Let's see...

1981 - Somebody in my class brings in his brand new D&D game. I totally don't get it. I suspect they're making up the rules as they go along, and every time I ask a question, I'm pretty sure they quick come up with another one. Like, "roll the dice. How about that? There's been a curse, and now your character is mute!"

** 10 blissfully D&D-free years slip past **

1991 - I'm at the fraternity house down the street, with one of the other girls. Must be an incredibly slow Saturday night. Everybody else is out-of-town, so we're hanging out with the geek frat, who are really a great bunch of guys. One of the guys pulls out a box. What's this? AD&D? With little action figures? They make action figures now? Hmmm, let's give it a try...

I'm assigned a female barbarian warrior. I roll the gazillion-headed die. Hmm, she just died. What the f**k?! This game sucks. Let's play with my ouija board instead. So we spend the evening trying to summon my friend's grandfather, but get the wandering spirit of a guy from St. Louis, MO, who calls himself 'broken-hearted'. Turns out he killed his wife and best friend in a fit of jealousy, then jumped from a moving train around 1917. After calling a church in Saint Louis, and confirming a few geographic/historic details, half the greek orgs on the block think I'm a witch now. I'm not a witch, I'm NOT a witch <maniacal laughter>

** nearly 10 more years later **

1999 or 2000. I forget which. The hubby comes in with a copy of EverQuest. For the next six months, I want to kill him, since he's ALWAYS playing. Then one day, he vacates the chair, let's me sit down, and start my own character. I'm totally hooked. There are even people who roleplay! (which sadly, lasted about two months before the server was jammed with powerleveller-types). But a small group of us stick to our roleplay guns, for the better part of a year.

Then one of my faithful rp'ing friends tells me about AO. I howl, squawk, argue, complain, no no no, I don't want to play a sci-fi game. But I sign up for beta anyway, and ooooo, social clothes! This is like playing with barbie-dolls online! Fashion show! So we play off and on after the game goes live, come back for a month in Jan. 2001, then back to EQ.

Then we dabble in DAoC awhile, then in July 2002, I decide to patch AO.

And here I am And dammit, I think I'm older than just about everybody else here! (I celebrated 29 for the third time yesterday )