My how the years have passed... Wow!
Dethangels_Shadow
Member Posts: 10
I was ecstatic to hear the news of NWN's return! I followed this game and the forums avidly from around 1999 until long after launch, expansions and sequels. I even followed the transition from the old BioWare forums to Atari (iirc.. it's been a while.) I went through the Interplay crisis... plodded on to the rise of Infogrames and the rebirth of Atari.
When I first watched the video from WotC, upon hearing of this glorious news, my ears perked up, my heart palpitated (I checked to make sure it wasn't a heart attack...I'm older now)... then I heard Trent speaking! Prior to this, I had only read his posts in the (aforementioned) forums or during a live chat (IRC anyone?) It all rushed back to me! The years I spend in those forums, arguing in favor of my wants and desires in my little piece of the realms.
If it were not for NWN, I would likely not be the active D&D aficionado I am today. NWN rekindled my interest in a game I hadn't (then) played since middle school... Many years later, I haven't stopped. I've been DMing since the early 2000's. I got started with D&D with 2e AD&D in 1986, but the fire was relit with news of NWN. I bought every 3e book there was.... initially to support my NWN purposes. Eventually, that morphed into playing, and ultimately DMing D&D games (hey WotC, your marketing genius worked!)
Sadly, I was actually perusing the forums, while working the IT helpdesk for Walt Disney World, in Celebration, Florida, on September 11th, 2001. It was a life changing event, for sure. While I was able to get some formal education out of the "Operation Workforce" stuff Florida was pushing, it also created an enormous surplus in IT people. Every travel agent, flight attendant, or attractions employee was now an IT person... at least on paper (CompTIA, Microsoft, even Cisco... I blame you!) Suddenly, those of us whom had been in IT for a years, were now 'a dime a dozen.' Ultimately, that resulted in rather stagnant wages... for 10+ years I essentially earned the same money.
While working for Universal Studios Orlando, I took full advantage of their tuition reimbursement (70% at the time!) I wound up finishing school, even achieving Dean's list twice and President's list once. I spent countless hours fixing POS terminals (cash registers) and ticketing systems, in addition to the 16,000 desktops and laptops employees had. I learned a lot from that gig... but mostly that I was getting older and needed to be driving a keyboard instead of a screwdriver!
Of course, I'm still an IT guy. While it took a few years, I actually have a degree to prove it. Still trying to get the next one (from the University of Central Florida... GO KNIGHTS... only undefeated college football team inFlorida... err... the USA!) It took me 24 years to get my AS... but hey... I'm only in my 40's... I still got time to get my BS, right?
Nowadays, I'm a hardware technician for a software company that supports independent pharmacies. Our primary software package runs in Linux (CentOS preferably.) I get to fix all sorts of issues for 40+ hours a week. I even chuckle when I run across one of our few Windows "server" (usually as in Windows 7, 8.x or 10) customers. How quaint!
Sooooo..... I'm Sooooo glad Trent has stepped up, along with his Beamdog brethren, and has breathed new life into this classic! I'm back... I'm hoping I can help... and looking forward to making a classic D&D game great again!
In the words of many a player... "Run away! Run away!"
-Deth-
When I first watched the video from WotC, upon hearing of this glorious news, my ears perked up, my heart palpitated (I checked to make sure it wasn't a heart attack...I'm older now)... then I heard Trent speaking! Prior to this, I had only read his posts in the (aforementioned) forums or during a live chat (IRC anyone?) It all rushed back to me! The years I spend in those forums, arguing in favor of my wants and desires in my little piece of the realms.
If it were not for NWN, I would likely not be the active D&D aficionado I am today. NWN rekindled my interest in a game I hadn't (then) played since middle school... Many years later, I haven't stopped. I've been DMing since the early 2000's. I got started with D&D with 2e AD&D in 1986, but the fire was relit with news of NWN. I bought every 3e book there was.... initially to support my NWN purposes. Eventually, that morphed into playing, and ultimately DMing D&D games (hey WotC, your marketing genius worked!)
Sadly, I was actually perusing the forums, while working the IT helpdesk for Walt Disney World, in Celebration, Florida, on September 11th, 2001. It was a life changing event, for sure. While I was able to get some formal education out of the "Operation Workforce" stuff Florida was pushing, it also created an enormous surplus in IT people. Every travel agent, flight attendant, or attractions employee was now an IT person... at least on paper (CompTIA, Microsoft, even Cisco... I blame you!) Suddenly, those of us whom had been in IT for a years, were now 'a dime a dozen.' Ultimately, that resulted in rather stagnant wages... for 10+ years I essentially earned the same money.
While working for Universal Studios Orlando, I took full advantage of their tuition reimbursement (70% at the time!) I wound up finishing school, even achieving Dean's list twice and President's list once. I spent countless hours fixing POS terminals (cash registers) and ticketing systems, in addition to the 16,000 desktops and laptops employees had. I learned a lot from that gig... but mostly that I was getting older and needed to be driving a keyboard instead of a screwdriver!
Of course, I'm still an IT guy. While it took a few years, I actually have a degree to prove it. Still trying to get the next one (from the University of Central Florida... GO KNIGHTS... only undefeated college football team in
Nowadays, I'm a hardware technician for a software company that supports independent pharmacies. Our primary software package runs in Linux (CentOS preferably.) I get to fix all sorts of issues for 40+ hours a week. I even chuckle when I run across one of our few Windows "server" (usually as in Windows 7, 8.x or 10) customers. How quaint!
Sooooo..... I'm Sooooo glad Trent has stepped up, along with his Beamdog brethren, and has breathed new life into this classic! I'm back... I'm hoping I can help... and looking forward to making a classic D&D game great again!
In the words of many a player... "Run away! Run away!"
-Deth-
6
Comments
Seriously, tho, had it not been for NWN, I probably would not have decided to pursue programming again. I loved it as a kid... but thought I'd never want to sit 8 hours a day in front of a computer to only spend another 8 or so hours in my own time in front of one. Again, I must point out... there was no real "internet" back then.
When I did go for my degree in programming, I went full bore... and got really good grades. If only I knew then what I know now... lol.