You Belong to the City (Of Heroes)

Man, did I ever get a flashback last night. I was working on something else, but I got a call from A.T. He was trying to get his old City of Heroes account started back up, and couldn't remember his username or password. He thought I might have them somewhere, since the account was set up here at my place. Long story, but he couldn't really play at home, so any playing he did was over here on my other computer, so the account was set up while he was here.

It was while trying to aid him in this that I ended up restarting the City of Heroes software...for the first time in forEVER. I got the game back in 2004. I'd never played one of the big online games before. I had a few friends trying to push me into trying this one. It did sound like fun, but it also sounded like a lot of time to spend, and I was trying to spend more home time on writing and such back then. But, finally, I'd given in and grabbed myself the game. I got home, did the install, set up the account, and jumped into creating my first hero. And what a lot of fun hero creation turned out to be. You could totally create your own costume. Choose your own hair! Control your height and weight! It was definitely more creative freedom than I'd seen in other games.

But getting online was when it got interesting. Oh, man. That first time I showed up at Atlas Park. These days, City of Heroes isn't as popular as it once was. World of Warcraft took care of that (and emptied out a lot of other games besides CoH, too). But back then, it was jammed. My character jogged up toward the big statue of Atlas up front (and I had to pause and look up at it in awe...and appreciate the graphics), heard the heroic music playing (that always comes up when you get near the city hall area), and saw dozens and dozens of other heroes gathered there - chatting, leveling up, dancing (yes, dancing...not something you often see super-heroes doing, I know), taking part in costume contests, looking for teammates to go off on missions with... It was this huge community. And what a sight! Costumes of every color in the rainbow, character names, one after the next, that made me go "Man, why didn't *I* think of that one?! That's hilarious!".

I really got into the game for a while, and spent most of my evenings heroing. I finally understood the addiction factor of online gaming. There's so much to do! So much to explore! So many goals to reach! And so many new characters to try. I don't know if character-making is as fun in other MMOGs, but I just loved making new heroes. It was tough sticking to one - which, of course, is the only way to really progress in the game. My first one that really stuck for a while was Dr. Redstar, a big, cool Russian dude (pictured above). He was my go-to guy for quite a while. And while playing him, I learned about the social aspect of the game. I started getting together with teams of other players to do missions. Sometimes it was just one group for one night, and that was it. But I did find some regulars, and found we worked well together. In particular, I met a lawyer and his wife, both of whom played (each of them in a different room in their home). We made a great team, and met up regularly for a while. We'd draw in other folks. Some were lame. Some were okay. Some were quite good, and, more importantly, were fun to chat with between the combat moments (they could actually use the English language, in other words). Dr. Redstar racked up quite a burgeoning little career, and I even got far enough with him to FINALLY attain flight! You can't just choose flight as a power in this game, you see. Your movement power is something you choose along the way, and have to build up to with experience. There is nothing like that first time you level up to just that right level you've been waiting for, spend your experience, and get to turn on that flight power and float up into the sky. The first time you stop looking up at the big Atlas statue and soar up and stand on the globe on his shoulder and look down over the whole city.

My solo playing on the game wasn't to last, though, as soon, several of my friends decided to try it out. Now THOSE were the good times. We'd hook up online some, but for some reason, everyone preferred to be playing on the same home - MY home. On the weekends for a while, the guys could come over, some dragging their own PCs or laptops (I had my PC and one in the living room to share). A.T would quickly wire up everybody to my network (amazing how fast he can do that stuff) and boom...the "LAN party" was on. We would spend hours running around with our heroes as a team, ordering and eating pizza (in the real world, not in the game), yelling stuff back and forth between rooms ("Dude, where are you? We're at the END of the tunnel! Hurry up!" - "Focus on the master! Focus on the master! Now!" - "Run!!! Everyone out! RUN!!!" - "Oh, man, did you die again?" - "Everybody wait, I gotta go level up"). We'd sometimes do this until the sun came up. And sometimes our timing sucked when doing it, too - like the time my hot neighbor decided to drop by to introduce me to her two hot friends before they went out clubbing - and walked in on an apartment full of guys on computers fighting crime? It simply does not get much funnier than that.

That lasted for a while, but soon, people started playing less, dropping their accounts, moving on to other games. I kept it going for a while. But I started playing less myself and focusing on other things. And then, once, I tried to get back on, and a software error (or something) kept me from completing the sign-on...even after reinstalling. Couldn't figure it out, didn't care enough to pursue it too far at the time. When that PC crashed and I got this new one, I went ahead and reinstalled it, but didn't actually do anything with it. I didn't jump back into good ol' Atlas Park until last night.

It was great to see all the old sights, hear the old sounds, and let the memories come flooding back. Memories of long (and pretty creepy) night spent in the Hollows. That thrill of leveling up to a point you'd never achieved before. Getting that new power you've been dying to try out. Dealing with that complete idiot who joins up with your team, has no idea what he's doing, and just runs around messing things up and getting you all killed. That long, long run back to the mission you were on after you die and end up back at the hospital, while your whole team sits and waits for you. Getting into an epic, massive fight with your team, feeling like there's just no way to win, and somehow coming out alive on the other side - and that victory gathering when you all teleport back outside (and at this point it's like 3am because the mission was so much longer than any of you had thought it would be), talking about what happened and all the close calls, and that parting when people say it's time for them to go level up...or just go to bed! That is a strangely fulfilling night's sleep when you've won that big battle and leveled up as your reward before signing off. You sleep the sleep of the victorious hero.

But the memories that DIDN'T come back? They were ones like...how to play the game!!! Oh, my God, was I lost. I didn't even want to do anything, really, just jump around Atlas Park a little. And I couldn't remember any of the controls! They used to be second nature to me. I used to have all the cool emotes all dialed in (the ones that let you dance, flex your muscles, salute, sit down, read a newspaper, etc). Now? I can't figure out how to even DO them anymore. And since I've been gone, they've added SO MUCH to the game! There's stuff on screen now where I don't even know what it means! What the hell is "salvage"? There was never "salvage" before! I was just lost. Talk about a reminder of what limited (mental) hard drive space I have. I used to be a master (in MY mind, at least) of this game. Now not only can I not find my way around without a map...I can't remember how to find the map!!

I really no time in my life to mess with the CoH right now, but it was a lot of fun stepping back in, just for a few minutes. I know a couple of people still playing. Most have moved on to World of Warcraft addiction, or to EQ2 or one of the other new ones. But I know at least two guys still getting it done, and I know they've both achieved that magical 50th level (the highest you can reach in CoH. At least is used to be. Who knows anymore?) with their long-time characters, and there's still enough of a closet hero in me to applaud that victory and appreciate all they went through to get there (I don't think I ever even hit level 20 with a character. 16 might have been tops for me). I've been on the battlefield enough myself. As Dr. Redstar. As Doc Killarney. As Heatspell. As Doctor Jackal. As Knightmare. As Mr. Moonrock (name aside, he was one of the coolest-looking characters I ever created). As Helix. As Nightsable. And as a handful of others...some, only for one night (as much fun as I had annoying other players with my character "Retarded Ninja", he just wasn't built to last), some for a few runs (my robot pirate - "Aye Robot" - was badASS).

So, maybe one of these nights (or weekends), I might have to dust off one of my old heroes, get in touch with my CoH guys, and see if they're willing to pal around with an amnesiac newbie like myself and go lay down a little justice together. See if the old magic is still there. See if I still have the touch.

See if I can even figure out how to punch a bad guy when he's standing right in front of me...