Back in 2007...before I would later be on the "Through the Aftermath" podcast talking with Shawn about emergency preparedness, avoiding suicide after watching the movie "Threads", and doing intro skits about cold-war propaganda, I started in the podcast world with an online-game podcast called "The Online Gamer's Anthology". To this day, it's one of the things I look back on the most fondly.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the internet description:
Hosted by Jonathan Morris, "The Online Gamer's Anthology" was a podcast that focused on massively-multiplayer online games of the past and the games that influenced the genre. Featuring interviews with industry greats such as "Dragonlance" author Tracy Hickman and "Pool of Radiance" developer Brad Myers, it took a nostalgic look back at online game originals like "Meridian 59" and "Dark Age of Camelot" and early influences such as the "Fallout" series, the Commodore 64 computer, and INFOCOM's ground-breaking "ZORK" text adventure series.
"The Online Gamer's Anthology" ran for a total of 21 Episodes between 2007 and 2008 . It was also the first podcast to feature Jonathan's signature comedy "intro-skits" that parodied the gaming world.
Jonathan later went on to co-host the post-apocalyptic-themed "Through the Aftermath" podcast with "Guildcast"-host Shawn Shuster, and ironically STILL yells "ding" whenever someone uses the phrase "Back in the day".
It's hard to believe that was 6 years ago when I was talking about all my gaming memories and interviewing people like Tracy Hickman. Who would have thought the moment I chose to do a podcast for the first time would later explode into a second show and a lifelong friendship with so many good people...anyone from my Aftermath co-host, Shawn Shuster...to Brent, Darren, Troy, Karen, Julie, and all the other fantastic people from the VirginWorlds podcast collective. And who would have thought a crazy little idea to do a comedy "intro-skit" to start each episode would later become one of the main trademarks of how people would remember the shows.
And, of course, my friendship with all of you, my listeners-friends. For without you, the show would never have had an audience. No seriously, it would have just been a badly-edited MP3 with people yelling "DING" every time someone used the phrase "Back in the day". I kneel humbly before you for listening to my shows all these years. I hope they brought you entertainment and a some good laughs along the way.
Okay...the way I'm wording this sounds like I'm about to cry. I better show you where this is going.
I've had quite a lot of you ask for copies of the original podcast episodes of "The Online Gamer's Anthology" since they were no longer available through iTunes. Well, your patience has paid off, my stalwart friends, because that day has finally come! In the same way that our good friend Megaton of PostApoc.net archived the episodes of the "Through the Aftermath" podcast, I have now done the same for the Anthology episodes as well.
So, my friends, here all 21 episodes of "The Online Gamer's Anthology" in all their original glory:
THE ALMIGHTY LINK
So go and download them! And enjoy!
And try not to laugh at how inexperienced I totally sound or the fact that I sound like I may wet my pants at any given moment as I interview Tracy Hickman. I mean, DUDE!! It was TRACY HICKMAN!! Seriously, people wait in line for hours at DragonCon just to get his autograph and somehow I got an interview because he just happened to live a few miles away from my house and I run into him at a Del-Taco! The odds are so scary, I have to believe there was divine intervention there or something!
You know, as I listen to these episodes of the Anthology, it's sad to see so many of those games and subjects I spoke of in the show are either now gone or fading away. Pretty soon, those eras will just be a faded memory. I guess that's why I look back on that show so fondly. It's like freezing my own memory in time or something. Here's to hoping it did its job.
(wait, that sounded really sappy)
So enjoy, my friends!
And may the memories of the old days of goofy-looking sprite characters of "Meridian 59", the hardcore fun of waiting for the boat to arrive in Freeport in the original "Everquest" days, and the long hours of typing "KILL TROLL WITH SWORD" in text-adventures like "ZORK" never die! ;)
