This recent news article about C&C spiked some old memories of the days of Westwood Studios! I have so many fond memories of the gamers and the games.
I’ve been known to share the days I started with online multiplayer gaming with people in person because there are so many funny ones. Like the time was nearly gunning (with hand movement) some co-worker because I thought she was moving swiftly in to grab something about 20 feet away. I thought she was a nod bike at my HQ, so I freaked out on her and she did walk away looking at me like I was crazy – hey if anyone touches my base swiftly, it’s a nod bike rush people!
Those were the days people at work also told me they thought I was on drugs from the dark circles under my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, they were fond of me, but had known me for a while then to know I didnt look that bad. When I shared I played Command & Conquer until 3am and was there by 6am that morning they almost believed that it had to be lack of sleep. Plus, I constantly talked about a military game with them.
You all might recall that I’ve shared some experiences about my history with Quake, but the reality is, Quake came after my love for Command & Conquer. I kind of think about those days and get a little choked up writing today, because it was deeply rooted as what got me through the multiplayer portal of online gaming with people around the world.
My California Girl’s photo album also started off because I wanted to keep track of who was who (based on skill level I didnt share online, but had notes about if they were good or not – LOL). So, I would keep track of their countries/states/cities that these gamers would share with me. Over time these players left the Mplayer C&C channel to play some game called Quake.
So, I’d like to share a couple of C&C memories with all of you and dabble in the moments I had visiting Westwood Studios. Yes, I even had the chance to meet the hated, Kane (a man so full of humor, you wouldn’t know he had an evil vain in his body).
*poof back to the day*
In late 1996 I come home from a tough day dealing with irate customers since I was a courtesy clerk with special privileges to look up benefits at a grocery store. That evening after work just had to be about no chaos and all chill. When I finally get home the last thing I want is my brother pestering me about some game he thinks will be better than Sim Farm. I was still in my teens then so I told him, “yeah, right.” He wouldn’t stop though, and continued to pester me, “and you can plant these POWER PLANTS, and these TANKS, and NOD BIKES, JODY! YOU GOTTA PLAY. You can connect with other players through the world wide web”. He loved saying that term, and well, it was neat to say back then, so I liked it too.
We did have a super slow internet connection back then too, so it was better connecting IP to IP than using Mplayer (we later found out – didnt take long before we had to upgrade). My brother went on to say “I can play these people we know in person blocks away if I want! But, what made it so much better is this place called MPLAYER! See this Mplayer disk here I installed on your computer.”
That’s right, he installed something on my computer – little brat I thought to myself. He continued, “there’s this Shadow clan, the BEST on Mplayer.”
So, that thing continued with his excitement and I wasn’t having it, but my mother stepped in and told me to try it out. It could take me away from the tiring day at work.
So, it happens, I jump in this game and he’s telling me a play by play about what to do: start with establishing your base, power plant, and barracks – you know the drill. I forgot about my AWFUL day at work, and he was right, this was so much more fun than Sim Farm.
I start using Mplayer, and well, as much as there are tons of fun moments, I think I should explain a not so fond moment. One person in particular happened to be a Wizard (volunteer moderator on the service). I didn’t know he was a volunteer at the time – I thought Wizards were employees. He was the first harassment I had as a female gamer playing a game online. He told me not long after being on the service that that I wasn’t good enough to be playng multiplayer and since I admitted that I only played the first 2 areas in the campaign he told me to play the entire game and not to come back until I did this.
I was hurt (didnt build up the internet thick skin that happened after about 6 months of harassment on the service, from anti-christs, devil babies, rape, and killing your family statements, you name it, people threatened me at the time).
I learned real quick to shift my awesome social interaction skills and focus more about being ruthless in the game. I went undercover on the service as roadrunner (not gender specific for an account name on purpose) to see how people treated me differently. I even challenged the Mplayer Wizard for a game to see if he treated me different than CaliforniaGirl. My results? He played me, and didn’t comment on how i played the game at all. I shared my story with some the Shadow clan, and by then my brother was already good enough to be in this clan. They worked with my skills for 2 weeks, and pushed me to no end. I stayed up countless hours, having 2 hours of sleep heading into work for those 2 weeks, but I wouldn’t stop. I had to beat this Wizard.He made it personal when my skills were the same as roadrunner’s alt account’s skills, and he didnt tell roadrunner to get off the service.
These C&C players with shadow clan also wanted me to beat this Mplayer Wizard because they thought it wasn’t right that he treated me differently for being female. I get so good at the game I do kick his butt as CaliforniaGirl after the training was over, and he never talked that way to me ever again. He asked me if I had finished the campaign and I said that I didn’t. He was owned, and yes, I smiled for weeks every time he wouldn’t get in a game with me again.
Mplayer became my hangout for years. I do have more treasured memories more than I have bitter, because of those people. We played so many games on the service, knew everyone there, knew who would play pranks to register as new accounts because we could identify with the way they played in the game, and many fun times were had by all of us. Heck, I even played my own pranks by registering as other people to see if people played me differently because they all knew CaliforniaGirl quite well. I had two girls I had registered with but only used them for 2 pranks with voice chat I had accents like southern for one girl, and the other girl I had a valley girl accent on voice chat. 😉
I later became a beta tester for the multiplayer gaming service, which was almost a year prior to becoming an employee at Mplayer.
After becoming employed with Mplayer for a bit, I had established a Westwood Studios games fansite, which was often the highlight to update with news. I was later invited to a press event back in 1999. Now, you’ll have to excuse me for grammar errors, but at least you can relive the Westwood Studios excitement I wrote about in a CaliGirl Journey so many years ago. 🙂 I also made a remembrance page for Westwood Studios back when it was announced that the studio was closing. Nothing against EA at all, I was just a huge fan of Westwood Studios and it’s games. They connected with their customers back in the day, and that was noticed way before I had a chance to meet Westwood Studios staff in person years after being a C&C fanatic.
*poof back to today*
If you have any Westwood Studios or C&C or Red Alert memories, feel free to share them!
