DDO is celebrating its 15th Anniversary!! In honor of this event, I have dusted the cobwebs off this blog to celebrate and share my experiences through the last 15 years of playing DDO.
In March of 2006, I eagerly awaited the release of DDO. My husband got his copy and I played on the trial account that came with it. A week later, I had my own copy in my hand and a brand new computer built by my husband so that I could play. This started a journey for us that has brought us new experiences and new friends.
My children were BABIES!!! BABIES!!! NOW THEY ARE TEENAGERS! My oldest was 2 and a half. My younger child was only eight months old. Yes, I had two in diapers. Now I have a 17 year old and a 15 year old. DAMN! I am old!!!
That first year was wild! We met new friends. We played every night after the girls went to bed. Weekends during nap-time. Occasionally, I would have to take an AFK to help with nightmares, ear aches, diaper changes, and nursing. Let me tell you, playing DDO while nursing certainly had its challenges. Potty-training a toddler while hosting a DDO LAN party was also a blast of fun.
As the years passed and we experiences new DDO Anniversaries, so did our relationship with friends. Some left the game. We made new friends. Joined a guild. Had a blast. Learned that if you take an AFK at the end of the Hound to deal with a preschooler with an ear infection, there was respawn…..at least back then. The silence that I returned to was amazing.
Years have passed and my children have not stopped growing. Those babies that I took care of when DDO first came out are so grown now. I am privileged that as they have grown they have expressed interest in DDO, a game that has been around for all their known memories.
Gamerteen was the first to play. I blogged all about her experiences on her first character. Her first raids. How the guild kept everything PG for her. How the DDO community stretched across servers to make her first Shroud remember able. She got a tour of Turbine in 2016 before attending PAX EAST. Got 10 year Anniversary sweatshirts. Had dinner and lunch with Devs and other players.
Amine-girl tried playing before, but she did not have the coordination nor the attention span. But in the last month, she has tried again. Mostly because she misses playing D&D. She is now level 5. We have to handle her gently because of the Autism. She gets frustrated easily. She is a “get-to-the-quest” and “run-no-optionals” type of player. I think that has a lot to do with her brain’s wiring. She needs to see it on the Quest Objectives. She usually can only tolerate one quest each night.
2021 hopefully will shine at the end of the tunnel. And not be the light of an oncoming train. I am going to start DMing again soon for my family and friends. We have four people playing DDO in the house now. Three on VIP. For now.
I cannot really put into words what DDO has brought to us in the last 15 years. I simply cannot. It has been our date nights, our going out with friends nights, game night with our children, and so much more.
As I raise a glass of bourbon tonight in celebration of DDO’s 15TH Anniversary, I am sharing with you all how those 15 years have changed my family….
Confessions of a Geek Mom 
Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
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So lovely! It makes me happy that you have shared such an amazing journey on DDO together as a family 🙂
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