The Scoopex & Deviance Story by Darkus/Equilibrium & Magic/Nah-kolor
Prologue (Magic)
In 2006 the announcement was made by Scoopex and Deviance to merge as one. This article covers this subject. Written in a past, present and future storyline. In the previous issue of Hugi, issue 32, we already announced this merger in the Scenebits section. Darkus, who at that time was a member of Deviance, commented on this subject inside the article about the returning World Charts in Hugi #32 as well. Now anno domini April 2007 we can look back on how it it all went down and recreate the events as they happened.
Positive Merging (Darkus)
Throughout the entire history of our beloved computer scene, we have witnessed many mergings of groups. The most notable examples consist of Tristar & Red Sector inc, Carillon & Cyberiad and Dual Crew - Shining. Whether or not these groups are still successful today isn't relevant. During their respective hay days, one would consider the merging to have had a positive effect within our underground community. Which brings me straight over to the latest bringing together of two groups, namely Scoopex and Deviance respectively.
Scooviance? (Darkus)
During Easter 2006 at today's biggest scene event, TMB/Scoopex and Interpol/Deviance spoke in person and somewhere in their friendly conversions it would be suggested Scoopex and Deviance would merge together to form one single entity. Surely enough, they would later make this into a reality. One would guess with any merge, there could be conflict over which group name to use, in this case as TMB/Scoopex explains "officially it's Scoopex-Deviance". This decision appears to have been accepted without any disagreement. With a name in place and agreed, we intercept the next grey area. Who will be the organiser?
Equal Standings (Darkus)
Being friends already, Interpol/Deviance and TMB/Scoopex agreed to take equal ownership and organiser rights. Ideal considering they are the two respective organisers of their own teams. Although TMB/Scoopex does point out "with help from h20 (formerly Paradox) and DocD (formerly Digital)" when concerning the running of the merged team. Although the organisers may have their seats set and content minds over their roles, this doesn't necessarily flow down to the individual members, the core of the two groups. When asked TMB/Scoopex jokingly disclosed "that's a point I didn't discuss, we are not a democracy". He did retract a little and state "the members were mainly enthusiastic for the new opportunities". It's probably safe to say only time will reveal if the members can successfully create a good atmosphere amongst themselves.
Striking a Balance (Darkus)
Considering the Deviance demo division is considerable newer to the scene than Scoopex, it's fair to claim Scoopex are the bigger of the two groups. Which from an outsider's point of view, can effect people's perceptions of one half of the merge. A perfect example stems from the talented programmer Gargaj/Conspiracy as he explained his opinion on the matter "On one hand it's a sign of the strong social side of the scene - how groups can coexist as one entity by being friends. On the other hand, it can be a sign of 'jumping the bandwagon' of other groups, considering the difference in potential of the two groups." This does present a clear advantage to both groups however, the freshness and eagerness of Deviance mixed with the experience and talent of Scoopex could yield a lot of potential. It's very easy to say now that some merges have been very successful. For example TRSI, CNCD or DCS. Since we can't judge the Scoopex and Deviance merge when it actually happened and why the decision was made it's hard for us to say if that merge was justified at the time. Looking at Scoopex & Deviance and looking only at the names, Scoopex can absolutely do without Deviance. Unless, for example, Scoopex is in a sort of state of decay and/or a crisis and is looking for a partner to continue in the demoscene. The future will tell if will be a success.
Keeping the Calm (Darkus)
Keeping everyone within the merge content will be paramount and no doubt a concern for the organisers. Merging to lose your most talented members would prove costly. After all not everyone does like the idea of merging. For example the old school pixel master and former World Charts artist Angeldawn/Ex-Hoodlum explained to me "It doesn't make sense, I mean permanently. You can do a production together, but it is only more work when doing logos". He does conclude he will be contributing to the merge with graphics "for my friend Autopsy/Deviance and Interpol/Deviance is a nice guy too". From a totally different point of view the pixel genius at TBL, Louie500, was keen to point out his opinion was the opposite. Using his own experience as an example "Yeah I can see this as a positive move. In the beginning of time, TBL was only coders basically, then Lemon joined TBL, including me from Insane". What followed from this merge is well documented history and bared one of the most fruitful partnerships the scene has witnessed. He went on to point out CNCD as another fine example of two groups benefiting from each other through merging. It does become quite clear opinions are mixed and, moreover, one does believe everyone is hopeful of success therefore remaining opening minded. When confronted with the question of what he thinks the future my hold for the scene's latest merger, TMB/Scoopex commented: "World Domination!". We just hope that the demoscene will enjoy future productions and more issues of World Charts, and then, even perhaps world domination.
The Downfall (Magic)
When time flew by not many productions got released on the demoscene by SCX&DVN. A new issue of Worldcharts has never been released either. Then all of the sudden this announcement was made:
"We from scoopex decided to quit this cooperation for various reasons which don't concern the public anyway. That does not mean that we are not friends anymore... We just decided to go our own and regular way again... Thanks for your attention. TMB & Antibyte for the scoopex family"
Boom! this was it. The merge was over. In fact it became clear later on that TMB even left Scoopex. But luckily Noogman and Fishave of Scoopex decided it was time to take a stand and they formed a so called interim management to get things going again for Scoopex. Hugi wishes them all the best! Then H2o decided to shut down the Deviance demo devision and later he joined Rebels. H2o comments: "Today the 25.12.2006 I decided to shut down the official demo-division of Deviance. There are a lot of reasons for it, first of all we didn't manage the group as wanted, unmotivated members, internal and external wars and a lot of people spending more time writing artices in forums instead of getting something done, forces me to make this decision to protect the name and the honour some of our productions earned in the past. For personal reasons I wasn't able to handle the organisation in the last 8 months, and what happened was more worse than I ever expected. I know all of you are disappointed about Worldcharts project not finished. Even me! Believe. Your votes will be stored and as soon as I can guarantee the launch and code of the new Worldcharts I try to make it, but with the quality it deserves. I don't want to discuss this decision in any forum or irc, to build a label is one thing, to take care about release quality is another. And before any other things will be released under Deviance which might not have the quality the name earns it is better to stop. I would like to thank all recent members, thank you for the work. If someone is interested in rebuilding Deviance, contact me before with a list of members who might work with it, a organisation team and a concept what might be done. Rust in peace ... My special thanks must go to the following members who worked hard in the past of Deviance: Anesthetic, Vigo, Ghandy, TMB (SCX&DVN Times), DocD, Interpol, Core, Sir Truck, Hobby1, Wodka, Keito, AM-FM, Gopher and the rest of the team ... I am sure all of you will find a well sorted team and new crew where to work for, hopefully I will see you all soon at a demoparty! One title cannot be taken away: We have been the 'partymeister'."
Epilogue (Magic)
As we can conclude, merging two groups together and work as one isn't an easy ticket to succes. Getting members from both groups actively work together on a project to gain momentum isn't guaranteed no matter if the name is Scoopex and Deviance. The demoscene in general is the big loser in this whole story. The potential for some great productions actually getting released was really present on paper. But in practice it just didn't work out, unfortunately. However, if you don't try nothing will happen in the first place of course. Hugi wishes all sceners involved a good 'scenish' future!