== AGGTA ==

AGGTA is the abbreviation used for the Usenet Newsgroup Alt.Games.Grand-Theft-Auto.

AGGTA was devised for discussion of the Grand Theft Auto Series of games; however, it was also used largely as a place to hold irreverant 'off topic' discussions by a group of about 15 - 20 regular posters. At one point, it was common for new users of the group to be 'flamed' for on-topic posts.

Most of this group of users of AGGTA migrated to LiveJournal in the second half of 2000. Currently, the newsgroup is populated by on-topic discussion of the Grand Theft Auto series of games.

Mascot

The AGGTA cat, presumbly one of Deb's, was the offical AGGTA mascot. Other AGGTA paraphernalia included the AGGTA carpet, and the AGGTA well. There was also talk of an AGGTA camel, but I belive it was eaten. Reports on this matter are deliberatly vague.

Helicoper / Boat

There were the odd question posed by newcommers to the newsgroup who actually wanted inforation on the game. The most common of these questions seemed to be how to pilot the boat of helicopter. They could, but it would drive like a bus. The hack to do this was readily available with a quick search of the Internet. As was the way in AGGTA, we mocked or generally ignored the poster.

AGFF vs AGGTA

It was a cold, long winter. Some AGGTAers decided a sensible and grown up flame war with alt.games.final-fantasy would warm things up. It didn't, and it was a bit of a mistake, ending up with a few needless casualties, such as some regulars vanishing, and something about the AGGTA cat being stuck down the well.

"Peter Thomas"

"Peter Thomas" was once a regular contributor to AGGTA, even though no-one wanted him to be, least of all his arch-nemesis, Weirdo44/David Lees (known to Peter as "Beaker" for some unknown reason). "Peter Thomas" left AGGTA after he was paid off with a whole shipment of Prodigy albums.

After leaving AGGTA, "Peter Thomas" went on to become the owner of alt.music.prodigy-the (AMP-T) a newsgroup about the popular fame-seeking anarchist pop group, The Prodigy. "Peter Thomas" later went on to take up the short lived post of 'chief drummer' in the band. In his memoirs (published in 1998 and available from Amazon[616]) he describes this time as "six horrendous months", which is also the title of his first solo album.

No Surname

Peter Thomas was sacked from The Prodigy when fellow band member and punk Keith Flint discovered that he didn't have a surname. Due to technical reasons, "Peter Thomas" was given two first names at birth which must always appear in double quotation marks. "Peter Thomas" never let his two first names get him down and has recently launched a charity helping people in a similar situation.

STUPIDscott

One memorable contributor to AGGTA was STUPIDscott (née Scott Freeman (acutally, it was PSYCHOscott, but it's close enough)). Mr. Freeman is well known for making the universally celebrated mod for the first Grand Theft Auto game, which ran on the 100% IBM compatible personal computer.

Released in 1998, STUPIDcars took over 8 minutes to create including extensive testing. Mr. Freeman later went on to produce STUPIDcars Version 2 and STUPIDcars Version 3. The third mod in the series, codenamed 'Super Mental Thick Cars' or STUPIDcars Version 3, was never officially released but was found on the hard disk of a computer donated to Oxfam in 2003 by a concerned parent.

Interview with STUPIDscott

(This article was published in 2002 as part of Scott Freeman's publicity drive for his new website.)

Scott Freeman left AGGTA very suddenly in 2000. When I caught up with Mr. Freeman earlier this week, I found a man that many of us would not recognise. Since leaving AGGTA, Scott has started using Norton Internet Security and seemed to be trying to forget his past life as STUPIDscott in AGGTA. I guess I was really trying to find out why he had left AGGTA and what he had been up to since then. In this exclusive interview, I chatted with him about AGGTA, GTA3 and the future of his STUPIDcars series for GTA. Here is what he had to say...

As you no longer post to AGGTA, I was wondering, have you played GTA3? No, I've not.<br>

Can I ask why this is? I don't have a PS2. And I don't know if it's out on PC yet or not.<br>

Its not out on the PC yet. You obviously haven't been keeping up to date on the GTA/AGGTA scene. Was that a conscience decision or was the choice out of your hands? I kind of drifted away from a lack of interest. <br>

I see. Can you ever see a day when you might return? Maybe. After all, Jesus will return one day! <br>

Yes. That's very true. Now, you played STUPIDscott in what many people call 'The Glory Years'. I guess people really want to know, are you anything like your character in real life? I used to be, before I got hair in strange places.<br>

So, its fair to say that you have grown out of AGGTA? I think AGGTA and I just parted company gracefully. <br>

Does this parting of company mean that the long awaited release of STUPIDcars 3 will not happen? It was almost released, but demand was minimal. <br>

You must have been pretty crest fallen. Did that incident have any bearing on your decision to part company with AGGTA? None at all. <br>

Going back to STUPIDcars now, many people have said that it was nothing more then a crudely edited mission.ini file with all the speeds increased slightly. What do you say to those people? I'd say they were accurate. But it was funny.<br>

Talking about your personal life now, where are you living at the moment? At home, mostly. <br>

Where are you calling home at the moment? My house. <br>

Finally, you were an active member of AGGTA for many years. You must have some funny stories to tell. Something about a cat and pissing in the well. <br>

Scott Freeman, I should mention that you have a new web site due to be launched during February at http://www.scottfreeman.co.uk. Thank you for talking with me and good luck with the site.<br>

Other posters

Some other regular posters during the glory years include MattyB and the actual real Jesus Christ (posting under the name 'Tony Sutton'). Many of the regulars went on to be involved in killing sprees and road rage attacks, thus proving the link between video game and real life violence.