The [OwP] was first formed in January of 2001 by Kommie, a graphic designer in the HL modification Day of Defeat community. Kommie sponsored the concept of [OwP] specifically with DoD in mind, to help promote a spirit of fair play and cameraderie in the World War II mod. After gaining a small but dedicated following in a few short months, Kommie was offered a place on the DoD development team, and was therefore unable to offer the time required to run the Pact.
Kommie appointed Ted Ewen, aka FNG, to replace him as the leader of the [OwP]. FNG came from a server administration background. Former senior admin at Jolt.co.uk and with years of project management experience, FNG quickly brought his skills to bear and commissioned Stuart Felton, aka Galdo to build a new, intermediate site. FNG appointed a number of dedicated gamers and proceeded to relaunch the [OwP]. With Jorrit Wijnberg, aka Mr.Orange, a prominent DoD gamer in the mix as a Public Relations Officer, [OwP] were batting big and ready to mix it.
It was a roaring success. Within four days of being online, the new site had captured the imagination of enough people to gain over 2000 members. With a refined mission statement focusing less on what players shouldn't do and more on what they should, [OwP] went from strength to strength in the DoD and CS communities and beyond. Mike Pulaski aka Major Malfunction, a dedicated ew Jersey gamer, commissioned and staffed the first flagship [OwP] server, Mike's Marauders. Kerry Dorsey, aka Boogieman, quickly followed suit and added his considerable energies to creating a second, excellent standard and high quality server under the [OwP] banner.
In the summer of 2002 Mike and Brent Taylor, aka Comrade Nachaev were appointed project leaders for the DoD element of the Pact and [OwP] widened its' player remit beyond DoD and CS into the real-time strategy and simulation communities, expanding again at a rapid rate, peaking at 6000 members by the end of 2002. Again, seeing the opportunity to develop services and functionality, FNG commissioned a site development team to revamp and integrate the site, forum and player options into a functional interface.
Troy Chudzik, aka [OSF]Death, kindly volunteered his excellent services for this project, ably assisted by Nazgul. Meanwhile, Scott Taber aka Fractal and Nathan Girard aka Gerin, forged ahead on an incredibly novel and highly valued project, the authentication of nicknames on a Half-Life server platform.
These services combine with the Mission Statement to make the [OwP] what it is today, a dynamic, vital and motivated group of gamers numbering over seven thousand, playing in hundreds of different games across the globe, interested in fair play and fun times and empowered to enjoy themselves.
