My name is Laura. I started text gaming around 1998, when my mom and step-dad introduced me to my first MUD: Land of Legendz. I turned 13 that year, and never looked back. I’m now 25, still hanging on to text games, even though they are certainly not the fashion anymore and are dying a slow, slow death in the wake of visual games like World of Warcraft and other MMOs. I am married with three lovely fur-babies. I blog about whatever’s on my mind at the site that I share with my husband: Bits of Existence. I live in the Cleveland, OH area, but call Portland, OR home. I work in healthcare IT dealing with electronic security and take college classes in my immense free time, working toward a degree in vocal performance. Someday I hope to be an opera singer.

I was introduced to Harry Potter in 2001 when my mother forced me to go see the first Harry Potter movie with the family. I wanted nothing to do with Harry Potter and thought the fans were a little on the crazy side. I just couldn’t see what all the fuss could possibly be about. But it was family time, so I had no choice. I joined them for the movie. I was sixteen, though, and a bit headstrong, so I didn’t let on that I was enjoying the movie until about the point of the Quidditch match scene. At that point, I was hooked, and I’m pretty sure my mom could tell. My best friend at the time had already been into text gaming and roleplay online for a while, and she convinced me, once I was into Harry Potter, to join this game. It was called HogwartsMOO. My brother and I joined the same day. It was interesting to get used to. I understood how to use a MUD, so I had a little head start, but this was a totally different animal. My character, named Briony Hancock, did not last, but my love for both the Harry Potter series and the game only grew.

On January 3, 2002, I created a brand new character on the game named Eva Wexler. She had an identical twin, played by my best friend at the time, named Annie Wexler. We came up with a history and a description and away we went. This time the character stuck. She became, eventually, Eva Fallon. She lost a twin and her brothers sprouted new names. She got a much more rich history over time and eventually became a totally different character than what she started out to be. HogwartsMOO will always have a soft spot for me as my “home”. I have made lasting friends on the game, as real to me as the people sitting around me on a daily basis.

The only other MOO I have played is Scattergood, which is now defunct. I played for a stint on Dreams MUD, but not for any significant length of time. HogwartsMOO is still my home sweet home after over eight and a half years.