Ur certainly applying the correct logic here bro, however.......
The zone, regardless how much I miss it, and trust me, I miss it alot, was a safe haven for characters u described above Ben. The same Trolls that inhabit Agesanc all exiled there from the Zone. The Zone was a place where u could create UNlimited accounts. I myself would had over a dozen. They were created under 1 min and caised absolute havoc. Regarding cheats: the Zone was open 2 all. U didnt even have 2 have the game intalled 2 hop on. No CD cracks were provided by every clans webpage. Then 1 day a fella known as Torm3ntium showed up and provided, free of charge, an entire pack of hax. U had access 2 every possible hack there was. Hacking became a true problem. Every1 hacked. I hacked. U had 2 hack 2 keep up! It was so much fun 2 c an enemy player moving his troops in a certain fashion bcos he could c u. But I could c his also. So, we both knew we hacked but it was "almost" accepted.
No1 ever dropped though. Not with intent that is. Nothing was really gained by doing it other than 2 literally 2 piss people off. People were fond of pinging ur IP and actually hacking ur PC. How often did I sit at Uni and watched my m8 open other players CD drives through the zone. It was hilarious. " hey u mofo u beat me fair n sqaure, now Ill hack ur PC and upload a virus".
There was this cool idea of having members play "5 oh" ( Cops). These were the police of the comunity. Any1 could become a + member ( so called bcos theyd have a + symbol next 2 their names. These guys had very cool powers and would implent them when and where ever they could; except the correct places. Now u had players (kids)who would be prevented from typing 4 10 mins. Join games 4 a day etc. Wow what a problem, let me just hop onto another account and Voila.
It was all about attitude. The more ud bad mouth the cooler u were. Clan wars where flooding the few forums that existed. Age heaven was like Nº1 then, and still is very valuable 2day.
I spent countless hours in tha Zone. I had the time ( Uni 4 6 years wººt wººt), the speed ( yes bcos speed was king then, the word "micro" would have been mistaken for an oven of some sort in those days, who eva clicked fastest and sent more units upfront owned) and the childish hard core attitude. Clans were made and deleted on a daily basis. I really miss it.
Looking back I think the fun factor was far greater than ESO could ever provide. The game was so much more dynamic. Thousands of people played the game, although only hundreds at a time. All in all, with the cheats, the BS attitude from most, the game was balnced, the community knew itself, the strat was there although in a diferent manner and the game types were so much richer. Custom scenarios were countless. Death match was king. Random map ( 2day known as supremacy) was equally fun but kinda considered geeky, bcos there was no fighting 4 like 15 mins.
Nostalgia ftw
out
PS my main ncik was ISCS_Wasted ( ISCS being my Uni name); wasted bcos I .........
