Asgenar woke up amid a slaughter....

Staff writer Andreas Matern gets down and dirty with us regarding his inner geek.

        Asgenar woke up amid a slaughter. The Mids were attacking Caer Boldiam where he had rested for the night, and the outnumbered Albions were in dire need of his divine services. He mended wounds, cast Greater Refection on as many of his realm mates as his mana would allow. Resurrections were performed on other clerics, hoping to stem the drain on his power pool. Someone yelled “Door one is down!” and the weapons of the mighty trolls were quickly hacking away at the inner door. The end was near, it was inevitable. Soon he would have to summon all his strength to smite his foes, while still trying to keep his realm mates healed during the melee. Outnumbered, there was nothing to do but face death – and hopefully get a butt-load of realm points. The door fell, the trolls charged, and my cable modem decided to stop working. I was link dead.

         Until recently, that was my life. By day I was a mild-mannered bioinformatician at a local biotech company in Cambridge, MA. By night I was Asgenar Larad, level 50 cleric and guild master of the Mystic Knights – a Dark Age of Camelot guild.

         When I first moved to Boston, the latest and greatest version of Dungeons and Dragons books were released. In an effort to regain some of my childhood, I bought a few of them, spending evenings looking through the fantastic artwork and reading up on the new rules. I started playing D&D when I was in the 5 th grade, and kept my geeky habit going until I went to college – where beer and girls took precedence over slaying dragons with a 20 sided die.

         The new rulebooks rekindled my interest. I still think that D&D is one of the greatest imaginative games that kids can play – where else do you use only your imagination, some rulebooks and some funky dice to spend countless hours of adventure? Unable to find a group of real people to play with, I accidentally stumbled across a web forum, which discussed a relatively new game – Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC). One of many MMORPGS – Massively Multiplayer On-Line Role Playing Games – DAOC was relatively new when I first started playing. In the course of a few weeks, I met a number of on-line friends and convinced my brother, who lives in New York City, to join.

         Armed only with my keyboard and mouse, I spent countless hours after work slaying foul creatures, and other players. My on-line avatar became stronger, and I learned new ways to defeat the puzzles and quests. I learned an entirely foreign language. My brother and I will at times converse in DAOC-speak, much to the chagrin of our ‘significant others’. On-line, only a n00b (new player or newbie) wouldn’t know what Mids, Hibs and Albs were. We were aware of the mobs that would baf, and we understood how to avoid purple aggro. The terrain of Emain Macha was more familiar to us than the real life cities we lived in. I never got lost running from G1 to G2, and I knew where the stealthers would hide to perf the casters.

         The most attractive part of the game, however, was the interaction with other players. Not only could I ‘chat’ with my brother through the game, much like using an instant messaging client like AOL or ICQ, but I met people from all over the world, and from all walks of life. I met people who were injured or disabled, and used the game to overcome their disabilities and smite their foes. I met people who traveled too often, and used the game to stay in touch with their families and friends. And I met geeks like me, who used the game as an alternative to bars and nightclubs. Eventually, e-mails were exchanged, and, in time, I’ve met some of these on-line friends in real life (IRL). I’ve even sent postcards to people I’ve never met face-to-face, and I’m pretty sure it brightened their day.

         As in any social situation, there are famous people in the on-line fantasy worlds. In the real world, they are geeks like me – sitting in front of a computer screen, typing away at their keyboards. In the on-line world, they were generals, warriors, and assassins so famous, that the mere mention of their names would instill fear, terror or instant respect among the other players. There are entire on-line communities where people can waste time at work, posting valuable information or taunting other players.

         It’s been a while since I’ve played – almost four months. I miss it, but the perils of real life, and the need to earn a living have made it more difficult to play. But, I know that once I log on, I’ll be greeted by friends and foes alike – and they’ll all be happy to see me.

         Information on some of the slang used in this article can be found here

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         Andreas Matern is a regular contributor to The Better Drink. His main DAOC ‘toons are Asgenar Larad and Zargenar Larad – both Albions on the Guinevere server. Asgenar is the GM of the Mystic Knights a very friendly DAOC guild. Andreas is working on publishing a short story, which has nothing to do with on-line role playing games. He lives in Boston. Dark Age of Camelot is a MMORPG published by Mythic Entertainment.