Greetings!

 

Seventeen years ago today (November 29, 1995), Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset went live and became the world's first Space Quest fansite.* Since it's never a bad time for navel-gazing, here's a brief history of the early years of the site I wrote back in 2002:

 

Let me begin with a question that I've been asked several times (well, at least a few times) through the years: "Why Space Quest?" Why, precisely, did I choose to launch a website devoted to Space Quest six years ago? The answer is simple enough; to coin a phrase, I launched a Space Quest website because it wasn't there. When I first logged onto the Internet back in the autumn of 1995, I found myself with access to websites devoted to every topic under the sun. For weeks, I surfed from topic to topic and from site to site, truly beginning to appreciate the power of the online medium as I did so. One day, I decided to search for a site devoted to one of my favorite adventure gaming series, Space Quest. After all, there was a site out there for practically every other topic imaginable; surely there was a quality Space Quest site, too. In turn, I was rather surprised to discover that nobody had bothered to launch a website dedicated to Roger Wilco's adventures. Clearly, I had to do something to remedy that situation; I was a man with a mission (like those guys onstage at the Rocket Bar in Ulence Flats). There was one small catch, though: I didn't know HTML from a BLT.

 

So, with WYSIWYG HTML editors still a year or so down the line, I went to my local bookstore, picked up a copy of HTML for Complete Morons, and started learning what I'd need to know to make the dream of my own Space Quest site a reality. Eventually, thanks to the book and plenty of trial-and-error, I developed the minimal HTML and graphics skills necessary to build the site that I had envisioned. That left a key question unanswered, however: what in the name of Fester Blatz was I going to post in terms of content at this would-be Space Quest site? There weren't really that many models for fan-sites dedicated to specific adventure games on the Web at the time, so I essentially made it up as I went along. First, I'd need walk-throughs for the entire series; that was a no-brainer. Also, a few music and sound downloads seemed like a natural idea. In addition, I wrote a couple of pieces that remain part of the Broomcloset to this day: The Two Guys from Andromeda Story and Bea's Diary. In retrospect, I feel that these articles really helped set the tone for the Broomcloset as a whole; it was going to be a fan-site that included more than just a collection of hints and technical support. Instead, it was going to be a source of entertainment in and of itself, building upon and expanding the universe established by the Space Quest games. Still, even with the content starting to come together, I needed a name for my almost-completed site.

 

To be quite honest, I don't actually recall the origins of the "Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset" name. I do know that back in olden days of 1995, virtually every site on the Internet had either "virtual" or "online" in the title somewhere, so it seemed like a natural fit for my site, too. In fact, if I recall correctly, one of the alternative names for the site that I originally considered was "Roger Wilco Online." For some reason, however, "Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset" just seemed to have a better ring to it--although I'm relatively sure that "broomcloset" isn't even really a word. On a side note, the fact that the site was Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset resulted in me receiving numerous e-mail messages through the years from (I hope) young children thinking that I was Roger Wilco. I never quite got the hang of breaking the news to them that I was just a regular college student and not their beloved space janitor/intergalactic hero. Anyway, the Broomcloset's name seems to have caught on despite its unwieldy, somewhat deceptive, and generally cheesy nature.

 

But, I digress. Anyway, when I finally squared away the initial content and the site's name, I launched the Virtual Broomcloset on November 29, 1995... to virtually no fanfare. Believe it or not, Space Quest fans weren't exactly lined up at the Broomcloset's virtual door on launch day. In fact, on that first day, I had two visitors other than myself (both of whom were friends that I had convinced to check out the site). Of course, that's really no surprise considering that it would still be several weeks before any search engines indexed the Broomcloset. So, I did whatever I could during that first month or so to promote the Broomcloset. I e-mailed virtually every webmaster with a site even remotely related to Sierra or adventure gaming and begged them to add a link to my site. There weren't any message forums at the time to promote the site, but I did stop by something called "Usenet" and posted links on some of the "newsgroups" there (you might want to check the Internet History texts at your local library for more details on Usenet). Fortunately, the Broomcloset launched relatively soon after the release of SQ6, and plenty of gamers needed help with that pesky Datacorder puzzle. In turn, visitors slowly began trickling into the site, and I continued to expand it little by little with new content. Along the way, a Danish gentleman by the name of Troels Pleimert also contacted me for the first time and began submitting material to the site.

 

One of what I consider to be the true milestones of the Virtual Broomcloset's history came in the winter of 1995/1996, a few months after the site's launch. I was at home from school for Christmas break, and we didn't have Internet access there at the time. Therefore, I was cut off from my website for nearly a month (just as it was started to generate some real traffic for the first time, too). Still, I could hardly stand not having access to my e-mail account for a month, so I opted for a low-tech solution. I called one of the system administrators at xtc.net (the original host of the Broomcloset before the name switched over to wiw.org) and asked him to read my e-mail to me over the phone. Pretty pitiful, eh? Anyway, as per my request, my longtime friend at xtc.net, Andy, started reading through the messages in my inbox for me.

 

"Let's see... here's one from Dylan Carter with the subject line 'Can't get past Skate-O-Rama.' Here's one from astrochicken3887@aol.com with the subject line 'ROGER WILCO RULZ!!!!' Ah... this one is from some guy named Josh Mandel with the subject line 'Nice site!' The next one is from Jennifer DeCan--"

 

"What was that last one?" I asked, surprised.

 

"Jennifer DeCandido?"

 

"No, no--the one before that!"

 

"Josh Mandel?"

 

As a long-time fan of Sierra's adventure games, the name "Josh Mandel" immediately leapt out at me. To tell the truth, I never imagined that someone from Sierra would actually visit the Virtual Broomcloset--much less contact me regarding the site. After all, at the time, I idolized the game designers and writers at Sierra the same way that most kids my age looked up to rock stars. I was so excited on that wintery day that I immediately got off the phone with Andy, hopped in my car, and drove nearly two hours to the xtc.net offices just to respond to Josh's e-mail message at one of their public terminals. Of course, the primary reason that Josh e-mailed me in the first place was to point out that I omitted him from the Two Guys from Andromeda Story, but that's beside the point. In turn, over the course of the past six years, I've had a chance to not only get to know Josh, but also to correspond with and interview other Space Quest creators such as Scott Murphy, Mark Crowe, and Leslie Balfour. All of these Andomedans are fine individuals who truly care about Space Quest fans, and the Virtual Broomcloset wouldn't be what it is today without their generous input.

 

Over time, the Virtual Broomcloset grew larger and larger, covering an even wider range of topics related to the Space Quest series. I added even more articles, creator interviews, downloads, and eventually launched the infamous message forum known as the Subspace Channel. Believe it or not, the site even began to get some real press coverage along the way, with positive reviews appearing in a handful of print magazines. One book covering PC gaming online even had a great write-up on the site. I vividly remember the feeling of suprise when I was thumbing through this book one day at Books-A-Gazillion and unexpectedly saw my name (and my site's name) there in front of me. It's a good thing that I was loitering at the store that day, or I might have never even known about the write-up in the first place. As the site grew in notoriety, so did its number of visitors. Soon, I was receiving dozens of e-mail messages per week concerning the Space Quest series. Heck, I even occasionally responded to a few of them!

 

As the Broomcloset grew, so did the online Space Quest community in general. Dubbed the Wilco World Wide Web (WWWW) by Freelance Space Quest Historian Troels Pleimert, the Broomcloset was quickly joined by literally dozens of Wilco fan-sites. Some of these included Troels' own Wilco's Domain, the Roger Wilco Memorial, WilcoWeb, Scumsoft HQ, StarCon 3000, the Star Confederacy, Popular Janitronics, and too many more to mention by name. Furthermore, it was around 1997 or so that Sierra began leaking bits of information about the then-forthcoming Space Quest 7. News of this impending, long-awaited project fueled all of Space Quest fandom, inspiring more and more websites along the way, and generally making it an exciting time to be a fan of Roger Wilco.

 

Then, things suddenly changed on the WWWW in early 1998. Sierra announced that Space Quest had been placed "on hold indefinitely" (or, in non-legalese, "cancelled"). Despite the launch of various "Save Space Quest 7" campaigns, the enthusiasm that once inspired much of the activity on the WWWW was replaced by dejection and, in some cases, apathy. Many Space Quest websites stopped updating or disappeared altogether. In turn, the Broomcloset was at a crossroads. I had spent many months working on the site and, with Space Quest 7 no longer on the horizon, I wasn't sure where to take the site in terms of future content. At the time, it seemed like there just wasn't anything new or creative left to say about Space Quest. All the nits had been picked, all the polls conducted, and all the articles written. Or so I thought.

 

After a brief period of site inactivity resulting from a severe lack of inspiration after the cancellation of SQ7, I realized that the only way to keep Space Quest alive was through the efforts of devoted Space Quest fans. After all, I couldn't just stand idly by and allow Roger, Sludge, Bea, and all the rest simply to be discarded onto the rubbish pile of adventure gaming history. If Sierra was going to let the legacy of the Space Quest series lapse, I came to the realization that it was up to fan-sites like the Virtual Broomcloset to pick up the torch and run with it. So, I rededicated myself to making sure that the Broomcloset remained one of the finest adventure gaming sites on the Web. More site features, articles, interviews, fan fictions, and Space Quest trivia quizzes followed over the course of the next two years. In turn, my efforts reached a peak in November 2000 with the site's fifth anniversary celebration (including the release of Vonster D. Monster's excellent fangame, Space Quest: The Lost Chapter). Now, the sixth anniversary is upon us, it's nearly 2002, and the Broomcloset is still going strong--a far cry from the eight or nine pages of ugly HTML code as which it began.

Yeah, I know: cool story, bro. The moral, however, is that it's been a blast being part of this community for the past seventeen years. It's grown into something I never could have imagined back in 1995, and on a personal level, it's led to amazing friendships with fellow Space Quest fans around the world.** I've even had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream and co-design my own series of short adventure games as part of this wild ride. You probably heard about that last part, because I haven't shut up about it for the last five months.

 

With the Two Guys back and the SpaceVenture on the horizon, there's never been a better time to be part of the Wilco World Wide Web. Thanks for all the support through the years, folks. It's greatly appreciated!

 

Jess

 

* And quite possibly the world's first adventure gaming fansite. They jury's still out on that.

** Well, mostly Denmark.

Wow. The Broomcloset is nearly old enough to vote.

 

Good to see that piece again, Jess. I vaguely remember it first time round (think the Josh Mandell bit is familiar). It's amazing the changes in the community since then, but certainly SpaceVenture has helped reignite it.

 

Here's to another 17 years.

17 years. That's crazy. Time is flying in these later years.

Those were ... days!

Those were ... days!

 

6,205.

Big, enormous, much belated congratulations, Jess! I love the fact that the little monster you borne and I fed in my adolescence has grown into this cuddly beast we now ... okay, that's a pretty belabored metaphor. I'll just stick with the big congratulations! ;)

Seventeen years ago today

Feeling old yet? ;)

 

I launched a Space Quest website because it wasn't there.

So what you're saying is...you looked out into the Internet, saw a Virtual Broomcloset-shaped hole, and felt compelled to fill it. :D

 

Seventeen years...my god, has it been that long? Yes...yes it has. I vividly remember my first brush with the 'Closet - I had purchased the then-recently-released SQ6 sometime around '96 or '97, and had spent six months stuck on the endodroid puzzle because I didn't know you could bend one of the pipes in the background (grr!). After leaving the game for so long and the coming back to it determined to beat the damned thing, I realized that, with my family's new computer and this brand-new Internet thing that came with it, I could see if anyone else has posted a solution to the game's puzzles. My search quickly took me to a walkthrough on the Broomcloset, although at the time I didn't appreciate the gravity of the find - I simply took my puzzle solution and went off to beat SQ6 and then laugh at it victoriously. :D

 

As I got older, and I began to see more and more of the Internet, my love of games gradually evolved into the fanboyness of all things fictional and geeky it is today. I began to properly appreciate fansites at that point, although I lurked at the Broomcloset for years before finally getting a proper login on the message boards and starting to poke my head into topics. I remember that part quite well - late September, 2001 was when I made my first post. Unfortunately, the only reason I remember that is because it was only a week or so after the 9/11 attack, which was a hot topic when I made my debut... :unsure:

 

In case you're wondering, I was just as long-winded back then as I am now. Really, though, the only reason I talk to much is because I love discussing the subject at hand. ;)

 

Like a lot of fans, after several years I began to drift away from the SQ fandom due to the utter lack of new material to work with. I never really *stopped* loving SQ, mind you - I just switched to more of a private worship instead of the public services we used to hold. :P SQ was like the first girlfriend you ever dated, who's no longer around but you still cherish her memory just the same. I stopped keeping tabs on SQ happenings (mostly because I assumed there *weren't* any) and focused on other things.

 

Then a bunch of guys drop three completed SQ fangames on me from out of freakin' nowhere. Admittedly, part of the shock was because I hadn't been keeping up with SQ news at all, but the bigger shock is that games of such magnitude - *especially* VSB and Incinerations - got completed *at all*. Back in the glory days of the fandom, it was something of a running gag that new SQ games cropped up at a dime a dozen, and were cancelled just as quickly - the idea that these design teams kept chugging along during the Silent Years without stop and with hardly any fandom left to support them still blows my mind.