Info » About Us

About | History | Founders | Active Administrators | Active Trophy Holders | Special Thanks

About the Site

ChooseYourStory.com is a community-driven website centered around Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style storygames. Members create their own storygames, play others members' storygames, participate in the forums, and a bunch of other things. Currently, the site has:

  • 74,964 Members
  • 35,334 Total Storygames (1,013 Published)
  • 84,907 Comments left on Storygames
  • 402,058 Forums Messages Posted
  • 2,463,035 Points Accumulated

  • 7,066 Commendations for Architects
  • 9,105 Commendations for Marauders
  • 6,623 Commendations for Sages
  • 3,326 Commendations for Wardens

Site History

by Alex Papadimoulis

It was Spring of 2001 and I had a decision to make. We had just been given the final assignment for CSC-463 (Web Programming) -- create a database-driven website -- and I needed to think of cool project to do for it.

Several years earlier, I created a web-based Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style storygame with my friend George and remembered how incredibly tedious it was. The storygame consisted of several hundred pages and each one needed to be created and linked to several others. I thought how cool it would be if I could create a website that would allow myself and others to make Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style storygames without needing to know anything about HTML, websites, or anything like that. So I got to coding and, within a couple weeks, a simple website was born.

I showed the website to a few of my friends and a strange thing happened: they started to use it. George started up a story about dinosaurs invading Fairview Park, John wrote about one of his more entertaining dating experiences, and Dan chose to make a storygame about final exams instead of studying for them. We stumbled across something pretty fun.

George, Dan, and I decided to take the school project further. We spent the summer coming up with a name for our new site, expanding on the concept of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure with Items and Link Restrictions, and developing the site. ChooseYourStory.com was born.

Since that summer, the site has gone through a lot of changes. Features have been added, graphics have been tweaked, and lots and lots of members have joined. The three of us continue to spend our free time working on our fun creation, adding new features, and occasionally making a storygame of our very own.

Founders

Alex Papadimoulis (alexp)

Alex is the sole programmer at ChooseYourStory.com and does all the "technical stuff" around the site. In the real world, Alex is the principal member of Inedo, LLC and uses his 10 years of IT experience to bring custom software solutions to small- and mid-sized businesses and to help other software development organizations utilize best practices in their products. He lives in Berea, OH, and was awarded a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Baldwin-Wallace College.

 

George McDougall (chocobot)

Without George, ChooseYourStory.com would look as plain as the text you are reading right now. George is responsible for designing and developing just about every graphic, button, and image on ChooseYourStory.com. Currently stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, George is a Sergeant in the US Army and spent over a year on a tour of duty in Iraq. George's home town is Fairview Park, OH and he earned a Bachelor of Sociology at Cleveland State University.

 

Dan Videc (march5th00)

As the "idea man" at ChooseYourStory.com, Dan does his best to balance Alex's highly-technical ideas with George's highly-complicated ideas. In the real world, Dan helps out homeless people in his day-job as a Social Worker and moonlights as a DJ for his company, Entertainment Revolution DJs. Dan also lives in Berea, OH and was awarded a Bachelor of Psychology at Baldwin Wallace College.

Active Administrators

These members play a valuable role in helping to keep the site clean and enjoyable for everyone. If you ever notice any inappropriate posts, comments, or storygames, don't hesitate to contact one of them.

Active Personal Trophy Holders

These members have contributed so much that they have earned the right to give out a personal trophy to anyone they see fit!

Special Thanks

John P. Videc (johnnyvusmc) -

For patiently creating storygames while the site was being created

Katrina Tackett -

For picking the perfect face for the original ChooseYourStory.com Logo Guy

MadHattersDaughter (MadHattersDaughter) -

For being amazing and wonderful and talented and graciously providing the site with updated art