It was the year 2000. The world survived an imaginary apocalypse, 56k modems were going the way of the dodo, and Lindsay Lohan had yet to put her genitals on display. Clearly, there was a lot to look forward to.

While the planet was in a period of great change, I was stuck in the stone age with a computer that moved about as fast as Rumpelstiltskin on a treadmill. My family's computer couldn't handle anything more advanced than Jump Start Kindergarten and Starcraft's single-player campaign, so I was forced to slaughter the Zerg on my own -- that is until my friend's family got their first computer.

With his new computer, my friend and I could finally play games online, so the first thing he did was purchase Starcraft. Soon, he was engaged in epic online battles over a 56k modem that I could only dream of. Whenever we'd talk, he'd mention how fun it was to mess with other players and decimate enemy strongholds in a matter of minutes.

I thought that I'd be stuck playing single-player games forever, but fortunately, my family's first computer broke a month later. This forced them to upgrade to a computer that didn't lag during Starcraft campaign missions.

After having avoided Starcraft for nearly a year, I came back to it, because I could now progress through the campaign without the slowdown that formerly hampered me. I had a great time with each of the three races' campaigns, but I was anxious to log on Battle.net, and see what this whole online gaming thing was about.

My first online Starcraft match was like a crack junkie's first experience with white powder -- it was magical. Never before had I played a multiplayer game that was so engaging. I loved shooting enemies in the groin with Oddjob in Goldeneye, but that paled in comparison to Starcraft's futuristic warfare.

Initially, I lost many of my matches (real ones, not that Big Game Hunter crap), but my friend Max soon whipped me into shape. He showed me the ropes, and soon, I was amassing carrier fleets before the enemy had even expanded.

We went on to play numerous 2v2 matches that we rarely lost. He'd usually play as Protoss or Terran, and would flood the earth with ground troops and specialty units like High Templar. Max would usually serve as our first defense if the enemy rushed, and I would create minimal defenses, while expanding to four bases and amassing fleets of carriers.

Our combination rarely failed, so we seldom had to alter our strategy. When we did lose, it was a bit disappointing, but we'd adapt, and decimate the competition once again.

This lasted for a few months, but eventually, we wanted more from our game. During one fateful moment, we came across an opponent named @@Shadow@@. Being a Final Fantasy fan, I assumed that his name was based on the cold assassin from Final Fantasy VI. Shadow not only let me know that I'd correctly guessed his identity -- he also expressed his love for one of the most legendary Final Fantasies.

As a result, we were soon embroiled in an hour long conversation in a pre-game lobby. It was then that Max and I discovered that Shadow was also from Oregon and had similar interests to our own. Shadow seemed like a cool guy, so we started meeting up in his channel regularly (Note to Starcraft virgins: Channels are chat rooms where players can communicate).

I soon discovered that he had something called a "clan," and I wanted to join it (for those who don't play online games, a clan is an organized group of people that meets to play games regularly). Shadow's clan tag was the "@@" symbol (a symbol that is now an illegal character on Battle.net). The FFVI assassin had a sizeable clan called "Knights of the Round Table" (KOTRT), and was fourth in command.

After Max and I joined Shadow's clan and played Starcraft for a couple months, we asked to be awarded with a decent position in the clan for being some of its most active members. Shadow refused our request, and instead of taking it lightly, I decided to have my revenge.

Shadow and I were involved in some other arguments around this time (which I can't completely recall), but I remember him challenging me to a duel. If I remember correctly, I think he called Max (@@Thanatos@@) and I (@@Golbez@@) bad players.

So, I played a 1v1 match, and barely beat Shadow after he assaulted me with a few Dark Templar. It was a good match, and he wouldn't challenge me for a few more months. In the meantime, Shadow traveled to Japan, so I took the opportunity to seek my revenge for not being allowed into the clan.

I downloaded a bot (a computer program designed to hold personal chat channels), and named it @@RPGMASTER@@. I used this bot to disguise my identity, and claimed that I was the returning founder of @@Shadow@@'s clan. My ingenious trick worked on some poor souls; one of them was even kind enough to award me with Shadow's channel, "The Round Table."

Unfortunately, I only had a 56k modem, so I wasn't able to hold the channel for long, so I proceeded to ban everyone who'd enter. No one had any idea who I was, so whenever I entered as Golbez they didn't see the connection. During the summer of 9th grade (June 2000), I would wake up early in the morning and hope there'd be a server split to take Shadow's channel. Clearly, I was serious about getting revenge.

However, my plan was soon thwarted. Shadow had returned. He had a feeling that @@RPGMASTER@@ was Golbez, so he left a bot of his own in the channel, which he was able to hold 24/7, because of his cable modem. As a result, Max and I decided to give up on our plans for awhile.

Instead of going into a rage, I decided to do something productive: I created my own clan. On June 1st, I created a clan called "Knights of Square" (KoS), that was open to any RPG fans who played games on Battle.net. The purpose of this clan was to be the first Final Fantasy XI clan when it would launch three years later, but we decided to start out on Starcraft.

At first, recruiting was tough -- partly due to my strict requirements. Players not only had to be a fan of RPGs -- they had to create a new game based on an RPG character and add "@@" tags. Not only was it difficult to find people who'd agree to these stringent requirements, but when they did, there was a high probability that they wouldn't return to my channel: "Knights of Square," the next day.

Fortunately, I managed to have a bit of luck within the first month. Besides Thanatos (my friend Max), I recruited Serge (of Chrono Cross fame), Lynx, and CloudFF7. Lynx and Cloud would only appear now and then, but Serge was in constant communication with us nearly every day. It was then that Max and I decided to create a clan ranking system, with Golbez, Thanatos, and Serge as the leaders, and a set of four High Council members ranked just below us. Everyone else would assume normal ranks, and wouldn't have control of the channel banhammer and other privileges.

For a few months, our clan didn't get much bigger than this (in part because Thanatos didn't help recruit), but that didn't stop me from working on other projects. I soon developed a multi-page website for the clan with Geocities, and I created a message board, so we could stay in touch. Besides this, I downloaded AIM at the request of an online friend to further improve clan communication.

When August came around, things finally started to roll. One night while over at Max's house, I decided to recruit, while he was playing Chrono Cross. During that fateful night, I had more luck than I did throughout my clan's entire existence. I managed to recruit six or seven core members that would stick with the clan for a few months (or a few years in some cases), and they each recruited a few other members. The new policies I'd developed created a well-oiled machine.

In the meantime, I'd met another player named: "TheSublimeOne" who not only introduced me to one of his favorite games called "Suikoden," but he also offered to provide me with his 24/7 channel-taking services. This kind soul willingly took over my enemy's clan during a server split, and held it for a few months. He managed to ban nearly the entire clan, and only a few remnants survived in another small channel that was formed. This prompted Shadow to announce his retirement from KOTRT on his Geocities website.

Later, I felt bad for all that I'd done to Shadow. Sure, he was cocky, but he didn't deserve to have his clan fail -- especially since I borrowed his clan tag and learned to develop a website by studying his work. Before his retirement however, he launched a strike on my clan who I'd brainwashed into believing that Shadow's clan was the imitator. He managed to capture our channel for a brief period (due to my general's faulty connection), and he threatened to keep it unless he was given the password to our clan website.

Unfortunately, someone gave him the information, so he was able to access our message board. Shadow also managed to make friends with a couple members of my clan in the process. It was just something I had to deal with. When Shadow later announced his retirement, I actually encouraged him to stay. I apologized for what I'd done, and admitted that I enjoyed our intense rivalry.

After these messy wars had ended nearly a year later, I spent the majority of my time managing clan matters. Instead of being a jerk like I was with Shadow's clan, I decided to be my nice, usual self around clan members. I governed fairly, and would do my best to resolve clan matters peacefully. Occasionally, I'd have to deal with traitors, new recruits who were spammers, and other disturbances, but I usually managed to resolve those problems without losing a significant portion of our clan.

During its peak, KoS had nearly seventy members. We managed to maintain a membership of at least thirty members for nearly three years, but it eventually died down once two of my real life friends became "too cool" for Starcraft, RPGs, and clans.

For awhile, it was something we were involved with on a daily basis. Whenever I'd travel somewhere or go to school, I'd constantly be thinking about the clan. We would go through a couple pages of messages on our Gamers.com message board daily, so there was always something new happening. Our clan would have polls, RPG discussions, fights, clan battles on Starcraft and Diablo II, you name it.

There were periods in which we'd become embroiled in huge arguments that resulted in typical language you'd hear in a high school locker room, but for the most part, we had fun playing Starcraft and discussing RPGs.

Our tournaments, recruiting sessions, and Final Fantasy discussions were a blast, in part due to our colorful clan roster. We had a member who claimed to be a U.S. army sniper stationed in Korea who would play Starcraft 24/7 (literally); we had someone who claimed to be the Golden Glove of Alberta (who more than likely lived inside his computer; and we had clan members who supposedly met and had a real life relationship. So whenever I think of Final Fantasy characters like Seifer, Porom, and Tifa, I recall my clan members who were named after these characters.

Back when KoS was thriving, I wrote multi-page histories, so that my friends and I would never forget our fond memories. Unfortunately, the clan website is no longer available, but one of the four message boards used during our existences has survived. The clan only has five members now (my nemesis Shadow being one of them), but I'm amazed that it was able to survive this long.

We haven't played games together for years (the last ones were Diablo II, Halo 2, and Ragnarok Online), but I'm hoping that some of us can get back together for Starcraft II. It's hard to believe that many of us were immature kids when the clan started, but now we're full-grown adults with jobs or in college.

I regret some of my behavior towards Shadow and a few of my clan members during my younger years, but some of that was just typical high school shenanigans. Some people may find the creation of a clan to be extremely nerdy and a waste of time, but I don't regret it one bit. Creating and maintaining a large clan of dedicated gamers was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life -- something that I wouldn't trade for anything. I'm a different person now, but someday, I'd like to relive the rocky road that was my initial foray into online gaming.