Subj: History of the Random Game Part III
Date: 30 May 1997 15:42:04 EDT
From: Mr Onliner

HISTORY OF THE RANDOM GAME (PART III)

This next part is taken from the account of MagicClams (hence the little quotation marks, dumbass!):
"Back in the days when free hours were the reward in all the HO games, all of us Random Gamers were at the mercy of the capricious whims of the HOs who ran our game. I had just joined the game about a week before, and had made friends with the two who were, in my opinion, the best of the best: Biochick1 and WLW Troub. Within that week, I won my first, and only Random Game free hour, but soon realized that my chances, or anyone else's
chances for that matter, of receiving any more free time was slim to nil. Since winners were never announced anymore, and occurred on about a monthly basis, as far as we could determine, many a great comic talent was ignored, and those who DID receive free time didn't receive much of it. So, we were disgruntled to say the least.

I, being the rebellious type, decided to take it upon myself to lead a passive resistance against the HOverlords who were taking us for granted. I gathered a group of people who I judged to be, at the least, the most prolific of the gamers: Myself, Biochick1, WLW Troub, Tocadisco, LeonardABC, Izzo, and Sour Soda. Thus was formed the Magnificent Seven. I talked to each person and convinced them to strike with me, and thus to show our
strength, until HO awarded us hours commensurate with our abilities. For the first two days, it worked like a charm. The postings consisted of perhaps a dozen entries, mostly saying, "What do I do to play this game?" or "Emag Modnar Eht" or other such BS. We had them on their knees. It was beautiful. Then they struck back with the emergence of Frecklejuice, self-proclaimed King of the Random Game."

At first, Frecklejuice4 just seemed like a normal wanderer. But on closer examination, you could tell something was off. For one thing, all his entries were spaced differently than most:
Do I get free hours for spelling my name? F-R-E-C-K-L-E-J-U-I-C-E-4. (Frecklejuice4)

AOL stands for another one loves? (Frecklejuice4)

What does that mean? (Frecklejuice4)
Secondly, he had three straight pages (The Magic of Frecklejuice4, Frecklejuice4, King of the Random Game, and Frecklejuce the Great) all named after him, an almost impossible feat for any heckler. And the third, and most damning evidence, his name. "Frecklejuice4" is of course 13 letters, when the maximum allowed is 10.
Heres an excerpt from "Random Shots in the Dark" written by Tocadisco:
...This became known as the Freckle Controversy. It stated that Freckle was a manifestation of one of the HOs, possible HO Chicago. One of the arguments against Freckle as a real screen name was the extremely large nature of his name: Frecklejuice4. 13 spaces in the screen name, too large for AOL standards and impossible to create legitimately. If someone sent mail to
Frecklejuice4, they would receive the following response from AOL:

(The following problems occurred while processing your request:
Frecklejuice4 - This is not a known AOL member.)

Eventually, the people at Heckler's Online started a cover up... (Tocadisco)
"The HOs, realizing the strength of our boycott," says MagicClams "created a fake online name and fed it ridiculously inane comments, followed by mindless adulation from themselves, with the intention of angering us into return to the game without concessions, simply to put aside this vain pretender to the throne. Unfortunately, they didn't think to choose a PLAUSIBLE name, that being one with 10 letters or less. The instant I saw what
they had posted, I sent out a memo to the full Mag Seven telling them about the ridiculous attempt to pull us back into the game, and warning them not to be deterred from their intentions. Then I sent one entry with which to show my knowledge of Frecklejuice4's fraudulence, leading to my correspondence with HO Chicago. HO Chicago sent all of us a letter acknowledging that Frecklejuice4 was a fake, and asking us to return to our servitude, once
again, without concessions:"

Subj:The Random Boycott and the Frecklejuice Conspiracy
Date:08/20/96
To:Tocadisco, MagicClams, Biochick1, LeonardABC, Sour Soda, WLW Troub, IZZO
From: _________

I confess!

I caught wind of the Random Boycott from one of you (a conspirator!) and was
going to build "Frecklejuice" (a fabricated screen name, as some of you so
aptly noticed) up into a big deal in your absence - but I just couldn't keep
the joke between myself and the conspirator!

All right, all right! You guys are right - the Random Game is nothing without
you. There. I've said it. Are you happy? Now come back and play nice.

ALL of you are great contributors to Hecklers Online. I hope you feel free to
let me know about any suggestions you may have to make it better!

Thanks,

________

"In reply to this, I sent a list of demands, and I tightened my hold on the game by adding to the Mag Seven the emerging ranks of new gamers who had filled part of the void we left:"

Subj: Re: The Random Boycott and the Frecklejuice Conspiracy
Date: 96-08-21 03:46:53 EDT
From: MagicClams
To: _________


Hi _________.

I'm the man who holds the keys to this game. You want it to continue, you
deal with me. You want it to have problems, you try to screw me......you
know I can do it, so don't play like I can't. I have all the key players,
and the new ones who pop up are ALL TOO WILLING to follow my banner. Believe
it. You like our posts? Fine. Give us the recognition we deserve. The
pecking order of this organization (Based on seniority):

Emperor: MagicClams
Primary Rank: Biochick1, WLW Troub
Secondary Rank: IZZO, LeonardABC, Sour Soda, Tocadisco, JaneDoe68, Shortsigh
Tertiary Rank: BabyLamms, Ourself, SewerDude, Wallaby16, Demon ofHO

Our demands are as follows: 1. I and the primary ranking members should be
recognized as official HOs and receive the " one hour credit for one hour
work" deal that goes with the title. 2. All Random Posts will be
reorganized in order to create a caricature of Molly Ringwald. 3. The
secondary ranking members of this organization will have 3 hours apiece
creditted to their account. 4. The tertiary ranking members will have one
hour apiece creditted to their accounts. 5. Biochick2 and LtJG RJ2 will be
banned from posting in the random game, but they should not be told. They
should be subjected to the humiliation of posting day after day, to no avail.
6. The New York Mets will receive a center fielder to be named later.

Failure to acknowledge these demands by Friday (and I mean 12 midnight) will
result in a new boycott. Some of these demands are negotiable. Others are
not. The Mets WILL receive a center fielder, so don't even THINK about
arguing with that one....If you hadn't created FreckleJuice, these demands
would never have been created, so don't tell me that it's our fault. The
boycott was originally intended to show the PLAYERS how much respect we
deserve, but since it seemed to have the opposite effect on the HOs, we've
become annoyed. Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or you will
be destroyed, as Attican was. :P See ya.

MagicClams

"HO Chicago responded glibly to our demands, and went on to accuse us of extortion:"

Subj:Fwd: The Random Boycott and the Frecklejuice Conspiracy
Date:08/21/96
To:MagicClams
From: ________


What can I say? You've obviously got us by the short hairs on this one.

After scanning over your list of demands, they all seem fair, with certain
exceptions. All that remains is for me to run this by our lawyers, the F.B.I.
(as is customary in cases of extortion or blackmail), and of course the
F.C.C. (as is customary in cases of extortion or blackmail that take place
over the internet or online service providers).

I'm sure they'll find everything in order, however, and we can begin our
relationship.

Yours,

HO

"Extortion! For trying to get what we deserve through non-violent resistance! Nonetheless, our demands stood, and we entrenched ourselves for a long siege:"

Subj:Re: The Random Boycott and the Frecklejuice Conspiracy
Date:96-08-21 20:06:07 EDT
From:MagicClams
To:_________

Blackmail? Extortion? LAWYERS?!?!?! You wound me, sir! Deeply! You
certainly have a tiny view of the world. Was it extortion when the Bush
campaign made those lesbian pictures of Ross Perot's daughter to force him to
drop out of the race? Of course not! At worst, it was politics, and at
best, paranoid fantasy. :) We are no different than Martin Luther King Jr.
or Spartacus or Susan B. Anthony or TV's "Chachi", Scott Baio! We are
leading an oppressed people out of slavery and into the light of comedic
liberty! Blackmail indeed! :P I scoff at you and your lack of vision! I
say that that insult requires compensation. The secondary members will now
receive FIVE hours apiece. :-P So THERE!!!! See ya.

MagicClams

"The turning point turned out to be when Biochick1 left the fold for greener pastures. She had been using AOL through her company, and as a result, when the company went to a different online provider, she went with it. This alone might have broken down the alliance, but in addition, shortly before leaving, she began to be an outspoken advocate of backing off and leaving well enough alone. I also suspect that she may have been
supplying information to the HOs about our plans, thus explaining their seeming prescience. Lastly, what turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of our uprising was Biochick's suggestion that we include Sewerdude in our ranks, who, unknown to me, was in fact another screen name used by HO Truman. With this final blow, our rebellion began to come apart. I was at a point in the school year where I no longer had the time to lead
rebellions, and I lacked an adequate lieutenant to maintain the siege in my absence. I finally called off the boycott, and once again, The Random Game returned to the status quo. However, bad feelings remained about the game for most of us, and the game never quite regained its former glory, in the absence of myself, Biochick1, and many of the others. The comedy was replaced by babbling, to a large extent, and the game died its greatest
death."

Excerpt from Epilogue of RSITD:

What became of the Boycott, and the Magnificent Seven. Nobody knows for sure. Nothing really got solved, there was an exodus of the regualars, many left without looking back. Some of us, like Shortsigh, never left. And people like, me are slowly returning to our master: The Game Which Is Random (Tocadisco)

And so was the end of the Mag 7. WLW Troub quit, then came back, then flourished, then faded, then came back again and...well, you get the picture. Izzo, Sour Soda, LeonardABC, and the leader, MagicClams, all slowly faded away. Biochick1, as was said, was forced to leave AOL. Tocadisco vowed to stand as a mighty rock, but in the end, even he had to take a hiatus. It was up to a new generation of random players...

(look for part IV)
M MRRRR OOOO
MM MM R R O O
M MM MRRR O O
M M M R R O O
M M M R R OOOO

"ONE HELL OF AN AMERICAN!"