Having set up emails through Yahoo, and Google, I grew a fascination for the social site craze that was booming a few years ago and continues to do so today. The first social site I signed up to was MySpace, and that was a huge step for me, a mere net user with a very limited knowledge of the limitless ocean as he paddled into the unknown. I found that the slow page loading dampened the whole experience, the constant spam, and very distant like community were something that almost forced me to give up on the whole social site craze. Well I almost did until I discovered Facebook, and did I hit jackpot! I found that the pages loaded almost instantly, there were no huge advertisements, the site was very user friendly, the customisation was adequate although not as elaborate as MySpace’s, there was no spam, and the community proved to be far more tightly knit. I found many friends I haven’t seen since high school, and also met many new people.

I found myself absolutely addicted to YouTube, and downloading a huge amount of video clips, joining in on debates and flame wars in the video comment sections, receiving and answering daily YouTube hate mail, and also meeting one of the most amazing girls I have ever met, a girl who had her own YouTube alias, and who I still talk to on Facebook to this day, over three years later. I discovered video footage that I would have never been able to see otherwise. I have laughed, yelled in rage, and cried countless times as I watched some 30, 000 YouTube video clips since signing up over three years ago. I joined in on the complaint boards when the format was changed on YouTube, and I communicated and debated with people from all over the world. Facebook, and YouTube became permanent daily routines, and it was through those two sites that I developed a huge interest in further learning about the Internet.

Over the last four years I have also played many mmorpg games. In fact I’ve played just about every free online mmorpg, including Shaiya, Conquer Online and Runes Of Magic. Also I couldn’t forget the addictive but a highly hacked game today, Combat Arms, an online FPS that would dominate Counter Strike any day! I have made many friends through the online gaming world, and learnt that friendships really transcended the human body to a digital fantasy world where it achieved to preserve its integrity as people helped one another survive and prosper daily challenges in their game realities. I found online gaming to be a huge form of escapism, as I’d lose myself in vast worlds, fighting grand challenges, and achieving wonderful things. It made me forget about my miserable job, daily pain, and the daily misery that my real life had dealt upon me. The Internet provided that drug free alternative to escaping off to a better place without even leaving my bedroom. It also allowed me to learn how to type quickly as I had to communicate with my in-game friends. I owe my typing skills solely to the online games that forced me into learning, adapting and developing my typing skills to suit a fast paced environment. It allowed me to learn a skill that the previous ten years of computing did not!

To be continued..