenant-Commander [6]). Perhaps you've seen me in the skies. If not, then hello for the first time!

I am interested in joining the 111th, but I'm not sure how, and I am especially not sure if I am good enough. I want to join because I think the pilots of the 111th seem like great wingmen, and if applicable, skilled enemies. I'd really be honored to join the ranks.

But again, I don't know if I am good enough. Is there some kind of skill quota that newbies have meet? If I don't meet them, then I'll practice some more and then come back. I think I am getting much better than I had a week ago.

Please reply, I'd really appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to the possibility of joining the 111th!

EDIT: Been promoted, now rank 7.

This was my official 111th Falcon banner! I was so happy when I got it.


I would play almost every night before bed. I even had a playlist of music that I would listen to on my device while the game was running. Even now, listening to those same songs evokes memories when I was a noob in the skies.

The game was so fun that I had to tell my sister, who joined the game as “Octavia” and joined the 111th Falcons with me. We would have such a great time logging on together and playing with our friends. The best part was the consistency and feeling of community! No other online game I played would people recognize and greet me. It was a great feeling joining a game and seeing the list of names, among them players who you knew fairly well. You knew the game was going to be great, win or lose, it didn’t matter.



Octavia, if you're reading this, I let you get that kill so we could get a good picture.

Now, I think that the level of growth from age 16 to 20 is huge. It’s a transition towards adulthood, a development of maturity, and a defining point of life. I spent this time with DF, and I was a pretty different person when I first started. Like the average teenager, I was immature, flirty (yes, gross), and impulsive. Naturally, I preferred to interact with the other younger members of the community.

3 years, 11 months ago [e]Sputnik wrote: Luna how old are you?

3 years, 10 months ago [e]Sputnik wrote: Luna what does my little pony have to do nlraf

P.S how old are you?

3 years, 10 months ago CalvinIsAwesome wrote: Thanks, luna.

Lol

Guys, i think weve got a replacement for 420! Teenage girl, flirts with the whole forum, etc. only missing one thing. You dont post pics of yourself and get all offended when z insults them

Let me tell you. There was SO. MUCH. DRAMA.

This stuff got people banned! Sometimes, I wasn’t even a part of what was going on, but it still was addicting to log back in and check to see how the fights were going. We all did this, don’t lie.

1 year, 2 months ago [*M]TBUILT wrote: This is getting good, I brought popcorn.

Luckily, the appointed moderators (yes, there were multiple) were very active. I had the pleasure of making friends with Slenderman, a global moderator and founder of Enigma. This guy taught me a lot about navigating throughout an internet community.

4 years, 8 months ago Slenderman wrote: I'm Slenderman. I know everything but what has yet to happen.

Yes, indeed, Slendy.

I think it was during this time that I started to learn the value of patience and understanding. Dogfight is a melting pot of people from all ages, places, cultures, and upbringings. There was bound to be clashes. There were fights on almost EVERYTHING about the game. I doubt there are arguments on this that I haven’t already seen before, and senior players will agree.

The way I handled these situations slowly changed as time went on, and it helped me in real life. There was less aggression, animosity, and worry.

I saw the mistakes and misunderstandings that caused 99% of the conflicts on DF, and I tried my best to start avoiding and preventing these things. What I found was that a little bit of kindness, clarity, and tact went a long way towards defusing a situation. Other players emulated this kind of attitude, and I started to get to know them a little bit more. These guys were the older fellows, wiser, with years of real life experience. Hell, some were as young as I was, but I admired their outlook on many things. There's too many names I could ever hope to list, but I’m grateful to have met them.

After several months within the game, Octavia and I decided to leave the 111th and establish our own squadron. It was during this time that people started to leave the big few squadrons to make their own way, and we wanted to do the same. During this time, plenty of other squadrons were started, and the list of groups grew from only a handful to the dozens of squads we see today. From that, the New Lunar Republic was born.

Octavia and I really didn’t have high expectations, we were honestly just trying to have fun. We spent several hours designing a website and coming up with the foundations of the squadron axioms. Our membership grew slowly, and we remained active members of DF.

These were our first banners!





I was so surprised when Reid and 420 decided to join the NLR! Compared to us, they were veteran, highly skilled pilots with much more experience than we did. What an honor it was for them to join back when the NLR was so young.

Around that time, I found a cool paint app on my Kindle... and made a bunch of DF-inspired paintings with the touchscreen...











Whenever I could, and whenever I thought it would be fun or helpful, I would post topics for the community. The only thing better than having fun with the people of Dogfight was helping and giving back, any way I can.

I even was a barmaid for the Jolly Roger for a time!

2 years, 3 months ago Luna wrote: You looking for a barmaid?

I loved DF and everyone within it. There would be intellectual discussions on topics within the community and on the outside world, which spawned pages upon pages of insight and feedback. And there would be periods of carefree nonsense to balance it out. The most memorable moments would be when everybody would agree to abandon the objectives in the game in favor of some other ridiculous goal!
















You know... the sense of community in these little snippets of time are overwhelming! Looking through them, it tells me that despite any bad things that have and will happen within DF, everything I've experienced and all who I've met makes it all worth it. There's little I would trade for it.

That's why I haven't really left Dogfight. That's why I refuse to hold a bitter attitude towards the present, even if the past is but a memory and most of those I knew are now gone. I'll continue to support this game and the developers, because I'm grateful for my time spent here.

So, when I look back at auld land syne, I'll remember the kinds of things that I posted here. The good times. And even though I'm finding so much less time for it, I'll try my best to make the future of DF just as memorable.

~Luna

Thanks for this Luna. Many of us share similar memories.

Oh Luna,

There is a very good reason you were voted "best post writer". Does that make you dogfight's best "poster girl"?

It seems to me that your story belongs on this thread. You wrote this what, 3 years ago?

Luna wrote:

Fly. Crash. Die. Repeat.


The time for free thinking is over, as you feel the compulsions return. Before now, nothingness surrounded you, and you were alone with your thoughts. However, slowly, a green world starts to materialize around you, and with it, a new thinking in your mind. It’s all you could describe it as; a separate consciousness within your own that seems to control your body just as a pilot controls her plane. Unable and unwilling to fight it, you let it take you over, and its thoughts become yours.

The green plains around you begin to take a more tangible shape. Rolling hills and sporadic trees quickly fill the landscape, and in the distance you see massive mountain formations rise from nothing. The blackness of the sky transforms to a soothing light blue, and you see a large orb of brilliant light glow bright above you. Some artificial structures start appearing around you; airplane hangars, watchtowers, and a paved runway directly below you. Your body is next to appear. From a formless consciousness comes a human being, and an influx of the other senses become a part of you. All this happens in what feels like a few seconds. At first, this entire ordeal was extremely overwhelming to you, but by now you’ve grown accustomed to it, something you’ve taken to call “Spawning”.

Your have a body, but you do not attempt to move. The last thing to come into existence is your airplane. An almost an instant, an aircraft that you know by the name “S.E.5” appears below you. You find yourself seated within its cockpit. A string of text flashes in your mind.

Bomb the enemy hangars!

With the world around you and your objective fully realized, you take no delay. Your plane’s engines come to life on its own, and with a swift movement, you push the throttle and begin take off. The plane’s propeller begins to rotate faster and pushes you along the narrow strip of asphalt. As you gain speed your wings gain lift, you feel the wheels below you part the ground.

Your takeoff was swift and clean, something you’ve done many times before in the past. After a long look around you, you find the skies completely empty. No one follows you from the runway behind you. It seems you’re alone for this run.

You check your bearing and hope for the best.

You take your solitary time to your advantage to appreciate the universe set before you. Other than the dark void that fills most of your time, this is what you’ve come to accept as your home, if it could ever be called such a thing. At times, your home is consumed by a bitter blizzard, or a relentless rainstorm.

But sometimes, the sky is littered with a perfect arrangement of clouds, partly blocking the afternoon sun in the distance. Rays of dazzling light squeeze through the clouds and create a comforting palette of yellows, oranges, and reds on the landscape far below. Trees spot the ground far underneath you, and in the distance you pass a small group of houses and homey structures. Towards the passing horizon you see a large reflection of the perfect sky; a lake that stretches for miles. Above it lies an old bridge that connects opposite sides. On one end, an old tavern that gives you a welcoming impression; on the other, quite the opposite, a hauntingly quiet and empty storage hanger. You shiver quietly as it passes from your peripheral vision.

A series of familiar buildings break over the horizon before you. It’s your objectives; the enemy hangars that you need to destroy. You check the cumbersome bomb that your aircraft is carrying, and make sure it is ready for deployment. A quick scan of the area around you reveal no enemy aircraft, so you close into the enemy base, smiling with anticipation.

As you approach your target, you ready your hand to release the bomb. “The timing must be perfect, and with no distractions, there should be no excuses,” you think to yourself. You aim for the middle of a pair of hangars, in hopes to kill two birds with one stone. You pass over, you release the bomb at best possible time, and mentally cross your fingers.

The bomb hits dead-center between the hangars, but they still stand intact.

“Damn it!” you shout audibly. With minutes wasted, you turn back towards your home base to re-arm your plane. “I knew I should have gotten the bomb upgrade. Well, at least nobody’s shown up yet, so I should have ti-”

Your train of thought is interrupted by a series of text that flashes in your mind.

BoomUrDead has joined the game!

SkyKiller has joined the game!

XxlolSWAGxX has joined the game!

UrMOM has joined the game!

* - * has joined the game!

FyreWolf has joined the game!

“Well... great,” you say. Scanning reveals six enemy aircraft spawning in at the airbase not too far behind you. You hear the sound of machine gun fire and see tracer bullets start flying past you. One of these bullets were lucky enough to clip your left wing, and you momentarily lose control of your aircraft. These guys want you dead.

Text flashes in your mind.

XxlolSWAGxX>Haha n00b ur gonna lose.


Already, you know this is going to be interesting...

[NLR] Luna wrote: Now, I think that the level of growth from age 16 to 20 is huge. It’s a transition towards adulthood, a development of maturity, and a defining point of life. I spent this time with DF, and I was a pretty different person when I first started. Like the average teenager, I was immature, flirty (yes, gross), and impulsive. Naturally, I preferred to interact with the other younger members of the community.

3 years, 11 months ago [e]Sputnik wrote: Luna how old are you?

3 years, 10 months ago [e]Sputnik wrote: Luna what does my little pony have to do nlraf

P.S how old are you?

3 years, 10 months ago CalvinIsAwesome wrote: Thanks, luna.

Lol

Guys, i think weve got a replacement for 420! Teenage girl, flirts with the whole forum, etc. only missing one thing. You dont post pics of yourself and get all offended when z insults them

Let me tell you. There was SO. MUCH. DRAMA.

This stuff got people banned! Sometimes, I wasn’t even a part of what was going on, but it still was addicting to log back in and check to see how the fights were going. We all did this, don’t lie.

1 year, 2 months ago [*M]TBUILT wrote: This is getting good, I brought popcorn.

Luckily, the appointed moderators (yes, there were multiple) were very active. I had the pleasure of making friends with Slenderman, a global moderator and founder of Enigma. This guy taught me a lot about navigating throughout an internet community.

4 years, 8 months ago Slenderman wrote: I'm Slenderman. I know everything but what has yet to happen.

Yes, indeed, Slendy.

I think it was during this time that I started to learn the value of patience and understanding. Dogfight is a melting pot of people from all ages, places, cultures, and upbringings. There was bound to be clashes. There were fights on almost EVERYTHING about the game. I doubt there are arguments on this that I haven’t already seen before, and senior players will agree.

The way I handled these situations slowly changed as time went on, and it helped me in real life. There was less aggression, animosity, and worry.

I saw the mistakes and misunderstandings that caused 99% of the conflicts on DF, and I tried my best to start avoiding and preventing these things. What I found was that a little bit of kindness, clarity, and tact went a long way towards defusing a situation. Other players emulated this kind of attitude, and I started to get to know them a little bit more. These guys were the older fellows, wiser, with years of real life experience. Hell, some were as young as I was, but I admired their outlook on many things. There's too many names I could ever hope to list, but I’m grateful to have met them.

Luna! I never said that! Well maybe I did... I was young and dumb OK *giggles* hahaha