Drew “FrustratedFury” Leachman
I can remember, being the huge nerd that I am, playing my very first online game with other players with MUDs. What’s a MUD? Well, it’s a multi-user dungeon. Remember those old text games where you had to choose to go North, South, East, or West? You had to type out commands, and there were no graphics in the game. Like, at all. Yeah, I’m getting old. Those were some of the very first online games I ever played. This was back in the mid 90’s when I was around 13 years old. I would spend hours reading what looked like the Matrix while trying to figure out what my online partner was trying to say through cryptic messages. Those were some really good times.
Of course, the big game that got me into online gaming for real was Quake III: Arena. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours I put into that, even though the lag was horrible on my old 56k modem. When that game bit me, it was pretty much it. I was hooked.
SOCOM was Sony's flagship online title for the PS2.
Later games that put me into the online experience were Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast, Diablo II and, more recently, Call of Duty 2 on the 360. Those are some games I have exhausted to the point where I had them memorized. Call of Duty 2 was when I got serious into online gaming. I played every night, had a great connect and met some really nice guys while playing. If it weren’t for my experiences in online video games, I may very well not be doing what I do today, and it all started with a text based MUD.
Jeff “Scorched Angel” Borsick
It is really hard to think about my gaming experiences without online play. I came into the online territory with my PS2. It wasn’t the biggest online gaming console I know, but I think my first really fond memory of it was with SOCOM. I played a lot, and it was a huge step forward in the world of online gaming, in my opinion. After that, I got an Xbox around the time that Halo 2 came out, and this is where my fascination with being constantly online came in. I would play with my friends every day after school. It was a cemented part of my life, and really opened my eyes to the passion that comes from gaming with friends.
I moved on to the Xbox 360 after that, with my fond memories from the console being Call of Duty 2, staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing online with a man I only knew as Theone. It was one of the most memorable experiences of online gaming that I have, and I still vividly remember it. I also played a lot of Gears of War (the original) as well as some co-op with Saints Row 2. This is where I met my good friend, Altis1, and where we really hit it off. Co-op was one of the bigger areas of online gaming that I really got into. I had a hard time sometimes with online shooters, and I felt that being able to play with your friends, and take down the enemy together, really expanded the online space. That being said, I did also play a lot of Halo 3 online, again until the wee hours of the morning.
The Dreamcast was the first console to really focus on online gaming.
It seems a lot of my online gaming is the mainstream, larger than life titles. I liked to play what others were playing, and I still will go nuts over a good co-op experience rather than a large online shooter. I really believe that co-op is the future, and I hope that there are a lot of titles that will continue to reignite that passion that I have found over the years in the online space.
Ken “ZeroTolerance” McKown
I can show my age a bit here and say that my first online gaming experiences were with the PC, and this was before broadband. I can still remember hearing my modem making that hopeful phone call to the server across my 14.4 modem as I waited to dive into games like Duke Nukem 3D and, of course Doom. Those days were incredible because I couldn’t actually believe I was playing against real people; it was surreal.
I have graduated with each console since, and even some PC from time to time, but I think my fondest memories stem from the Dreamcast, most likely because it was the first console to do online gaming right. I remember having to download a key to play Daytona online, and how laggy Unreal Tournament was the first time I got into a room with just one other player. Still, I can remember wasting countless hours dialing into the internet on that machine. Since then, obviously, Xbox Live has really taken over. I can’t even imagine games without online play anymore, which is both good and bad. I never get that “surreal” sense of surreal, but when I tear apart zombies with my cohorts in Raccoon City, I still get that sense of why online is so important to gaming.
Got questions or comments? Drop ’em in the comment section below or hit us up via email. Suggestions for Reviewer Rodeo topics that you want our opinions on? Hit Drew up at frustratedfury@ztgamedomain.com.
