TF2 Rekindled
I spent a fair number of years playing multiplayer starting with Return to Castle Wolfenstein (or more commonly known as RTCW). This single player game was awesome but the multiplayer game was great. I played that game on one server for 6 or 7 years if not longer and amazingly we just played the map Beach 24/7. I met a lot of great guys on that server and some of them I can still call them friends even 10-15 years later.
The difference between multiplayer then and multiplayer now is you were limited in the number of classes and weapons you could choose. For RTCW, it was basically a gun, a knife, and a specialty like a medic where you could revive players or a LT where you could call an airstrike and that was about it. Now-a-days, if you join Call of Duty chances are you are going to be playing against people who are seriously leveled up with a wide variety of weapons and there really is nothing you could do. In RTCW, everyone was the same level. There were no advantages other than experience.
When RTCW finally started to die, some of us transitioned to a game called TF2 or Team Fortress 2. It was supposed to be a sequel to Team Fortress but the differences between the two are considerable. The game play and the characters are similar, but the look and feel is crazy different.
Team Fortress 2 looks and plays like a cartoon and the characters are all fun. Here is a video that describes the medic.
As you can see, it is a departure from the more serious games and is just my speed. I appreciate the humor and the lightheartedness of the game and it is fun to play. You also do not level up so you can take a few months off, come back and are still able to be competitive.
To be sure, those who have played multiplayer games will understand there is always some frustration with playing with anonymous people and there are some frustrating aspects of the game, but for the most part, it is harmless fun and anyone can jump in and play right away and feel effective.
We started playing TF2 the first month it came out and we were so into we started our own server and website. I ran the website and my partner ran the servers and for a number of years we had fun. We grew and had a good following as well as a decent number of servers but after a while, the toll of running the server and website began to wear us down and we all burned out after about 7 years. For the last couple of years of running the place, I rarely if ever played and it has been almost a year since we shut down the site, but lately I have been playing again and I have really been enjoying it. So much so, I am even thinking about starting up another TF2 site, but we will have to
In the meantime, I will just have some fun playing on some anonymous servers and see how it goes.