Diablo II and My First All-Nighter

I didn't play a lot of PC games when I was a kid. We always had consoles, and even offbeat stuff like The Sega Channel (Shoutouts to TCI Cable.) The few games I did play on PC were too slow for my young mind. That all changed when Diablo II came out. Diablo II's gameplay is the epitome of "simple, yet effective." Your goal is to kill the big bad demon at the end of the game, and en route you kill a bunch of smaller demons. You do this by left clicking your man around the world with the mouse, and right clicking on enemies to use a certain skill. Its really not that much more advanced than that. When we got Diablo II, I was hooked pretty fast.

Diablo II came out in the summer going into my Freshman year of High School. I had recently become re-acquainted with two of my best friends, Joe and Kevin, and we all decided to play the game "together." I quote this word because online play back then was somewhat primitive, and so most of the game was actually done in single player sessions, which would be verbally explained whenever we got together (which was almost every day that summer.) When we did decide to play online, it was often buggy, and we wouldn't always be at the same point in the game, so if you were more advanced in the game, then you spent your time helping the others along.

I distinctly remember the first time we decided to play at night. My parents had forbid me from playing video games past 10 PM, so I had to use alternate means. I went to sleep at 9:30 or so, and lied in my bed waiting for the right time. My parents went to sleep around 10:45 or so, and I was ready. I had kept the door cracked the entire night waiting for the light to turn off. I knew I had to wait until they finished brushing their teeth and all that, so it was all a very tense affair. Eventually I felt confident enough sneaking downstairs, where the computer was, and getting it going. I had to remain basically silent the entire night. I couldn't even chance wearing headphones, as it would mean I wouldn't be able to hear my parents waking up unexpectedly. I played in near silence that whole night. I think the biggest struggle was containing my giggling. I was on an adrenaline high that whole night, and Joe and Kevin are funny guys even in text, so playing the entire night like that was quite possibly the thrill of my life. Like all good things, it had to end. At 4 AM or so, I called it quits. When my friends asked me why, I told them that my Dad was going to wake up soon (he's an early riser) and I was supposed to be asleep 6 hours ago. I sneaked back up to my room, put the covers over, and went to sleep without anyone the wiser.

The next morning, I was rudely awakened by Kevin. The three of us had sort of an unspoken rule to not initiate contact before at least 10 AM so that we could sleep in/etc. Nonetheless, bright and early at 7 AM, a mere three hours later, Kevin arrived. I was pretty angry. Did he not remember the night of glee we'd just had? Why violate this law on this day, of all days? It turned out Kevin hadn't broken any creeds. It was 2 PM. I was so tired from my first all nighter I could barely see straight. I knew I had to wake up though; sleeping in any longer would be even more suspicious. I zombie'd myself down the stairs only to be greeted by my Mom happily wondering why I was so tired. I calmly explained to her that the rigors of being a 13 year old in the Foster City Summer are very stressful, and this had been a long week. Amazingly, no more questions were asked. I left the house with the hopes of rejuvenating myself by the sun, and reveling in my accomplishment.

I tried the same thing a couple weeks later and got caught. I think I tried too many things; I left a light on, I used a little sound, I giggled a lot. My Mom caught me, sent me immediately to bed, and I don't think I ever tried it again. Some people ask how one can stay up all night playing video games, and the fact of the matter is that I might as well have been playing tiddlywinks all night; I was having an adventure, and I was doing it with my friends. The simplistic game of Diablo II was just a medium. Even though the punishment I received later scared me away for a long time of doing it again, at least I got a story out of it.