Happy Anniversary New VGU Network!
In honor of 1 year of our transcendence to the free forum form the Staff of VGU has put together a walkthrough of important moments of our community, and we hope everybody has enjoyed and will continue to enjoy our journey, together:◕
February 18th-22ndOriginal VGUnetwork shuts down due to increasing costs of hosting and maintenance.
@Dragbody pushes for the creation of another VGUnetwork as a platform for his mod releases; 5 minutes later DVAted takes up the mantle and implements the first measures.
@Maxunit and
@deepside effectively relieve command & give DVAted the blessing to bring the community back to a new safe place.
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February 23rd@DVAted opens New VGU on a freely hosted platform <Forumotion> More details:
https://www.gunetwork.org/t2-vgunetwork-sanctuaryhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t1-welcome-to-vgunetwork-hostPeople started registering, at first by word of mouth, then by redirection from the original link 404 page, and later by rediscovery or youtube mod reviews. It's declared a cost-free forum: no paid services or maintenance, no donations, nothing.
@Dragbody and
@Cpt.Rex were added to Moderators (later entitled Overseers, with administration responsibilities)
- VIP Group was created for legendary modders and
@xxShepardxx was the first one added to it
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February 24thhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t10-day-report-24th-febr-2014- VIP group has been renamed to
Paladin- Moderators group is now called
Overseer-
@maybenexttime has been promoted to Overseer
- First forum contest is underway:
https://www.gunetwork.org/t8-forum-graphix-competitionchallenging members to revamp the new site's graphical appearance.
As a reward, the winners would be added to the new
Graphics Specialists staff group.
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February 25thhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t18-day-report-25th-febr-2014- Members (30-99 posts) - renamed to
Survivors- First submissions to the Graphics Contest
- With them we've revamped WHO IS ONLINE, Forum, Category & Announcement buttons. Still Work In Progress. Also,
@SixShooter (MintyFresh) &
@Samatron015 have become the first site Graphix Specialists due to their contributions!
- Started a Site Main Banner Poll (set as global anouncement) to vote for our favorite of the submitted artwork submitted by the new Graphix Specialists!
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February 26thhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t26-day-report-26th-febr-2014All suggestions/requests made the day before had been fulfilled!
- added User Title/Nickname - check your profile settings and customize it to your needs
- added Reputation system - Total count shows under avatar
+ and - buttons should show in upper right corner of every post.
We've limited usage of up to 5 points/day with a 15 seconds time between them
so that people don't just spam the rep system for the sake of it.
- added Signatures to appear on every post
- have launched a challenge to create a 16x16 button/icon to enhance our forum's identity
- first banner contest is kick-started and eventually won by
@SixShooter for two straight weeks
https://www.gunetwork.org/t19-forum-banner-contest-1-now-closed-
@Corehound was added to Paladin member group
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March 1sthttps://www.gunetwork.org/t39-day-report-1st-march-2014- we've added, by request, a Steam ID contact field in each member's profile. However, it works only with full link. ex: http: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ <steamID here>/
https://www.gunetwork.org/t38-steam-id-forum-integration- together with Samatron015, we've revamped the icons for contact details
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March 2nd-
@Ruski Esplin has been promoted to Overseers
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March 4th- First Chatbox (the current one) was implemented.
-
@cire992 was added to Paladin member group
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March 7thhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t54-profile-details-popup- A Java plugin for Profile Pop-Up Feature was implemented with coding from Forumotion Devs, suggested by
@Jimmakos◕
March 8th- an alternative 3rd party shoutbox was implemented at the request of
@Jimmakos◕
March 16th- Colonials member group was created
- a poll was started to decide which Chatbox was better
https://www.gunetwork.org/t47-shout-boxThe original (and current) Chatbox won by a landslide (12 - 0 votes)
Jimmakos's 3rd party shoutbox was removed.
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March 17th- Second banner contest is started.
@anstand wins with a graffiti style submission
https://www.gunetwork.org/t82-forum-banner-contest-2-now-closed◕
March 22nd-
@Fraper was added to Paladin member group
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March 31st- Third and final banner contest won by
@Tetsuo with a Fallout 3 submission
https://www.gunetwork.org/t148-forum-banner-contest-3-now-closed@OlgaK makes her first submissions
and
we've discovered the random image generator thingie
that allows us to keep banners in rotation now
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April 3rd- an announcement was made to ensure members that, although the site requires you to post in english, your level of mastery of the language is irrelevant. More info on that here:
https://www.gunetwork.org/t160-native-non-native-english-speakers◕
April 5th-
@OlgaK helps DVAted to overhaul the site's appearance with extreme dedication, consistency and good taste. She is promoted to leader of the Graphics Specialists group.
https://www.gunetwork.org/t165-day-report-5th-april-2014-graphical-overhaul-courtesy-of-olgak-
@dazzerfong was added to Paladin member group
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April 8th- planning for the first screenshot contest begins. all user input was appreciated
https://www.gunetwork.org/t178-screenshots-contest-discussion-topic◕
April 10th-
@deepside was added to Paladin member group
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April 15th- First VGU Screenshot Contest is opened, focused on Fallout. Submissions had 2 weeks, after which all public votes were submitted by PM to a neutral account. Results were posted after another 2 weeks and the winners were
@MrMeowMeow for 1st place,
@Cpt.Rex tied with
@wurm45 for second, and
@Relewyn tied with
@dragbody for 3rd
https://www.gunetwork.org/t209-1st-fallout-screenshots-contest-winners-announced◕
April 17th -
@Xilandro was added to Paladin member group
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May 15th- by popular demand, we've implemented the "Latest Topics" widget on the side of the forums. It was requested by
@SixShooter here:
https://www.gunetwork.org/t380-a-recent-posts-box◕
May 19th-
@Maxunit was added to Paladin member group
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June 13th-
@Toxa01 was added to Paladin member group
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June 15th- Up to this point there was no topic for Rules. There wasn't a specific framework for them either, DVAted kept hoping people would get along based on common-sense alone. Some rules were on the registration page, the ones you had to agree to, but not on the forums and not well enough developed. So,
by public demand, the official topic was created:
https://www.gunetwork.org/t622-rules-guidelines◕
July 3rd- A spambot named nicerose has been banned after PMing ~55 members the same message in a very short amount of time.
https://www.gunetwork.org/t765-spam-bot-report#◕
July 20th- Second Screenshot Contest, again focused on Fallout, themed "Companions",
organized quite successfully (with much higher attendance) by
@TheHulksCousinVoting system was similar to the previous one. Winners were announced on August 10th: ENB ( Top 2:
@MrMeowMeow &
@DVAted ) & non-ENB ( Top 2:
@Bill Williamson &
@ATAMAHbI4 ) and overall
#1 winner:
@Cpt.Rex's "N7 Team"
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1110-july-fallout-screenshot-contest-ended-winners-announced◕
July 22nd-
@slothjelly becomes Colonial after reaching 200+ posts and a stretch of 4 weeks and a half on the Scoreboard. We were all happy for him as he really did put in a lot of heart and effort, and keeps posting to this day.
(we can leave this out 
I thought it's cute)◕
July 25th- VGUnetwork forms a strong alliance with The Vault Projects
The alliance continues to this day, faring better than ever.
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1020-alliance-the-vault-projectshttps://www.gunetwork.org/t1171-the-vault-projects-
@hitman47101 was promoted as Overseer
- Sentinel secondary staff group is created for moderating
-
@The Vault Projects @AdayDr1en @roflcopter117 are promoted to Sentinel
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July 27th@Drusvak, master coder, creates a reputation tracker so that we see who abuses the rep system.
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1047-new-feature-drusvak-s-reputation-trackerAs such, rep-based conflicts and frustrations drop dramatically. He is added to the Sentinel group.
-
@Snow Hammer is promoted to Sentinel as well
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July 30th@Drusvak, master coder, manages to implement a trick to auto-resize images, so that they don't stretch the browser page when posted in topics
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1088-new-feature-drusvak-s-image-resizer◕
August 8th-
@BoomBewm is promoted to Sentinel
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August 11th- A day after the July Screenshot Contest winners were announced,
preparations for the 3rd Screenshot Contest began. This time we recruited a Judge panel with reserves and laid out a slightly different set of rules.
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September 21st- Sought a solution to avoid issues with mediafire links redirecting to adf.ly ad pages
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1732-psa-linking-mods◕
September 29th- In anticipation for a newly defined promotion system, a stronger team was put together. After a staff meeting the day before, the following members: KrizalidBrando
@asc_kel @Torki and
@ArgusMercenary were promoted to Sentinels
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October 1st- Third Screenshot Contest was opened, set to run the entire month. This time we requested screenshots from any and all video games (except Fallout and Elder Scrolls) and the theme was "Fear or Suspense". The Judge panel, made of
@Tesvixen @TheHulksCousin and
@DVAted, considered a long list of criteria to determine the best screenshots and the winners were
@tpmmazo in 3rd place,
@KrizalidBrando in 2nd and
@drunkenSocrates in 1st.
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1848-vgu-screenshot-contest-winners-announced-halloween-edition◕
October 10th- Founder
@Maxunit and veteran game designer
@donta1979 have announced the opening of VGU Game Studios, a new for-profit venture company designed to create new original video-games and set its mark into the gaming industry. Recruitment is still open, apply here:
https://www.gunetwork.org/t1948-company-starting-up-vgu-studios-the-entire-community-is-invitedApply for starting a career in the Video Games industry now!
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October 30th- Halloween theme overhaul all of VGU's visual aspects for the day of the dead
-
W A R F R A M E - Subforums expansion
https://www.gunetwork.org/t2108-halloween-brings-warframe-to-vgu◕
November 22nd- Started 3 simultaneous Screenshot contests, one for Fallout, one for Elder Scrolls, one for other Video Games, all themed around winter elements. Submission period 22 November - December 23. Voting period of 1 week. 2 contests were by public poll, a third by judge panel. Winners are:
Fallout Screenshot Contest: Theme - Nuclear Winter; 3rd place
@MrMeowMeow ; 2nd place
@dragbody ; 1st place
@macintrollhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t2339-fallout-screenshot-contest-december-2014-closedElder Scrolls Screenshot Contest: Theme - Winter is Coming; 3rd place
@Cruz011 ; 2nd place
@CelticWarlord ; 1st place
@MrMeowMeowhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t2340-tes-screenshot-contest-december-2014-closedOther Video Games Screenshot Contest: Theme - Ice; 3rd place
@Juzkin590 ; 2nd place
@AdvancedTerror ; 1st place
@OrmrSnaethorsenhttps://www.gunetwork.org/t2338p15-vgu-screenshot-contest-winners-announced-winter-edition◕
November 24th-
@Master_Shifu was added to Paladin member group
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November 30th- Decorated VGU with Christmas themed graphics. Lasted until January 10th
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December 8th- Hashtags and Name Tags added from Forumotion Devs
https://www.gunetwork.org/t2522-new-name-tags-hashtags◕
December 23rd-
@TheHusky and
@falloutveteran20 were promoted to Sentinel
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December 26th-
@alonewolf003 was promoted to Sentinel
2015◕
January 1st-2nd 2015- GTA expansion for GTA modders and mods, as well as for SAMP role playing
https://www.gunetwork.org/t2821-2015-brings-grand-theft-auto-to-vgu- Moved all Screenshot Contests into their own subforum
https://www.gunetwork.org/f66-vgu-screenshot-contests- Gamer's Market subforum for gaming trading deals, offers and raffles created under "Other Video Games"
https://www.gunetwork.org/f65-gamer-s-market◕
January 10th- Staff Meeting
@Torki becomes Overseer
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January 13th-
@tru3th has been made Sentinel
- Purple Hearts member group was created, out of respect and gratitude for their significant contributions to VGU, the following members were added to it:
@Ruski Esplin (former Overseer, queen of badassery and lulz),
@Snow Hammer (former Sentinel),
@OlgaK (former leader of Gfx Specialists)
@The Vault Projects (ally admin of the TVP forums)
@donta1979 (co-director of VGU Studios)
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February 4th-
@TheHulksCousin has been made Sentinel
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February 10th- Public Release section is expanded and categorized
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February 17th-
@weijiesen was added to Paladin member group
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February 23rd- 1 Year Anniversary
Let the celebrations and surprises begin!
- Avatars will now show in the Chatbox!
- Special, complex mods releases!
- New site graphical design!
- New screenshot contest!
- VGU State of the Union
- Even more surprises!◕
Future Goals- MOAR Mods!
- GTA V modding expansion
- Potential expansion to other modding scenes like Dragon Age & others
- More Screenshot Contests and even, perhaps, a Modding contest!
& forming a contest OC (organizing committee) for this purpose
- (Continue) Winning!
Thank you all for being part of this community!
You're the heart and soul of VGU 
Also much appreciation to the Forumotion Staff!
Their services and support have been extremely helpful!
Lots of love to everyone here! 
by 
Calendar
Thankyou to everyone here, and here's to many more good years to come! 
