"Nothing is true everything is permitted"
The Assassin's Creed video game series has been around for 15 years, and this year is a special one for it. Time has certainly flown by since Ubisoft began its countdown to what promises to be a major announcement.
Serving as a Mentor or a star player in the community is rewarding to me as well. I am just a fan and have been since the beginning.
I figured it would be fitting to chronicle all I've learned about the brand from its inception onward.
Truth be told, I didn't rush out and get a seventh-generation gaming console when it came out. I was late to the party. One of the longest generations ever lived during that time.
Before I got into the next generation of gaming, I was still playing PlayStation 2 and the Wii. Games like The Legend of Zelda, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, etc.
I recall back then I didn’t follow the business seriously at the age of 12 outside of Nintendo brands due to just owning specific machines.
My family are business owners based in logistics around truck and heavy vehicle repairs.
At this moment in my life, it was decided that I would take over as manager of the workshop. As the youngest Quinlan, you have a weight of expectation on your shoulders.
That sure sounds dramatic and like folks from the upper Middle Ages penned it. It feels just like this. How come I'm bringing this up? because of how interdependent everything is.
In many ways, I had a very different upbringing from my siblings. I have an older sibling by 20 years. My sister is 15 years older. My family consists of three brothers and a sister.
My parents had their children at a much younger age than I did, so I grew up with my siblings. I came around as a bit of a "surprise". Take that what you will.
In my piece "Delay," I wrote about a dreadful educational experience I had. As the youngest of five offspring, I always stood out from my brothers and sisters. I grew up with this peculiar curiosity, whether it’s history, the supernatural, or mythology. One of the two will always be the focus of curiosity.
My family thought I was a little strange. My grandmother saw early on that I had the kind of intelligence that might be fostered through formal schooling. I was never given the help I required, though. I always received support when it came to my art, though!
This being said, let's return to the primary subject.
I didn’t get into the Assassin’s Creed Games when they initially came out in 2007.
I recall seeing the cover of the game featuring Altair. The cover alone sparked my interest in what the Assassins were. I always thought an assassin's blade would be attached to their arm, even before I started playing. It started with me creating characters in fantasy situations. It resembles a concealed knife in design.
My first experience with an Assassin's Creed game didn't come until 2008.
The DS version of Altair Chronicles was my introduction to the Assassin's Creed series. A complicated linear platformer that started Altair's story and looked a lot like The Da Vinci Code.
I simply adored it. Although I had not yet experienced genuine AC,
Actually, I had no idea this series would become so influential.
The next year, for my birthday, I was surprised to finally get the console I had wanted since I heard about the Incredible Fable 2 and Gears of War.
A lot of what I love about games and game design has been cemented in me since the seventh generation.
An interesting tidbit is that the Ubisoft title, Far Cry 2, was included in the bundle I received for my Xbox 360. What a fantastic game and a wonderful illustration of what video games can be!
A copy of Assassin's Creed wouldn't be mine until a few months later. Finally, I would get to play this incredible video game.
It was something that I recall discussing with classmates. We talked about everything about it, even when we completed it. We were discussing the various symbols located throughout the room.
When I looked into these, I found all sorts of interesting historical, scientific, and conspiratorial references.
I was totally hooked by the mystery. Yes, please!
I have always enjoyed puzzles.
From what I can recall, E3 wasn't too far off.
In 2009, that exact year, An announcement was made.
This mental picture of a man in a hooded cloak strolling and soaring through the alleys of Venice!
The anticipation surrounding the announcement of Assassin's Creed 2 was real!
Wow, I was pumped. I used to be completely preoccupied with Renaissance culture. Investigating the Medici, the Borgias, and even some Machiavelli. I felt the need for additional information. Now, in the midst of all the buzz, I understood that Assassin's Creed was more than just Altair's tale. A tale of generations and their ancestors Consequently, it may go anywhere.
There were some stories about my family. Even today, I have no notion of whether they were real or not. Some of these would inspire me to create characters for Assassin’s Creed.
The first assassin idea I ever had was one I came up with. Lukas O’Caoinlean, an Irish-English Assassin around the period of the Gunpowder Plot, was sent into exile and would become a pirate in the Mediterranean. As a character, I thought this was awesome.
The White Edition of AC2 was on my Christmas list that year. There's an Ezio statue inside. My first ever collectable I ever had for a video game.
I distinctly remember being engrossed in it. When we went to South Australia for the New Year, I recall bringing my game system along in the Caravan. Up until that point, a specific section of the game simply wouldn't load. My game was scratched. I was really at a loss. My parents told me this could have happened on the road. In retrospect, I was very sad about it. When we finally made it to an EB Games, my mum made sure to pick up a replacement. I finally managed to finish AC2 and the last seconds. gave me that itch. Maybe even more so than the first.
I used some of the cash I had gotten for Christmas to buy Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines from Eb Games.
I remember enjoying Bloodlines, albeit it didn't blow me away. This helped round out Altair's account of Maria's history. There was just a slight void in there that I couldn't quite place.
Assassin's Creed franchise became an annual release from this point onward.
Now I could tell you my experience year by year of how I felt about every game. That would make for one monstrous article. However, I would do a shortened version of the years to come until the exciting stuff starts to happen.
Over the course of several years, my enthusiasm for Assassin's Creed only intensified. When I initially started high school, I was quickly swept up by the "popular group." However, I soon learned that these pals were backstabbing, and I eventually mustered the courage to walk away from them with another buddy.
We were both pretty creative people; we would retreat into our imaginations and play games. To avoid the savage bullying We fan-fictioned ourselves into the role of 21st-century assassins. We were imagining and writing about ourselves in various stages of our lives after graduation from high school. When I was working with the Assassin's Guild, my team and I would insert real people into fictional narratives. A lot of the folks we didn't like would be named as Templars in this. We included romantic interests and swooning in these tales. We even created elaborate family trees for our fictional protagonists. Using a lot of autotune, we made some truly embarrassing music as well!
That friend and I would part ways due to a disagreement after high school.
It was me and my friend who formed our own fanbase within the Assassin’s Creed universe. We knew we loved the series and were always delighted to see the release of a new AC game. Sometimes, my friends and I would get together to browse through the latest issues of a gaming publication like Game Informer, IGN, PlayStation, or Xbox magazines. I knew Assassin’s Creed Revelations Multiplayer was so addictive! I always knew that the video game industry was where I belonged. Aside from SDD (software design and development) and IST (information and software technology), I would also study other related courses (software design and development). In these lessons, I recall using Visual Basics to create video games, learnt about history of computers and created website in html. I created a website which was based on a fictional video game developer known for creating series that was like parodies of the Assassin's Creed series.
It wasn’t till I was in year 11 at school, when I was 17 years old.
Where I got more into the Facebook and social media space. Somewhere, I would eventually join gaming communities and actually make some pals.
It was the time of the AC Initiates platform. Assassin's Creed: Initiates was a community-oriented project created by Ubisoft on September 1, 2012, that was envisioned as "the destination for all things Assassin's Creed." In this closed forum, members could share their thoughts on recent articles addressing contemporary issues. Those in the group who hadn't checked out the website would also be informed about it. The history of Assassin's Creed would benefit from this.
We (Brad Dick, Brendan Quinlan, and a couple others) started the public Facebook page Oz Initiates Network at this time. We'd be in charge of content curation and community management for this group, whose size expanded in tandem with the anticipation around the games. There was a lot of excitement. I never thought about managing an online community platform or the idea that it could get me a job someday. In any case, I knew I was sharing my thoughts on a topic I was interested in. This was a passion project. We talked about the reveal of AC unity, syndicate, from Empire to Origins hype, and we got pumped up for Odyssey, and Valhalla. By this time, many of the page's administrators had quit out of weariness or disinterest in the franchise. At that time, only Brad and I were present. Brad was busy with work, and I was the one primarily keeping the page alive with articles from others who came before, Loomer Videos, News of the Franchise, and even general Ubisoft items like Watchdogs. AC Initiates platform was finished back at the end of 2014.
In my final year of university (2019), I remember being wiped out from working on both my major project and a concept art piece for Assassin's Creed with an Australian Setting called “Stand & Deliver”. I attended Ubisoft's event, which was called the Ubisoft Experience. I remember the occasion being great. This is what made me decide that I definitely want to work for Ubisoft someday. Another thing I would say about the day was a bit of a funny thing.
I don’t talk about destiny frequently, but since that day, I’ve pondered it in the years to come. Everyone I would meet in the coming year would be a significant steppingstone. Everyone I was supposed to meet was there; I simply didn't know it yet.
The next year would strike us like a semi-trailer. 2020, the year of the pandemic. My first year after university. A struggle of a year that delivered pain, loss, and some signs of hope. I had problems landing a job as a designer since I came from a family who didn’t realise that studios weren’t keen on taking on juniors during a pandemic. I would be in a circle of applying and getting refused. It was dreadful.
I was only able to sail a sloop at the time, as it felt like I was solely keeping Oz Initiates alive. Preserving its life At that time, I observed that Brad was a member of the Assassin's Guild Australia Facebook group, which was administered by a man named Kaycee. This group focused on the cosplay aspect of the community and discouraged the sharing of other content. I would find a mechanism to communicate with this group during lockdowns. During the long lockdown of 2020, I would get to know Kaycee and assist him with organising online events in the discord area, such as the reveal of the AC Valhalla trailer, a movie night, a history night, or simply a simple cheese and grog night, where we could chat and enjoy each other's company. It was a period of joy. While we were together, Kaycee listened to me talk about my desire to work in the video game industry. I was given contact through Kaycee. When I first decided to contact the community managers and ask for advice, I was terrified. I seriously doubted that I'd hear back from anyone. On the other hand, it came as a pleasant surprise to me. The community manager had a warm, pleasant, and vivacious demeanour. We spoke on a near-weekly basis, and she was happy to answer my questions and provide me with guidance. I can say that she continues to do so to this day. In my conversation with the community manager, I felt like I had made a friend rather than just a contact. Actually, it is that genuine.
In the week preceding the release of AC Valhalla, I was given a position as Moderator for the Australian Assassin's Guild. However, the agreement was that I put an end to the Oz initiates. I sent Brad a Facebook message explaining everything, and he said, "Go for it. I think Oz Initiates has had its day. You did awesome, mate.” Nearly oblivious to what was ahead, it felt like the end of an era.
I recall a few days following its release. I had a day off from my remote internship to pick up my PS5. The community manager would notify me via email that I had been asked to join the Mentor's Guild.
The Mentors Guild consisted of Assassin's Creed community leaders with a variety of skill sets and areas of expertise. Members include cosplayers, artists, content developers, opinion leaders, and administrators of fan sites. The Mentor's Guild was founded by Ubisoft, led by the Assassin's Creed Community Development team, and its members were personally selected by Ubisoft.
I remember being so moved by the honour that it made me cry. I thought I would never think I’d ever get recognised. The Mentor's Guild not only allowed me to have Ubisoft's assistance, but also to establish friends with other Mentors such as AshMakesStuff, Valorianru, aSassysCreed, NadiaBewwy, and EnglishButter. The list could go on and on, but suffice it to say that each and every one of them is extraordinarily skilled and talented in their respective areas of expertise.
I was ecstatic. I recall feeling so enthusiastic about joining. Kaycee has already become defensive and ceased to be a person with a pleasant demeanour; he has also attempted to devalue something that was mine and not his. to the breaking point where his ugly side emerged. Even though it was my duty to moderate the site, I felt like I had to pull back since I always felt like he was trying to attack me when I posted. Kaycee wasn't a bad person, just had a really nasty jealous streak.
Eventually, I would leave the Assassin's Guild Australia. Eventually, I stumbled into a new interest. I collaborated with another mentor throughout my time as a mentor to build a new Discord-based community. In this case, we worked along with Ubisoft! This mentor vanished and ultimately left the guild they were a part of. The situation called for me to take charge, and I did so. I became the Assassin's Creed moderator for the Ubisoft ANZ discord server. A small discord. Its primary purpose is to provide a welcoming environment for all members of the Ubisoft fan community in Australia and New Zealand. I even became a moderator for the official Assassin's Creed Discord server. Even if it didn't last long, the tremendous conflict that ensued required more rule enforcement than just Assassin's Creed enthusiasm.
The Mentor's Guild disbanded in July of 2022. Everyone was devastated. We decided to maintain contact till something else occurred. It was as though we were Assassin's Creed Community refugees.
After some time, we'd find out that we'd been accepted into the Ubisoft Star Players programme.
The Star Player programme is a means of giving back to fans who volunteer their time, knowledge, and enthusiasm for the community. Players from all over the world are flown in for special treatment at trade shows like Gamescom and E3.
For those of us lucky enough to be part of this ground-breaking initiative, we're only getting started. Ubisoft is taking us to the Melbourne fortress to watch the Ubisoft Forward stream. I know it. This is my very first official Ubisoft-related in-person invitation!
You're likely thinking while you read this. Although he seems enthusiastic, he hasn't really explained how or why he has been influenced by it.
In any case, the Assassin's Creed series served as an escape. When I was a teenager, it merged my love of history and mystery and served as a sort of safe haven.
Most significantly, I must talk about the main things I cherish.
The actual Assassin's Creed. The franchise's best aspect, in my opinion.
I like to think that I also applied some aspects of Assassin's Creed to my everyday life. The game presents a special opportunity for those who adhere to Assassin's Creed and question the saying "nothing is true, everything is permitted." with any supporting notions. It modifies how you see the world and has the ability to give you total mental freedom. A major element of the Creed is the significance of knowledge, which enables individuals to grow and advance. I think it's significant.
The maxim, is the most essential component. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
How this is interpreted by various individuals can change its meaning significantly. With this concept, the games have a history of experimenting.
I think Ezio and Arno both have excellent ways of clarifying this for you.
"To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic" - Ezio Auditore, Assassin’s creed Revelations
"Ideals too easily give way to dogma. Dogma becomes fanaticism. Only we can decide whether the road we walk carries too high a toll. All that we do, all that we are, begins and ends with ourselves." - Arno Dorian, Assassin’s Creed Unity.
What is my perspective? As I mentioned, it is up to interpretation.
Nonetheless, I believe it encourages us to be accountable for our own actions and destinies. Being confident in what we believe will work or could work rather than being blind followers. To experience the repercussions of our acts and deal with the results of those actions. That's what it all comes down to: living the life we choose. Not the one that others desire for us.
Since my initial foray into the series, Assassin's Creed has seen significant evolution. In the process, I have evolved and changed like it.
Whether it's fan art, cosplay, or managing a fan community, I know I still have that enthusiasm and imagination for the series.
The next steps are unknown to me. I’m excited for what the future holds. For me and Assassin’s Creed.
I'll just shout, "full sail!"
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