Left 4 Dead!

Recently, I started joining my friends for games of Left 4 Dead 2 at LAN gaming cafes, something I've never thought I would, or could do. 10 years ago I was invited to play Counter-Strike with some of my scout juniors, and I sucked so bad, I was never invited again.

At $2 an hour, it's cheap entertainment if you compare it with hanging out at one of those expensive bars at Clarke Quay. Plus, some of my friends (Rashad and Adi) don't even drink beer. The only painful part is the cab fare home after playing till 5 am.

For those foreign to the game, Left 4 Dead 2 is set during the aftermath of an apocalpytic pandemic, and you'll take on a role as one of the 4 survivors, left to defend yourself against a horde of zombies (also known as the infected). If you watched Danny Boyle's 28 days later, the game's similar. Find 3 friends and you can start having a team of zombie killers, equipped with assorted guns and weapons, health packs and adrenaline shots. I must say it's stress-relieving to whack zombies' head off with a virtual machete after a long, hard week at work.

The usual people I played with, Adi, Charis & Rashad: far more experienced than me in terms of the game play. But I'm grateful that they were patient enough with me, even though I had them sometimes yelling assorted comments like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, JY", "STOP RUNNING SO FAR" and "JUST FOLLOW US". They covered most of the zombie killing, and most of the time I learned by following their instructions. I loved playing with them.

For last night's session, while waiting for Charis and Rashad to arrive, Adi and I joined the public games, where we had to play with random players who were on the game servers.

Shit. Playing without the "safety net" that were my friends, I was on my own for the first time. I was teaming up with strangers. Sooner or later, these strangers will realize how badly I play.

And they did. One of the strangers with the moniker "Uncle Sam" suggested that I should get kick out of the team.

I was angry. Can't people have more patience? We all have to start somewhere and learn from our mistakes. But this is the 'real world' we are talking about, and people are harsh. The weak is not welcomed.

Adi (in another team) helped to reply "No" in which Uncle Sam replied "Stupid".

Infuriating! Must be some ah beng behind the keyboard!

Having the best of teamship, I machine-gunned a chain of bullets at his general direction. The feeling of seeing his virtual health shooting down faster than the speed of light (okay, not that fast) was most satisfying.

I got kicked out eventually.

Cheebye.