You're telling me. It was like a text adventure RPG. Navigating dungeons was really difficult.
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What was your first experience of online gaming?
- Thread starter Lightning Count
- Start date
Doom II on my old Mac LC II. It was basically unplayable, even after my friend and I managed to jump through the hoops necessary to "call" the other via our modems.
Quake II on PC, however, was my first taste of actually playable multiplayer. I sucked at it, but it was a blast. You could even download skins from various fansites to make your own "custom" character. Amazing!
Quake II on PC, however, was my first taste of actually playable multiplayer. I sucked at it, but it was a blast. You could even download skins from various fansites to make your own "custom" character. Amazing!
Starcraft. I would spend entire days playing the different online modes. This game blew my mind when it came out.
I have played a bit of Age of Empires, Starcraft and Warcraft in cafes. Once we got unlimited dsl at home, I spent many many nights playing Tibia.
This was my first taste of network play. It was like crack.
Then in college QuakeWorld happened, and then Unreal Tournament. And then PSO on Dreamcast. It was a magical time.
hmmm the first baldurs gate i think? i remember it almost never actually working and having to call up my friends so we could write down each others IP address to connect. Which sucked because this was 56k days, couldn't make a call and be on the internet at the same time lol. I'm thinking it was baldurs gate but can't remember.
I think it might have been Pokemon Diamond, which has among the worst online I ever used so the only place it could go was up.
Doom on PC back in the 90s, first time on a console was probably PES5 on the PS2, one of my friends bought the internet adaptor for it and we tried it out, it wasn't my cup of tea at all. I had a Dreamcast and an Xbox, but never bothered with them. In my mind if I wanted to play online it was a PC thing, it wasn't until the PS360 era that mentality changed.
Living in a busted-ass apartment with my mom, which was overtop of a cyber cafe. They let me play on their PCs for free since I lived upstairs. We played CS 1.6 over LAN one time and it changed my life, totally blew my mind playing a game like that against other people. I then started saving cash and building my first PC at home to play CS online. The rest is history.
Socom on PS2 i think, but im not sure. I remember playing Twisted Metal Black Online and Tony Hawk back in the day too.
It was Cyberstrike on GEnie. It was great.
Funny enough, it's one of the only games I've ever played that managed to make online play as fun as I had imagined it before it was available. There was ample communication, consistently friendly and effective teamwork, and design with a low skill ceiling (it played in practically slow motion) so coordinated strategy would always win the day.
After that, online games generally felt like jumping into a mosh pit. It's fine if you are into practicing a particular genre alot and being railroaded into a winning playstyle all the time, but not how I imagined online gaming at the outset of the whole venture.
Funny enough, it's one of the only games I've ever played that managed to make online play as fun as I had imagined it before it was available. There was ample communication, consistently friendly and effective teamwork, and design with a low skill ceiling (it played in practically slow motion) so coordinated strategy would always win the day.
After that, online games generally felt like jumping into a mosh pit. It's fine if you are into practicing a particular genre alot and being railroaded into a winning playstyle all the time, but not how I imagined online gaming at the outset of the whole venture.
It could've been Counter-Strike or some other PC game (since a relative of mine had a gaming-focused PC at the time), but I think my first real experience was playing a MotoGP demo that came with the Xbox Live starter kit back in 2004.
Warcraft 1 over modem connection, so like '94/95? Used up the land line in the house so we didn't get to do it much.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on PS3 sometime in early 2008. I was rubbish at every online match, but it was a blast.
When I got my first modem in 1995 (A Creative Labs Modem Blaster 14.4kbps), it came with a bunch of shareware and demos on a CD that was meant to be played over dial-up. Stuff like Warcraft 1, Descent, Heretic and Doom. So I installed them on my 486 and then I also installed them on my cousin's computer so we could play via direct dial-up connection. Of course, it would disconnect us anytime someone picked up the phone on either side.
The first game I properly played online, though the Internet, was Starcraft, via Battle.net, with a 56.6k modem.
I feel Starcraft very important in introducing a lot of people to online play, both younger gen Xers like myself as well as older millenials. It came out just as internet penetration started to become more common (1998) and it also offered a streamlined, easy to use platform thanks to Battle.net.
The first game I properly played online, though the Internet, was Starcraft, via Battle.net, with a 56.6k modem.
I feel Starcraft very important in introducing a lot of people to online play, both younger gen Xers like myself as well as older millenials. It came out just as internet penetration started to become more common (1998) and it also offered a streamlined, easy to use platform thanks to Battle.net.
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Some Quake or Unreal demo I downloaded on PC back in the day. I never got into online gaming as I got older (other than Halo co-op).
Diablo on my dad's computer with dial-up through NetZero. He went to Florida for a week or two to see his dad on his deathbed and was super pissed to find his kids had fucked around with his work PC. Doubt we would've done it if he told us why he went there to begin with but we were shits so maybe not.
There was a big ad banner window that went through the fullscreen and we had to be careful not to click it or the game would crash. I also vividly remember starting a new game and some sorcerer dude dying immediately to the very first wave of dinks we encountered -- made me think playing online would be like storming Omaha Beach and I could die at any second.
There was a big ad banner window that went through the fullscreen and we had to be careful not to click it or the game would crash. I also vividly remember starting a new game and some sorcerer dude dying immediately to the very first wave of dinks we encountered -- made me think playing online would be like storming Omaha Beach and I could die at any second.
Command and Conquer at a local laser tag place...we used to be able to pay to play for a certain amount of time on LAN hooked up computers...
Didn't do true console multiplayer until the 360, and while it may not have been the first (and definitely not the best), but I still has a nostalgic soft spot for Perfect Dark Zero.
Didn't do true console multiplayer until the 360, and while it may not have been the first (and definitely not the best), but I still has a nostalgic soft spot for Perfect Dark Zero.
socom baby. came with online adapter for ps2. i was garbage but man did it i feel like the future of gaming
Quake 3 Arena on the Dreamcast. It seemed magical at the time (I grew up with a single shared family PC that could only play basic games). Although any time you got into a lobby with someone that had the Dreamcast broadband adapter is was like playing against the literal Flash and they'd just absolutely demolish everyone.
I honestly think it was Red Alert 2. Back then buying legal games was kind of hard, so piracy was what I had to do to play PC Games. Red Alert 2 was one of the few legal games I owned. So it must be that.
Quake 2 for me, probably some time in 1998. But since our house just had one phone line, I couldn't be on the internet for more than an hour at a time, so I really didn't play online much at all.
We got cable internet around the time I downloaded Counter-Strike in 2000, so that's when I started playing online a lot.
We got cable internet around the time I downloaded Counter-Strike in 2000, so that's when I started playing online a lot.
lol it was a different time. They also freely gave out their IP addresses for practice matches. Was like the wild west back then.
