Let's continue the epic debate. this is my attempt to end the discussion once and for all, there will be no more arguments, no more mystery; only knowledge. we're gonna examine the evidence, go over the circumstances surrounding the evidence, and then conclude.
I've had these images for years now, serving 3 purposes: 1) collecting dust on my HDD, 2) giving me smiles, and 3) being ready to knock out anyone attempting to rewrite history. it's time to put a checkmark on 3) now.
!!!!! The Evidence !!!!!:
(http://i.imgur.com/L4boHH2.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/HREYBA1.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/IwFfbN6.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/GamS2JR.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7vLcrIw.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/5QYdxlG.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/4yVPjom.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/o44f8zo.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/QGzmczK.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ia9UxN6.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ZQEg9xm.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/AK1zYOn.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/julrhLW.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/zmdAJMR.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/HPAA468.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/cHH4cs1.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/QXdA0VD.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/nBroE8U.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ouYwF1K.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/I0jcFYN.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Z38GDOo.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/UMZFmRU.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/KfpMtIi.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/KJgdCZT.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/RsRmo5a.jpg)
!!!! The Circumstances !!!!:
1) There are alot more printscreens following the same rankings. I tried to limit the evidence to big/famous names, names that current players can largely relate to. Most of the older players quit ages ago, and many of you have never heard of them.
2) All the printscreens were taken during periods of large ST activity. These are not propaganda attempts years after the fact.
3) Most of these printscreens were taken when I, chiefhero, had little influence or non-skill related respect. I was considered low intelligence, I wasn't chieftain of any clans, I had no power. This is important to understand because all my competetiton (sidey, drew, shoop, chaise, cow etc.) were clan-leaders, had alot of fans/followers, had much influence and power on their realms, and so on.
4) Most of these printscreens were taken when I, chiefhero, had 0 involvement in ST politics. I didn't try to gain votes through friendships/threats, I wasn't fighting for terretory or members in my clan; I simply played and enjoyed the game. In contrast, all my competetion was heavily involved in ST politics, all of them were respected for non-skill related attributes (intelligence, education/knowledge, charisma, power), and the list goes on.
5) The community was rather young at the time(somewhat naive as a whole) - non-skill related attributes and friendships DID have an effect on how the players ranked eachother.
6) Important point! These rankings, and players evaluation on eachother, were not based on 1 tourney performance, 1 st video, or a few weeks of gameplay. Everyone had seen me/my competition play for years, in runtag games, in tourneys, in delay, in our own host, with various allies/opponents, and so on.
!!!!The Conclusion!!!!:
The general consensus has always been that I'm the greatest. People sometimes rank themselves above me. a few Easties had a tendency to rank drew above/right below me. a few Euros had a tendency to rank sidey above/right below me. But even when we isolate the realms, the consensus on Euro was amir or sidey(amir or drew in a few cases), the consensus on east was amir or drew. The fact that euro and east differ on their evaluation of drew and sidey is well explained by point 3, 4 and 5 under the circumstances. Nothing explains why both realms had me as the best/second best other than my performance ingame. When we don't isolate the realms and look purely at overall community consensus, there is no question that people ranked me on top.
So, the ST rankings through history (based on consensus, observations and testemony - not necesserely my personal ranks) is:
1) Amir
2) Drew
3) Sidey
4) Shoop
5) Cow
I know that consensus doesn't always represent reality. There is alot more evidence to be covered to support my conclusion. We'll save that for later. Atleast we can finally agree on who the community - as a whole - always though was the best ST player (a few exceptions is natural). I, CHIEFHERO, am the greatest of all time until further examination has been done.
Does anyone have evidence, arguments or reasons to believe my conclusion is wrong? I'll go over win-record, tourney performances, old vs new players and so on if the current case i've put up is found to be flawed or insufficient.