For those interested in such things, I offer this history of the Games Site under my (Eonwë) maintainance. This compilation was begun May 15th, 2010.
The Valar Guild's Games Page, under the maintaince of Eonwe-(Valar), appears on the web. The previous Games Page had been maintained by Makar-(Valar)-ex, who retired from the Council earlier that year, and his brother Scatha-(V). This version was put together in Microsoft Word, and first appears on tenpeaks.com, thanks to generous web space contributions by Tom Bombadil-(Valar)-ex. This version only gives the main games listing for members and some basic gaming news and links, like to the Diablo and his Kin and Starcraft/Broodwar link pages.
The Game Reviews page goes up on the Games Page. Also, specific Games Listings are begun. Because this is done manually, I limit it to games we have at least 3-4 people playing.
Many of the Games Pages under operation by Varda are consolidated under the Games Page. These include: Diablo 2 Experiences, Diablo and his Kin, and the Starcraft/Broodwar Links page. Does not include yet the Tourney or Everquesters pages.
The Games Page gets its first review from Glaurung-(V)(now Lungorthin-(Valar)) on Dungeon Siege.
The first Games Page Mass-Update Email is sent out to all members of the Valar Guild. The Purpose: to have the most up-to-date gaming information possible listed on the Games Page so that members can find eachother in any games they play.
These updates are also used as an opportunity to introduce new pages or abilities to the Games Page and to prune outdated info from pages when necessary.
"Azeroth and Surrounding Realms" is introduced as a links page for all things Warcraft, continuing the theme set by the "Diablo and His Kin" page originally created by Varda-(Valar).
The first "State of Valar Gaming" report is sent to the Council to coincide with the Fifth Anniversary of the Valar Guild.
Care of the Tourney Page is transferred from Varda to Eonwë and comes under the umbrella of the Games Page.
The tenpeaks.com server went down, so the Games Page is moved from tenpeaks.com to the valarguild.org server, generously provided by Alatar-(Valar).
Second Annual Games Page Mass-Update begins. The Games Page moves to direct html coding by Eonwe, rather than using Microsoft Word. The result is less fluff when reading the code (good for me, no big deal for everyone else :}).
Third Annual Games Page Mass-Update begins.
Fourth Annual Games Page Mass-Update begins.
During this GPMU, the "Starcraft/Broodwar" links page became "Files of the Xel'Naga," continuing the theme set by the "Diablo and His Kin" page originally created by Varda-(Valar). Scope of this page was widened to all things Starcraft. The page "Sites through the Palantir" was also introduced to give links for Tolkien-based online games.
Fifth Annual Games Page Mass-Update is held early.
This GPMU update includes a change from "pure" html to php-based coding to generate and automate large amounts of information, meaning less work for Eonwë. As such, game tables could be built for any game listed on the main games listing, not just those with 3-4 players.
It included access through index.php and index.htm, the php having a background, and the htm not. Other features added (not all remaining today):
Sortable table for WoW Lothar branch introduced. Characters could be sorted by any listing appearing as a column header on the table.
Sixth Annual Games-Page Mass-Update held early. This GPMU introduces: a use of CSS for greater uniformity of style throughout the Games Page; a drop-down menu with toggle-able main topics and submenus that appear on mouse-over for certain menu items; Guild Branch pages built into the Games Page proper; the official retirement of the Tourney Page in favor of Events pages for each guild branch.
The Games Page News is moved from the "Valian" Year (GPMU to GPMU, which most of the time is effectively from Anniversary to Anniversary), to the Gregorian calendar (Jan-Dec).
The Games Page, along with all Valar Guild pages stored on the old server, move from the old valarguild.org server to the new valarguild.org server, still graciously provided by Alatar-(Valar), along with the domain name. This move grants me much more utiliy and freedom in Games Page design.
The Seventh Annual Games Page Mass-Update begins. This GPMU brings updates to how much of the data is stored for the Games Page, making updating easier. Much of this was begun with the prepations for the server move. Most or all of the Games-related pages of the Valar Guild should now be consolidated under the Games Page. Assistance from the Membership in keeping information added, accurate, and up-to-date is still welcome and appreciated :}
The following links pages have been officially retired: Diablo and his Kin; Azeroth and Surrounding Realms; Files of the Xel'Naga; Sites Through the Palantir. The links on each page have been divided amongst their proper games listed in the new menu header: "Other Gaming." A full list of all gaming links can also be found in "Misc" under this same menu heading.
Much work has gone into providing for greater uniformity across the Games Page while providing greater expandibility and adaptibility (and a moderate level of awesomeness :}).
The Valar Guild Shield, designed by Elatan-(T) fka Elatan-(Valar) fka Amillo-(Valar) fka Beorn-(Valar) (now a Tolkien-Only member), becomes the background of the Games Page.
The news pages from July 2007 to December 2008, once stored as text files, have been permanently converted to html, as that is what the original script displaying those news pages turned it into anyway. This was done to accommodate an easier transition in the new Games Page Upgrades.
I finally started calling the "Valar Guild Games Page" the "Valar Guild Games Site" since that's what it really has been for a couple of years :}
All guild gaming info should be integrated in some form into the Games Site now. (Found some Diablo tips running free :})
Member names on games and guild branch player tables now link to their information on the Members Page. Character names on guild branch player tables now link to their profile on the appropriate official site on the game (i.e, The Blizzard's WoW Armory for WoW, Turbine's mylotro for LotRO).
Pages have been posted for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, linking for now only to their links pages.
Mousing over table rows highlights the row and increases font size for easier viewing.
In addition to normal access to the site through the menu, one can link directly to a page by adding "?Page=(Pagename)" to the URL, where Pagename is the desired page: News (the news archives), Games (the main games listing), Reviews, WoWLothar, WoWUldaman, LotROLandroval, Diablo, Diablo 2, Diablo3, Starcraft, Starcraft2, Misc, Contact, Credits, Archives.
This history of the Games Page becomes an official part of the Games Page, er, Site :} As such references to members up to this point should be understood in the context of members at this period in time. References to members after this period in time should be understood in the context of members in their respective periods of time.
The Eighth Annual Games Site Mass-Update. No major updates to coding, no major features introduced. All the big work was done earlier in the year :}
The Ninth Annual Games Site Mass-Update. Gaming info updates for this GSMU are made as the info is sent in instead of at the end, so you can see when your info gets posted. Get your info in now! :}
The player tables for LotRO and WoW now offer stats based on the guild rosters.
The Tenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update.
Many updates not ready for the Games Site Mass-Update are now complete.
The Eleventh Annual Games Site Mass-Update occurred. No major changes to the Games Site.
Removed submenus that would appear on mousing over certain items in the main menu. Those pages are still accessible, as before, by clicking on those menu item itself.
Fix some issues with links on the Links pages.
The Twelfth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occurred. No major changes to the Games Site.
A new iteration of the Games Site was launched. Changes included:
Changes to link lists generated from submenus so that they're columned on the pages now.
The Thirteenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occurred. No major changes to the Games Site.
Added a link to see Members Sorted By Honor to the Member Games Listing menu. It was previously reached by clicking on that menu header, but that wasn't terribly evident. Problem solved :}
Adjustments made to the main menu so no clicking is required to show the submenus. Also, changed the News item headers to be to the side for quicker visual scanning.
The Fourteenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured.
Update 9 for the Games Site is out. Alot of changes with this update:
The Fifteenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured. No major updates to the Games Site, as v9 had launched earlier in the year.
Games Site v9.1 launched, providing some adjustments on the back end. Most noticable on the front end would be the adjustment to image URLs so they more closely align with the page to which they belong.
The Sixteenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured. No major updates to the Games Site.
The Seventeenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured. No major updates to the Games Site. The Links menu item was moved from the main menu to an item on the Misc menu. The order of previous years of Member gaming was rearranged to be most recent to least recent.
The Eighteenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured. No major updates to the Games Site.
The Nineteenth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured. No major updates to the Games Site.
The Twentieth Annual Games Site Mass-Update occured. No major updates to the Games Site.
Our good friend Alatar, who had graciously provided space for the Valar Guild for almost 2 decades, passed in December. Namarië mellon. You will be missed.
The website moved to a new server, graciously provided by Pallando. Thank you, my friend.
The Twenty-first Annual Games Site Mass-Update Occured. No major updates to the Games Site.
Games Site v10.0 launched. Included in the update:
The Valar Guild Games Site is maintained by Eonwë-(Valar).