Gamer Crossfire



Gamer Crossfire, the successor to Gamers Talk Elite, was originally created by Zelda King as a refuge for HTLOZ forum-goers in early 2002. It is succeeded by HTLOZ II.

GXF Era
GXF was the first acronym to represent the name "Gamer Crossfire." Its initial purpose was to provide a home for HTLOZ refugees. It was online from 2002 to 2004.

Zelda King's original vision was to provide a website along with the community forums. The new web site would attempt to refocus the Zelda-oriented community on more general coverage of video games. This vision never manifested itself during the GXF era.

During GXF's lifetime, there were a number of problems which temporarily shut the forums down and left the community stranded, sometimes weeks at a time. There were two major server black outs that hindered GXF's growth. These two black outs can separate GXF into three distinct periods: GXF 1, GXF 2, and GXF 3.

GXF 1
Out of all the versions of Gamer Crossfire, GXF 1 held the most resemblance to the original HTLOZ forums. GXF 1 had a large focus on RPG threads, user activity, and rules that were very similar to the HTLOZ forums. Toward the end of 2002, the first server black out crippled GXF 1 and stranded the forum community.

GXF 2
Weeks later, after the first black out, Zelda King restored the site on a new server, marking the age of GXF 2. Somehow, things weren't the same as they used to be. Zelda King wanted to stray away from being recognized as the only alternative for HTLOZ users. Stricter forum rules and a new Flash arcade were implemented in order to help separate GXF from the HTLOZ name. He tried very hard to establish an independent identity for GXF, but the origins of the forums worked against his efforts.

Yet again, in late-2003, the GXF community was shut down due to server issues and a great deal of forums goers fled to the Ganon's Tower forums until GXF returned.

GXF 3
Just before the turn of the new year, GXF returned. This was the final and longest iteration of GXF. The adoption of vBulletin 3.0, still in development at the time, is a distinguishing feature of this period. The third version of Gamer Crossfire had an increased emphasis on the Flash arcade. Unfortunately, this detracted from posting.

Zelda King, now going by the name King-X, implemented a frontpage vBulletin portal that focused on video games. He featured some of his MIDI and MP3 work on the site, and opened the forums and site up as a place that visitors could share their own music.

By the end of the year, word of the returning HTLOZ forums swept the GXF community. Inevitably, King-X shut GXF down just before the new HTLOZ II launched in 2005. The purpose of GXF as a HTLOZ fallout shelter had been fulfilled and the GXF forum-goers migrated to HTLOZ II.

GCF Era
In spring 2006, King-X founded the fourth version Gamer Crossfire, renamed from GXF to GCF. The new acronym distinguished Gamer Crossfire from its old roots as a fallout shelter for the HTLOZ refugee community. King-X had a new focus on building a web site and community forums with a broad emphasis on video games in general. The Flash arcade was no longer a feature and forum rules were implied and respected, despite being less strict. A web site that reported on video games was now the main feature that led visitors to the new set of forums.

King-X successfully separated GCF from the HTLOZ II forums and proved that both could co-exist with their own intents and purposes. Unfortunately, at this point in GCF's lifetime, the forums had seen unsatisfactory activity.

At the very end of 2006, the GCF staff decided to shut the forums down due to poor progress and less-then-stellar forum activity. The site went offline on January 1, 2007, and brought the Gamer Crossfire forums to an end. King-X does not intend to revive the Gamer Crossfire name.