I can't help it. I do. I told Druss and Caessa this today, and they laughed. I know they have both experimented over there too, and probably knew where I was coming from. I definitely like the tension involved in playing on that server, but I also love it for the same reasons most people hate that server - the idiots.

Let me back up a little. When Quake 2 came out, my friends played it constantly. One of my friends was the head of networking at a large company here in Indy, and we convinced him to set up a server on the public side of the firewall, so we could all access it from home. And at first, Deathmatch was fun. But we soon grew tired of it, and moved on to Capture the Flag. It was better, and the reason it was better was because there were consequences to dying. Not many, mind you, but a little. Your team needed you, and you were of little use to them if you were dead or out collecting weapons. Anyway, after a while, we all grew tired of Capture the Flag as well. I figured that I had my fill of first-person shooters, and it was time to look for another genre of games. Then I picked up "Rainbow Six". In that game, if you get shot once, you are basically dead, and if your team of 4-6 all die, you can't complete your mission. No respawning, if you die, you just lay there. And with that, returned the excitement. You had to think out how you were going to maneuver around a corner, and when you spotted someone, your heart would jump.

Darktide reminds me of that a lot. Not that I am tired of Harvestgain, but man, the thrill of seeing that red dot on your radar! On Harvestgain, you can run into a pack of almost any creatures and outrun them without too much problem. Sure, you get the occasional Gold Wasp that just won't quit, but that is the exception, not the rule. On Darktide, PKers will hunt you down and kill you. They will chase you from one end of Dereth to the other. Most on there are merciless, and although I have spent little time on DarkTide, I have a ton of good stories.

I said I loved the idiots on Darktide, let me give you an example. I am currently a level 4 Warrior over there. I am running around North of Yanshi, killing Wasps and Drudges and Outcasts, when I notice a red dot on the screen. I stop and ID him, and I can tell he's doing the same thing to me. He is level 14, and at full health. He says "hey d00d, do u know how 2 get 2 Shoishi from here." and starts running towards me. At this point, I turn and run. He says, "No wait, I'm just new and am lost." At this point, I eject, but I have to laugh. Did he really think I was going to stand there and tell him that he was about 30 yards from the portal? He's new, but he's also level 14. Work on your cover-story, kid. The idiots come up with the lamest reason for running up on you with sword in hand, and it makes me laugh. I try to find these guys when I'm tired of playing on DarkTide, just to see what the come up with.

So I wait 5 minutes, and log back on. I have all leather armor, because that is all you can buy at the store North of Yanshi. I have little money. I find a corpse (one of the computer-generated generic ones, not some dead players), and there is a wand on it. I can't ID it, but it has to be worth 1000p, easy. If I can sell it, I can upgrade all my armor. I decide I better sneak into Yanshi, and sell it quick, because if someone kills me, you can bet that the wand is what I leaving behind. I run to the edge of Yanshi and see two red dots and a white one. I meagerly call out "Peace?" and they all respond with "Peace". The two red dots are also level 4, but the white one is level 12. I can't tell if they know one another, but it doesn't seem like it. I cautiously enter town. I need to run to the mage shop, sell the wand, and truck over to the armory. I make it to the mage shop, sell the want for 1200p (woo-hoo), and dance over to the armory. I buy some new boots, new leggings, and some sleeves. Then I decide to equip them, sell the old stuff, and work on a new shield and breastplate. I sell my old leather stuff, and I see that the level 12 guy has turned from a white dot to a red dot (when you die, you become a non-PKer for a short period), and I see "You evade XXX's arrows". So now, I'm standing there with over 500p, no chest protection, and no shield, and a level 12 archer taking shots at me. I decide to make a break for it, just try and get around the corner and head for the hills. He takes another shot at me and connects for 18, almost half my health. I grab the mouse and make a dive for the big "X" in the upper right hand corner, and eject before he can finish me off, just barely. When I get back to the "Enter Game As" window, I notice that my hands are shaking. There aren't too many computer-game experiences that I can say that about.

I decide I need to try a calmer world, so I log onto Harvestgain and kill some mossies with Druss and Caessa and CyBlade. But soon, the others have to do real-world stuff, so it's just me. I jump out as well, but I can't resist refreshing the Asheron's Call page to see how many people are on DarkTide. Well, there are still less than 500, so I decide I'll try to get back into town and finish re-outfitting my character. I jump on, and there is one person in town, a level 41 (that's right 41). Now, I IMMEDIATELY trust him way more than any level 8-15 guy, basically because he has nothing to gain by killing me. Just to be sure, I call out "Peace" and my instincts are true, as he yells back "Sure". I run into town and buy the rest of my stuff. I then head out to where the Festival Stone is, to hunt Outcasts. I am on the cusp of level 5, and the plan is to get to 5, then stop. It's getting too crowded, and I'm still too fragile to put up much of a fight for anyone.

So I get to the Festival Stone, run around, then I see another red dot. I stop, ID him, he does the same. Only this time, he's a level 3, and down to 5/40 health. Now, I haven't killed anyone, and I don't plan to start now, but something in the back of my mind starts to formulate a plan. And the plan is to run at him, and when I get to him, just run right by, even if he swings/shoots/casts at me, because it would obviously be out of self-defense. Just to scare him, and see how he reacts. Don't say a word to him, just bolt right at him so there is no question I am headed towards him. He is frozen, he knows he is toast. I start running, he turn and runs. I don't get within a half of the radar screen from him and the red dot disappears. He ejected, just like I would have in the same situation. I laugh, and eject myself. I hope he felt a little of the excitement I feel when someone charges at me on DarkTide.

-Hiro