April 9, 2008

Where Are They Now?

I was thinking last night about all the people I’ve gotten to know in an online sense over the years. There’s been a lot of them. However, over time and years as people move on from games they lose touch with one another. I spend a lot of time (well, not a lot, but some) thinking to myself “I wonder where so and so is now.. I wonder what they’re up to. I wonder if they’re still gaming”. So I thought about it a little more. Does anyone know if there’s a site out there that would perhaps let you find people who you used to game with? Let me explain a little more.

I’m thinking a data base type site, where you’d input what games you played, during what years. Your character names, and server names. Maybe guild names if you wanted to get into even more details. An email address where you could be reached as well. Have this data base open for others to search. So you could search by game, by server, by guild, whatever. If you wanted to see if anyone was still around who you used to play EQ1 with WAY back when, this would be the place to look. Of course getting people to actually sign up and input their information is always the hard part.

The reason I’m thinking of this in particular is there’s so many varieties of game now. It’s always funny when you ‘run into’ someone you used to play with long ago. Or interesting to see where people are ‘playing now’ 10 years later. To see if they’re even still around. A name you’d recognize from back in the day. Surely I’m not the only one who’s run into people in a game who leave some sort of an impression.

For example, personally speaking. There was this one bard. His name was Twinkletoes. It may have even been Twinkletoez, I can’t quite recall. Used to play on EQ1, and I’d gotten to know Him fairly well. He dyed their gear bright pink and green and blue, it was atrocious. He was funny, but over time decided to give up EQ1. He even let me use their account and I created my cleric there, Eltheria. I can’t remember why he kept the account open specifically, but I know he was apart of the floods in Louisiana, and I remember being worried for him. Shortly after that incident I never heard from him again. From time to time I wonder what happened to him, and I wish there was a way to check in (on willing participants of course) and see how folks are doing. There was the guy who told me he was some famous guitar player (and lied about that might I add, I found out later) who I met in EQ1, and all the old guilds I used to belong to. I don’t remember their names but I’m sure if I could search and see it, it would strike a note.

Then again maybe this is just some foolish idea, or, maybe it’s already out there some where and I just haven’t checked hard enough. I know there are places like eq2faces and what have you, but is there an area that encompasses all games out there (or a majority at least) where you can search for folks who used to play particular games? If you’ve heard of one let me know so I can check it out! What I mean specifically, is to be able to search for someone who you played with in EQ1, and then find out that they’re actually in your new guild in EQ2 and you didn’t even know it. Or perhaps the guild leader of your Vanguard guild is actually the same person who used to gank you all those days ago in WoW. That sort of thing.

Slowly Settling

Last night was day two on Uther, and it went pretty well. After deciding to settle there for good, my small group of friends decided to make more ‘permanent’ characters. The previous paladin on Ravenholdt made a warrior on Uther, Daegon. The hunter on Ravenholdt decided that he already had enough alts on Uther, and would wait for us to catch up. I believe with a 15 druid, though he has a paladin, warlock, and rogue as well. I’ve probably forgotten some alts. Mayadhros I looked for in game last night, but missed since I didn’t know his character name. Hopefully we can all meet up, I’ve emailed a channel name to him so we can chatter through that if nothing else. We’ve decided to hold off on the Safe Haven guild tag for now, to get some levels. The guild of course is already well established, and myself at least would feel exceptionally newb-ish and I’d rather get a few levels first.

I started out playing a draenei hunter, and then by the end of the night decided that will be my ‘fun’ ‘farm’ character (like always) and decided to try out a shaman. Now, I know shaman in World of Warcraft (in the past at least, no idea if it still holds true for today) have always been over powered. I know that a LOT of people play them for this reason. I’ve never played one beyond level 6 before though, ever. So it’s a nice change for me. I like the idea of totems, and the lore behind the class itself. I made a draenei and slowly made my way from Azuremyst Isle, to Dun Algaz, and onward to the dwarven starting area. So I’m set to begin questing there tonight when we all start playing.

I also moved my 44 priest, Ysandria (renamed from Stargrace since that was taken) over. She brought with her items that I’d had stashed away for over a year now, and promptly stuck them on the broker making a few gold. I also sent over a bunch of bags for alts which is fantastic. The typical 8 slot bags I’m used to just don’t cut it any more.

So far the shaman is a lot of fun. I honestly don’t know very much about them, I have never seen their talent tree before and I don’t have the vaguest idea what to go down once I hit 10. I like that aspect. I’ve said this a few times now, WoW may be the ‘constant’ mmo out there along with EQ2 and a few others, but it’s the one game I’ve never really delved into. I’ve owned it since release, and played off and on, but never made it past level 47 before. I’ve never raided, I’ve done some pvp, but that’s where my experiences with the game end. So playing it casually with a few good friends has been a nice change, and I stress the ‘few good friends’ part, because if it wasn’t for Gozad, Growlius, and Mayahdros, I wouldn’t be playing. I don’t have too much interest in AoC at all, but I am looking forward to WAR, if for nothing else then to play a new game. I’m hoping to stick with WoW until then, but we’ll see how it goes since I’m notorious for switching games quite frequently. EQ1 was the only game I stuck with for a year and a half, until EQ2 came out (and then WoW shortly after) and I’ve flip-flopped between games ever since. I’m not exactly a veteran gamer, I’ve been playing EQ2/WoW since release, I only played a year and a half of EQ1, I played MUDS before that (specifically Redemption) and  aside from the Sims, I’ve never been one for console games either. I’ve met a lot of fantastic friends along the way. Which leads me to my next post.

Nomadic Gamer