Just Clanning Around part 2

It’s amazing how much difference there is between dial-up and…well, all forms of connection that aren’t dial-up. The first time I tried a multi-player game (using dial-up) I couldn’t even move. I kept dying before I even knew I had been shot. So getting our DSL was, in many ways, a life-changing experience for me.

When I first started playing mp Jedi Outcast, I had no idea what was going on (notice how I’m going out of my way to avoid using such gaming terms as “noob”). I assumed that, upon entering a free-for-all server, it would be a no-holds-barred, every-man-for-himself melee; and, in fact, if I had started my mp career with any other game, that would have been the case.

Instead, I found people jumping around, talking, killing themselves (as opposed to each other) en masse just for the hell of it, and occasionally having lightsaber duels. It was hilarious. It was fun. I was hooked instantly. I spent more and more time around this group and eventually found out they were in a clan called Hyperstream. I checked out their forums; it was an alive and active place, and everyone seemed to be happy and nice. I spent more time on their servers. I got tips on how to use my digital saber (turns out it’s not just random swinging after all). I joined the clan.

I went into it with some trepidation, but the fear didn’t last. I can honestly say that my first couple months in HS were among the happiest times in my life (which tells you more about my life than anything else). Despite that fact that even with training, I sucked at lightsaber dueling, I was made a Captain right away, thus outranking many of the people who I had already met. To this day I don’t know why, but it was fine with me. I was very active on the forums and the server and, for a little over two months, it was great.

But then the HS world started to splinter.