A long time ago, not so far far away....

[LadyZookeeperNY]

Dateline: October 2001---Microsoft Games together with Blue Fang Games releases a unique type of simulation game called Zoo Tycoon. Players are able to build their own dream zoos, adopt animals, and become Zoo Tycoons! Well, that was the "hype" anyway. Almost overnight fansites started popping up based on the game, and before you knew it, people were beginning to understand the programming of the game so they could make their own items for it!!

A couple of ingenious guys got together and started a little place called ZooAdmin. The founding member, as we understand it, was RedPhoenix, and soon EagleOne joined him, in maintaining the site. AussieKoala and Lowenfrau weren't far behind, and together this group of talented and inspired individuals become the core members and designers for ZA. It didn't take very long before ZA started to grow by leaps and bounds, especially when its main competitor, Tycoon Resource, closed in October 2002.

2002 saw Microsoft/Blue Fang release some very important things: an official American Flag as a tribute to the events of 9/11; some fancy buildings; a patch to fix a programming glitch with the guest happiness and the maintenance workers.....and Dino Digs in May! You talk about dino frenzy.....my goodness everyone was clammering for dino info and new items for their zoos! EagleOne and crew did their best to keep up with the demands of the new expansion pack for ZA members, and the forums became a meeting place for discussion and picture postings!!

But wait....what's this?? Another expansion pack?? YES, it's Marine Mania, released in October 2002 and combined with the previous DD release. Well what you can say...the site exploded with new members, designers, creators, and tons of excitement! But we were about to see some staff changes too....EagleOne retired and handed the reigns over to AussieKoala and Lowenfrau. These two ladies labored with love over the site for quite a long time, providing us with great new items, building groups, designing groups, keeping the contests going and making them so much fun. Other staff changes were on the horizon, too numerous to mention (and I can't remember all of them anyway ).

2003 and it's time for Complete Collection...complete, as in no more ZT1?? Oh no :fear2:  , it just can't be!!! Aahhhh, but MS/BF have something else up their sleeves....

Here comes ZT 2 in 2004, and talk about an explosion..WOWSERS!!! New members were joining at a rate of about 25 per day during the first year of ZT2's release. The site grew by leaps and bounds, with new ZT 2 forums becoming THE place for fans and players to meet and share ideas, strategies, and ask questions about the game.  Oh no---here come the expansion packs---Help!!! Endangered Species and African Adventures create even more excitement. Our designers are determined to figure out how to make user items for ZT 2. They are successful in some areas, so now we have even more forums and goodies for our members. New ZT 2 building groups were recently created, and those groups will be showcasing their building efforts later in the month.

ZA has been proud to be able to be a part of this exciting game franchise through the insight and willingness to grow with the game by our Administrators and Moderators. Many of the changes you have seen have been done to make our site one of the premier sites available to anyone with an internet connection. Our rules may be strict at times, but for us to be able to keep our A+ rating for all ages, sometimes we have to be the bad guys!

Please feel free to share your favorite good memories of our site, whether it's a pic, story, or a special friendship you've made here. For anyone who has been a member from the beginning (or close to it) let us know about our past Administrators who worked so hard to get us started. Their past contributions are essential to our future success. I'll be back another day with a story of how a lowly lady became an Admin without knowing about it!

[Flames The Dragon]

cool some history I love history lets go about my storys here
A long time ago(sorry no star wars ppun here!)when ZT1 was  first released I loved it and I only bought it because it looked col at my younger age little did I know that it would change my life forervor.Soon after a few months I stubbled upon downloads and I had tons of them I would always come here to ZA for the wonderful downloads and I got these downloads when the site was in its early stages of growth!It was wonderful and then DD1 came the PC I had got worn out and I was unable to play so I got a new one and installed Zt1 and DD1  and no one could get me off it(exept school:angry: )then  came MM1 and I was more hooked then I was on DD1 and through all that I would still come for every new download and they were all great so along came CC and I bought it instley!Soon I was downloading things like crazy and then that fathful day came when the first beta pictures of ZT2 came I swear I was running around my house screaming about it!The Wiacos site came and gave us beta info on all the items and animals.Now for it has come it was Dec. 2003 I joined and I loved the site it was wonderful and I could not stop coming and looking for more dowmnloads then I got Zt2 and I was amazed by what I saw on the box but the computer I was on broke down so new computer(the one  am using today)came and I installed it right away!then after about a cuple months playing it I got bored with the animals they had and got a couple downloads then ES and AA sparked my crazy of the most download flled ZT2 ever!And when I heard of MM2 i jumped out of my seat and was as happy as ever and so I did a little cleaning of my downloads and I only have a few left and only a few left to download!I`ve also made many friends here one is Zoo Animal us to Avatar fans know all about Avatar and we became the best of online friends.And I still rembere what ZA looked like when it was first built like it was yesturday.Right now I`ve been trying to be up to date with everything happending but I have tons and tons of tons of homework and have only be able to post alot between breaks and weekends.I would also like to say that with out ZA I don`t know where I`d be now with Zoo Tycoon thanks ZA itsbeen great and Happy Anniversty ZA too!

[happyholly]

Well I can't really share any memories of the site, as I have only been here a few weeks! But that 'potted history' was very interesting, thank you, LZKNY. I had no idea ZA had been around such a long time. Shame those founder members aren't around now.....

As for becoming an admin without knowing it, that sounds like a good read....: :

[csleesburg]

Shame those founder members aren't around now.....

Well, you never know, do you.......? :whistling

[Panda King]

I remember thath grand day one October long ago.

Beleive it or not, I've browsed this site for 5 years, but only joining recently.

I remember,

1. Wild Wings being released.
2.When Xtrat made the bullfrog.
3.Littlemog edited a model for the first time.

[Flames The Dragon]

what are you one of them csleesburg!I disquse modertoring us all seeing how the site goes or are they coming for the anniversy

[MarineManiac]

The only memory I have to share I that when I first came here not TOO long ago, I was scared to death, because I have been on some other forums( which I have quit) where everyone was rude and nasty and constantly swore( and I HATED it:angry: )  So when I came here, I was pretty nervous, but I soon found out that you all were inviting, friendly, and courteous, and made me feel comfortable right away.  So I just want to thank all the members, mods, and admins who made me feel a part of this site.: : Thanks everyone!!:IloveZA:

Happy 5th Anniversary ZA, and hopefully many more to come.

[Tigeress_10]

I have so many memories of this site. I have made countless friends--you know who you are, and endless <3s and *hugs* to you, you guys are all awesome. =D
Some of the friendships I have made on the wonderful MSN messenger would be with quite a bit of the staff (scary, yes...unaproachable? no! =0), some of whom I knew before they were staff...members that have left (although THATS a long story >.<), etc. I look forward to staying at ZA for as long as I can.

[adam1990]

Well, I joined years ago, and I have loved it.  There were so many great downloads.  I haven't been around lately, as I broke rules and harmed the Zoo Admin system.  I'm very sorry for that, because I like Zoo Admin, I really do.  I wasn't trying to harm anything, but present a joke not thinking it would cause any harm, but anyway it's a great zoo tycoon experience.  Anyone who has Zoo Tycoon should join.  No one can compete with Zoo Admin.  No one.  This place is the best feel for ZT2, and I think it always will be.  Thanks to the creators and admins who created this forum and that run it today, and thanks for the harsh rules.  If the rules weren't harsh, Zoo Admin may not have lasted as long as it has, because of people like me who harmed it in the past.

[catc]

lol I have quite a few. But the reason that I'm still here is all thanks to Koala Komander.  Ever since I met her in May, we've been very good friends since we found out we live in like the same area (neighboring cities)
I got into designing for ZT2 thanks to cleesburg and penguinman.  Penguinman showed me pretty much everything I need to know and more so thanks you two!!

Edit:  Aint it funny how I joined in April 2006 and I still have very few posts? lol

[PYGMYhippo]

I've only been a member of this site since about early spring, but it's been great the whole time!: : I've always liked how friendly and helpful everyone here is. My favorite memories are from all the excitement and buzz caused by the announcement of AA, DD, and MM2 back in march, all the excitement and suspense! I'd just like to give a big thanks to all the past and present mods, admins, and designers who have helped to make zoo admin what it is today.:IloveZA:

BTW: thanks for the cool history LadyZookeeperNY

[world]

Well,I dont really have a story or anything but ever since I joined(cant remember when:P)Ive always come here to find out anything on zoo tycoon!(I always check here before i go to zootycoon.com!)

[dinwrest]

Now grab a seat and hunker down children. I've been in the community since DD came out (I was about , what? 8-ish , yeah that sounds about right). However I didn't join ZA for a couple of years later.

Now , it all started at Zookeeper's Lounge . I suspect I was one of the most obnoxious members there :whistling  . I had so many hopes and dreams . I even remember making a topic saying that I was goign to make a movie... Well , time went by . My spelling didn't get much better :laughing:  . Well one day I realized I wasn't playing ZT as much and thought it would be best if I left . Children , let me tell you , NEVER DO THAT . That was the day I was banned , but thats a story for another day :sweatingb .

Well , time went by I joined here the following year. However , back at ZKL they had a massive rehaul with a new skin and all and for about 3 days all banned members were unbanned . I went straight to the general diccussion and apologized and told the little story of how I intended to leave but decided not to. While the mods said they understood the admins decided to reban me: : . A year or so later I emailed the admins and asked to be unbanned . They said they would think about it , yet I've never gotten a reply. Now they have deleted all old accounts but left me banned forever disallowing me from joining.

Meanwhile , through all of this drama I was a welcomed part fo the ZA community . Back then , children we had something called, what was it , freedom of speech. Some of my friends from teh interwebs left while few remained. Then it happened. The RI revolution ( I love saying that). The show Animal Face-off was released and many members were creating topics based on that show . However, they took it a little too far and used one topic for every face-off.

Eventually this got out of hand and the admins decided to cancel every topic accept the popular ones ( word assosciation , stupid question/answer , etc.) and make a single topic for the Animal Face-off. We used to have many RPGs (Role-playing Games) going. Also we had one popular one that died in a purple smoke . Lets Start A Story. In there you would basically use yourself as a character in an RPG . Good times those were...

Some members (myself and a few friends) decided to make our own , free , Random Insanity websites. Afterall , what's Random Insanity if it isn't random? Well over time those died out and we spread apart. Some disappeared (RIP Buck whenevev- Aug 26 2004) . I miss you guys too much ...

Well around that time little dinwrest was blossoming into a fulfledged member . I don't actually think I've finished blossoming... I've also witnessed the rise and fall of Eagle One , Aussie Koala , Lowenfrau , the General Discussion Revolution , and the Computer Games Revolution. Been through reskins , revamps , and re-everythings! MAde too many friends to remember . Some I'm still in touch with . Some are long gone. There's the side of the story of ZA's history that too many aren't aware of from one of ZAs oldest non-staff members.

:IloveZA: You'll always remember friends . No matter who they are , or where you meet them.

[Budgielover101]

so do i EDIT: nevermind that bit i was refering to checking here before the official site

That is a great story LadyZ, I started browsing the site early this year, then in May i finaly joined, YAY!........and i have been on here every day since! :laughing:

[Red-Panda-Freak]

most memorable moments:

1) this forum is where i found out about Steve Irwin's tragic death.  at first, i thought it was just a hoax, but then i went to google and found out it was true.  i was really devastated, because it was so incredibly sudden.

2) (a little more lighthearted) I rember back in the days before the shape of a model could be edited.  we were all so frustrated, and we wanted to make unicorns and the like.  And now, through the advance of technology and knowledge, a unicorn has been created!  That's pretty cool, if you ask me.

[Animalover44]

That is a great story Dinwrest!  I've been here a year, but yet I have no interesting stories.

[Seraphii]

I have so many fond memories here:
A) joining the Artists
B) Joining the ZABA
C)Becoming a Mod
D) becoming a accepted member of the community
E) Becomig a nuiscence *hehe*
F) Forgetting my Passowrd *happened today!!!*
G) My friends, the BEST thing i could ever have at this site
i would like to thank you all for being there for me when i was down, congratulating me on moddom, and liking me for who i am! :sign_lubu !

[zoocrazy]

This was the first forum I ever posted in.  I was really nervous and didn't really know what to do.  I guess that's why my first posts were a QUADRUPLE post! : : Over the year that I have been a member of this site, I've learned a little, (like not to quadruple post, lol).  I check this site obsessively everyday, and I can't wait to continue that for a long time to come.

[mo15]

Thanks for the history Lady Z!  So many memories!

The reason I even came here is a memory in itself... I don't think I ever would have came here if Jens had not closed down ZTUnlimited. =0  (I don't know if thanks or disappointment are in order... : : )


Of course, becoming a mod has been great, and I've made so many friends here, you are all great!  No particular event really stands out in my mind, there's too many!

[Penguino]

*in old man voice* Long ago... in the time before time... when Aussie Koala was a newbie mod... when Red Phoenix still roamed... when we were still using Ikonboard... I was there.

: :

[Yellowrose]

I was introduced to this wonderful game kind of late(Dec 2003). My nephew had a copy of Zoo Tycoon and I asked if I could borrow it to check out the game. I had watched the TV commercials for it and RCT 2 but had never really tried them. I brought his cd home and loaded it on the the system and played for about an hour. I got sooooo frustrated. He didn't have the manual that came in the box so I was just lost as to how to do anything beyond what the tutorial instructed. I left the game alone for about a week and then fired it up and again the frustration set in so i went looking for some info on the Microsoft site. Didn't find to much there and then spotted the fansite link so I checked it out and saw all these sites listed and started at the top which of course was ZA. I visited the others as well but came back to ZA for further investigation. I browsed the forum for about an hour and did a little reading then the cursed word caught my eye - yep - Downloads. yippee they have something that can help me I thought. Well I visited the downloads section to see what was afoot and 5 hours later....yes you read right 5 hours I downloaded. I got everything this site and a few others had to offer. I came back and read how to install them and use them ingame and then went and played the most enjoyable zoo...wish I still had that very first zoo but ...well...I went out abd purchased Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection and returned my nephew's cd to his care so he could someday regain interest.

After playing for 3 hours I came back to the site and joined. I figured it was the least I could do after downloading all the goodies I did, kind of a way to show my appreciation.

The first person I really met was Aussie Koala. She was the best and we became friends right away. We even got to playing a card game together off site on an almost daily basis. That frienship lead me to many other great people and over the last few years I have made some great friends including our resident Pesky Admin Texgnome who I consider to be one of my closest friends.

Not long after joining the site I discovered it was very easy for me to pick up the steps to simple designs and I started creating my own creations, then came a design team appointment, later moderator, Admin and now Network Admin.

There have been some great people involved with this site since it was first put online.

Founders
Ogre - Current Network CEO
Red Phoenix - Past Netwok Admin and one of the founding members of Ogresnet

Administratiors
Eagle One - one of the first site Admins
Loewenfrau - a great lady with beautiful design talents of her own
Aussie Koala - an inspiration to many of the older and past ZA members
Casey - a genius at programing and dll files
Texgnome1 - A pest, but a sweetheart with a few rough edges and the backbone of the current admin team
RedNotDead - our own private little devil or as many of your call her "The Evil Admin"
Bielski - A great friend and fellow admin who can always be counted on
Penguino - a real joker who keeps us laughing in staff on a daily basis
LadyZ - what can I say about this Checkerboard Queen - well first off her zoos arte to die for. She has a great talent for showing off animals.

And a very close friend who is so missed by so many of us - Spiderghost - his mapmaking skills are sorely missed and have not been surpassed by anyone. His talent is remarkable.

Thank you Eric and Jim for bringing Zoo Admin to it's current Ogresnet Home and giving us such a great site.

Thank you to EO, Loewenfrau and AK for building it up into a great community.

Thank you to all who have held staff positions and helped to keep ZA the family site it is.

And most important - thank you to all the members who make this site the most enjoyable experience anyone could have the pleasure of being a part of. You all make the work that goes into this site so very rewarding and worthwhile.

*Happy 5th Zoo Admin*

[Otter Lord]

All you younglings here. I joined like two weeks after RND which was I think almost 3 years ago and before that I was following the forums for about a year. I remember doing community zoo and having trouble attaching a zoo to an e-mail. xD I remember getting JPSP and looking up a few animal tutorials and getting into making animals. Then Sideshowbob asked me to be a designer in ZTCenter. I remember making the Otter and Reptile pack with And1 and African Raptor. You guys were the best friends in the ZT community. Then ZT2 came out and I started looking things up and shared it with the design team and we started working on creating ZT2 animals. We put together the APE 2 tutorial and now thats where we are at now. ZA is the best community ever. ^^ :IloveZA:

edit: wow Yellowrose you type fast. Your post wasn't there when I hit add replay. xP maybe i shouldn't watch TV, listen to music, and post at the same time.

[sheltiefan]

I've been playing ZT since I was nine years old. I got the game as a Christmas gift and soon tried to play it, unfortunately I has a hard time working the controls and quickly became frustrated. After a couple of days of endlessly playing Zoo Tycoon I finally got the hang of it and since then I've been hooked. About a week or so after getting the game I went over to my best friend house. She immediately rushed me up to her computer to show me the "cool" new game she got for Christmas. I ran after here until we reached her computer desk. And guess what? There was the Zoo Tycoon case laying open by her monitor. For the next two years we would go over to each others houses and swap design ideas and complain about how hard such and such a scenario was. My interest in the game began languished until the release of DD and eventually MM, however by the time they were released my friend and I no longer got along but I still enjoyed the game. MM and DD's magic also began to run out. I played the game less and less and eventually only played monthly at most, that was until *drum roll please* I heard about the up coming release of ZT2.
   
I bought Zoo Tycoon 2 the first day it came out in stores and once again played daily. With the release of ES my interest in the game grew stronger. I found myself browsing the net searching for downloads for ZT2 and up pops a link to some site called "Zoo Admin". I checked out the downloads and began the task of  trying to figure out how to get them in the game. In my search I stumbled upon the forums, although I didn't have any more interest in them then to figure out how to get those darned dls on my computer:laughing:. I did solve my problem thought and regularly downloaded stuff afterwards. I continued just downloading stuff until  one day out of curiosity I decided to just surf the forums. I mean why not I might get some cool new ideas right? Well, through all my browsing the thought of joining became more and more tempting until one day I finally gave into the pressure and registered.
   
After that I began more and more to enjoy the site and found myself getting quite addicted to it. One day I say a notice on the main page about the site needing two new mods. Since I'd always harbored an interest in being a mod I sent a PM to Yellowrose (well at least I think it was her) saying I'd be interesting in the position. I didn't get the job however so I dumped the idea then and there despite saying I'd still be interested if the opportunity ever came up. Some time later I got a PM from Texgnome. I opened it and to my complete shock found that it was asking me if I still wanted to be a mod. I said yes of course although I still doubted I'd get the job since the PM didn't seem all to serious. I figured that I was just one of numerous people who had been asked about the position and that the admins just wanted to be sure all the possible candidates actually wanted the position. I signed on a bit later and was confused to see a numerous new buttons that hadn't been there before. I dismissed them as changes to the site and went on. I then checked back on a thread I'd previously had posted in and say my name was purple. "Purple" I though... "but that means I'M A MOD!" As you can imagine I was very excited but scared stiff at the same time. I'm still trying to learn the ins and out of being a mod today but still enjoy the site thoroughly.

[Mngwa]

Well, I'm actually not much with computers, never even owned one until Dec. 1999, and ZT is the about the only game I've ever really gotten into. I have a few RT strategy games that I play once in a great while, and of course I play the ever popular Deerhunter on occassion, but absolutely no simulation games (yawn). I'm usually more of a "hands on" kind of person, but this game looked fun and I decided I had to have it for Christmas 2001. Well, I had three months off of work in the spring of 2002 due to surgery and started playing around with APE. My first animal was the Arabian oryx, except when I put it in the game it was invisible! So I started searching and came across the Zookeeper's Lounge, and there was a tutorial on how to fix invisibility. So I opened it up and edited all the *.ani files by hand, and didn't make anything else for quite a while. Then this guy named Mark Bell made an invisibility fix program (Thank you, Mark!). And I started playing around with other things, and decided I enjoyed it. So I submitted the oryx at ZKL, since no one had yet released an Arabian oryx, and no one ever even acknowledged they received it, so I sent it to Eagle One, and got a response that it was accepted, and asking if I wanted to be a designer.

Towards the end of my tenure as a designer here, everybody started going to DSL and cable, and it would take forever to upload with my dial-up, even at 2:00 AM, if I could upload at all. So it became a regular ritual to email my items to Lowenfrau or Aussie Koala so they could be posted.

Had some personal issues and left the community for a while, then I moved and didn't have internet access for about six months. And here I am still putting away on the same 600 mHz computer, with a dial-up modem and Windows 98. Still doing things the old-fashioned way, with paint and a couple of photo editing programs, Mark Bell's Invisibility and Rotation Fix programs and a lot of patience. The telephone company finally got DSL out here in this section of the county (still no cable though), so I suppose maybe its time I get a new computer...and maybe I learn what kind of software people use these days!

Mngwa

P.S. I know it only shows I have 13 posts, but I have been around that long. I seem to have lost several hundred some where or another!

[Rosinas Cat]

Well as for me, I joined early last year. I'd bought ZT1 after my Mum had got into it. We both (all the family in fact) love animals, so no surprise that I loved the game, and all the subsequent additions. Then someone I worked with told me you could get free downloads from websites (news to me!) so I 'googled' zoo tycoon downloads, and found ZA. Immediately hooked, I loved the way everyone was so friendly and helpful.

The big shock came earlier this year, when some foolish staff member decided I was worthy of a Mod post.....:shocked: :laughing:

I love ZA, being a Mod, ZT2, and all the great people I've met in the last 22 months!:bounce: