aol i think (1999)

Starcraft was the first game I played online. My friend and I would dial each other over a 56K modem. I remember wondering why he kept ending his chat messages with “:” and “)”.

We liked to mine minerals and build armies, but I don’t remember attacking, winning, or losing. The network connection never lasted long enough.

One day I wandered into a battle.net lobby. Everyone was typing furiously into chat before the game started. They saw that I joined and someone asked:

wats ur ping?

I didn’t know what that was, and I wasn’t sure what to say, so I waited.

hey, what isp are u on

I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that one, so I typed:

aol i think?

The room erupted:

u THINK???
AOL??? lolololol
isp is aol wtf
BOOT
boooooooooooot
BOOOOOOT!!!!

This went on for a few seconds, then they kicked me out.