A long long time ago...
You know, I'm reminded of the very first gaming society I joined. They were called the Imperial Order - a Star Wars gaming group that primarily did video gaming. There was an RP element to it and they added a separate RP group not that long after the events of what I'm about to retell.
Now, I was in Shetland, on a half-decent computer for the time, over dial-up. So there was no chance I was going to be doing multiplayer gaming. But I enjoyed the society, the social aspect, the roleplaying of being in character in the chat room, and on the forums. This was the sort of place where everyone knew you by your character name (and you only ever had one character).
I enlisted several of my friends to join this mostly-American society. There were people from all over the world, it was quite successful really - less than some groups, but still one of the more well known groups out there doing this kind of thing.
Now, as it turned out, this society contained some gits. I wanted to see what some of the other groups were like, and so I joined some of them as well - I didn't do much with them, and went back to the IO. I also set up my own side one (with the Rebels) - just a small thing, me and the previously-mentioned mates.
As it turned out, I wasn't the only one in multiple groups. One of the high-ups in the IO was as well, and noticed my email address being used on both IO and EH stuff. I think they also noticed my side Rebel group.
The first I heard of this though, was much later.
There were weekly meetings where reports were given, awards handed out, etc. I was still in school (this was 2001), and the meetings were on a Monday night at 5PM EST, or 10PM GMT to you and me. So I wasn't exactly allowed to go.
I was prepped to become the XO of my squadron, and the squadron leader had sent me a message saying he couldn't make it and could I do the report instead. So I asked, pleaded, begged my mum to let me stay up for the meeting - just this once. She relented, and I stayed up to attend.
The squadron leader was there. I PM'd him and asked him if he still needed me to do the report. He asked me to hang around. I said I had to go, and he said it was important - hinted at promotion, so I stayed.
The important thing I needed to be there for? Being called forward, accused of treason and executed - kicked out of the society.
Just in case you missed that, I was called to a public meeting of the society, in front of everyone, when they knew I couldn't usually make it, and had my character - myself, since we didn't really differentiate - executed for dabbling with other groups.
That night ended with tears.
For some reason, this tale came back to me tonight. I can't think why. Not like it seems to be happening all over again, or anything.
Now, I was in Shetland, on a half-decent computer for the time, over dial-up. So there was no chance I was going to be doing multiplayer gaming. But I enjoyed the society, the social aspect, the roleplaying of being in character in the chat room, and on the forums. This was the sort of place where everyone knew you by your character name (and you only ever had one character).
I enlisted several of my friends to join this mostly-American society. There were people from all over the world, it was quite successful really - less than some groups, but still one of the more well known groups out there doing this kind of thing.
Now, as it turned out, this society contained some gits. I wanted to see what some of the other groups were like, and so I joined some of them as well - I didn't do much with them, and went back to the IO. I also set up my own side one (with the Rebels) - just a small thing, me and the previously-mentioned mates.
As it turned out, I wasn't the only one in multiple groups. One of the high-ups in the IO was as well, and noticed my email address being used on both IO and EH stuff. I think they also noticed my side Rebel group.
The first I heard of this though, was much later.
There were weekly meetings where reports were given, awards handed out, etc. I was still in school (this was 2001), and the meetings were on a Monday night at 5PM EST, or 10PM GMT to you and me. So I wasn't exactly allowed to go.
I was prepped to become the XO of my squadron, and the squadron leader had sent me a message saying he couldn't make it and could I do the report instead. So I asked, pleaded, begged my mum to let me stay up for the meeting - just this once. She relented, and I stayed up to attend.
The squadron leader was there. I PM'd him and asked him if he still needed me to do the report. He asked me to hang around. I said I had to go, and he said it was important - hinted at promotion, so I stayed.
The important thing I needed to be there for? Being called forward, accused of treason and executed - kicked out of the society.
Just in case you missed that, I was called to a public meeting of the society, in front of everyone, when they knew I couldn't usually make it, and had my character - myself, since we didn't really differentiate - executed for dabbling with other groups.
That night ended with tears.
For some reason, this tale came back to me tonight. I can't think why. Not like it seems to be happening all over again, or anything.