Who is Ogre?

Who is Ogre? OK, OK, obviously, the “ogre” is just an alter online ego for me, Eric. I created him back in 1997 when I had just first got into the budding online gaming community. It all began with Age of Empires. I had done up a fansite for the game, but didn’t really know what to name it (back then everybody had sites like so-and-so’s bla bla).

A friend of mine at the time suggested troll, but that didn’t seem to fit. We were, hate to say it, making fun of my brother at the time. If you knew him, you’d probably understand. He’s a big guy and can sometimes be an oblivious, brooding, angry fellow. Love him to death, but he does have a temper. So. Going upon these facts, the term “ogre” came to my mind. Yeup. And then, out of a sudden whirlwind of inspiration, I knew that was what I was going to call myself.

All of this came at a point in my life when I had just gone through rather bad things. My confidence was zero with myself and my alter ego was a way for me to escape, well, my life. Same went for my newfound obsession with Age of Empires, a game that I still love to this day. Thus, Ogre’s Age of Empires was born. Hundreds of thousands of hits later and the site got bigger and bigger until (skip a short period of change) it became a super site called Through the Ages.

I was quite happy with the way everything had turned out, but then things began to change. Sure, I got invited to Ensemble Studios (the maker’s of the Age of Empires franchise), which was mega fun, and I had just started a brand-new gaming network at the time, Ogre’s Network, but I knew times were a changing. A new whirlwind was brewing beneath me and I couldn’t stop it. It just took me forever to realize what it was.

I believe it was back in 1999 when I first realized my true calling: writing. Yes. I never really cared much for books during my younger years (believe it or not), however, I had always loved storytelling–still do. Then, I’m not kidding, my dad started reading the first Harry Potter book and, when he was finished, he loaned it to me. So. I read it, and was pleasantly surprised. I actually enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t believe I had just read a book all the way through for the first time in a long while. Yet, I then discovered other books I liked and thus I knew what I wanted to do in life.

The funny thing was I had tried to write a book before ever having read Harry Potter. That little foray, which didn’t pan out like I had wanted it, was inspired by Babylon 5 (one of my favorite TV shows at the time). Needless to say I shelved it because, well, I didn’t know how to write. Reading has helped me out a lot in that area Anyway. Fastforward to today…

Computer games and any kind of gaming in general will always be a part of my life–I don’t ever see that not being the case. However, it will just be one facet. As of late, well, I’ve learned a lot about myself. It took me a long time before I actually liked myself. So. A new chapter begins.

This might sound strange, but I used to be extremely paranoid about certain things. In fact, come to think of it, the song Paranoid by Black Sabbath really could have fit me there for awhile. Especially, “People think that I am strange because I am frowning all the time.” However, I changed. What led me to feeling down and out and an outsider was, well, some events I’d rather not think about. Then, I realized that I wasn’t actually living and needed to change. What did I do?

I sucked it up and dealt with it. Why? Because, after seeing and hearing what others had gone through in their own lives, I understood that everybody goes through some rough times and that, yes, it is possible to recover from them. It’ll always be there with me but, at least, I can go on, now. I’m much more wise than I used to be. Anyway. Enough about that. I just wanted to lengthen this “about” section No, seriously, I’m not afraid of living anymore or of who I am. They say that things happen for a reason, and I’m a big believer in that.