Ascii divisions, where are you?
by black jack

For about a full year now, the ansi scene and the ascii scene have almost been totally segregated from each other. Most hardcore ansi artists know nothing about the ascii scene, and vice-versa. Although, I think ascii artists show more respect for ansi artists & #ansi than they do for us.. It's quite surprising how little the ansi scene knows. Only a handful of people from the ansi scene know the ascii scene. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm sure most ansi artists could care less about us, and in fact, a couple of them just think we're assholes with a tightass channel.

BUT.. this is where I set in. Most of the artists that say this are ones that haven't actually been a member of #ascii and/or haven't been in an active group that has both a strong ascii and ansi division. I think this ansi ignorance thing has gone too far. This is mainly why I'm writing this article for acheron. To show you little ansists that ascii is an art medium, that it does take skill and talent, and that it is a controlled community, not a channel full of tightass'.

"For the hardcore ansists shrugging ascii off while reading this, try producing it sometime..."

First off, lets start with the basics. #ascii is run by Necromancer & Omicron. Both Remorse seniors( I think omi is alumni? ). The Bot(s) are B0AR & G0AT, also run by Remorse. Most of the masters are Remorse members also. There are only about 8 masters in total, and I think two owners in total( Omi & Necrom). The channel is kept under tight order. When someone misbehaves, or acts like 'he's in #ansi' (AND I QUOTE!), we kickban him. This is mainly why a lot of #ansi artists are kicked for no reason... and that's because they don't know better. I know that just sounded really stupid, but its true a lot of the time. #ascii is run by 1 group, no group wars to deal with, no vendettas against other group members, etc. The ops in #ascii are also selected carefully. The only ops in the channel are remorse members, senior staff of other groups, or ex-remorse members. This has brought up some frustration from members as-of-the-late, mainly because remorse is becoming an inactive group( IRC-wise, in my eyes ).

The ascii scene itself is divided into 3 differences:

• Newschool (ascii 'filled' in. Many artists do not use $'s anymore.)
  
• Oldschool (/\-_|(), etc. Not filled in, looks outlined.)
  
• Amiga (Oldschool ascii with a certain style. I unfortunately, can't see this style. :) The Amiga scene doesn't 'hang' in #ascii on efnet, but in #ascii on ircnet. They're an older class of artists, and their scene has been around the longest. They draw on amiga pcs.)

For the hardcore ansists shrugging ascii off while reading this, trying producing it sometime. I guarentee it won't be good :)

Anyhow, now that all of that is known, I want to put something out in the open : What happened to the ascii divisions of ansi groups?

It's almost as if we hate each other. I remember when I was fooling around with the idea for Mimic (The ascii group run & founded by s2n, konami & I), and pariah was helping. Pariah suggested to offer to become the ascii division of a few select ansi groups. I agreed with him, and he offered the deal to a couple of group seniors (Zenith, The Legion, Avenge, and others which I don't recall). In the end, I think they all denied pariah's request.

This seemed odd to me. I asked The Legion about it awhile ago (When Maestro didn't hate me), and he just remarked that The Legion was about bringing back ansi, and ascii didn't fit in.

Well folks.. don't you find it weird that all newfound ansi groups DON'T have ascii departments, when the earlier ones did? I mean.. when I join #ansi, the only people that seem to know me, or reconignize me, are the ones.

I've been in the same groups with. I come from a time where ansi & ascii groups were in limbo with each other. Everything was cool then, no ascii / ansi fueds, and most ansi groups had ascii divisions. I've been in Acid, Cia, Plain, Echo(I ran their ascii div), and Fire. All of which supported ascii to its fullest. (Don't forget Blade). But what's up with this now? Are you ansi artists afraid of our skills? :)

Anyhow.. I find it all rather funny. In a 1 on 1 draw off, I could probably DESTROY many ansi artists. (No ego intended, just proving a point). The bottom line is : Ascii takes skill, it always has, it always will. We've evolved a lot since most of you kids have seen a mixed pack, and I think we should start to get back together...

Ascii created today is 100x better than it was 2 years ago. Hell, there were about 3 pic artists back then too, (all of which are legends, incidently - khz, msd, mrkite, etc).

Bah.. my two cents have been shared. If you would like to feedback on this situation, please feel free to email me : jeffjc@globalserve.net.

Support my ansi/ascii brotherhood! Fight the power! For more information on art, and its packs, check out : ftp.remorse.org/pub/ascii/*

The leading groups right now are Remorse, Karma, Mimic, Wax and Hazmat(?). All those packs are located there. Give 'em a view.. for old times sake.

Black Jack (Mimic ASCII Productions)