I think my first was Diablo 2 but I didn't really play more than five minutes of it so I don't think it counts.

The first one I actually played properly was Battlefield 2. It isn't really my type of game but I was playing with some real life friends so it was really fun. We also played Counter Strike and Halflife but those two were just against each other.


Not really a fan of multiplayer games with strangers. Not so much a question of quality as it is, I just simply prefer going at my own pace in single player games.

Hmm, think that was Diablo 2 somewhere around 2001-ish, take or give a year. Followed up shortly (a year or two) thereafter with NwN 1.

My best multiplayer memories in a game comes from NwN 1.Made so many friends during those years, some of which i still have contact with semi-regularly today. :)

Quake 3 Arena was my first online multiplayer game but I've never really enjoyed playing any game online. LAN and null modem cable were always way more fun. I need to see the opponent's face, especially if they're better than me and expect to win but then they're not aware of how much their face is giving away and when they end up losing, the expressions are truly priceless.

I know what you mean, but online gaming was not mainstream entertainment in the 90's. Being a sociopath in the 90's was not "normal" the way it is today. Many people who play games online today are not gaming enthusiasts, they don't care about the game or their fellow players. Just stroking the e-peen and pretending they don't loathe themselves so much.

There have always been people who enjoy ganking and scamming newbies, or just smacktalking all day. There are all kinds of nerds. Now we have jocks and hipsters too.

Half Life Deathmatch I think

Team Fortress Classic and Half Life deathmatch.
Just a few hours in the weekend.
My parents did not like it so much since you weren't able to use the phone.

Well but that's just like with everything else, the more mainstream it becomes the more the lesser desired element becomes a part of it as well. But yes, since there were less people to come into contact with and since more of them were the loveable nerd-type overall the experience was less irritating.
Back in the day when you told people you liked 'Personal Computers' they would scoff and make fun of you, nowadays they tell you that yes they're also good with computers because the can IM and Facebook.
And back in the day when you told people you liked playing P&P RPGs such as D&D they would laugh and point, nowadays they.. still laugh and point...

I find that people today have no idea wtf I'm talking about rather than laugh and point. I'd like to think it is only because they never heard about PnP RPGs, but the cynical part of me says it's because they don't understand anything that doesn't fit on a smartphone screen and make cute noises.

The original Starcraft. I had been a console gamer up til then, and this game's multiplayer is what led me on the path to PC gaming.

for me, technically it was the first Diablo

(Lies actually, I played a game on AOL called Acrophobia before that.)

but, I'm going to cheat and say the original Everquest

that I was the first time I had any meaningful interaction in a multi-player online game. I remember feeling genuine fear for my survival and jumping out of my chair in exertion of mashing the W key in an attempts to escape death through a zone line. I miss the soul-crushing poverty of being a new payer in EQ. I haven't felt anything like that since, you can only have one first time experience :\

For me it was classic Everquest. I was pretty young and I remember watching my brother play it and then I started playing. I loved the sense of adventure and exploration it had. It was a game where you actually had to work hard to get good gear and money. I still feel nostalgic thinking about it and I miss my Halfling Ranger.

Rainbow six on MSN's service. Being the first to load in the game, and throwing a grenade in the group of my teammates who have yet to load. And TK'ing them before they even finished loading. x)

yeah, no terrible people have been ruining the online gaming experience of others for as far back as '96

put this fun read in your gawk-sockets:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/05/the-last-survivors-of-meridian-59.html

The original counter-strike. Would you like to see the scars?

I think that I played a couple minutes worth of Unreal Tournament 2003 online when I visited a friend once, but my first true online experience was Dawn of War (well either that or TF2 - can't remember :P ). It was very memorable : I was extremely nervous and made a complete mess of the game the first time round. I think that playing a strategy game online for the first time is far more unnerving than playing, for example, and FPS online for the first time.
I ended up being quite good at DoW online multiplayer. I always played as the space marines (because they were the most badass faction) and detested fighting against Eldar and Necrons.