From "Invincible" to the "Wild Animal"

I was absolutely fascinated by the computer when I saw one at my friend's place the first time.

Now this friend is an amazing exaggerator. He's a Gujju and hence is born with a business sense, and the ability to talk convincingly. I guess he talks to all his friends as if he's dealing with a customer.
Everytime I went to his place, he had something to show me which would both overwhelm and fascinate me.

When he was demonstrating to me the computer (which was an expensive 386 with DOS running on it) he did it to perfection. And somehow he selected the perfect thing that would influence me - a car racing game. My jaw hung open and it remained that way throughtout the time I walked back to my home.

After that I launched into an elaborate strategy to get my parents to buy me a computer. I somehow got my Dad into thinking that software is hot, and that Mom should study it. My Mom enrolled herself into a computer course, and then I managed to convince her that she would need a computer if she has to learn anything at all.

Before long I was playing the car racing game, trying to beat all the records my friend had set. (And yeah.... my parents' experiment with software had already stopped by then)
The day I beat his record, I couldnt wait to brag about it to my friend.

My lips stitched themselves shut, as he ridiculed me for playing that age-old car racing game. He showed me a 3-D first person game (Wolf-3d.. if anyone wants to know) which was absolutely awesome.
I took a bus back to my place, with my jaw dropped open.

Some time later, I got the brand new OS - Windows 95 installed on my computer (thanks to my excellent fooling... ahem... convincing skills). An hour later, I was knocking on the gujju's door.
'Hey... I wanna tell you something.'
He says 'Forget all that... I will show you something which will blow your mind'
We go into a room, and sitting proudly on a table is a brand new colour screen monitor with a pentium CPU nearby. On its side are speakers which produce music with amazing clarity.
Predictably, I cycle back with my jaw somewhere near my feet.

It took me three years to get a system with an equivalent capacity. In the meantime I got into a good university... the second best in India actually, and was doing quite well there. It was located pretty away from Chennai, my hometown. So we werent in contact that often.

Yes.. these kind of incidents happened everytime I went to his place when I was back for the holidays. But somehow I got used to it by then, and learnt to keep my jaw in its place.
(The latest thing - I land up a job in Oracle, and I am discussing about it with this guy over the phone, when he tells me that he's opened his own company. He's taken a small internet cafe for lease in which he and his team work late into the night !!)

Well, I have deviated completely from the subject. I was just trying to convey my fascination for computer games.

There's this game called the 'Age of Empires' - a long strategy game (usually runs into hours) wherein you have to manage a kingdom (each player manages a kingdom). I had played this game quite often in my college and was pretty good at it (I dont have the benefit of hindsight when I say this). So I was pretty much keen to participate in the games played over the network by my colleagues at my company.

The first game, I have my screen-name (Its the name of your kingdom in the game) as "Invincible".
Pre-game, when the participating players are chatting... (a snapshot)

Invincible: Hi guys !

Invincible: Ready for AOE ??

Nav: Hi..you are new. Whats your name ?

Invincible: [beep] (I say my name here)

Nav: Are you a good player?

Invincible: I am pretty good, I think.

Invincible: I used to play against 4 players in my college and still beat all of them singlehandedly.

Nav: Oh..

Nav: In that case, why dont you be in the opposing team.
(All the players usually group themselves into two team of opposing kingdoms pre-game)

Invincible: No probs :)

Invincible: [to team] Guys we'll kill them !

Invincible: [to team] They wont know what hit them !

20 minutes later. My kingdom is in ruins. There are elephants and horses running all over the place which used to my kingdom a bit earlier (which umm... is the start of the game). There's a solitary villager standing at the corner of my map. Just when I make up my mind to rebuild my kingdom (villagers can gradually build entire kingdoms) using that particular guy, he's killed by a bow-man.

Extra Information: Remember the elephants and horses I was talking about ? They were all part of Nav's army.

The next game is a few days later. I'll give you a snapshot of the chat which happened pre-game.

(as soon as I enter)

Error: Who's Wild Animal ?

Wild Animal: [beep] (again.. my name)

Error: I think he's new.. are you good at the game?

Wild Animal: No, I am a beginner.

Nav: He has played before. He was "Invincible" in the previous game.
(I curse his memory here)

Son of Phat: Oh..ok.
(There's a pause in the chatting here, wherin I get an absolutely irritating vision of each one of them clutching hard at their stomachs trying to control their laughing)

Son of Phat: Teams ?

Nav: Me, Cyclops and Error vs. Son of Phat, Savage and Wild Animal.

Son of Phat: HAHAHA !! Are you kidding ?? The game would be over in 20 minutes.

Nav: Okay, you suggest then.

Son of Phat: Okay, how about this... You, Savage and Wild Animal vs. Cyclops, Error and me.

Nav: Thats not fair.. its 2 vs. 3

Error: But you are the best player, and its only fair that you should get Wild animal.

Nav: But..
(a lot of chatting goes on, debating the teams. Finally Nav settles for Son of Phat's proposal)

Nav: Hey.. wild animal are you there ???

Wild Animal: Yes.

Nav: Shall we start ?

Wild Animal: Ok.

Some statistics: (Note: They are approximate)

Screen Name in Game 1: Invincible
Screen Name in Game 2: Wild Animal

Duration of survival by Invincible in Game 1 : 21 minutes.
Duration of survival by Wild Animal in Game 2 : 1 hour 43 minutes.
(Hint: Opposing players try and attack the strongest player first)

Total number of chat messages by players in Game 1 : 46
Total number of chat messages by players in Game 2 : 89
(Hint: Players had a tough time deciding whose team would 'bear' the joker in the second game)

Total number of chat messages by Invincible in Game 1 : 31
Total number of chat messages by Wild Animal in Game 2 : 4
(Hint: Not required)

My screen name is still 'Wild Animal'.
Time is the best healer they say. But I hope time causes selective amnesia.