My biggest/first surprise was that CoH was an MMO. It said it on the box, but I could never find on the box what MMO meant. I had no idea I'd see other players operated by real life people.
Oh yeah, I had a friend who also bought it the game in (Dec. 2004) thinking it was a stand alone game. When I told her what MMO was, she kind of made this face like she just sucked on a lemon or something. At first I just kind of shrugged and said ok and left it at that for the moment. and she shelved the game. Months (Sept 2005) later, I was walking though a wal-mart and seen COH on the shelf and remembered the box from when my friend showed me I picked it up and started playing. Then I started to tell her that the game was actually a cool game and she should get that box, now collecting dust on her shelf with other games she bought and never played, and give it a try. I thought she would enjoy it. Oct 26th 2005, she finially tried it out. Oct 31 2005 she picked up COV too and that is when I also installed COV to my computer. Man, we had good times together with a few others that joined us on a regular basis, althoug hshe kicked my butt in PvP everytime. Still to this day, we still get together and talk about those times we had there although she said she probably will never ever try another MMO again as she found she just didnt enjoy playing with people much. That I can relate to. Sometimes dealing with other people is a hassle, to me just a minor hassle to play a good game. To her, a major hassle but she said COX was worth it and she havent come across any other game where that hassle is worth it to her. Told her crazy butt to stay away from the forum but I guess, it was her attempt to try to understand people and be more social.Talk about uber fail. Now it seems that she hates people in games and it seemed to have carried over to real life a bit. She just dont understand that although people tend to act like idiots and seem to decrease their IQ by half when they get annon. and hide behind a screen, people are in general good and rational/ To her mind, people online was people in real life and thus that is how people are. She was always a bit distant, now it seems at times she is straight sadistic towards people she dont know. I kind of feel bad because I feel as if I had a hand in creating that feeling in her. One of the greatest red flags I noticed in the change was her attitude towards charity. Originally she just politely declined or gave money, which she have plenty of anyways. But then one day this charity group was collecting money for cancer children who's families had no money for treatment. This wasnt the first time and in the past, she used to either gave a decent portion of change, or pocket change for her, to them. Near the end of 2012, she said something I would never forget. She asked, "These kids have cancer that is terminal?" The charity person replied "Yes but we are also collecting for children with treatable cancer." She replied, "Well, I hope they die because we dont need anymore humans on this rock. We have enough idiots already. Why would I give a single penny to save their lives when all they going to do is grow up, become a basement dweller and torment people on the internet? The world would be better off with out them." I didnt know what to say. Kind of caught me off guard. This coming from the same person that helped me through my toughest times in life, the same person that trained me to be the expert in my job field, the same person that bailed me out of alot of stupid stuff, and the same person that introduced me to investing wisely.
Oh god went a bit off on a tangent but that reminded me of that person so much when I explained what MMO meant to her and convinced her to give the online game a try.
Funny thing is that I see here from time to time in CO but she keeps to herself and hell, she refuses to speak to me at all in game. Last time I tried she didnt even bother to reply but instead called my phone to talk, ending with she is enjoying the game but have no wish to interact with anyone even if Jesus himself sent her a team invite she will swiftly put him on the ignore list.I couldnt help but ask why continue to play an mmo, you changed for the worse, you dont like people anymore, so why put ya self in that situation. She simply said that it's for the same reason she wont kill herself in the real world. She like the world like her life but that doesnt mean she have to interact with anyone and no one, not even humans will stop her from enjoying her life or game for that matter. She will put the entire population of CO on ignore if need be if that means enjoying the game in peace. "Dont speak to me in game ever again. If you value our friendship, speak to me directly not through some game."
I guess the meaning of MMO left a mark on all of us for better or worse.
