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1967 : I was hatched. v1.0 a purely analog foundation.
1969 : ARPANET sends its first transmission ("LO") before instantly crashing. The baseline for a connected world, the Internet, the World Wide Web won't happen for 20 more years. We will never be the same.
1971 : Somehow* one of my training wheels came off & I learned to ride my bike without them, a red 16" Schwinn Stingray Midget. My love of two wheels lasts still today. *Pretty sure my wheel was sabotaged.
1972 : Pong hits the streets, famously jamming an arcade test cabinet's coin box because it was overflowing with quarters.
1975 : Got a Jaws skateboard by Continental, rode it until it went down stairs & broke in two. My next board would be a Dogtown Wes Humpston Big Foot.
1977 : I was on my bike outside 24/7
1978 : The arrival of the Atari 2600 in the living room. A family purchase that only I played. Breakout was my first video game, Pong second.
1979 : BMX racing, skateboards & girls. I was outdoors a lot. The Atari gathered dust.
1980 : Spent countless hours in arcades playing Defender, Asteroids & Tempest. Arcades became shady, got a summer job, back to Punk Rock & street fights.
1981 : Learned BASIC in school on a TRS-80. Magical at first, got bored. Hated it, back outside.
1984 : Dungeons & Dragons. The first session was with a group of punks intoxicated af.
1987 : NES, an 8-bit beauty & technically my first personally owned console. Played Castlevania & Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Not a Mario guy.
1989 : TurboGrafx-16, the second console I bought. Played R-Type, beat Bonk's Adventure twice.
1990 : Wizardry, the birth of Western RPGs. I mapped & finished the game. Deployed to Iraq and took my TurboExpress/TurboVision (an attachable TV tuner.) It got destroyed; threw it in a burn pit.
1992 : Tandy 1000 RLX, my first PC. R.I.P. Radio Shack, we had some good years together. Used Sailor access from the library as my ISP. CompuServe, Prodigy & AOL. Look mom, we’re on the “World Wide Web”! First modem was a 2400, I'd have a 14.4 by the end of the year.
1993 : Neverwinter Nights on AOL, historically the first graphical MMORPG. I was there. DOOM was the first FPS I played, Hexen second.
1994 : Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, my first RTS game, first 1v1 “online match” with a friend. Became a BBS SysOp, created a 2-line Wildcat! Bulletin Board System. Netscape Navigator changed home computing forever.
1996 : Ultima Online, Alpha Tester.
1998 : EverQuest, Beta Tester.
1999 : EverQuest, Guide Program.
2000 : Dark Age of Camelot, Beta Tester.
2001 : Competed in Tribes 2 tournaments for money with a competitive clan. Became CompTIA A+ certified (self-taught), got a job as a pc repair tech. Apple certified.
2003 : Star Wars Galaxies, second player to unlock Jedi on Wanderhome.
2004 : World of Warcraft, Beta Tester.
2007 : World of Warcraft, second Horde Paladin to reach level 50 on my server. Raider in a top 5 guild.
2010 : Joined Steam to play Global Agenda. I didn't fully embrace the Steam ecosystem yet; most of my games used external launchers. That’s why a lot of games on my account only have a few hours (Also have time on PS5, Xbox & Switch).
2011 : First few games purchased on Steam were Brink, Final Fantasy XI, Space Marine, Civilization V, & Skyrim. Still wouldn’t put heavy hours into Steam for many years, played consoles or external launchers.

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After a long history of beta testing, multiplayer, & witnessing the birth of internet culture, I realized the web changed people in ways I wasn't comfortable with. What started as a virtual library of free knowledge & Shareware morphed into something I didn't recognize. Anonymity online became a cloak of selfishness & an excuse for nasty behavior. When social media & phone cameras took over, the vision of the internet as an idea of freedom turned into a bar room brawl between "me first" & "look at this."

I bailed out on being an active participant in online communities for the most part. From 2012 on, I left guilds, forums, portals, & digital interaction behind. I remained connected but turned away from socials & turned to more functional & specific use cases: streaming, news, shopping, & paying bills. Connected, but distant. No competitive scenes, no multiplayer drama.

I'm 59 years old now in 2026. I look for single-player experiences mostly. I’ve only recently decided to come back to Steam, having spent a few years on Xbox, PS5 & Switch. Got a new GPU, said goodbye to Windows, imaged my PC with Bazzite &put it on my 65” 4k. I prefer controllers over MKB & don’t often play multiplayer unless I can solo or am playing with wife or son. I’m a loner in real life, & online I behave the same way. I’m courteous, introverted, curious & perfectly fine doing things the way I do them.

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When I pass on, I want my profile to remain throughout the years as a monument to our culture & my time on planet earth. My wife & I are in a Family Group & she helped pay for all of these games; so let it stand Valve, this is not the account you're looking for. I own the domain Triphamr [triphamr.com] & want my family to keep it alive. How does a “non-famous” person keep their online presence alive & should they? I think we should.

Writing is also a passion, I'm working on my memoirs. Stories & thoughts from a man who has lived an adventurous & full life who just wants to see people smile more. I also live with a memory deficiency & writing helps me remember things, an integral & critical part of my life. It's a blur, but it's been a blast.

Valve is a great company:

"Gabe, you're 5 years older than me, so we're going to ride this wave out together. I wish you the best my friend, thank you for Steam. You've done good & I hope it prospers & exists forever." ~Triphamr

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[*] In MMOs I used to “people watch” in dungeons.
[*] Deleting max-level characters to start over because I forgot how to play them is normal.
[*] Support Stop Killing Games [www.stopkillinggames.com].
[*] I'm content chilling in-games, finding waterfalls, listening to nature sounds.
[*] Obsessively organize backpacks, banks & inventories.
[*] I prefer games that don't end & love me some NG+
[*] I traditional role-play in my head, fueled by epic creativity, wonder & amazement.
[*] My game loop is: WWMCD - What Would My Character Do?.
[*] Arthritis hates combo-heavy games, so I play deep idlers, autobattlers, slow-paced, collecting, taming & grind games mostly. Nothing usually requiring heavy twitch. Which sucks because I love Warframe.

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Send me a friend invite!
Leave a comment , I’ll love you forever and I'll visit your profile too! I enjoy watching my family play games & following their gaming achievements. So I can guarantee I’ll look over your profile, comment and say Hello from time to time!

Good luck, have fun, don't die and "Be good to each other."


I’m Triphamr and this has been " My Journey to Steam "
...and this is my endgame.