I discovered on-line gaming in 1990-ish with the Sierra Network. You used a modem (2400 baud if you were awesome, 300 baud if you sucked) and dialed a Sprint phone number which connected you with the Sierra Network on your computer.
There you could play with other gamers. Yes, the first Multi Player On-Line game network. There was a flight battle sim game called Red Baron, a board game area, Liesure Suit Larry on line, and Shadows of Yserbius, a graphical Medieval MUD. Almost 30 bucks a month for just 10 hours of play. $125 per month for Unlimited. And credit card? Natch, you didn't need one. You could just say BILL ME.. Many a game addict ending up owning them 500 or more dollars. It isn't hard at $125 a month. Good GAWD.
TSN became INN (The Imagination Network) and then went out of business a few years later (maybe because of all those people with unpaid invoices), and a few more on line opportunities popped up. There was America Onlines NeverWinter Nights, Empiriana, and The Realm. All of these were DnD type games, not much more than Graphical MUDS. Well, except for the Realm, which actually looked alot like a King's Quest type Sierra game.
In 1998, I got on the beta of Everquest. I toyed around with it, amazed and a little frustrated, but really didn't start playing the game until 1999 when it was released. And the fever began. MMORPGs exploded into the scene and I think I played with them all at one point or the other. But Everquest was the main dish. I bought all the expansions and spent a good 30 hours a week there sometimes. Luckily it wasn't $125 a month, eh?
There were other games along the way, but I never truly quit EQ. There were years on Star Wars Galaxies (and there's a whole other story), Lord of the Rings, City of Heroes/Villians, Final Fantasy XII, Matrix, Vanguard, and a few more here and there that give me a headache to remember.
When World of Warcraft was released at the same time as EverQuest II, I was torn. I had friends splitting off into both games and was also still playing Everquest in a raiding guild. So, I tried doing all three.
That just didn't work. I ended up puttering here and there and just never got into either EQII or Wow very deeply at first. It took Raid burn out on EQ to make me really play EQII a while, and that's when I started to realize I just didn't have that game fever and drive I used to.
It was not nearly as thrilling to spend a whole night doing a quest, clearing a dungeon, as it used to be. Why? Why was this? Because with so many new games out, all of my old posse were spread out all over. I had some new friends, some old friends, but things just weren't "the same".
With Wow I had friends on several different servers. So I'd play a few months on one server, then make new toons on another server and play there. Needless to say, a few years later and I don't have a single character on Wow over 40.
So, I've come to accept that I'm not young and wide eyed anymore. I might never recapture that magic of gaming. I'm an old gamer now. And maybe Wow is going to be my last "game" hurrah.
I've been known by many names out there on games in the last 18 years. Taliana, Sapfyre, Tannah, Saavik, Whisper, Steelcelt, Santina, Indaria, Firemist and Steelfire.
So for my last "hurrah" I've settled on World of Warcraft, the Venture Co server with a blood elf Hunter named Taliana (I think I've had a Taliana on every game I've ever played). I just hit 40 and have joined the guild my daughter, Tenaki is in, Hellhounds.
And so it begins..... (lifts a wine glass) "here's to not logging off just yet"
