Machin Shin
02-05-2004, 06:27 AM
Thought I mith as well post this.
I wrote this to for my parents after they caught me 4 times on TAO whil I wasn't supposed to be. needless to say, I'm not the master of disguise. Here goes.
Why I Am A Member of "TAO Addicts Anonymous."
By Machin Shin
Tactics Arena Online, affectionately known to many as "TAO" is, in it's essence, a strategy game. It is fantasy based, as most games are, and is a thinking game - not for the witless. In the game itself, there are Pyromancers, who burn their way through any opposition, and Knights who slice and dice the enemy into manageable bites. There are Dragons and Archers (aka Scouts), Frost Golums that paralyze, units that heal, and units that provide extra armor. There is even a mole-like creature who "grows" shrubberys to hinder the enemy’s attempts to attack you're units. One might even go so far as to consider him as "cute." This game's basic objective is to hack, snipe, slice, burn, and paralyze you're opponent to the last "man" all the while making sure you're units are relatively safe by healing, providing extra armor, blocking the enemy’s path, and sometimes even sacrificing units for the greater cause. It is a game much more in-depth than mere words can describe. But that is not why I am writing this. I am writing this to explain to you what TAO MEANS to me.
I am, as you may or may not know, not the most popular person in the world. In fact, I am not popular at all. Although, I must admit, that if popularity means I have to have sex with every other girl, get drunk once a week, smoke, chew tobacco, cuss like a sailor, and listen the "junk" (that's putting it nicely) that is in/on today's secular music and TV, then I guess I'm going to stay a geek because I could care less about that stuph. I just don't see what's so "fun" about getting drunk (it SMELLS terrible) and having a hangover, or smoking and having to hide it, and having the few friends that I have ditch me because I always smoke or drink or whatever. That goes for drugs as well. But I digress. I do not have many friends in the "real world" and can't claim to have ever had a "best friend" the closest to which, would probably be my brother Dale. I am perfectly content to be left alone at school where I have a few friends, but mostly just acquaintances. People friendly in one class for one semester, and then nothing more. Mostly because most of the people at my school talk/act like idiots, and listen to rap, and then start to "chant" it out loud like it is the cool thing to do, which, for some strange reason, it is apparently. I never get invited to do ANYTHING with my church friends outside of church. I asked one of them to tell me when they were doing something again so I could come along? Nothing ever happened. My 4 main friends at church are kinda like a click. they’ve been friends since birth, and it's just the 4 of them when they do anything. 3 of them have accepted me, although it's taken them 7 years, and the last couldn't care less about me and tries to avoid me as much as possible. I have ha d a couple of friends stab me in the back, so to speak, and that is something I never really got over. I have as many enemies at school as I do acquaintances, and the rest don't know me. But I don't really like the lime light anyway. On TAO, it is a different story. On TAO, I am SOMEBODY. I have a name, and a reputation weather good or ill. People know me on TAO. I'm no superstar like people like Xerent or Snarr, but I am somebody online. I'm pretty good at the game, and I have friends online. Sadly enough, I think I have more friends and acquaintances online than in the "real world". on TAO, nobody judges you on you're appearance. only on you're skill, and you're reputation as a jerk or a nice guy. No one ever calls me by my last name like it's some derogatory term. I am RESPECTED online. Something I have never gotten from my peers in HS. Not to float my own boat because I'm sure it's happened to others, but I’ve even had someone call me "master" and want to be my servant. Weird, but kinda satisfying as well. I get from TAO what I have never gotten in the "real world." Respect from my peers, acknowledgment, friendship regardless of race or appearance, and did I mention respect?
I recently was invited to join the clan PheonixReborne by The Celluloidal Dream simply because I am "in the forums" and can get the word spread about our clan, which, by the way, is second in the clan placement. Second only to Outcast (which rejected me). Apparently, it had nothing to do with the fact that I am a great player. There you have it. On TAO I get respect simply because people know me. Now of course, online, there are much less savory people. People that cuss, and use sexual terms. I proudly tell them off. I tell them that if those are the best insults that they can fling, then they don't deserve to be in TAO. I tell them tat TAO is a thinking man's game, and that mindless curses have no place here. Any idiot can curse. It takes true wit to be funny. However, with the bad, there is also the good. I have met other Christians online. Some even have names like "Jesus is my Savior" and the like. I realize that TAO perhaps does not have the most savory of people, but they are a minority. most on TAO treat each other with respect, because, as they have learned, or simply understand, you have to give respect to earn it. Now, I realize that I have not been the model character for what I have just said. I'd even go so far as to say that it is kinda Hypocritical for me to say something like that. But that is something I am trying to change, but it's hard for a wagon to get out of a rut, right? Just know that I am trying. as to the fact, of TAO's unsavory people, it DOES have some savory people. I met a "guy" (he knows who he is) from paris yesterday. well, I didn't meet him yesterday, but I learned FROM him that he lives in Paris. now THAT is cool.
TAO is much like the real world, and in fact, it IS the real world. you make friends, from every corner of the world, I might add, and you make enemies. Although, as to the enemies, I never see any of the TWO people who hate my guts online. as to the enemies, you learn to ignore them as in the real world. or, you could always insult them till they leave, but I refuse to have a battle of wits with an un-armed person. And I have countless friends online, so...
I guess, to me, TAO is kinda like a haven to me. A place where people know me, and I know people (he's really nice, this guy called "people". You really ought to meat him.). A place where I can go, and feel wanted. Or at least accepted. I probably spend more time talking to people online than I do actually playing the game. I think that's about it.
*NOTE* EDITED FOR CONTENT
I wrote this to for my parents after they caught me 4 times on TAO whil I wasn't supposed to be. needless to say, I'm not the master of disguise. Here goes.
Why I Am A Member of "TAO Addicts Anonymous."
By Machin Shin
Tactics Arena Online, affectionately known to many as "TAO" is, in it's essence, a strategy game. It is fantasy based, as most games are, and is a thinking game - not for the witless. In the game itself, there are Pyromancers, who burn their way through any opposition, and Knights who slice and dice the enemy into manageable bites. There are Dragons and Archers (aka Scouts), Frost Golums that paralyze, units that heal, and units that provide extra armor. There is even a mole-like creature who "grows" shrubberys to hinder the enemy’s attempts to attack you're units. One might even go so far as to consider him as "cute." This game's basic objective is to hack, snipe, slice, burn, and paralyze you're opponent to the last "man" all the while making sure you're units are relatively safe by healing, providing extra armor, blocking the enemy’s path, and sometimes even sacrificing units for the greater cause. It is a game much more in-depth than mere words can describe. But that is not why I am writing this. I am writing this to explain to you what TAO MEANS to me.
I am, as you may or may not know, not the most popular person in the world. In fact, I am not popular at all. Although, I must admit, that if popularity means I have to have sex with every other girl, get drunk once a week, smoke, chew tobacco, cuss like a sailor, and listen the "junk" (that's putting it nicely) that is in/on today's secular music and TV, then I guess I'm going to stay a geek because I could care less about that stuph. I just don't see what's so "fun" about getting drunk (it SMELLS terrible) and having a hangover, or smoking and having to hide it, and having the few friends that I have ditch me because I always smoke or drink or whatever. That goes for drugs as well. But I digress. I do not have many friends in the "real world" and can't claim to have ever had a "best friend" the closest to which, would probably be my brother Dale. I am perfectly content to be left alone at school where I have a few friends, but mostly just acquaintances. People friendly in one class for one semester, and then nothing more. Mostly because most of the people at my school talk/act like idiots, and listen to rap, and then start to "chant" it out loud like it is the cool thing to do, which, for some strange reason, it is apparently. I never get invited to do ANYTHING with my church friends outside of church. I asked one of them to tell me when they were doing something again so I could come along? Nothing ever happened. My 4 main friends at church are kinda like a click. they’ve been friends since birth, and it's just the 4 of them when they do anything. 3 of them have accepted me, although it's taken them 7 years, and the last couldn't care less about me and tries to avoid me as much as possible. I have ha d a couple of friends stab me in the back, so to speak, and that is something I never really got over. I have as many enemies at school as I do acquaintances, and the rest don't know me. But I don't really like the lime light anyway. On TAO, it is a different story. On TAO, I am SOMEBODY. I have a name, and a reputation weather good or ill. People know me on TAO. I'm no superstar like people like Xerent or Snarr, but I am somebody online. I'm pretty good at the game, and I have friends online. Sadly enough, I think I have more friends and acquaintances online than in the "real world". on TAO, nobody judges you on you're appearance. only on you're skill, and you're reputation as a jerk or a nice guy. No one ever calls me by my last name like it's some derogatory term. I am RESPECTED online. Something I have never gotten from my peers in HS. Not to float my own boat because I'm sure it's happened to others, but I’ve even had someone call me "master" and want to be my servant. Weird, but kinda satisfying as well. I get from TAO what I have never gotten in the "real world." Respect from my peers, acknowledgment, friendship regardless of race or appearance, and did I mention respect?
I recently was invited to join the clan PheonixReborne by The Celluloidal Dream simply because I am "in the forums" and can get the word spread about our clan, which, by the way, is second in the clan placement. Second only to Outcast (which rejected me). Apparently, it had nothing to do with the fact that I am a great player. There you have it. On TAO I get respect simply because people know me. Now of course, online, there are much less savory people. People that cuss, and use sexual terms. I proudly tell them off. I tell them that if those are the best insults that they can fling, then they don't deserve to be in TAO. I tell them tat TAO is a thinking man's game, and that mindless curses have no place here. Any idiot can curse. It takes true wit to be funny. However, with the bad, there is also the good. I have met other Christians online. Some even have names like "Jesus is my Savior" and the like. I realize that TAO perhaps does not have the most savory of people, but they are a minority. most on TAO treat each other with respect, because, as they have learned, or simply understand, you have to give respect to earn it. Now, I realize that I have not been the model character for what I have just said. I'd even go so far as to say that it is kinda Hypocritical for me to say something like that. But that is something I am trying to change, but it's hard for a wagon to get out of a rut, right? Just know that I am trying. as to the fact, of TAO's unsavory people, it DOES have some savory people. I met a "guy" (he knows who he is) from paris yesterday. well, I didn't meet him yesterday, but I learned FROM him that he lives in Paris. now THAT is cool.
TAO is much like the real world, and in fact, it IS the real world. you make friends, from every corner of the world, I might add, and you make enemies. Although, as to the enemies, I never see any of the TWO people who hate my guts online. as to the enemies, you learn to ignore them as in the real world. or, you could always insult them till they leave, but I refuse to have a battle of wits with an un-armed person. And I have countless friends online, so...
I guess, to me, TAO is kinda like a haven to me. A place where people know me, and I know people (he's really nice, this guy called "people". You really ought to meat him.). A place where I can go, and feel wanted. Or at least accepted. I probably spend more time talking to people online than I do actually playing the game. I think that's about it.
*NOTE* EDITED FOR CONTENT