| < 1.1.5: Rules (formal and informal) | 1.2: Additional Information > |
| 1.1.6: Joining the Jedi Academy: a short story -DJ Sith - Jan 15 10:19pm | |
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He stewed. You'd think that after an hour of staring at a computer screen, something would come to him. Yeah right. In a small part of his brain, a tiny voice whispered, "You know, this is only a game." "Zip it," came the swift reply. "Great," he thought. "Now I'm beginning to talk to myself too." But... it was just a character name. And it's only a game... right? Right? This was him, on a late Friday night, having got home from school and his job. He was tired as hell, and he wanted to unwind. He had a very impressive collection in his computer, including Tomb Raider, Counterstrike, and his latest addition: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Up until JKII he had been with Counterstrike for his online gaming. Counterstrike... what a waste. Right now he didn’t feel like dealing with all the cursing, the continuous fragging, not learning a damn thing. But Jedi Knight... He had bought Jedi Knight II two weeks ago, having heard of its stunning graphics and gameplay from online demos. He had played the online demo for JKII and he was blown away. The character shape technology, the fluidity of the game speed, the realism of the graphics…and the lightsaber. All of it blew him away. He had a decent computer, DSL and all, and he had devoted his last two weeks in single player mode, finally beating Desann last night. Now, though, he was dead tired and didn’t feel like starting a new difficulty level. He had fired up his JKII launch screen and noticed for the first time the "Multiplayer" option. Sure, he had noticed it before, but he was too eager to go to the single player to move on with the story. But now that he was done... hmmm... he had a good online connection... he had clicked it. And thus was his first experience with multiplayer. He was astounded to find Jedi FFAs, battles of three or more Jedi, and the duel function. It was his dream come true. He had found his element. Only one thing bothered him…the same problem with Counterstrike... "I mean, you can only kill another person and get killed for no reason so many times," he had thought. On a whim, he got on Google and typed in JKII. Up popped the expected zillions of results, yet there was one that caught his eye. "The Jedi Academy." Wonder what that was? Sounded like a cult or something. Maybe someone had put together the layout for the Star Wars Jedi Temple on Coruscant. That would be kinda cool to play within. See what is "really" looked like and such. He clicked the link. What happened next changed his gaming life in a very substantial way... Yeah, yeah... he was smitten. He had signed up for the Jedi Academy that moment. And now that he got his acceptance e-mail, he could log in. WHOOHOO!! "Ubub Zawholicz," or just "UZ" to his friends, was now in business. There were a couple posts he wanted to comment on, and – of utmost importance – UZ wanted to get on the server and "visit" the Jedi Temple. "Hmm…and how exactly am I supposed to do that?" realized UZ. He checked the JA site again. He noticed the servers tab on the nav bar and he clicked it. There he found the four JA servers. "Hmm... well..." he mused. He clicked the [JA] Home link. "Hmm... I guess it’s a password protected server... okay here’s the password..." he thought. He also wrote down the IP address. Then he noted the files on the bottom of the description. "I better download some of these files," he decided. After downloading all of the files and putting them in the base folder of JKII (like the readme told him to do), and noting the other IP addresses, he launched the JKII multiplayer. He had decided to download all of the files, being afraid of not being up to date with the Academy. "Hmm... okay, I need to find these addresses..." he thought. He chose New Favorite ...and typed in the IP address, password, and punched done. "What the...?" Where did it go?! He was expecting a favorites window to pop up automatically or something. "Wait... how the hell am I supposed to find this add among the hundreds of public servers?" he suddenly wondered. Then he noticed the Type drop down box at the top of the screen. "Ahh..." Ten minutes later, he watched his computer attempt to connect to the JA Home server. "Server for low pings only," he read. Great, he thought, exasperated. Earlier he had entered the wrong password. What more can go wrong? He tried again... wait, something's happening. At least that "Server for low pings only" message isn’t there. Suddenly, a new background that he had never seen came up. It was a portrait of three Jedi, with two holding ignited lightsabers. It was the JA loading screen. "Holy..." he thought. "These guys are good." And just as suddenly, he came to the familiar Player Setup screen. Only... the map looked like nothing he had played in. He quickly put his name in and joined. "Whoa... nice map!" he typed. He was overwhelmed. It really did look like an academy. He spent the next ten minutes looking around, and he somehow ended up back where he came from. Suddenly, he saw someone had typed "Whoever wants to get a tour of the place, come to the outside entrance." He quickly typed, "I’m coming!" and quickly headed for the nearest exit. After a couple of confused minutes, searching for a way outside, he was finally standing in the "courtyard" of the Academy. Suddenly, he saw "Is this all of you?" Narsil, the one who was leading the tour, looked at UZ. "Yeah, I guess," typed UZ. "Alright, then," Narsil replied. "I'm gonna give a tour on the layout of the Jedi Academy." And that is how one newbie started off in the Jedi Academy. His story, along with the stories of countless new students in the Jedi Academy, is not new or surprising to most of us veterans. But it is here that we all begin, and it is here that we all build ourselves in skill, experience, and character. This is our "link" to our past and future. It is here... at the Jedi Academy... that we make history… |
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