America's Army was an instant obsession. Finally, a game where true skill would separate the good from the bad, and the ugly from, well, gamers are all mostly ugly. Since BSR had more or less nothing to do with AA at the time, I entered the game as _OzBoRnE_, which eventually morphed to simply OZB0RNE. I began playing right after the release of version 1.9, just to kill time between Ghost Recon matches, which were getting more and more scarce with each passing day.

One fundamental difference between AA and GR was that in GR you played every map virtually the same way, whereas in AA individual maps had a unique feel and skillset that had to be mastered. Solid tactics would only get you so far; you had to learn the nuances of each map to be successful on them. Thus, you had individuals who were map specialists - people with an entire playing career spent on one map alone. I personally fell in love with Bridge SE. Bridge SE had some major fanatics, people who had spent literally thousands of hours on it. I totalled up perhaps 600-700 before it was all said and done.

Other map favorites included SF Hospital, after the Special Forces additions were made to the game. From a chronological standpoint, I was in and out of AA all the time. I would play consistently for a month or so, get into another game, come back 2 months later, play AA non-stop for a whole summer, leave, come back, etc. AA was always there for me when things in other games went sour. It became a bit of a refuge from the storms of drama that engulfed me immediately upon entering the world of the MMORPG.