I played with a couple of folks way back in DF2:JK online deathmatches, and eventually joined a Raider Wars squadron with some of them. They eventually moved onto Tribes (the first) for a long time and were pretty well respected. One or two of them I'd play WB HTH against (it was free, I was young and unemployed) even though I was rubbish. One day he said "You know about Aces High, right?" and I said "What now?"
He gave me the URL. It was still being developed, but I followed nonetheless. I didn't make the beta or anything because I had no 3D card at the time.
Word of mouth ftw!