[SakSquash]

Can you remember it?

Mine was Marathon on old apple computers over a lan. My first internet social gaming experience was Command and Conquer over a 56K modem with a schoolmate. Good timesssssssss.

[RLacey]

I remember not being allowed to play games online until my parents got unmetred internet access, after which the first game I played online was Unreal Tournament.

I did, however, have two networked computers at home. I remember playing Age of Empires and Diablo, and there was probably other stuff that has since slipped my mind.

[insane_cobra]

Multiplayer in the arcades, probably Golden Axe or something like that.

[Kolzig]

On PC it was Command & Conquer: Red Alert against my friend, a classic dial up modem one vs. one match. Man, he totally destroyed me in that game.

Earlier there was loads of games at the arcades.

[simpson_yellow]

Double Dragon at the arcades - I remember a group of kids laughing at me because I sucked ass. If they only knew how leet I'd be one day....

First LAN game was either Worms or Puyo Puyo in the Physics labs at uni - ah, good times.

First online multiplayer experience was HL2: Deathmatch (not sure why I put off internet gaming for so long).

[lumi]

It may have been with a MMORPG that Sierra made. I don't remember the name of it, but you walked around like in a 2D adventure game, fought monsters, and bought items.

[Stiltzkin]

In the arcades, probably Double Dragon or Bubble Bobble. Otherwise, on-line it was likely Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.

[Squinky]

I watched my cousins play the original NES Mario when I was about three. I vaguely remember making one of them lose by trying to grab the controller and play with it.

[MoriartyL]

Warcraft 2 on a dial-up. I think I played quite a few games in the two hours or so I was allowed to tie up the phone line for. (I lost every one.) I enjoyed the experience a lot, but not so much that I ever played an RTS online again. Generally speaking, I prefer single-player.

[Huz]

What's 'social gaming'? I imagined it to mean any form of multiplayer gaming - or hanging around at the arcades - but seeing as most responses are talking about hardcore LAN and dialup action, I'm not so sure...

Or did you really go to the trouble of hooking up your computers before playing against a friend? Confuse, and also, boggle.

[Cold-Factor]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Warcraft 2 on a dial-up. I think I played quite a few games in the two hours or so I was allowed to tie up the phone line for. (I lost every one.) I enjoyed the experience a lot, but not so much that I ever played an RTS online again. Generally speaking, I prefer single-player.

Same here. My first experience with multiplayer gaming came from playing my friend in a Warcraft 2 modem game back in elementary school. But that was still one-on-one, however soon afterwards I started playing MUDs using Tinkeri View. I guess that could be the true first instance of 'social gaming' for me.

[getmyrunon]

Warcraft I Modem-Modem connection

[mrdriller]

Hmm, the earliest of course would be arcades. PC-wise, a friend and I used to play Jagged Allianceeadly Games over our 28.8k connections. And Warcraft II.
My first PC game I played online with people I didn't know would have to be Quake. I remember massive lag, and hardly ever being able to kill anyone, but loving it anyway.

[SakSquash]

I've never played a warcraft game.

[insane_cobra]

I think my first online experience was Descent, I simply loved that game. Then there was Doom 2 and a couple of games I played over the LAN (Red Alert and HoMM2, I believe).

[SoccerDude28]

Street Fighter 2 in the arcades. We used to sneak out from school, and wait in line to try to beat whoever is hogging the machine.

[SakSquash]

I was never into Street Fighter, but one day when I was in a snack bar there was a machine, so I figured ok, i'll try it. I planned on playing the computer but then some guy walked up to up, stuck his quarters in without even asking, and started to fight me! Anyway, long story short, I kicked his ass and he got REALLY pissed off and stormed away swearing.

[Huz]

Well, I still don't really know what this thread really means, but depending which of the many definitions used above I decide to go for, it was either...

Looming over someone while they played through Robocop at the arcades. Although I was about six so I achieved this by standing on a staircase, natch.

Playing North and South on the NES.

Playing Stunt Car Racer on two linked Amigas.

Or Quake over dialup. Not QuakeWorld, which was actually intended for internet play, but Quake. Lag occurred.

[Gordon Bennett]

Something on a school Macintosh network. Net Trek, or something along those lines. These were black and white compact Macs. Choose one of three types of ships from Star Trek, and fight it out from a top-down view.

There was also a message bar at the bottom of the screen so we could type insults to each other. It was an easy way of getting yourself killed, as you can't move, fire, and type all at once, but it was quite engaging to, well, type messages to people sitting in the same room as you. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was great fun at the time.

Also you never could quite tell who was working, and who was quietly fighting you. Figuring out who it was by typing in something funny to provoke a laugh was a small game in and of itself.

[I Love Cookiemonster]

I think it was at school, playing the descent demo over LAN. I pretty much ruled that game, but that had more to do with how bad the others were. And then somebody became as good as i was, must have been practicing at home or something. God that was fun.