My name is Pogoman. Well, it was...maybe it still is. Depends on who you ask and what you're talking about.
It all started a decade ago. A fellow co-worker at that time knew I was into comic books, superhero stuff, and
gaming. He asked me "What do you think of City of Heroes?". My response was "city of what?". He looked at me
like I had 3 heads. "City of Heroes. It's a superhero mmorpg." My next question, then, of course was "What's
an MMORPG?" Again, I got a look of incredulity. He explained it to me. My reaction was "Meh." But, it was
superheroes and I had a "staycation" coming up. So the weekend before I headed to best Buy and purchased it,
and loaded it into my PC. What was to be a "I'll just make a character and try it out", soon took me into
forcing myself away from my pc to make some dinner, eat quick and back to the pc into the middle of the night.
Sunday went by before I knew what happened. Monday came around and my friend laughed at my regaling of tales
of my exploits as Pogoman in Paragon City all weekend.
That started me on a fantastic love affair that continues today. For 8 1/2 glorious years I was alive in a city that
thrived on imagination and creativity. It became my home. When real life kicked me to the ground, I could enter the
world of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles and rise above. So many task forces, missions, and special events did I
partake in over the years. Archvilians fell to the wayside, when my companions and I did battle to save our world.
When my body became sick, the game healed me. When the real world shunned me for reasons beyond my understanding,
I turned to the City where numerous friends existed and lifted me up and gave me hope that this is how people should
behave towards one another. To me, and so many others, CoH was more than a game. It was an amazing social network
of people who had the same interests, wrapped around a game where we could pretend to be superbeings with
incredible powers. So many player events I went to to interact with these fine people and looked forward to these
events fondly. Even now I miss those times, especially when that time of year for them comes around.
My fondest memories were interacting with a group of people on the forums where we eventually just called the group,
"The Rookery". Everyday we would start a brand new theme and continue that throughout the day. To this day, my closest
friends are a sackboy who is the greatets tussler the universe has ever seen, a kitteh that loves recess peanut butter
cups, a rook of crimson color who inspired us all, a ninja kitty fairy who could vanish in an instant of a thought, a
puppeh who annoys the heck out of me each day but has it returned on him, and a woman who loves to wear latex and serve
cold pizza on Saturday mornings.
When people ask me why I do this blog talk radio show I do every Friday night from 7-9pm est even though the game is
gone, I just smile and say "You had to be there to understand." I thank you CoH and the entire community, for being
there when I needed you the most. I can proudly say for 8 1/2 years I walked amongst gods, universal entities, galactic
beings of immense powers, extra-dimensional creatures, magical beings, and meta-humans of earth and not only did I
hold my own, I thrived amongst them all. Even now, almost 18 months later, in exile from our now defunct city, I hold
on to hope that we will all be back on the streets of the most incredible city of all time.
My name is Pogoman. I ive in Paragon City. I continue to fight the good fight. I keep on believing. I hold on tight to
my dreams. I am a hero. This is what I do.
