Halo 2 rank12/11/2022 ![]() I’m sure some of those moments impacted my younger self, though I no longer remember, more than 15 years later. I came across a fair share of rude players, players who were impatient, team killing, and strangers yelling insults. Of course, there’s an inherent risk to entering an often unmoderated forum with strangers, and the lobby and violent maps of Halo 2 with voice chat were no exception. But I always quickly followed the statement with “it wasn’t really bad like you might think.” I can’t say I know for sure what went through acquaintances’ minds when I told them I used to get on a voice chat, as a young girl, with a bunch of strangers (usually boys and men) before shooting at each other on a map. In horror, I witnessed them proceed to crouch up and down over my lifeless virtual body (which I later learned was a true cornerstone in toxic gaming behavior: teabagging). Before I could counteract, I was watching the respawn countdown. My inevitable death was confirmed when an enemy jumped into the air while shooting at me. If I wasn’t lucky enough to load into a map with a Banshee, or snag one as soon as the game started, I was in for a steep uphill battle - and I mean that literally. It might have been because my entire play strategy was dependent on finding a Banshee. I never made people tremble when they loaded into a lobby and saw my screen name, and my brother never congratulated me on my online prowess, nor did he invite me to play Halo 2 with his friends. This is probably a good point to admit (and spoil) that this essay doesn’t end on a tale of triumph in my quest to be the coolest and most successful player on Halo 2. “Ah yes, the little Banshee driver,” a guy’s amused voice responded. 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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