I've gone into an excessive amount of detail here, pretty much explaining the full story of my beginnings in both Vice City and VC:MP. I'm sure that this wall of text is far too large of a read for most people, so I don't mind if y'all just completely ignore it and continue scrolling lmao.
Vice City:I first came across the game when I was 6 years old, which would've been in 2005. My family had just moved from Turkey to Britain and since I couldn't speak a word of English just yet, they decided to buy me my first console so that I had something to pass my free time with. While my Dad was paying for the PS2, my Mum told me to pick out my first few games, of which were FIFA 2003, Simpsons Hit 'n' Run, and of course, Vice City.
My earliest recollections of the game are a bit faint due to how long ago it was, but I remember the banging tunes on Wave 103, Flash FM, V Rock and Emotion 98.3 which are all still my favourite radio stations to this day, loving my Cubano hermanos and hating those pesky Haitians, how difficult the Demolition Man mission was, (but looking back at it now, I have no idea how anyone struggles with this lmao,) and having my jaw on the floor after unlocking the Film Studio and watching it's first cutscene.
VC:MP:I first discovered the multiplayer mod in 2018. Me and a friend had just tried out SA:MP, but after loathing it, I had the lightbulb moment in my head to find the substitute for my beloved childhood game.
My earliest memories of the multiplayer mod are far more vivid since I'm still a relatively new member of this community. The first server I joined was LW, but would regularly RQ shortly after getting rekt from not knowing how to DM, but also because of the 30 FPS cancer lmao.
In the search for an alternative gamemode on the launcher, I came across VCCnR, from where I first met [DK]Vatan. He helped me learn the fundamentals of the server, introduced me to RTV, (which has always been special to me because it's the server that initially got me interested in DM, especially due to it's objective based gamemode as opposed to what I like to call, "braindead DMing",) and invited me in what is
technically my first clan,
Donkey Kong Dark Killers. Due to not understanding at the time how clans function, I "joined" by simply changing my nickname to "[DK]Ulker" without making any stat transfer requests nor going through an application process beforehand. Not only did I forgot to mention this in my application to VU, but moreover I honestly didn't even recall being a member of this clan until [F2]Nassim reminded me earlier this year.
Shortly afterwards, I would become more involved in VCCnR and hence less active in RTV, with my Turkish friend doing the opposite. During this period was when my VCCnR "beginners leniency" began. I got banned multiple times for death evades, (mostly caused by =SpitFire='s Godly arresting speeds,) scammed SqmmySqm out of a shitty Sanchez, (foolishly thinking that it was worth jepordising our friendship,) and worst of all, genuinely feared and thought of Jokah as this scary Admin. I would eventually grow out of this phase after meeting iNs.Deadshot and iNs.Duke, ([DU]Ronnie,) both of whom greatly helped me learn the sensible behaviour and mature attitude that is required of any member of a respectable clan, and eventually welcomed me to what I still consider as my first clan, iNsomniacs. This is where I would also come to meet Nyon and Traxy for the first time, who's advancing in their DM skills and moving on to VU would become my main motivation to do the same in the future. Then rest is history.
It's funny thinking back at it now, if I had come across Argonath RPG instead of VCCnR on the randomly assorting masterlist all that time ago, I would've entered the world of VC:MP through a completely alternate path. To this day, I genuinely believe that I would've ended up initially befriending [EAF]Klaus and [EAF]Silent, (due to our common nationality, just like how I did with [DK]Vatan) and probably began my VC:MP journey as a member of our oldest rivals instead, EAF.
