The Story of Chaotic United

Origins

The origins of Chaotic United trace back to 2011, under the name 'Chaotic' - founded by Killerteddy1. Later, on April 26, 2011, Chaotic United would be founded proper - and with it, would operate a World of Warcraft server, a Runescape server, and of course - a Minecraft server.

From 2011 to 2013, Chaotic United continued to see success and prosperity. In spite of numerous roadblocks and trials, the community always stuck together and made things work - in no small part due to the continued efforts by the staff and administration during those years.

Turmoil

While for the most part, the server was an enjoyable experience for players - behind the scenes, trouble was brewing. Killerteddy1, the original owner of Chaotic United, wasn't being the leader he should've been. Donations were being used on personal items - exercise equipment, food, shoes, and even drugs - in spite of the fact that donations were strictly marketed as being "for the purpose of keeping the server online". However, for some time, this didn't actually cause any genuine server problems, and things operated as normal - so this behavior was tolerated.

However, also throughout these years, Teddy built up a reputation for being rude, disrespectful, and generally unpleasant to talk to. He would often tease his members and at times would even insult his staff to their faces - even when it was knowingly being recorded. Additionally, Minecraft server features such as "Premium Mining" (where you had to be a Donator or above to mine below Y 25), mandatory registrations, and being required to vote just to be able to play and move around continued to chip away at the server's population.

Nuclear District

Throughout late 2013 and into early 2014, Teddy had essentially disappeared - without a trace - for months. An administrator at the time known as Atomicbeast101 (often simply referred to as 'Nuke') took it upon himself to pay the server bills in Teddy's absence - in order to keep the community from crumbling down. When Teddy eventually resurfaced, he refused to refund this money to Nuke and threatened to instead shut the server down.

This behavior, combined with Teddy's track record, was the breaking point. The staff at Chaotic United decided that it was time for a fresh start - it was time for a new home for the community. And so, in February 2014, Nuclear District was founded - and many players from Chaotic United were brought over. After all that had happened, Teddy was eager to get rid of what little he had left of Chaotic United - and happily handed the forums over to Josh_3210 (more recently known as Jamplifier), who had been running his own server called Hurricane Craft. Eventually, Hurricane Craft shut down - and with it, the old Chaotic United forums went down with it.

Reboot

During early-mid 2014, haloman30, a member and donator from the old Chaotic United, was saddened to see his old home essentially vanish overnight. While he initially enjoyed playing on Nuclear District, something just wasn't quite right.

Initially, he'd been working on his own server called Chaotic District - the name of which was derived from both Chaotic United and Nuclear District respectively. This server was originally meant to be little more than just a separate server for him and his friends from Xbox LIVE, but later would become the groundwork for something incredible.

In September of 2014, haloman30 made a decision. He didn't want Chaotic United to simply fade away. If the team at Nuclear District wouldn't do that, and if Teddy and Jamplifier wouldn't do that, he would do it himself. He registered the chaoticunited.net domain and rebranded the Chaotic District server as Chaotic United.

Reunion

Initially, the staff and members at Nuclear District gave little attention to this startup. However, as they continued to grow - and as the new Chaotic United staff sought the approval of Nuclear District, the staff of Nuclear District became displeased with this new Chaotic United. They believed that this new community under the Chaotic United name was nothing more than an attempt to piggyback on their previous hard work. They felt it was a decision driven by greed - nothing more. And understandably, this made them rather frustrated when the staff of that community sought approval from them.

However, the ND staff at the time were relatively young and immature - and initially considered their ridiculous behavior on the Nuclear District forums to be a source of comedy and amusement. Little did they know that things would soon change.

By early 2015, the staff at Nuclear District had started to grow tired of community management. Many of them had full time jobs and lives now, and operating a gaming community gradually fell lower and lower on the priority list. Additionally, many of these staff were simply worn out from years of work - as many had started their work during the old Chaotic United. However, before they decided to shut things down, they saw an opprotunity in the new Chaotic United.

By this point, it was apparent that the new Chaotic United team had no ill intention with their use of the CU name. They'd been online for nearly a year, and while they had some amount of traffic, it wasn't a great deal - and they certainly weren't bringing in enough donations to outweigh their server costs.

After much discussion between the two staff teams, Chaotic United and Nuclear District agreed to a merge - one that, while inelegant, would meet the needs of both parties. For the first time ever, the ND staff agreed to allow the continued use of the Chaotic United name - however, Nuclear District's name had to stay, too. And so, from mid-2015 to mid-2016, they both operated together - under a dual name, but with a shared vision and shared goal, to finally make things right again.

Passing of the Torch

By mid-2016, things weren't going as well as hoped. The merge was rocky and resulted in declining populations, and eventually the only server to remain online was the Chaotic United MC server. That, combined with the fact that many of the ND staff continued to be uninterested in continuing community management, decided that it was time for Nuclear District to close its doors.

However, this wasn't the end of the Chaotic United story. The nucleardistrict.net domain name, their forums license, and all topics and posts from the ND forums would be given to Chaotic United. All of the topics and posts were merged into the forums, the original memorial page was copied to the new host to ensure it remained available, and the forums license would replace Chaotic United's previous license. Forums themes were also transferred over as the Chaotic United forums were once again brought back online, this time for good.

This marked the passing of the torch. The recognition and approval that the new Chaotic United team sought so desperately. The approval to carry on the legacy, with the support of the original team - rather than in spite of them.

Present Day

Since then, Chaotic United has continued to develop and expand the community - through the expansion to BungeeCord, a dedicated server, and with the reintroduction of Modded Minecraft and exploring other games like Valheim. Our mission since then, and will always be, to carry that torch as best as we can. We aim to bring Chaotic United back to its former glory - and even surpass the heights that the old CU attained. We aim to power into the future, while honoring, preserving, and respecting the past and all that came before. And we're grateful to be able to do that with the blessing of the old guard.

The future for Chaotic United continues to shine bright. Our flame is strong and continues to burn bright. And we firmly believe that Chaotic United's best days are not behind us - but ahead. And we hope you can join us for the ride.