Hi all,
I'm kind of a quiet guy around here, so there's an incredibly high chance that you've never heard of me. With great humility, and having had the encouragement of my friends in Catalysis, I'm dropping a quick recognition of my 7000 days in Torn. I haven't been active all of that time, but I've played on and off for most of the last 20 years. I'm 33 years old now, which means that Torn has been present for a significant portion of my life.
I started out on Torn at the recommendation of a friend from Habbo Hotel (if you remember that! Also, shoutout to Emmertz7 wherever life has taken you). When I signed up, Torn didn’t exist yet - it was still called Torn City. There were only a few images present on the site. Serendipitously, the images from the recent news article on the 20th anniversary will give you a pretty good idea of what my 14 year old eyes were looking at. I remember it was a big deal when I was able to buy my first Raven MP-25 in-game. I felt invincible… until I tried to use it and got my ass kicked. I spent my early Torn days flailing about, not really understanding what I was doing, but feeling like I was doing it right.
A few more memories that I thought of and will just leave in bullet form:
- I’m still scared of Bodybagger. I’m convinced he could beat the hell out of the rest of Torn by himself at one point, and I will not be dissuaded from if that’s the truth or not.
- I’m so happy to see JFK around still. Being part of that faction was something I aspired to at one point, but I never really committed when I was younger. I can’t remember if Factions actually had a real structure when my account was young, but I do remember folks having the shortened faction name (is there a word for this? Idk.) Like for example, HT-xname, BC_xname.
- I also used either Merits or Points to purchase a Yasukuni Sword and the Lamborghini Gallardo. I was ecstatic when I was eventually refunded those currencies and got to keep the items too.
Over the next decade or so, I played on and off, flitting from faction to faction and playstreak to playstreak. Strangely, Torn really cemented itself in my head in my 20’s. I joined a faction called Rise of Hitmen under NapalmX where I learned how to make money, and start training with Xanax, and how to play the game in general. We also fought against Unrelenting and ItsZahid when they tried to take over our corner of the map. That faction was eventually sold to USinfidel32 and AlexeaNikkole, and was renamed to Teufel Hunden Barracks. That’s where I really locked in and started playing Torn in earnest. I had it easy because I had done a fair amount of the education done, a good base of stats, and a Private Island. Over a couple of years with THB, my account blossomed into a decently strong profile. I worked my way up into THB leadership with my other friends BeautevilAngel, and fallenheroa7x. As the Chain Master, I guided the faction through the first few multi-thousand hit chains and we started aligning with CR and Catalysis. My new goal and bucket list item became to join Catalysis if anything ever happened to THB, and that’s what I started working toward.
One day, we got the message that the faction was being sold, and I had never been so crushed by something that happened in Torn. I didn’t mesh well with the incoming leadership, nor did I have the desire to build something like THB again. I spent the next year or so just logging in to train and do crimes. Eventually, I invited a couple of my IRL friends to play Torn with me after they had noticed that I was STILL playing this mostly text-based game. Having them around and seeing their joy and discovery really reignited my passion for Torn. I joined the faction that had scooped them up (shoutout to MORTAL LEGENDS!) I stuck around there for a while but realized that it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I looked up AlexeaNikkole, who was in Catalysis at that point, and realized “hey, I might actually be strong enough for them now”. I asked Alexea to put in a good word for me, left Mortal Legends, and applied to Catalysis. Shady69 accepted my application, and the rest is history. I’ve been in Catalysis for most of a couple of years now, and it has been an incredible time of learning and discovery. I still learn something new every day from these folks, and I don’t foresee that changing in the future.
This got way out of hand, and I definitely didn’t mean to write a damn book. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading, and for being part of my community.
Big shoutouts to Chedburn, AlexeaNikkole, NapalmX, Bob367, and Biff_Ironbarge. I wouldn't still be active without these folks.
TL;DR my account is impressively old as hell and I have a few friends to thank
P.S. A condition of mine when my wife and I were married last year is that she had to make a Torn account so I could marry her here as well. She created her Torn account while we were on the plane to our honeymoon. 😊
Mentions: AlexeaNikkole [888237] · Biff_Ironbarge [2728146] · Bob367 [2728133] · NapalmX [2009924]