April Fools!...?

April Fools!...?


Why yes, it was. We didn't think so many people would actually believe it, what with the absolutely striking evidence against it and the general sarcasm and mayhem going on at the time, but it seems many of you were fully capable of falling for it and thus the joke spiraled out of control so badly that ZU's real admin and mod team (working behind the scenes) had to put an immediate end to it. Am I upset? A little, but it's just a joke. I'm more upset that I couldn't announce this on the first, but I'll announce it the same way anyway.

Just pretend that this is happening on the first, and that I'm a tad more cheery because if it had actually happened on the first, the joke would have gone as planned.

But yes, it was extremely convoluted and, for most of it, incredibly well thought-out, except for the actual invasion. Clearly the actual invasion demanded restraint that the VGRC staff did not have, and calmness that ZU's members did not have, and I apologize for assuming that either side was ready for this kind of thing. But! Capn and I still pulled it off and fooled a crapload of you. So I bet you want to know how.

Planning took several weeks. We carefully mapped out everything that would happen and made sure that it was done in a carful, mature way that wouldn't cause the forums to go insane. Capn would "challenge me dramatically and clearly sarcastically to a brawl match to settle some "differences" (he could get creative with that), and when the thread gained popularity I would raise a bet and we would up it to specific intervals until, finally, it hit the point where we bet $10,000.

Then Capn would "leave" and come back a day or so later with a "change of mind" where he would announce he was betting all of ZI. I would respond saying I was betting ZU, and everything would happen as planned.

The Brawl match. Now, for those of you who commented on it, I shall let you know that the match was staged. Completely staged. In fact, Captain Cornflake doesn't even own Brawl. If you were perceptive, you would have noticed several things that were fishy about the Brawl match:

1. The framerate was unreasonably high for an "online" match.
2. Somewhere during my loss of my second or third life, "Capn" kicked me offscreen. I flew much farther than I should have and died as a result. This death was purposeful.
3. Who could POSSIBLY get hit by that many Falcon Punches and not plan them in advance?
4. The video was mysteriously cut off at the beginning and end to withhold showing the practice stage and the controller icons at the winner's screen.
5. Who could POSSIBLY get hit by that many Falcon Punches and not plan them in advance?

But the question then remains: Who was I actually Brawling against, and why did we both suck so badly? Originally the match was intended to be against my little brother, Max. However, after playing for three hours and having him not win any matches against me, I brought in a more capable friend of mine who plays as Captain Falcon. After he couldn't beat me, I decided I should just play like a n00b and run around doing stuff until he kicked my arse.

It's VERY difficult to stage a Brawl match and intend to lose. Try it sometime - you'll just keep winning. That said, I do not suck at Brawl. It was all a farse, and now that I have Toon Link at last (as of yesterday) I'm even better. I would be happy to beat any one of you in a REAL online Brawl match that is not staged.

I had prepared images for ZU's new headers, and prepared plans with Capn for how and when they would be used. We also planned in advance the creation of the Series of Tubes board not only to further replicate ZI/VGRC, but to act as the trash bin for everything related to the joke for easy cleanup when the joke ended. Clearly it helped a bit - but not enough people caught on to the fact that the joke was supposed to centralize in Series of Tubes and not much anyplace else. Finally, Capn made a "network header" for ZU and gave me some javascript that would have "Pikajew" fly across the screen.

A lot of people were wondering where music was coming from in certain threads. I set up a bbcode () that was directly linked to a directory on VGRC that contained several flash files. The bbcode would fetch one of the flash files and play the music within them. (This explanation isn't entirely correct, but I don't feel like explaining that it actually puts the flash file into the post with a size of 1x1 pixels and plays the flash file.) VGRC "staff" always embedded these flash files with music into quotations so that nobody else would be able to utilize the bbcode or figure out that it exists.

And yes, those of you with adblock would have noticed the flash files embedded in the quotes playing the music.

In the end, however, Capn and I were very excited to use this joke as a huge segway into a very special event that would encompass both ZU and ZI - ultimately, the ZU vs. ZI Brawl Tournament. I'll talk more about that in a bit. Right now, I want to quickly address the maturity level of the boards + the VGRC members during this joke.

When it was just Capn and I working together in our crazy "IMMA BRAWL YOU" threads, things went smooth and things were fun, because Capn and I knew what we were doing. Clearly the "new staff" did not, and took this as an invitation to attack specific members, albeit sarcastically, and fake some sort of 4chan/trolling invasion. Now, that's fine for someone else's joke, but rest assured Capn and I were repeatedly trying to tell the much too aggressive staff to calm down, take it slower, and make sure that it would last until April 1st. Going slow and making it last. That was our goal.

The "new staff" never had any power. If you looked, you would have noticed at the bottom of the forums the REAL moderators of each section - the old staff, the true staff, the ZU staff. There was never a change in power, and the only person that got REAL moderator powers from this was Kara, who graciously agreed to temporarily become section moderator of the Community forum to help clean up the mess as it came. Thank you, Kara, for that.

It only took one day for the false staff to ruin the whole thing - but the gullibility and excitability of ZU's members did not help either. In fact, at one point I felt like I was running a kindergarten, because one "staff" member said to me that he "didn't start" the flaming, that it was provoked by someone else. And then we just had people running around blaming people and threatening to leave. Meanwhile, most veteran ZU members were able to figure out the joke in two seconds and began to play along - the way it should have been done, I feel. The newer ZU members were more content yammering that it was an April Fool's joke.

But you see, the fun is that we all know it's a joke and continue to play along. Most people know that it's a joke. The one's that ruin it by yelling out "IT'S A JOKE WE CAN ALL STOP THIS NOW!!!" are utilizing and authority that they don't have and ruining the joke for the rest of us. We let threads like that stand this year so we wouldn't absolutely give it away, but the idea with these kind of jokes is that once you know the gist of it, you play along. Again, you play along, because you know nothing's wrong.

The joke was about as pre-planned as it could possibly ever get, and even THAT couldn't stop people from going nuts. I made overly excessive measures to ensure that the forums would not go insane during this and to maintain a balance between the ZU and ZI sides of the joke. I was running left and right preaching to people to shut up or do things a specific way. And you know what? I got told off. By BOTH sides. And that made me upset. When you agree to play a part in such a joke, you don't TELL ME OFF when I ask you to play along.

I held those I told about the joke with a penalty of permanent ban if they told anyone. Still I found that people were spreading the word. Should I actually carry out my promise of banning those people? I placed my trust in them and they went and told everyone they knew, who went and just yammered on about it directly in the forums. Tell me, what fun is that? I can understand telling someone who is genuinely hurt and upset for the purpose of cheering them up, but just spreading the word and gloating like you own the universe? Don't go there. That possibly made me most upset of all - the fact that I couldn't trust the members of my own forum to keep a secret for me for TWO DAYS.

Also, Capn and I and actually very good friends, and he's a wonderful and considerate person. Dennis would never actually seek to acquire ZU in such a way. It was absolutely ridiculous from the beginning.


However, April Fools! You sure fell for it. Much more than I thought most of you would have.


Now, this was supposed to segway, as I said, into a special Brawl tournament between the members of ZU and ZI. But I'm currently assessing whether or not that can happen without the forums exploding. If you guys want a giant tournament between ZU and ZI to take place with a real prize (like, a good prize) for the winner, Capn and I are happy to be of service. it was going to be great, and hopefully it will still be great. But you need to let me know that you can handle it first, because Capn and I planned the crap out of this April Fool's joke and it still didn't work out.



A REFERENDUM: I wrote this all offline before I read the thread nearby. I guess the joke would have ended now no matter what... and I'm a little bit sick now and a lot of a bit sad. So let's change that: Not a ZU vs. ZI tournament, just a ZU tournament. And later... just a little bit later. Goddammit Dennis. You ****ing drilled wood and played halo at the same time. You didn't just ****ing die.

I really, really wanted to smack the people screaming "IZ APRL FULZ LUL" with a rake everytime they spoke.

I had fun thwomping Cody.

Well done, at first I thought it was a joke, then I saw the porn, and people getting banned. I got completely paranoid.

I feel stupid now for believing it wasn't a joke, even if was just for a little bit.

I'm so gullible.

Most legendary joke ever .
But OMG, the flaming did get out of hand.

Question, was the whole Aeffles, Power Shot struggle in the BA a joke? If so, it was really well done. Thats what made be believe it wasn't a joke.

It was an awesome joke, just awesome. Oh and could the ZU tournament be on hold until Europe/Australia get Brawl because i want to join in.

Can we keep the Pikajew? PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I knew that it was a joke for a long time, and I played along. But it got too far as far as I am concerned; that level of abuse is simply not funny anymore. I'm sorry if you would have wanted me to keep it quiet, but people were distressed, they left, and even now some are not coming back. It was a good idea, but it went too far.

Ah, alas, early reveal. And I was so proud of my Farorean cemetery (see sig) from last night too. Time to change it back, I reckon! Also...

YOU GOT PUNK'D!
(Even though most of you actually caught on. )


EDIT: Guy, there were a lot of things that were *not* part of the joke that got out of hand.

Looking at Rew's sig, the whole thing was a joke. Damn you BA'ers for making your fight look so realistic. You guys and your amazing writing prowess.

This is the best April Fool's joke I've seen in a while.

I didn't believe it for long, but yeah, it's still priceless. I feel pretty stupid for even believing it for a moment. Who would give away their site for losing a Super Smash Bros. Brawl match? XD

Oh, yes, the BA thing was incredible. Those guys deserve oscars

Originally Posted by Jason

Oh, yes, the BA thing was incredible. Those guys deserve oscars

I actually thought that was the least realistic looking part of this whole thing. Power Shot, who I had known as a quite well mannered intelligant guy, suddenly turning into a raving madman spitting at the feet of anyone who dared talk back to him? Yeah, I didn't buy it.

Well, of course they can roleplay a fight, it's the only thing they do all day.