SAVE MAA!!! – SIGN THE PETITION!!!
Well, after I let a few days to process the news, I thought I’d write my MAA origin story. 😉
I’ve been a big fan of the MCU since Iron Man debuted in 2008 and when I got wind that they were playing to do an Avengers movie bringing all of the characters they have introduced so far, I was beyond ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to see it. Weeks before the movie premiered here in the United States I scoured the Internet for anything I can read regarding Avengers. I found myself surfing Wikipedia when I discovered an article on a particular superhero that mentioned that this character was a “playable character in the facebook game Marvel Avengers Alliance” Ok 1) There is a new game called Marvel Avengers Alliance and 2) ITS ON FACEBOOK!
I’ve been on Facebook since 2008 and actually have played many games on there too. However, I never found a game like MAA on there before. It blew me away. Even then, I said to myself, well I won’t get too invested. I’ll just finish this chapter then I’ll be done. Just when I thought I was done they introduced a new character – Black Panther. Ok that keep me going a little longer. Then they introduced Spec Ops 1 with Mockingbird as the prize. By then I was hooked.
Now, in those early days even though it was a “social game” it didn’t really feel social for me yet. All of my friends on facebook weren’t really into the game, so I had to find friends who were and I did by going to the main MAA Fan Page on Facebook. Even those friends were into it for a while then dropped off, but I kept playing.
It became a routine for me. It was a ritual. I would get up every day at 4 am and start playing. This habit got reinforced even stronger once the PVP tournaments started and “the daily 5” was introduced. Also, I loved how Playdom made the games coincide with the holidays. By doing this they made it even more part of our lives. I loved the candy prizes we received and when they announced Ghost Rider was the prize in the first Halloween Spec Ops all my kids in my house were excited too! I liked when they added Christmas trees to the artwork on our friends maps in December 2012. It was a nice and subtle touch that warmed my heart every morning as I drank my egg nog spiced coffee and played Spec Ops 5.
Sometimes I wondered if I played this game too much. I didn’t know anybody else who was into the game as much as I was. I thought I was weird. My wife rolled my eyes and began to really hate the game. Was there something wrong with me? Maybe I was addicted? I’ve been into PC games before, but I usually got bored and moved on after a few months. Now I was coming up on one year and I was more hooked than ever. However, the game helped me with my other addictions and vices which I won’t mention here. Maybe I was trading one addiction for another, but it seemed like the lesser evil.
The closest I came to walking away from the game was at the end of PVP Season 2. I missed getting Cable by 1 point! Since then I have not got close to landing into Adamantium until PVP Season 12 in December of 2013. PVP has always been my favorite and at the same time my most frustrating part of the game. It drove me crazy that I was not able to land into Adamantium for one year. I remember cussing out Rescue numerous times and slamming my fist on the desktop I was playing on. My wife thought I was crazy. I was.
So, what really changed the game for me was when I discovered the communities. For a good year and half I was running solo. I felt isolated too. I believed I was the only one who thought about my next PVP strategy in the shower. I didn’t know anybody else who did this. Then one day by chance I discovered a Facebook Group called Die Hard MAA. I immediately connected to the title of the group. I said “That’s me!” I’m a Die Hard MAA fan. Finally I found a group of people who were into the game just as much as I was. I was ecsatic. I found my tribe! I found my people! I felt less crazy after that.
Soon I discovered a plethora of MAA groups similar to Die Hard and I joined every one I could find. It was here when I discovered a guy making detailed YouTube videos about the game. It made me feel so much better. I told my wife “see there is a guy out there more into the game than me! At least I’m not making YouTube videos about it.” He went by the name Kingfisher 745. I can’t deny it but watching his videos greatly improved my game play and strategy. FYI, Jo has since become my good friend and ally on here and I try to support him any way I can.
A month later I discovered another cool media info source for the game. It was a podcast. At first I would see many posts in the groups about the From the Helicarrier Podcast. I didn’t pay it much mind because I really didn’t listen to podcast nor really understand what they were. Then in December of 2014 I decided to listen to one, and I was hooked immediately. It was like a radio talk program that focused and spoke only about MAA for at least one hour! To me it gave more legitimacy to the game and validated my love for the game. Since then I joined the Agents Only Lounge (a group connected to the podcast) and looked forward to a new podcast every week and I still do.
The game and the community that went with it became a part of my life. I looked forward to every new Spec Ops, PVP tournament and New Chapter Release. I also loved how they tied Spec Ops into the latest MCU movie that was being released. It started with Iron Man 3 and continued on from there. It was a completely immersive experience and both the excitement of seeing the new MCU movie and playing the latest Spec Ops synergized so well with each other. I couldn’t tell you how disappointed I was when they didn’t do it for the Civil War release. They did it for MAA 2 but not for MAA 1. That never did sit well with me and now in retrospect I see it as another sign of MAA’s decline.
In 2016 my life began to change again. I began dabbling in affiliate marketing. This is were one builds a website on a particular niche and is able to monetize and game income from that site. The niche could literally be anything, but it is recommended that one builds a site on niche one is passionate about. Listening to Success Freaks, I became inspired by Charles McFall, the Rock-God of Podcasting. He also was the co-founder of the FTH Podcast. He was following his dream and “doing what he loved.” Here was a guy who created a podcast about the game he loved and was able to gain financially from that. How awesome is that?
The first website I created was periscopelives.com based on the popular Periscope app. Live Streaming was on the rise and I wanted to be a part of that. My second site was to become MAAtimes.com. I brainstormed and wanted to give back to the MAA community like the way Kingfisher, FTH, and the MAA Wiki had done. However, what could I offer or do that hasn’t been done yet? I’m a history buff and for whatever reason was born with a natural attraction and fascination for space/time. I could stare at a timeline for hours and never get bored. Then I had that “a ha” moment, and that is how MAAtimes.com was born.
Yet, I still had more to give. I started Live Streaming via Periscope and get somewhat used to it. I even live streamed some MAA gameplay but I had little audience and very little interest in those streams. That all changed when Facebook Live broke on the scene. Again I had another “ah ha” moment and decided to create a facebook group that was solely dedicated to LIVE Streaming of the game. At first I was the only one who streamed, but later other people started to jump and stream too. Even well known previous streamers like Napalmdawn and JB-monorail began posting their streams in our group. Even Kingfisher got onto the LIVE stream bandwagon. I discovered that by Live Streaming MAA, it made my experience within the community even that much more social. No longer was I playing isolated, but playing with fellow MAA agents who loved the game as much as I did. It was an awesome time. 🙂
I also discovered that over 4 years I have become a seasoned player myself. I started giving tips, advice and strategy to the newer players. I even planned to do a series of posts that focused on PVP build strategies. However, Disney killed those plans by their sad announcement last Thursday. It looks like the MAA era in my life will be coming to an end. 🙁
I really and maybe naively believed that the game would last for at least another two to three years. Since I surrounded myself by hardcore players it was difficult to see what was really going on from the outside perspective. MAA’s number were dropping year to year and I really never bothered to look or study that until after the announcement.
It has been an incredible journey and I really will miss this incredibly fun, simple but yet complicated game when it is gone. It has become a part of my life like no other game before. For that I am grateful to Playdom. I have been an admitted wallet warrior and have NO regrets about the money I spent. I knew the game will end. So I knew the money spent will bring me no future return other than the enjoyment of game play.
I don’t think I will immediately get into another game right now. I think I will give myself time to mourn and immerse myself with other healthy activities. Getting into another Marvel game is a kin to replacing the deceased family dog with a new puppy. It just doesn’t feel right. At least right now it doesn’t. As for this website, it will keep running as a testament for the love I had for the game. I have no plans for shutting it down soon, but I will begin to focus on new websites for other interests I have. Check back here to find out what they are.
See you on the other side agent!
This is Special Agent P3, (founder of MAAtimes.com)
…..Signing out for now
LONG LIVE THE ALLIANCE!!
For those of you who were into the Daily Missions here is the schedule of the FINAL Days. For some this will be a daily ritual that will be missed. Which day was your favorite? Answer in the poll at below the table. Also feel free to give us you comments.
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Since, the announcement of MAA’s closure set for September 30th, the MAA community has begun the grieving process and rightly so. It was like losing a good friend that kept us company and made us happy for the last 4 years. It is perfectly normal to mourn and grieve.
