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 stand 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 local friends playing Star Wars Jedi Knight over 56k modems has transitioned to a large group of members from various states and countries hosting multiple game servers via several different types of resources. These resources have included servers hosted in the homes of our members, server boxes colocated with an internet provider, and game servers rented through game server hosting companies. Some of the first game servers that were hosted included Counter-strike during its beta days and Team Fortress Classic. All of our 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 4 original members to 100's of new members. There are many outlets to socialize with other members including the forums and Discord. Quarterly WAN parties that fill an evening with games and a yearly LAN party over an entire weekend at a location in the eastern United States 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. 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.