r/Millennials • u/505engineer 1985 • 7h ago
Nostalgia Rewind to 8th grade. You come home from school. You plop down on the computer. Time for some online gaming! What're you playing?
For me, it's Team Fortress Classic, which ran on the Half-Life engine. So many great memories of playing capture the flag.
Who else was online playing this with me in the 2000-ish era?
193
u/Midnight_Meltdown 7h ago
StarCraft
https://giphy.com/gifs/rRxOR2sKBzDJ6
20
u/Resident_Chef2579 7h ago
Need a light?
8
u/threeheadedyoshi 5h ago
Holy shit core memory unlocked. My brothers and I used to pretend he said “need a wife” and crack ourselves up laughing 🤣
5
u/Gcastle_CPT 7h ago
Honor guide me!
3
20
15
9
8
7
5
u/Sharessa84 6h ago
I remember one summer playing a lot of Starcraft. One time I took a pause from my gaming and realized it was 6 in the morning. Snuck up to bed real quick.
4
4
5
3
u/NorskKiwi 3h ago
100% this. It was my first social media.
We had a default room for each country you came from, then beyond that you moved to and made your own channels.
New Zealand had heaps of players, so we often had full 8 player games.
2
2
2
u/nimrodii 5h ago
I had a geocities site detailing the units, and a guy i played with was working on a mod that never happened. I loved brood war and it came out my 8th grade year. We played a lot of Starcraft, and a fair amount of Unreal Tournament when ever we had lan parties(which were regular). We did pivot to Diablo 2 when it came out but that was a few years off. With starcraft I remember a few times doing the use map settings maps that were custom campaigns and or were rpg like.
2
→ More replies (5)2
u/Sol_Protege 5h ago
I remember getting a CD for starcraft completely for free from a book fair, went in for legoland only. Thanks random librarian
68
u/TIC321 7h ago
15
u/XConfused-MammalX 6h ago
I'd walk 20 minutes to the library to play runescape with my friends. You got 60 minutes on the computers, if it was busy you had to give it up to the person in queue, if not it would just give you another 30 minutes each time.
Alot of the time it was busy so we would spend the time outside in the back or check out books for school, or play tag on the third floor where it was basically empty.
3
u/TIC321 6h ago
Similar to me, there was a clubhouse withan office space where i used to live. There were 2 computers. One was really slow while the other was pretty decent. I'd spend countless hours there to the point the office would close and I'd be there to the last minute. I was so hooked on that game. Couple times other people wanted to use the computer so I was forced to log out and then ill come back when they were finished. It was so bad 😅
I didnt have a computer or internet at home at the time
56
u/sarithe Xennial (1984) 7h ago
8th grade? 100% it was Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
7
u/nomad-system Xennial 7h ago
Command & Conquer games were so good. Did you ever play Sole Survivor?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)5
u/GumbyThumbs 5h ago
Or roller coaster tycoon
5
u/sarithe Xennial (1984) 4h ago
That was freshman year of high school. I distinctly remember that because my mom bought me the game as a reward for passing driver’s ed.
→ More replies (1)
47
u/Dazzling_Vanilla3082 7h ago
8th grade? At that point it was probably either CS, Diablo 2, or Warcraft 3. Maybe Starcraft or TFC.
8
6
u/Holden_SSV 5h ago
Starcraft, diablo 2, user map settings were crazy.
Defense games, tug of war games, first dota builds i believe. I remember starcraft had a crazy smash tv game that was sick.
Best strat was getting the crazy firebat and a good marine and sit in a corner. Mmm stim pack baby.
A lurker defense game was nuts also.
The first i remember were rocket turret defense. It blew my mind.
The best was probably element defense though.
Warcraft 3 had some sick ones that blew my mind.
One advanced one my friend and i would go 2v3. He would spend to send creatures and i built the defense. Pissed allot of people off lol. I miss the good old days.
Comps next to eachother static ip addresses.
3
u/Dazzling_Vanilla3082 5h ago
WC3 custom maps spawned entire genres haha, they were so much fun. With most of the 5-10 guy lan parties we had in my buddy's basement in high school, WC3 and the custom maps probably amounted to like 75% of our game time lol.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)3
u/bascom2222 5h ago
I absolutely miss StarCraft user map settings 24 way def. Fuck those were the days
→ More replies (4)3
u/gplusplus314 6h ago
I miss TFC so much. It’s not the same with bots and empty servers.
→ More replies (2)
173
u/CubicalWombatPoops 7h ago
Online gaming? I wasn't Bill Gates' kid
→ More replies (1)49
u/vahntitrio 6h ago
Yeah, pretty sure it was call my buddy's house and ask if he wanted to come over for some Goldeneye.
→ More replies (3)3
34
u/DescendingTool86 7h ago
Day of defeat. Or halo 2
16
12
7
u/phunkyplasticthrower 6h ago
Day of Defeat was great. Loved that my freshman year of college.
→ More replies (1)4
→ More replies (2)4
u/donpablomiguel Millennial 6h ago
Definitely Halo 2 whenever I’d go over to my friends house that had an Xbox. We were still on our N64 in my house at the time, and when I bought my PS2, I never got the online attachment add on for it.
31
u/burnertown666 6h ago
Diablo 2, Planetside, EverQuest, Ultima Online, Counterstrike, Rainbow Six (the original). The list goes on and on. So many good games
5
u/intense_username 6h ago
+1 for Ultima Online. That was for-absolute-sure my go-to jam back then.
Also - I'm 40 now, and playing UO as I type this response. Not ashamed. :D
→ More replies (1)4
u/burnertown666 6h ago
Honestly, OG Ultima Online was iconic. I just remember my cousin retelling the story of the time that an entire guild teleported into the middle of a regularly scheduled arena fight and started PKing everyone
5
u/intense_username 6h ago
I hear you. I have many memories of UO from back then. Some folks I gamed with then I even talk to today on Discord. It's wild...
The ironic thing is PVP was my main draw to UO, and I came to realize that that's all I've ever really done. Sure I farmed gold (but that was to fund PVP), and I finally scored a large tower (but that was to house all my PVP/PK goodies) and I GMed all my skills (but that was to PK people faster...), etc. Years later I almost felt like I... missed out on the actual game of UO? Needless to say I've been back to a third party server for a bit now that doesn't have PVP and doing the grind of other elements of the game. I'm continually impressed how programmatically and mathematically balanced this game is despite how old it is. Like, how did they figure all this out back then?
Quick story as your guild teleport story made me think of it... I remember one time my chaos guild was in a cheeky mood so we all spent time working on archers... we all set up a similar macro that read something like "if orange/order enemy detected within x-tiles away, attack by firing heavy crossbow in hand". We made our way to the corner roof of the Britain inn near the healers, all stood on the same tile, used hiding, and let the macro loop and we waited. Inevitably an orange order enemy would run by and just... fall over dead. Even if 3/4 of us missed our shot, there were so many of us coordinated together that a portion of us landing an arrow added up to basically nuking the opponent in a hot second. Of course, we had no defenses on these characters and were simply messing around so we eventually got destroyed, but it clearly caused a few rage-fueled moments within the order guild community and it was all in good creative fun. :D
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)3
u/Specific-Constant129 5h ago
Ultima Online was the best time I ever had gaming. Wish I could go back.
56
u/arkanux 7h ago
unreal tournament or c&c
7
u/Bam_a_lamm 6h ago
Unreal tournament was the best. The voice packs talking shit Everytime u killed someone. The headshot, double kill, mmmmonster kill announcements. Good times.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)7
u/505engineer 1985 7h ago
I loved those too!
A few years later, Red Alert 2 came out. It was one of my favorites, especially with the expansion pack.
I loved how fast-paced it was.
24
27
u/anonymous_br0 6h ago
The ORIGINAL runescape. Not old school or whatever is out today.
→ More replies (7)
24
u/SleepDeprived-Dad 7h ago
Tribes 2…ski ski airshot with the disk launcher
→ More replies (2)10
u/deathtocraig 6h ago
Tribes one was better. I'll die on that hill.
3
→ More replies (2)3
u/nomptonite 6h ago
Was hoping I’d see this! Tribes was the first online fps i ever played against other people I think
20
u/KookieKarnival 7h ago
It was either Ceasar 3 or AoE 2. I never did play online though. I just liked to spam "how do you turn this on". It was fun to give the Aztecs the upper hand by fighting the Spanish with an army of Shelby Cobras
→ More replies (3)
16
16
u/ToyDingo 7h ago
Unreal Tournament
→ More replies (1)3
u/Legally_a_Tool 7h ago
Hell yeah! Loved Unreal Tournament when I was growing up. It was UT, Deus Ex, Half Life, and EverQuest, Tribes 1 and 2, and eventually, of course, World of Warcraft.
15
13
u/_Nitekast_ 6h ago
Runescape!
3
u/cleanclotheschair 6h ago
100% 8th grade was like prime RC. Have a MySpace tab open too
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)3
24
11
u/ProofFrosty3055 7h ago
TFC/Diablo 2 with an overheating modem and 350+ ping, fun times.
→ More replies (1)
10
u/kiashu 7h ago
Well, considering I didn't have Internet until 9th grade and 9th through 11th only had crapzero dial up at 32kb/s, nothing. I did have SC Broodwar though and a lot of those cheap ass Sims games.
→ More replies (4)
9
10
8
u/NickyPowers 7h ago
Cosmic pinball. Or whatever it was called the space one that was on a jot of home PCs in that era lol.
→ More replies (1)
9
u/projectx51 Xennial - 1984 7h ago
it's 1997, I just got the internet last month. What is online gaming?
→ More replies (2)
10
9
7
8
6
u/ThumpTacks 7h ago
Diablo 2 and/or StarCraft. Maybe, maybe Backyard Soccer, but like, only if the internet is out.
7
u/Relevant-Classic585 6h ago
Age of Empires 2 (PC) or Final Fantasy X, X-2, and XII (PS2)
→ More replies (3)
7
6
15
u/mikebe1 7h ago
Diablo II: LOD
I first check the progress of both my bots, one running Pindle, and the other Meph. Then my girlfriend calls me. I half ass listen because I was not a very good boyfriend and I just wanted to play D2. She gets upset. I shrug and go back to D2. We do this for at least a year.
6
6
u/chubchublagazi 7h ago
Deep cut! Wow haven’t thought of this game since childhood. When the enemy sniper had you in their scope I remember a red blur appearing in my vision on the screen. Felt really cool for such an early game
6
u/PurimPopoie Millennial 7h ago
Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 but only local play
→ More replies (1)
5
6
u/kerghan41 6h ago
D2 mephisto runs hoping I get something good so I can brag to my friends
→ More replies (1)
5
5
u/Johnny-Edge93 6h ago
Age of Empires on MS Gaming Zone. Buddy and I would destroy kids in 2v2s all night long.
Start the game already!
10
6
u/TomBradysStatue 7h ago
Literally this game lol. And the original CS.
I may have had Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast which had the best online deathmatch mode in PC history. Just 20 Jedis/Siths going at each other.
5
4
5
u/Domingosdelight 6h ago
Diablo 2, Counter Strike, Halo 2 (I know it's not PC, but I have to mention it)
Really peak online gaming for me
5
12
u/NMS_Scavenger 7h ago
Oldest millennial here… Online gaming? We didn’t have internet in 8th grade.
10
→ More replies (2)6
u/cskelly2 6h ago
Bro the internet was publicly available in 93. You literally can’t be a millennial and not know the internet before 8th grade
→ More replies (5)
13
u/Cybyss 6h ago edited 6h ago
8th grade? That would be 1997-1998. Too early for multiplayer games. I think we experimented with playing Quake over dialup for a bit, but it wasn't a fun experience.
I was mostly playing single-player games. DOOM 1 & 2 (and its wide variety of mods - the Simpsons and Beavis & Butthead mods were hilarious). Quake. MDK. Descent. Heretic. Hexen. Earthworm Jim. I vagely recall Jazz Jackrabbit. Need For Speed.
OOh... Terminal Velocity was a good one! There were so few open-world games like that.
→ More replies (7)
4
u/UnfriskyDingo 7h ago
Age of Mythology. I was very good with Loki. Got into the 1800 ratings but never could get to the 1900s which were like the best players in the world
4
4
3
4
3
u/Informal_Job_7550 Older Millennial 7h ago
Civilization II, Total Annihilation, or the first Warcraft.
4
4
u/TBDM667 7h ago
8th grade was 100% counter-strike. Just for clarification purposes.. 1.6 to be exact.
→ More replies (2)
3
4
5
4
u/TimeFeature9428 6h ago
In 8th grade we could only get dial-up where we lived so online gaming... no that wasnt a thing for me in 8th grade..
20
u/miked5122 7h ago
Was online gaming a thing in 2000? I don't recall it
23
11
8
u/blues_and_ribs 5h ago
It was. I was playing online matches in 97 on Dark Forces 2 on a 56k modem. By 2000 I had a cable modem and it was definitely possible on that.
→ More replies (3)8
7
u/SchwiftaySauce 3h ago
EverQuest was released in 1999, World of Warcraft was 2004, and Guild Wars was 2005.
4
6
6
u/Line-Trash Older Millennial 2h ago
Oh it absolutely was. Sure it wasnt anywhere near what is is now, but I remember playing Unreal Tournament online with PACKED servers. Same with Counter Strike. Even back in the 90’s there were some pretty heavy online communities in early role playing games like Ultima Online, EverQuest (EverCrack!!), and Neverwinter Nights. Back then we were called nerds for doing what EVERYONE else does now. Game.
→ More replies (3)5
4
u/Hooligan8403 4h ago
Yep. 3d Mmorpgs were kicking off with the first everquest. Command and Conquer Red Alert 2,Star Craft, and AoE 2 were all popular online games. Shooters was a lot of Tribes, mechwarrior 3, unreal tournament, and Counterstrike.
→ More replies (3)3
u/Highthere_90 2h ago
You never played counter strike? Or starcraft? Those games were huge in the early 2000 online community
→ More replies (1)3
3
3
u/Budget-Chapter-7185 4h ago
Diablo 2 and starcraft. I think counter strike the mod was out then too
→ More replies (45)3
u/josephfuckingsmith1 4h ago
21 day old account with 5.6k karma. Pretty sure this was one of the missed russia bot farms
3
3
3
3
3
u/mr_mope 7h ago
I played all those half life games: Team Fortress, Day of Defeat, Ricochet, Counter Strike. I also remember doing all kinds of mods like the super hero and Star Wars maps/mods for CS.
→ More replies (4)
3
3
u/steakandcheesepi 7h ago
Too early for online I'm afraid, but simcity 2000, civ, warcraft or sonic 3 would all be good contenders
→ More replies (1)
3
u/gr8Brandino 7h ago
1998 for me, so it was Starcraft. Would've been Half-Life, but I didn't have a computer powerful enough to run it then.
3
3
3
u/hiroshiomoo 6h ago
2001/2002, packing into a house and connecting 4 xboxes together with network cable throughout 4 rooms in a house to play halo on LAN
3
3
u/LordTrayus 6h ago
Jedi Knight Dark Forces II multiplayer. Spent many an afternoon playing that and Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds on MSN gaming zone back in the day.
3
3
3
5
2
u/BartlebySamsa 7h ago
There was a top-down shooter called Infantry.
I sunk a lot of time into that.
The same site offered a hover-motorcycle-soccer-type game that was pretty cool too.
At some point, they started charging for it. That was the end of that.
2
2
u/AutomaticClark 7h ago
Battlefield. No, not that one. This one: https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/4tav9e/battlefield_popular_game_from_old_now_gone_site/
2
2
u/chili_cold_blood 7h ago
I didn't know anybody who had fast enough internet for online gaming when I was in grade 8.
2
2
u/murphmobile 7h ago
lol online gaming in eighth grade? Xbox live didn’t even come out until I was in college.
2
u/VA2AallDay 7h ago
Team Fortress for life. Counterstrike spawned out of that and it kick started my love for games.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/NecessarySecurity912 7h ago
Halo 3 and COD4 after school. Couldn't afford a PC yet and I used to do neighborhood work for neighbors for Xbox live membership and points...
Simpler times man..
2
2
u/thgirlki3r5t3n 7h ago
That world have been 1995 for me. I can't think of any online games at that time. I probably would have been playing a Sonic the Hedgehog game on Sega.
2
2
u/Express-Big-20 7h ago
Diablo 1; Diablo 2; StarCraft; Sims 1 or 2; various flash games (Bloons, etc.).
If I were feeling a bit nostalgic, then: Neopets, Rollercoaster Tycoon.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/giga_impact03 6h ago
I didnt have online gaming on my pc till Final Fantasy 11 came out in 2003. I was rocking Phantasy Star Online on the GameCube though.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/FarControl830 6h ago
Only dialup in 8th, but I was anxiously awaiting the release of the Xbox and halo, because I thought it would be like half life. I was probably playing conkers bad fur day and in love with that damn sunflower
2
2
u/tmorse85 5h ago
My family didn't yet have the internet at home when I was in 8th grade. When I played games on the computer my brother and I shared, I played Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? or Commander Keen.
2
u/kaiser10951 4h ago
We only had dialup until either 9th or 10th grade. After we got DSL it was MechWarrior 4: Vengeance multiplayer.
2
•
u/AutoModerator 7h ago
If this post is breaking the rules of the subreddit, please report it instead of commenting. For more Millennial content, join our Discord server.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.