Once upon a time players from various teams would come together on random occasions and play collectively in a controlled environment. Unfortunately as time went on, these players began to lose interest in the game and this event began to fade away. This has changed.

The phenomenon, the Pick Up Game (pug), is back and more alive then ever. Reinstated on January 30th by Blu1ce20 and with the help of Mulgarus, Nakamura, and a Brilliant sponsorship group in Operationgaming.com and Darkstar Communications, the PUG has already shown great life. With 130 pugs in 4 days, the community has really keyed in on the benefits that it can give.

There has been a proposed goal that everyone involved strongly believes in: reaching out to the non competitive player. To do this www.aa-pug.com has been launched. The key component of the website is a java client that allows players to join the aa-pug channel and participate in pugs without having to understand irc. Everyone involved believes this may be a key component to seeing more life involved in such events. And in turn more questions may be presented as to other events such as competitive leagues.

With a little luck, a little interest, and a little effort, #aa-pug should be a catalyst for the introduction of the competitive side to the non competitive player.