Back in the old days the only real Redeemer Arena was called Schwantz's Redeemer Arena which is otherwise known as SRA. We had a ton of regs and a ton of maps but we weren't really getting any new blood (noobs) to fight against and we were getting tired of the same results with the same players night after night after night. Don't get me wrong. It was fun but after a couple years of nothing but the same people, it can get slow. Part of the issue was the large amount of custom downloads (Maps, Voices, Skins, Textures, Music, Sounds) on the server and back then, no one knew how to use redirects so they took FOREVER.

I asked Shwantz if he'd mind giving me a copy of the mod he was using. I told him I wanted to make a training grounds of sorts for noobs to learn on and then I'd send them to the slaughter house called SRA. He said sure and sent me the mod.

I built the server and used nothing but default maps so no one would have to download anything to play. They would get in instantly on their first try. I had a message that told the new players that if they could ever beat me, I'd direct them to the playing fields of the real Redeemer Arena pros. I told them that they would have to stress to me that it was a qualification round so I would know to try hard as I used to be pretty good back then but I didn't play every single round like a championship round. So they would say they were going for it and I would go for it too. So if you won, you knew and I knew that you won fair and square!

As people would beat me I would have them email me and I'd send them the name of the SRA Server and Forum. The plan was great and worked great except for two things. The first problem was that they would finally go to Schwantz's Redeemer Arena and they would get totally owned by the regulars there because they didn't ever play on many of the custom maps that Schwantz ran so they were at a huge disadvantage. That would cause problem number two which was they would all come running back home to CG with their bloody noses where they could continue to own all of the noobs.

Eventually, I started banning players who had beaten me to force them to continue their efforts on Schwantz's server but many had legit complaints being they were 56kers and the maps cycled so fast at the SRA server that they couldn't download the maps and additional files before it cycled and they'd get disconnected and not have any of the files that they had been downloading for 10 minutes. Others just hated that after finally making the grade they would get knocked back down to being a freshman on the SRA Server by the Senior players. They hated it so much that they refused to play there.

I removed the bans and just let everyone play at CG. Schwantz had started new work and wasn't wanting to keep the level of focus on his server that he had maintained over the past several years so he shut SRA down leaving CG with the torch for the time being. SRA has been back up a couple of times as Schwantz has had time and serveral other servers running this mod have come and gone over the years too.

To this day, I still think it was a great plan and had I known then what I know now, players like "Amtaham" would have been banned for good and the system would work well. I'd do it again but I too like Schwantz have more pressing matters being life in general so I'll leave my stuff the way it is for now. You new server admins might use this method though. The mystery of a greater place to play such a fun game will always draw in curious players hell bent on making it to the next level. Later!

Yes, that is how {CMM} got its start - from SRA.
{CMM} was a direct descendant of SRA and CG using the same mod given to me from Hermskii.
It was mostly Helen's fault that {CMM} took a bit of a different direction and spin. LOL
But anyway, Hermskii, see Helen's question above also.

Yeah that's pretty cool you thought of a niche for yourself and paved the way for something future, I love your 2k4 server btw.

Well look what i just found! This reminds me of how much I have loved this game and my time with it and the people in it. I have been able to meet, reach out to, befriend and respect so many people in the world of UT because of this game and my attachment to it. When reading this link I have posted be careful to notice whether you are reading from me being "Hermskii" with 2 i's at the end or the actual original "Hermski" with only 1 little i at the end. Enjoy!

http://hermskii.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3559&hilit=original+hermski

I was sure the name thing would bring a bunch of replies. It was a big deal to me. To each their own I guess. I'm really just glad that I never kept changing mine every few years.

The name "Hook" has been with me since about 1969 (my CB Radio Handle) - I am also glad I stuck with it - like Hermskii did too.