Another Lousy Day In Paradise :: Lars Hindsley's MaddenOnline.us

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Lars Hindsley's MaddenOnline.us

by Lars Hindsley on Wed 23 May 2007 11:09 PM EDT | Permanent Link | Cosmos

I'd like to send a message to the ding-dong's still playing EA Sports Madden on play stations. Not the normal guys, you know who you are.

I've learned you idiots are still harassing each other and still losing relationships with your wives, girlfriends and what have-you. There is some disinformation going around too and frankly under normal circumstances I'd let you chase your tail but today I'm in a fighting mood.

I'm about tired of being pissed on and having my parade ruined while I'm minding my on damn business. So here is what you need to know.

Yes I pulled the plug on MaddenOnline.us. The site didn't fail. History is being re-written because I'm no around to remind you fools why I pulled the plug on the site. That site was killed at the height of success. Sorta. I mean I paid for a dedicated server to run that site. I supported you all for about a year while trying to build a proper revenue stream so the site would pay for itself. After all you guys are cheap! You pay for one video game a year and play it all year! You don't go outside and get any sun for all I know. The game is a time sink! (For those of you with varied interest, this shoe does not fit you so don't get worked up.)

I pulled the plug after I the first quarter renewal of all your credit cards came due and 90% of your credit cards were declined! That is off the charts for dead beats in any industry folks! So I wasn't about to waste my time after year of hard work on so many guys that did nothing but complain and give nothing back to the community.

I walked away from the video game for a good reason. It was NOT my life. It was a F'n game guys. It still is just a game. For those of you making money winning tournaments, you are excluded. To the rest of you, go ahead and bitch. It is STILL what you do best. I can't even feel sorry for you.

But what I will do is make sure this article is easily found on search engines so the next Madden player asking, What happened to MaddenOnline.us isn't lied by a bunch of whiners that are still pissed I took away their website.

It wasn't your site guys. It was mine. (Yes you guys made it a great community and I remember a great number of you guys fondly. Great guys, with great intentions).

I was offered good money for the domain name and wouldn't sell it. Why? Because frankly at the time I didn't need the money and I wasn't about to give it up to a bunch of people that would have only used the name to destroy the game and my reputation. I still own the name and will keep renewing it and bury that name before I let a bunch of fools get any satisfaction for being rude, obnoxious and just plain mean. I can only assume most of those cheaters and obnoxious personalities have moved on to other games to hack and waste days on. So perhaps a day may come that I'll part with the name to the right entity.

I believe in accountability in this world and the year of hell you guys started with me wasn't worth it and you know it. For those of you with no other video game on your shelf... I'm so surprised you guys are still wasting your precious lives on it. And frankly there are better games.

So you guys can dig if you want and try to learn about me, I just could care less. But that site is history because you screwed up your own situation by your own foolish behavior. And in true blame-shifter fashion you guys would love to make me the reason why the site is gone. Rumor as I've read it is that it was a "failed site." That's a laugh. I was in EA's Community Leaders program. They sent me boatloads of FREE video games and I walked away from it all.

Why? Because it was a SMALL part of my life. And I had more important things in my life to do. It couldn't be any more simple.

Again... enough of you guys were so obnoxious you never even realized an ounce of civility... I would have handed over the domain and site to someone for FREE if the atmosphere was mature and rational. That is how bad that community was. My only advice to you is, get your life straight and love someone. Go play some sports outside. Do anything but put all your time and anger into a video game. I walked away from it many years ago. I've never had a second thought about it. It sure as hell had nothing to do with being a failure.

So to the few people researching this subject wondering what-ever happened to Lars Hindsley and MaddenOnline.us? Now you know. Believe the discussion boards, or believe me, it is your choice but at least you got my side of the story.

To those of you looking me up and finding this article... I'm glad to hear from you normal guys. I'm sorry to put it crassly but normal seems to be the best word to describe the people following up with me. I realize my rant above seems a bit angry, it's not. But I do remember a great deal of cool people and I learned a lot about how I should be policing my own children when they play video games from the very beginning of online console gaming with Madden's online feature. I moved on to games such as Halo and Gears of War for adult games but I play a Lego Star Wars with my youngest son too. I have no problem with video games. I learned a lot about how to be a better father from them in fact.

So to those of you that never took Madden too serious. Have a great life. :) I mean that. And one day as your children grow, remember your own behavior and what you want to teach them in terms of how to behave in this virtual community. Best Regards, Lars

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Re: Lars Hindsley's MaddenOnline.us

by Shopmaster on Tue 28 Aug 2007 04:06 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Lars,

I totally agree with you that maddenonline.us was not a failure. Not at all. That site brought a whole bunch of people together who cared about a Str8/Sim game of Madden. I don't think I never bitched or moaned about anything except for the way people were getting treated. I remember right before you pulled the plug and even afterwards asking you if you would give me the domain name and you said no, so I don't see how you could say you would have given it away cause I wanted it. I wanted it to keep the community around. I gave back to maddenonline.us as much as I could at the time. I became a moderator and then an admin almost immediately afterwards, cause I was involved.

Lars I totally agree with the business decision you made because you were trying to offset your costs at the time. I just think all you had to do was re-think the gameplan. You had some killer stuff, like the scouting reports, blacklist, but I think the ladder program did you in. Anyways, I'm not writing this to note the downfall, but to give you props for creating the site in the first place. It was the first madden site for a lot of people I know and people that I still play with to this day. I also understand what you walked away from as I too am part of the EA Community Leadership Program. Trips to LA to attend the ESPY, copies of the game early, trips to Florida to play the game. I think if me and you could have worked together back then we could have done a lot but alas everything happens for a reason.

I am now running my own Madden Fan site and I really owe most of what I do to you believe it or not. I learned a lot from watching how you interacted with the community and it's members. That's one reason why I try to stay in touch and see how you are doing, not to bash you but to just say hi. You were always nice to me.

Anyways, I don't know what people are saying about what happened to MO.us, all I know is it was a great place, with great people, great fun, and great times. I hope you succeed in everything else you do. By the way, how is the web production business going, you still doing that right?

Talk to you later, give me a holler sometime.

Shopmaster aka fishstix on Mo.us back in the day.

Shopmaster@maddenwars.com

PS - I just switched my madden fan site over to a dedicated server. Hopefully, I'll have better luck.

Re: Re: Lars Hindsley's MaddenOnline.us

by DKUN FROST on Sat 07 Jun 2008 01:29 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Hey Lars.....I just happened to type in a search engine "maddenonline.us" out of simple curiosity as to what would pop up. For sure, this was the first thing that popped up. Although you wrote this a year ago, I really felt what you were saying in your blog. You gave me a shot way back then to contribute to the community, and allowed me to make somewhat a name for myself in the process, while trying to maintain a standard of gaming and fanship that everyone could enjoy. Unfortunately what I experienced toward the end of it all was mostly negative, alot of postering and politicing......in addition to the ridiculous growth that was occuring at the time. I remember back then your frustrations, and I always reminisce about about the good times before the darkness. I do still play, but not as much and I dont have much contact with many from the past. Im just glad to see youre doing well, and I just wanted to let you know if I had never told you - thank you for everything that you did for me as a co-laborer in this thing.

Kevin W. aka DKUN FROST

ARMYONECAMP@MSN.COM
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DKUNFROSTMUSIC

Re: Lars Hindsley's MaddenOnline.us

by Rogers1 on Fri 11 Jul 2008 11:06 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

That was an interesting read.

I agree with some of what you said but who was wasting their life and losing their wife? The most games of Madden I could play in a row back then was two or three, and ever since I've found myself playing less and less. Madden never was one of those games you played for hours and hours to me. No one was really pissed at you or hated you either aside from some BFG guys. It was a shame it was cut off because it was a great site. I met a lot of cool guys there that I still talk to today. Plus it paved the way for a lot more Madden sites like Madden Wars. I was an Mod/Admin for a short time before it got pulled down, and would have helped keep it going but you obviously didn't want to keep it around. I think you're wrong when you say it was your site. You were the creator but without the community there would have been no site. I just find it funny how worked up you are over the whole thing and that you still renew the domain name. After all, it is just a game like you said.

And to anyone else reading this...

GO EAGLES! PHILLIES! SIXERS! FLYERS! PHILLY ALL DAY!

LOOK OUT FOR TEP FOR SOCOM: CONFRONTATION BABY!

PEACE.

-Rogers1

Re: Re: Lars Hindsley's MaddenOnline.us

by Lars Hindsley on Sat 12 Jul 2008 02:23 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Rogers... and others that I have not replied to.

I can't argue the point that maddenonline.us was not my site. It was and it wasn't. We could parse words. I see your point. I created it and it took on a life of its own. I'm proud of its legacy.

While I made some general points which maybe 8 of 10 or even 9 out of 10 guys could be pegged for, it doesn't mean every person there was a problem, a loser etc... There were a great many great guys. But as I've learned in life, sometimes people that look like they are out to help you are not, and people that look like they are out to get you, may actually be trying to help. It was very hard to dodge friendly fire, let me say that.

In the end, I did what was right for my future. I had to save my business. I wanted to make sure my marriage was not in jeopardy (at least not from video games) and I needed to move on. The part where I needed to move on is complex. I don't want to get into that.

In the end, I still own the name. I'm not giving it up without someone stepping up with some cash and I'm not going to second guess what I had to do. I'm very glad to see you guy stop by to say hello.

If it is at all unclear, I lead a very active life that revolves around my children and despite some hardships, I'm really enjoying life. Tell everyone that I knew and had fun with that they can look for me on Xbox Live in the Fall and Winter months playing first person shooter games such as Halo and Gears of War. I'm sick with the torque bow. LOL I laugh my ass of when I stick folks in the face with those things and all they can see is the sparkle. Good times... LOL My gamertag is DangerManXX

But aside from playing some video games a few months out of the year I'm usually doing some marathon inline skating or playing paintball. I guess what I'm saying is, I hope all you guys learned fast like me, get OUTSIDE more!

And Rogers1... I'm not sure what you mean about me getting worked up. I had completely forgotten about maddenonline.us until someone brought it up to me years later. I then wrote an article about it mostly for fun and of course to set the record straight. People can be mad at me for keeping the name, that's cool. Just be mad at me for the right reason. LOL

Thanks a lot for saying hi. I wish you nothing but the best.

WHY MOSTLY PHOTOS OF LARS?
The answer is simple. It's to protect my friends privacy. I'm not a narcessist. LOL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lars Hindsley is a self-employed single full time father, a writer, a non conservative Republican, a reformed idealist (a compromisationalist), ex-musician, God fearing cynic that could more easily be described in two words as a "Rugged Intellectual".

Lars writings range from "how to" articles to commentaries and advice. You'll find movie reviews and video picks of the day side by side with serious writings.

Lars offers perspective from an Anglo-Christian moral position while never lording over anyone unlike himself. Lars is of the opinion that if you are going to complain, you should offer a solution. His perspective on the world is that many of us fight societal evolution to frustrating ends without a genuine understanding of what it is we are all up against.

Reading his articles should provide you with positive energy towards living out your day. You may not be able to change the world but you can navigate it to live a rich and rewarding life. Enjoy Lars’ works, there are years of writings to choose from.

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