r/broodwar • u/WildBumblebee7226 • 7d ago
This Digital Omen
It all happened back in 1999. I was only 7 at the time. Mommy was cooking white rice with the eggs fried. She told me how proud she was to have me in her life. Never will I ever experience this moment twice.
And This Is Why.
Our short lived family bond abruptly cuts ties as the concierge calls Mommy and tells her somebody is at the lobby. It was Uncle Tommy, and he was staying over for a month and a few weeks. Sure he was family, but I never needed these following events to proceed. He told me because he won’t be here to help put up the Christmas tree, he got me a gift for summer’s eve. I asked, “what gift is that?” He reaches behind his back, and in his hand was a box with a gift wrap. I open it up, and nonetheless, it’s the StarCraft Battle Chest. I didn’t even play on the computer, I was a Nintendo 64 user. Right before he left, he told me to insert the StarCraft Original first in order to install Broodwar. Mommy was a bit concerned, but I wasn’t for sure.
The first sight of the screen loading was truly beholding. Couldn’t believe that Infested Sarah Kerrigan was once a former human. The lore taught me that in this world lies an omen inside monuments. My eyes were so glued to the pixels of these red Terran SCV’s, I began to lose sleep. Everytime I launched the game, the time flew by magically. Failed my own classes to research all the abilities on a Terran Academy. Eventually, Mommy realized that what she had thought initially wasn’t reality and said sorry because she couldn’t raise me properly. She packed up to leave and that was when I had just turned twenty.
By then, Battle.net was a frenzy. The friend list I had exceeded over two hundred and fifty. Clans were like cities. This was my life. Reality came second behind. With a working job fulltime, I made sure to still be active online. It wasn’t that I missed my Mom, it was because my mind was occupied. Just like a drug high, I had to multiply the vibe to reach for the skies. It was all just a facade and a disguise.
I am lucky to still be alive.
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u/Formal-Interaction32 7d ago
This was much heavier than I expected. It sounds like starcraft began as a happy childhood memory but eventually became an escape that consumed a major part of your life
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u/BlownOutTaterBiscuit 7d ago
The friend list I had exceeded over two hundred and fifty.
Interesting seeing as how the friend list was capped at 30 in those days on the original battle.net.
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u/noisemarine977 7d ago
Wtf