Why Purple? I thought Orange was the new Black?

Perhaps some of you have noticed or were just wondering why some names (such as mine) show up in Purple? We have been getting a few questions lately and I thought it might be good to post this someplace that could be easily referenced. So I will start with some HCRealms history (from my perspective).

I have been coming to HCRealms for a long time. Way back when there used to be a couple of WK Rules experts that used to answer some questions on the forum back in the Infinity Challenge and HyperTime days. I can still remember a few posts from DrGandalf and HeroComplex. But what I found even more helpful was the very smart group of players that would frequent the site. For as long as I can recall normalview has been on HCRealms helping players get a better grasp of the rules. He has been doing it so long I am fairly certain he has some cut-and-paste go-to phrases saved some place handy.

At some point I became a judge and back then I used to take most of my judge questions to a secret judges forum on the WizKids site. I am pretty certain I used to pay a lot of attention to post by judge Harpua and HeroClix1234. However, Magister and the next official RA (Rules Arbitrator) Hair10 used to still supply a lot of answer on the HCRealms Rules Forum.

After Hair10 stepped down the next RA was nbperp (Norman). Norm had a pretty strong presence on both HCRealms and the WK site. Eventually they shut down the secret judge site on the WK forum which brought a lot of rule traffic back to HCRealms. At some point nbperp decide it might be a good idea to deputize some smart HCRealms Rules Guys to answer questions as though they had his full authority and blessing. Norm made some great choices choosing 3 very smart Rules Dudes named normalview, Harpua, and Quebbster. At the time nbperps rules posts would show up in Orange and we would know we were getting an official answer. Along with that the Deputies posts would also show up in Orange even though most of them were not site mods. Quebbster, however, has been a mod for a while and in addition to his posts being highlighted in Orange his name appears in red (is still does to this day).

That was a great team of rules guys and they even added another great rules guy to the team with Vlad3theimpaler. The team was great with the rules and in addition they had direct access to WizKids Game Design (GD) where they could go to get an official interpretation of what the intent on a power was if it was not worded too clearly.

The RA and Orange Deputies went through a few changes and eventually the 4 Original Oranges moved beyond their official duties, but they still often hung around HCRealms to help with the rules. Eventually WK decided to officially remove the modern version of the Orange Rules Team from HCRealms and keep them exclusive to their own revamped WK Rules Forum.

The WK Rules Forum from my perspective serves more like a Living Official FAQ then an interactive Rules Forum. IMO, it really shouldn’t be confused with an Open Rules Forum as the forum isn’t all that open. Even though anyone can submit questions, it is heavily regulated and they can even rearrange the wording of my questions or adjust their answer to make a more useful FAQ question and answer system. It serves the purpose of being Official very well.

However, as it turns out there are still a lot of people that want to openly discuss the rules (sometimes getting the advantage of a quicker more personal response where they can dialogue and hopefully better understand the rules). That is basically where the HCRealms Rules Forum comes in. It is one of the places you can often find a lot of very smart HeroClix rules guys hanging out.

Typhon adopted a few of us to be HCRealms Rules Experts to help out as best as we can. Early on in that process we inherited the old Orange Highlight from the deputies. However, recently we felt that it wasn’t quite right because our role is not the same. We aren’t official WK guys and while we often point you to a specific rulebook entry or an official rules post we lack a very important access to GD. So often we can only give you our best educated guess.

That is essentially why we switched to Purple. We are more than happy to help, but we aren’t official. Even better than that, if you hang around long enough you will find that there are plenty of experts beyond those of us in Purple. Harpua and normalview still post a good bit in these forums, when they do it’s a good idea to listen as they have some neat insight. Vlad and Quebbster will even throw us a bone occasionally. Still the long standing tradition of quality rules discussion persists on HCRealms and it is enhanced with many others such as VanisherPunisher, Wolverazio, bluerat, PredatorSmurf, and really a list too long to mention.

I am more than happy to help or give my opinion and I will try to often post a reference from the rules or to a WIN link that might help. If you want you can disagree with me, it wont bother me. In fact, I think there is still a lot I can learn from normalview and others on here. That is one of the things that makes HCRealms great.

Thank you for the history of this area of HCRealms.

I found it informative and very respectful of the efforts of those gone before including those who to this day are explaining complex rulings and interactions in ways that even I can understand them.

Been here a long while, but I seldom comment, (better to be thought a fool and all that) I have read most all of everyone's posts in the Rules Discussion.
I enjoy your input and always find it refreshing when a poster such as yourself can usually be counted on to take the high ground in our oft highly charged internet spats about our beloved plastic men.

PS I may be broadcasting in the blind here. One of my first comments on the Realms drew many promises to IGNORE.

I thought it was because (as the great philosopher, Madonna, put it), "purple is the color of lustfulness."

Purple looks better anyway.

...but why purple?

Well, Deadpool2449, "WHY NOT?"

Hello IceHot, from another "old-timer" of 2002 HCRealms-dom.

A great outline of how things have developed... (oh, and I just had some great rules discussions in one of the "minor" threads...these kids today, eh ? (-grin-)

...and "The WK Rules Forum from my perspective serves more like a Living Official FAQ then an interactive Rules Forum. IMO, it really shouldn’t be confused with an Open Rules Forum as the forum isn’t all that open."

Brilliant. Just Brilliant !

LoL

All the Best,

Noman

Purple is and has always been my personal favorite color. Put that #### on everything.

I like what you've done with the place.

And I thought purple, because those members cannot be used at official tournaments.

Purple is the color of Royalty.