25 Years of Shackbattles

What does the word Shackbattle mean to you? For me, it’s easy. It means a group of Shackers coming together to play some games and have a great time. In looking back at my time on Shacknews, over 15 years now, and reflecting on all the hilarious and frantic Shackbattles I’ve taken part in, I see that it is so much more and goes far further than just my experiences.

In this retrospective, I’ll be looking at the history of Shackbattles, highlighting some key community members that helped them grow over the years, and talking one on one with a few users about what Shackbattles have meant to them. I’ll also look at where Shackbattles stand today and where they might head in the future. I can’t paint a complete picture of every Shackbattle and off-shoot multiplayer group, but I hope to provide a glimpse at what it was like to participate in various Shackbattles and tournaments. Most importantly, I want to highlight how important the community has been for 25 years and counting.

With Quake as a foundation, you could say online competition is a core component of Shacknews. Playing Qtest via TCP/IP dialers with other Quakeholio and Shugashack users is perhaps the first real instance of a Shackbattle. Whenever we get together as a community to play games and have fun, no matter how many or few that may participate, I consider that to be a Shackbattle. The spirit of connectedness and inclusiveness along with the desire to play games online with others that enjoy them is what drove me to create a Shacknews account in the first place.

You can’t deny, however, that as the number of Shackers that show up to play a game increases, the more fun everyone has as a result. The first game that allowed a large number of online users to frag as frantically as the arena shooters we cut our teeth on was Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 1942, released in September of 2002. Battlefield 1942 was able to capture the spirit of Shackbattles perfectly with its ample 64 player count multiplayer and expansive maps.

This also lines up with my research, with the earliest instance of “Shackbattle'' in the context of an online multiplayer session appearing on November, 11 2002 with user mr.sleepy asking when the BF1942 Shackbattle will be occurring. This was a planned Veteran’s Day Shackbattle utilizing servers maintained by another user, ashkie. Ashkie previously ran a website with other Shackers, boolean and knitemare, that was hosted on games.eof.net. The servers that were associated with this website quickly became the de facto Shackbattle hotspot, hosting BF1942 matches that would live forever in the memories of hundreds of Shackers that participated.

Shackbattles started becoming increasingly frequent and popular through the early ‘00s. One Shacker, UtilityMaximizer, became the Shackbattle hype man for the Chatty community and started announcing upcoming battles as much as possible. With newer games coming out all the time and the explosion of broadband internet, no one person could keep up with every group of Shackers that wanted to get together for a night of gaming in their favorite multiplayer distraction. After around six months of BF1942 Shackbattles, boolean teased a new feature for games.eof.net on April 1, 2003. This feature would allow users to create listings for upcoming Shackbattles and share them as a link to anyone interested.

This would eventually evolve into a fully-fledged companion-site to Shacknews Chatty, Shackbattles.net. Shackbattles.net, also administered by boolean and ashkie, was a website where users could look up or create listings for Shackbattles and sort them by game, users, date, or other criteria. Visitors could also confirm their attendance for Shackbattle listings, providing for greater organization and visibility. This allowed for an explosion of Shackbattles, with anyone able to organize and share their favorite online games with other Shackers.

As more games are released, the more splintered online gaming communities can become. What started with Quake and evolved into Battlefield 1942, “Shackbattles” now saw Shackers grouping together to play MMORPGs, newer flashier shooters, and even console games. Another game that hit it big in the online FPS scene and was no exception with Shacknews was Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Releasing as a free standalone title on May 29, 2003, leaving less than a year of BF1942 dominance, Wolf: ET became a quick favorite for Shackbattles and this was in no small part thanks to another Shacker, RyDogg1.

As a fan of the base game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, RyDogg1 not only hosted servers for Shackers to enjoy the multiplayer freeware, but he also provided means for them to keep in communication. Before it was taken for granted that an online game would include voice-chat, voice over IP programs were necessary for any group of gamers that wanted to compete online. One such app is TeamSpeak, and RyDogg1 hosted the Shacknews TeamSpeak server for 20-plus years. Talk about doing it for Shacknews! This is the same TeamSpeak server that I used when I first started playing in Shackbattles over 15 years ago, and I’m sure if you’ve played in one in the past, you’ve probably used it as well.

Times change and people’s tastes change with them. Games fall out of mainstream popularity and player counts decline. People move on and projects sometimes fall to the side. One short lived casualty of this would be Shackbattles.net itself. Announced on May 4, 2005, ashkie posted about the shutdown of the site and willingness to pass on its source code. It lasted a little less than a year, but you can always count on Shackers to keep doing it for their community.

Another instrumental Shacker, themelon, quickly registered Shackbattles.com and went to work reimplementing the resource for other members to continue organizing their Shackbattles. He also used the domain to host Battlefield 1942 servers and organize play sessions in order to keep the longstanding Shackbattle alive. RyDogg1 and themelon also hosted Battlefield 2 Shackbattles for years after its release, further cementing the Battlefield franchise as a Shackbattle icon. Another Shacker that helped as an admin and host for these servers and even went as far as to organize large scale tournaments for the community is hirez.

Hirez, RyDogg1, themelon and others soon turned to the mammoth hype that was Half-Life 2 and all of the Source engine revamps of popular multiplayer mods that were born from the lifeblood of Shacknews, arena shooters. Games like Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Team Fortress 2 and others were easy targets for nightly Shackbattles. And I do mean nightly, since just as previous Shackbattle staples became everyday affairs, these titles would see full servers across different regions on a daily basis for years to come.

Hirez and I became very familiar through his Shacknews Team Fortress 2 tournaments that were the culmination of regular play and even a special Valve-vs-Shacknews TF2 match that was reported by ex-staffer and current Valve employee Chris Remo and features a quote from yours truly. They decimated us, but we impressed the game’s creators with our tenacity and skill. Hirez would go on to host and organize three separate Team Fortress 2 tournaments for the Shacknews community and the spirit of Shackbattles. This was facilitated by yet another Shacker-made website dedicated to Shackbattles, this time by omnova.

Omnova created shackbattles.omnova.net originally to help hirez and the TF2 tournament team captains plan and organize their matches. As a team captain for one of the tournaments, I can personally attest to its enormous benefit. These are the times that I remember most fondly when I think of Shackbattles, the community coming together for a tournament with team captains and a drafted pool of players. It had organized brackets and fighting for honor among Shackers and all the Chatty drama that comes with it. It’s that sense of camaraderie and familiarity that only playing games with strangers for years could bring. These weren’t strangers anymore, there were my friends.

The friendly rivalries and lasting relationships that grew from Shackbattles over time eventually became groups of friends that still play games together and have fun today. One group that started with ARMA Shackbattles and has grown famous outside of Shacknews is ShackTac, founded by Dslyecxi. ShackTac is dedicated to “serious fun” and has been an online crew for Shackers and military simulation fans for over 15 years now. One more Shacker that has been dedicated to hosting Shackbattles on the more strategic side is Wadmaasi and his Warhammer 40k tabletop campaigns. His personal blog is a great snapshot of Shacknews history and it serves as a reminder that it’s our community that makes Shackbattles so great, the games are just a vehicle.

To get a more personal take on Shackbattles and what they have meant to our community, I sat down for a one-on-one chat with a few Shackers that I have fought with and against over the years in various games. I asked each member what exactly does Shackbattle mean to them and if they remember their first Shackbattle. I also asked if they had any personal highlights they would like to look at again from the past 25 years of Shacknews. Finally, I was curious to find out if they were still playing in any on-going Shackbattles and what potential games excited them for the future of Shacknews multiplayer.

I first talked with Maddog_Delphi97, frequent Shacknews Cortex points winner and gif thread maestro. Going back to 2000, he’s been a part of Shacknews for over 20 years and a constant positive force for the community. Even though he has a heart of gold, Maddog is an outspoken guy and delves into many topics, with a lot of Shacknews history up for discussion. Maddog_Delphi97 is no stranger to anyone that has played in any Shackbattle with his distinct voice and hilarious banter. Awww yeah.

Next up, I spoke with the man behind the lols and Shacknews Wreckfest Shackbattle champion, ThomW, for his thoughts on Shackbattles and the Shacknews 25th anniversary. ThomW has made many contributions to Shacknews Chatty, our comment tagging system being one that is used by the community heavily for interaction and sweet, sweet Cortex points. ThomW is also a very long time member of Shacknews, and I am fortunate to have been able to chat with him and hear his detailed perspective on Shackbattles.

Finally, I sat down with one of the younguns that we as a community helped mold into the gamer he is today, DozIR_. DozIR_ is perhaps one of the most forward looking and genuine Shackers to post in the Chatty. His upbeat comments and excitement to play games with other community members is infectious and he gets everyone pumped to throw down. DozIR_ is a former ShackTac member and made his way to Shacknews through that group so it’s only fitting that I would get his thoughts on Shackbattles as they were a part of his formative online gaming experiences.

Shackbattles have been around for so long and have become such an ingrained part of our community that some users started playing online games because of the battles entirely. Other users are making sure that classic Shackbattle games never go out of style. _jon is one Shacker that has been set on bringing classic Team Fortress 2 back to Shacknews Chatty. Another is fadetofunk, who has been organizing Shackbattles for games like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for some retro revival as well as newer titles like Forza Horizon 4, Battlefield V, and more. This article may be a retrospective on Shackbattles, but the truth is, they never left.

Certain games have a lasting community appeal and the ability to bring Shackers together, week after week, as we all grow older and have less time than ever for online gaming. Games like Rocket League and Wreckfest continue to bring the community together again for nights of companionship and calamity. Shacknews Discord servers now facilitate groups of Shackers looking to play their favorite game with others and have replaced the Shackbattle-centric websites and voice applications of yesterday. I would say that there’s never been a better time to get involved with Shackbattles, even with the 25 year history behind us, the future looks busy.

The Shacknews Stimulus Games are a prime example of the future of Shackbattles. The Stimulus Games are now in their second season of bringing Shackbattles and offering support to communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These have included our own community,  the Shacknews Audio/Visual staff, musicians, comedians, esports competitors and commentators, and others who have been impacted by the cancelation of live events. I never imagined so many years ago that Shackbattles would eventually be used as such a positive force to directly help people.

Upon looking back, I see that Shackbattles have always been helping people. They’ve brought Shackers together as a community and provided thousands of hours of joy. Shackbattles have created friendships that span continents and decades, relationships between people that would have never connected without their shared love of Shacknews and online gaming. Shackbattles have had such an impact on me, that I hosted an in-person fighting game night for Shackers in my living room for months to bring more of those relationships into my life. Without Shackbattles, my life would be poorer in friendships and memorable experiences, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Here’s to 25 more years of Shackbattles, I’ll see you all on the server. What's the link to the Discord again?

Bryan Lefler

Contributing Editor

From the test launch of the NES in New York to 4K gaming in his living room, Bryan Lefler has been immersed in video games his entire life. Battle tested in the arena shooters of the turn of the century yet kind to all animals that may cross him, Bryan enjoys a breadth of games but strives to be the best in any contest of digital skill. He is a former esports competitor and has been part of the Shacknews community for over 15 years. You can also catch him on skankcore64 streams on the Shacknews Twitch channel where he plays through the N64 library and follow him on Twitter @skankcore.