The Outlaws of Sherwood Forest (OSF) gaming community was founded by a small group of friends in March of 1999 on the principles of good sportsmanship, fair play, and most importantly a fun-loving attitude. The name was created out of the legend of Robin Hood who selflessly fought with his "merry men" against the oppression of the poor and the weak in the name of fairness and good and who was labeled an outlaw for doing so. The significance of the name was that they wanted to set themselves apart in the online gaming world as a group of people who stands against the arrogant, self-centered, and self-righteous attitude that steps all over the casual game player out there. They wanted to provide a shelter and a haven from the lack of common courtesy and concern for others that contaminates the online world in general.

The community has gone through significant growth over the years. What started as a group of several friends playing Jedi Knight over 56k modems transitioned to a large group of members hosting multiple game servers via several different types of resources. The first game servers were hosted on a dedicated server box and a Speakeasy DSL 768kb-1.1Mb connection out of one member's home starting in February of 2001. After a year and a half, the dedicated server box and game servers were colocated with the NetGamer, which was later sold to Wholesale Internet in Kansas City, KS, starting with 5 Mbs of bandwidth but eventually expanding to 15 Mbs with three server boxes. With the onset of game servers that required renting from a hosting company, a more cost-effective strategy was devised in simply renting all of the game servers from one provider, Branzone. The first game servers that were hosted included Counter-strike prior to it becoming official and owned by Valve and Team Fortress Classic. Other games and game modifications that have been hosted include Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Battlefront II, Tribes, Tribes 2, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, Day of Defeat 1.3, Fortress Forever, Counter-strike:Source, Day of Defeat:Source, Team Fortress 2, The Battle Grounds 2, The Ship, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2, Forgotten Hope 2, Eve of Destruction 2, Point of Existence 2, Desert Conflict, Project Reality, and Battlefield Bad Company 2. All of these game servers have been hosted thanks to the generous donations of monetary funds and physical resources by members.

The purpose of the community goes beyond hosting game servers. More importantly its focus is on making new friends. Membership has grown from 5 founding members to 100's of new members. There are many outlets to socialize with other members including the forums and Ventrilo. Yearly LAN parties at locations around North America have also become a fun aspect of encouraging more community camaraderie.

The community continues to grow and thrive today while adhering to the same philosophies and principles that it was born out of. It will continue to expand by hosting servers for new games and by looking for other new opportunities to grow and add more variety. The Outlaws of Sherwood Forest will always strive to provide a clean, relaxed, fair, fun, and sociable atmosphere in which to play online games and to make new friends.