The Coop Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Well, I've been here for close to five years, and I've been through wringer to be sure. I've been accepted and rejected by the judges, watched a lot of drama play out on the boards, and hopefully helped out a few people along the way. I've seen this place grow in spurts, and go through a good number of growing pains as it did so. Judges and the site staff have fought amongst themselves, the staff and the forum goers have gone toe to toe on occasion, and hell... we've even had a chatroom/forum conflict or two. It's been hacked, spammed, broken, fixed, broken again, and had enough rollbacks to give Walmart some serious competition. But somehow through it all, this site has managed to continue moving forward. Now, I don't consider myself to be a part of the remixing community. My presence in it has been very minimal over the years, and my contributions to it are equally small. But I have seen the effects this place has had on it. It's played a good sized role in shedding light on the notion of game music being more than a random series of digital noises. It's also brought people from all over the world together (both online and off), and even drawn attention from some of the very musicians that have been remixed. That's quite an accomplishment for something that started off as basically just a small emulation site. A feat to be proud of to be sure. From all I've read over the years, it's been a labor of love to get OCR where it is today (for all the shit that has gone on just in the time I've been here, it would have to be )... and it does show. A lot has been done to make this place run better from both a design aspect, and a functionality one. While it's true that some of the ideas were not popular ones at first, it's safe to say that the changes made have become accepted, and useful as they got tweaked. It's gone from a small "family business" as it were, to a recognized fixture in its realm. Thus far, it's handled that growth pretty well, and it'll hopefully continue to do so as the years go by. OCR's gone through quite a bit as it made its way to becoming one of the more recognizable hubs in the video game remixing world. Its success has come from the time, effort and money that djp and his staff have put into it, and from the work of those who felt the need to express their gaming memories in musical form. For that, you all deserve a big "CONGRATURATION!". And of course... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shael Riley Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Larry Oji commemorative figurines, plz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I miss orange ocr and Time-limited downloads. srsly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzumebachi Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Oh come on, nobody really misses orange OCR. Blue/gray keyboard OCR is where it's at. Or rama's fancy CSS themes. In any case, I drink to 7+ years of OCR, and here's to 7+ more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Oh come on, nobody really misses orange OCR. Blue/gray keyboard OCR is where it's at. Or rama's fancy CSS themes.In any case, I drink to 7+ years of OCR, and here's to 7+ more! no, thanks to orange OCR I missed lots of class hours because I had to go to check my eyes with a doctor. I'm almost blind since then but at least I didn't take algebra! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arwen Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I've lurked around here for a while, and have been aware of OCR for while before that. I'm not really part of the community--just someone who likes good music and thinks video game music has been terribly overlooked. I recently downloaded the torrent files of all of OCR because I was just looking for some good instrumental music, and I knew I'd be missing out if I only downloaded songs from games I knew. I've had many hours of listening pleasure over the past couple months and have been very impressed with the creative and talented mixers and the quality of pieces on this site. The mission of this site really speaks to me. As a teenager, it was not easy being a girl more interested in video game magazines than the latest issue of Cosmo, but my skill with video games (which was as good or better than the boys around me) gave me confidence that I should pursue a career in IT despite the fact that I knew I'd be distinctly in the minority. People tend to underestimate the importance of games (and all aspects of games, including design, art, and music), but they opened up a world to me. Looks like many others have had a similar experience, which is a big "take that!" to those who blow off video games or see only negatives in them. I'd especially like to say thanks for giving the attention you have to the Sonic series--those games have always been my favorites, and bring back good memories of Christmas mornings popping in a new cartridge and having a blast. I would sometimes sit in a level and let the music run just because I enjoyed it so much. It's good to hear that there are others out there who appreciated Sonic and the music as much as I did. I have one suggestion for those who may be looking for their next project: Lunar the Silver Star and Lunar Eternal Blue were my next favorite games after the Sonic series. I haven't seen a lot around here of Lunar remixes, but there are some tracks that were good to begin with (especially one sometimes translated as "Field to Tomorrow" from Eternal Blue), and I'd love to see what new perspective the folks around here can bring to them. Anyway, I knew there was a lot of work that went into this site, but I am glad to know more of the full story behind it so I can better appreciate it. Thank you again to djpretzel for putting together an amazing place (with a nice layout on top of that) and thank you to all those who have shared their work here for lurkers like me to enjoy. ~Arwen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 whoa, girls on teh intarweb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFireKai Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 whoa, girls on teh intarweb? Urban Legend... They're like the gators in the sewers. Hey, DJP, I just noticed you got the Facebook direct link up. nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darklink42 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 Well, I've only been around this site for maybe a year and a half, but it rocks. Thanks for the continued service to gamers everywhere, I for one love it. I bow to DJ Pretzel, you've made my life complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bummer Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 2006 was a great year. Not only has many remixes and all the different projects made my time sitting in front of the computer less dull, but I've also grown more attached to the community as a whole. This is a great site for everyone who wants to combine their love to music and videogames, and a large thanks to all the staff and contributors who has made this possible. Oh, and sorry about your private life, pretzel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villainelle Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 DJP - kudos to you and all the site staff for the hard work you do on this fantastic site. In the interest of improving a site we love, I'd like to voice some suggestions that I and some other users share concerning the level of interactivity/attention for certain aspects of the site. As you can see from any of the recent music-related competition threads in the Competitions forum, we're concerned that these threads are not visible enough to forum members and that we're missing opportunities there. I also personally think the game remix WIP forum could benefit from higher visibility while bestowing some of the same benefits to the community that a more visible Competitions forum could. Not sure what your plans are regarding further site design, but my suggestion is to make the modules on the front page of OCR customizable, and to change what the default modules are. Instead of Reviews, which I think is somewhat redundant (it often links to the same remixes displayed in the sidebar/"Previously on..." sections, or to old review threads that got bumped with a one-line comment), I suggest linking to the last X active topics in Competitions instead (default, customizable). I'd also suggest a module for the last X active topics in the game remix WIP forum, also default. Most of the competitions have deadlines ranging from one week (PRC - People's Remix Competition; ORC - Original Remix Competition, etc.) to one month (VOCR - vocal comp; FLMC - FL Studio comp, etc.), so it's essential that those who'd be interested in participating are aware of the current contests ASAP. By spotlighting this forum, I think we could increase the focus on music that sometimes seems to be lacking in forum discussion here (referring to the volume of posts about non-music topics vs. music-related topics). And of course, the more people actively practicing music production and critical listening--both in the Competition and WIP forums--the higher level of quality we can expect from music created by users of this site, which theoretically could lead to generally higher quality submissions to the site itself. As we saw when Malcos linked to the last VOCR comp in the Community Discussion forum, the interest and appreciation is definitely there, it's just more difficult to keep up and participate in forum events now with the more segregated structure of the forums. Please consider these thoughts whenever you have time. I think we could increase interaction at the different "levels" in which users participate in the site by making the contests and WIPs more visible--not everyone will get a song posted to the front page, but there are plenty of other opportunities to participate and enrich one's own knowledge/the community in general, if only people were more aware of them. Much love for OCR! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_cam Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 So will 2007 finally see Shael Riley appointed a judge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quoda Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 I have to say, as the nerdy girl who was tape recording video game music in the days of my youth that this site is so amazing to me. I've been prowling about grabbing remixes since about 2002-2003 and I still obsessively grab every remix I can find. Thank you so much, every one of you fabulous remixers, for making such amazing music. Music from here tends to top my playlist often (hence my excitement that Last.fm will now adequately portray my nerddom). I am excited about the prospect of making this place a bit more socially oriented... I don't tend to do forums well. I'm more of a lurker who seldom posts. Again, thanks! I'm excited about where this place is going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremespleen Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Keep up the good work Dave. Can I call you Dave? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ifirit Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Any compliments/words of approval and praise that I could give now would simply be repeating what's already been voiced so far. However, I honestly want to say "thank you" for the decidated work on the site. The site has change more lives (for the better) than your own. I would like to take the opportunity to make a suggestion about the site for future incarnations, perhaps better accessibility for mobile devices? Currently, the site doesn't work very well with mobile browsing. The page size is too large for the smaller screens and the text on write-ups gets crammed into almost vertical columns. While I know that mobile browsers don't really make up a noticable portion of the community, being able to view the site while away from a console would be nice. I think that it will become more of an issue in the future as more people are owning Wi-Fi and web-compatible devices, like the PSP, DS, gaming cellular devices and cellphones (and quite possibly in the future, iPods). Besides, it seems to reflect the same attitude about spending time away from a computer console yourself if mobile-browsing OCR were to be made easier. Many other websites currently have mobile-browsing software to adjust for such mobile devices, which fit the screen appropriately to the device and streamline information for faster access or to allow quick search of a site. I think it could really help in making the community more socialable if communication between members could be better accessed away from a console. For all the times I wish that I could show the people that I meet what OCR is by pulling out my phone, I wish that the site was better suited for it. Anyway, those are just my thoughts. Better mobile access! So will 2007 finally see Shael Riley appointed a judge? Probably when he goes to court. As to he being appointed as a judge, I doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BardicKnowledge Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 2006 has indeed been a great year for the site -- perhaps the most awaited site project (Chrono Symphonic) has been released, in addition to Chipamp, making listening to all of the chiptunes much more user-friendly. I was first introduced to the site upon asking DC13 where he was getting all of this awesome music about six years ago, and while I think I would have ended up with a music degree anyway, OCR certainly pushed me along that path. Thanks to everyone involved with the creation and maintenance of the site, but especially to DJP for putting so much into our collective happiness. By the way, the site definitely needs a Starcraft remix soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Good job running the site, been here since 02, signed up for the forums way later, don't really post but I have watched the development of the site, here's to another prominent year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Briggs Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 so I just decided that at some point in my life I am going to hang out with djp and discuss the effects of this website on our respective lives see you sometime within the next few years, dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Author Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 While I am an avid listener, I am no where near a major part of the music aspect of the website. (The one song I felt that maybe was so good compared to my other work that it may get it was rejected so fast I never even received the form letter.) I will say this however, the community aspect has been an important impact on my life, probably greater than the music aspect. For the last 5 years, I have been coming here constantly (and even after an extended break, which means I missed the original posting of this thread, I still return), and this probably the best internet community around. OCR's music may be what made it famous, but in my opinion, what made it legendary is the people that are involved. From an admin that created a website that probably changed the North American perception of videogame music to the lovable yet mindless troll, this community is an amazing example of what the internet should be about. I have to say, I am rather pleased to see the changes that are happening. Some initiatives show a desire to make the OCR community grow beyond videogame musics, and in a sense, it is the one change I was hoping to see. The judging process, the remix posting, all of these things are so obscure to me, but the community, this is the one part of the website I really understand and care for. By helping this community develop you will only strengthen OCR. Yes, this is a late post, but I think this is a thread everyone should post in at least once. OCR has an impact on our lives, and we should all at least thank djp for what he is doing. So there you go: Thank you djp, you are doing an amazing job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Yes, this is a late post, but I think this is a thread everyone should post in at least once. OCR has an impact on our lives, and we should all at least thank djp for what he is doing.So there you go: Thank you djp, you are doing an amazing job. Seconded, I was a lurker for years before joining the site and have only recently began to "contribute" musically. I can definitely say, though, that this has been a huge catalyst in my music deveopment - starting with (modest attempts at) remixing, but now moving on to other parts of my life. Thanks, DJP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PassivePretentiousness Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 before I discovered ocremix, i listened to video game midis and nothing else. i'm not kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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