I felt particularly validated when - to my pleasant surprise - I loaded into the next game’s lobby with that same unfortunate player on my team. Time and time again they died by my wretched little hands. Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft Studiosĭuring one particular game I remember unloading incessantly onto an enemy player. As soon as the game started, I made a beeline before anyone else could object, and I’d take to the skies in a series of flips and start my destruction. The Covenant aircraft became the only weapon I cared about if it was available. As for Zanzibar, I just enjoyed putting off the fighting to drive into the water as far as I could.īut it wasn’t until I dug deeper into maps like Headlong and Coagulation where I realized the key in my quest for Halo fame: the Banshee. While I performed worst on Lockout, I have an inexplicable fondness for that wintry fortress. The cityscape of Headlong added a fun platforming aspect, and Coagulation’s wide-open landscape made it easier to spot friends and foes. Among my favorites were Headlong, Coagulation, Lockout, and Zanzibar. It was time for me to prove myself.Īt first, whether I enjoyed the match basically depended on which map we loaded into. And as the infamous Gregorian chants rolled in, I signed onto our family Xbox Live account - which had a username that combined letters in our names - and loaded into a lobby of our opposing teams. Day after day, after school or on the weekends, I booted up Halo 2 on our Xbox. I ended up dedicating a couple years to this pursuit. I didn’t care who I was matched up with in the Xbox Live lobbies, or that they were complete strangers I would be the best preteen Halo 2 player anyone has ever seen. And so I dove into the world of Xbox Live multiplayer, first along with my dad, and later by myself. After hearing Master Chief’s impossibly cool last line, “Sir, finishing this fight,” I had decided: My fight wasn’t finished yet either.

But I was no stranger to shooter games, especially Halo, having played through co-op campaign after campaign with my dad on Halo 2. Sure, the sudden outburst from my new robot friend was off-putting. Despite their cordiality, their patience wore thin by about the fifth time I asked, and I was finally met with a very un-monotone “SHUT UP.” Instead, I was met with a monotone voice garbled to the point of sounding robotic. I put on the headset and said my greeting, but I wasn’t met with the instant camaraderie I was expecting. I was 10 years old, still in elementary school, and ready to make my Xbox Live debut. After seeing my older brother had left an idle shooter game on the TV, in our basement, I made the obvious choice: I decided it was the perfect opportunity to be cool like him and delve into the world of online multiplayer games.

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