Humble Beginings

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featherfoot07

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I was asked to write a speech about myself, explaining myself to the class. Part of the assignment was to pick a solid point of memory to start from, nothing like.

"Well one day I was born and then......"

I thought you guys would like to hear what I told them.


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As far as beginnings go I started off Playing wolfenstein . I was a master of the game at a mere 6 years old and then came out Doom. I was hesitant to move over and found a delicate balance between them. Just as I finished wolfenstien for the fifth time, Quake was becoming popular as it introduced Class Based play. I jumped ship from single player to the world of quake and was amazed.

The one event that I would say shaped my life and really kept me in gaming was the release of Half Life on 11-19-1998. This was a single player quake mod created by a very young and ambitious "Gabe Newell". We all know where his young company went from there.

Then, the world of gaming changed for me forever in April 1999 with the release of Team Fortress. In those days it was a Quake mod where every character was the same size, the spy could feign death, the sentries (IMO) looked much cooler than they do now, and there was the infamous poison system. I played TF avidly and got into the midst of clans in late '99.

My first clan based gaming experience was in a group that called themselves the "Puny Incinerators" or the -P|I-. So, my name back in the day was.

DoomBringer -P|I-

With time my tags and clans changed as several times the clans disbanded. Oddly enough I've run across some of those guys from -P|I- a couple times and there is a clan somewhere that recycled that tag from us.

And the, if not to add to the glory of online multilayer class based games - Day of Defeat was released for download in early 2000. I had heard speculation of the game in many chats while in game in TF. When someone AIM'd (AOL Instant Messenger - That really shows my age) me the link for the download I remember saying, outloud mind you - " 'smirk' yeah right, I give it a week" It didn't take me that long to become addicted. The new MPCBG included deployable BAR's, bayonets, Amazingly accurate sniper rifles, time accurate maps, and custom sounds/speech. I had to learn to force myself to stop playing one in order to play the other.

At the time of the 1.3 I was in a clan that called ourselves [1st SB] or the First Strike Battalion. We were originally a group of guys who played the game and we're TRYING to test the new VAC system. It was simple back then, but no hack AT THAT TIME could get around it. We see how long that lasted. As we played more together we began to do what was called "Reality Play" now called "realism".

In an odd twist of events, I remember one day browsing the forums here and saw that JohnT and Artimus were originally part of the Resistance Platoon - a group we faced often. It saddens me that I can not say more to it than that but it would be like me talking about NADES or SCE or USMC right now. Most of you don't even know who they are, they are allies in our INS department.

In late 2003, Steam was in it's early beta stages and revolutionized the world of gaming. "iTunes for Games" it was called. We at 1st SB all got set up with steam and it made our lives ten times easier, save for the constantly broken IM system.

In mid 1999 rumors began about Valve developing a new revolutionary game engine. Being as we played quake mods, we had no idea what could be better. In mid 2005 Day of Defeat: Source was released via steam. We all gave it a try and with in two weeks all of 1st SB had moved over to source and we were talking servers. We had serious discussion about starting up something serious. This is where my break started, My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV (terminal) Breast cancer in early 2002. It became very serious and consequently we moved to Texas in late 2002.

At fourteen years old I was more than happy to put down the headset for her and go to all of her chemo therapy sessions. I held her hand every time the doctor came in to tell her what was next, how her blood tests went, anything. I remember the room she went to chemo in, it could not have been more ....MEH!. It was battleship grey with her favorite chair over in the corner, right under the air vent. After six months of chemo, her hair fell out. I saw the absolute heartbreak when she looked at the hair brush that day. That night I shaved my head bald, and wore beanies with her every time it got cold.

My mother, my best friend, the person i was closest too ever -- Died at the cold hands of Breast Cancer November 11, 2004. I had been talking to her only two days earlier that the seven year anniversary of Half Life was coming up.

I did not play a game again until about a year ago when a buddy of mine said he had just bought DoD on steam. That acronym and that word brought back a whirrling rush of memories too great to pass up. I learned it was source when I got there. I got my computer in late 2008 and began to play DoD:S again in the first days of 2009.

The FeatherFoot07 you see today actually is a derivative of an earlier version of my name. It started out as FeatherFoot007. I used that name for my email, and besides - in fourth grade who wasn't a fan of James Bond I mean COME ON. The one Zero came from a result of the handy "forgot password?" link not existing yet in the world and I was forced to make a new email, this lead to the name you see now in server.

Now you can find me everywhere, From TF2 to DoD:s to CS:S to CoD. I play them all and love them all. Sometimes, when I'm tired from playing.... I'll put the old -P|I- tag on my name and then change my name to

DoomBringer -P|I-

Just to bring back memories, to sit and remember those times. To sit and remember those who brought me to where I sit today, typing this for you all to hear.

Gaming may not be an ample place to start their bio for most people, well to that I must say that I'm by no means like most people.

Remember,
Any Game, Any Time

RIP: Kari Ann Calloway
5-20-62 ----11-11-04
 
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What a touching story.
Thank you for sharing a part of your life with us.
 
Nice speech feather, it should go over well. Maybe explain what the games are or who Gabe Newell is (just in case they don't know)

Touching though
 
Very sorry about your mother. It was a great read and I'm very happy your shared it with us.
 
touching story i give it an A+ one for gaming and two for knowing how hard it is for your mother to get cancer. my mother has just gotten done with her last bit of radiation from having small cell lung cancer. the test show that its gone and I'm hoping for her to have a quick recovery.
 
I'm sorry for your mother, 16 is a young age to loose someone close.
 
Wow this is deep stuff man. I appreciate you taking the time to show us this amazing story of your life. I am truly sorry about your mother, my grandma had breast cancer and stuff, but she survived, I couldn't imagine my life without my mom or my grandma. If you didn't get an A+ on that paper, then your teacher has no soul.
 
Wow, that was awesome ;) and i was having a bad day too, that cheered me up, thanks.
 
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