NOSUP4U

I saw that (blog title) on a license plate driving home from work today. Seriously? You like a TV show reference enough to use that as a license plate? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all about custom license plates. In fact, I've had two in my life so far. They were uber cheap out in Idaho, like $25 bucks.

The first custom plate I had was "DEIMOS1", which sorta sucked because someone already had "DEIMOS". Deimos is better known in Greek mythology as the god of fear, dread and terror. It is also (lesser known) as the first Quake Clan that I joined, and ultimately helped lead/organize the years of 95-98. You can still Google up some hold history on that Clan, including this little nugget I found. Some of the names of people mentioned in that list were long time friends. That was the peak of my time playing Quake, where our clan even beat the likes of "Thresh", who made millions playing video games and even has his own Wiki page. While a part of Clan Deimos, I went by the name NightShade, an online handle I had used since I was 15.

The second custom plate I had was "GRIMDAR", which if you didn't notice by now is the URL of this blog as well. Grimdar Hillmover, to give the full name, was my persona in the online game Everquest. My profile picture? That's artwork someone did for me of my online dwarf character. I've posted before about the time I spent in that game, and there is even an official record of it on the interwebs, 365 days 19 hours 55 minutes. I've never mentioned what exactly I did during that time. For the majority of the time, I was a Guild leader, meaning I had to organize and orchestrate online raids, bringing together 40-70 people, to work together to achieve goals. My more enjoyable memories are the numerous conventions I went to where I met all these people in person, that I spent so many hours with online. Those were some great times, parties, and events I'll never forget.

It's weird looking back on that time in my life, where a video game was so important to me. Where work and home life were just things that got in the way of that next online challenge. The scary part is that no matter how much I try to deny it, there is always going to be a small part of me that misses it. When I think about what exactly it is that I missed, it's boils down pretty quickly to one thing. I was somebody important. I was a "leader", I was respected, and people honestly looked up to me. Whether it was my skills in Quake or my strategic planning in Everquest. People knew who I was, and in my own little world/mind, I was famous.

I remember very well walking around one of the Everquest conventions with my little name tag around my neck, and someone came up to me, so excited to meet the actual Grimdar. They related a long story about how I went out of my way one day to help them out and they never forgot. It's probably the closest I'll ever feel to being a celebrity. And it was a good feeling, and one that is not easily forgotten.