[DONE] Introduction: fleeb

[fleeb]

Hello, folks.

I have a preference for RPGs, perhaps because I used to enjoy playing the pen-and-paper AD&D as a kid (back when version 2 was widely available... I still have some of my old manuals for that game).

I was a kid when Pong was the only console game available (although our family did not have one of these consoles). I remember playing Space Invaders, Pac Man, etc... back when they were brand new games. I think my favorite of all of these was Crazy Climber, for some reason.

I owned a C-128, with which I played The Bard's Tale avidly. My, how computer games have progressed since then.

I've been playing games online for a very long time. I initially resisted playing online, because I was concerned it would eat up all my time and some of my money. I guess I don't care anymore, heh.

I played Diablo II online, only to stop because so many players acted poorly towards each other there.

I played Neverwinter Night online, spending quite a lot of time on the Turmish Lands server. If you played there, you might remember me, as I was very involved with them. But I grew frustrated with the graphics and so on, and moved on.

I still occasionally play Guild Wars. When it first came out, the game had an amazing way of balancing all of the classes, ensuring that no particular class would dominate the game, and ensuring that people had to work together for certain goals. I don't think they have managed to keep that tradition going (at least as far as the interesting blending of classes working together), moving forward, but it is still a pretty good game for the money. I'll be interested in version 2 when they release it.

I guess, from there, I've played such a variety of games (mostly RPGs), to include:

• World of Warcraft
• Warmhammer Online
• Conan the Barbarian
• Dungeon Seige
• Lord of the Rings Online
• Quake
• Doom
• Dark Messiah
• Runescape (what the heck was I thinking?)
• Regnum Online (my Spanish, however, doesn't exist)
• Earth Eternal

I've also played quite a few non-online games, like Oblivion, Machinarium, The Maw, etc.

As for me, I started working with computers when I was 13 years old. I taught myself how to program them, and even donated time (as a kid) to a science museum to do some programming projects for them. The most impressive bit of programming I did back then involved creating a database engine for categorizing shells. It had a user interface, the ability to search for records, the ability to store records to disk (floppies in those days), and had stubs in place to print the records (a project someone else was supposed to do). I wrote the whole thing in BASIC for the TRS-80 (model III), and probably finished the project when I was 15. I didn't think it was such a big deal at the time, but I think the volunteer supervisor was impressed.

I joined the US Army, initially to work as a journalist, but later I became a bandsman, playing euphonium (a sort of miniature tuba). While in the military, I lived in Japan for 2 years, playing euphonium. After five years of the army, I left and went to college to study music, emphasizing composition so I could write music well.

In the end, though, I wound up getting into the computer field. As personal computers became more widely used and popular, my skills in this area became more useful. I had continued to teach myself various computer languages, settling on C++ as the main language of my career, because it seemed to me that it was fairly popular.

I worked in technical support for a while, then quality assurance, before someone finally picked me up as a C++ developer. I've been working as a C++ developer now for over 11 years, currently working on software to help broadcasters work with closed captioning for the deaf and hearing impaired.

I have very poor French, and some ability to use sign language (although I am not deaf myself, nor am I good enough to work as a translator in that language). I also studied Latin, which seemed kind of interesting.

I've been in a committed relationship for over 11 years (co-incidentally, since I found work as a C++ developer), but will likely never marry; the law does not allow it, and I'm not sure I would take interest in marriage even if I could. I have no children, although I do have a niece, and my partner has a nephew.

Some time ago, while playing WoW, I noticed that older players like ourselves seemed to treat online players with a sort of respect and understanding that you didn't find in younger players. I grew frustrated with the pre-teenage players who would demand that you 'help' them through some instance in an RPG, then cast you off as if players like you were a dime a dozen... with no appreciation for any time you spent with them. I grew frustrated with outright demands from such players, as if the sole purpose of having me play these games was to serve them. I couldn't even understand how such players could find enjoyment in the game, if all they wanted to do was gather treasure without going to any effort to work for it.

I grew frustrated with 'ninja' players, rude behavior, and a general lack of respect. It impacted my game play to such an extent that I decided to quit games like WoW, and find something very mature. So, I tried Conan, figuring that game was as adult as I could find, but didn't really seem to enjoy the game play there (although the community seemed nice).

In time, I learned some mechanisms for avoiding players. I started to become kind of picky about the people with whom I'd play online. If someone sent me a join-team request without talking to me first, I'd automatically deny it, and if the person sent it to me again, I'd put the person on my ignore list. Players who insisted on trying to pester me (perhaps by trying to block my view with their avatar) would actually cause me to pull out of the game, never to return.

But, honestly, there seems to be a change taking place in online games. I think very young children have games of their own in which they may participate amongst their peers, taking their undeveloped social skills with them (perhaps to develop them online). Games like Wizards 101 are both pretty good in their own rights, and great for children to develop the social skills that seemed to be so lacking when playing games like WoW. And I think parents like to know that there's a relatively safe environment for their children to play online games. At least, I see far fewer children in the games I play than I used to, and the few I do see seemed to be better behaved.

Unfortunately, though, this comes too late for me. I now come to expect bad behavior, and have certain habits in place, where I can still act respectfully to other players, but avoid the potentially irritating players without having to be rude. I like playing with older players, who enjoy cooperating towards a goal and can cheer a fellow player for getting a coveted item, rather than become envious that they didn't acquire the item for themselves. I like playing with players who understand how precious time can be, and have a habit of not wasting it for other players or themselves, yet were willing to think a problem through rather than bang their head against it. And, honestly, older players have interesting life stories of their own, born from experiences they've had in their life, which are fun to read about as you get to know each other. And so, I petition this group to consider me a candidate.

[fleeb]

And, of course, I would have to have the wordiest, longest, most ridiculous introduction imaginable.

I'm on steam as 'fleeb_fantastique'. Lately, I've been playing Champions Online quite a lot.

[Tempeste]

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