Myth of the Origin

In the morn of January, 2007, a war begun.

Two young men - intelligent, ambitious, capable of going outside for extended periods of time - played the epic Epic title Gears of War as a means of relaxation between sessions of scriptwriting and film planning.

They knew not then the chaos that would ensue at their behest.

By chance, a simple miscommunication, and the two ended in different games. The younger of the pair, and most impatient, "Frostfire 2112," decided to initiate a private chat to find one another and play another round of "Beers 'n' Gears." The other, "Poorochondriac," had already begun. It was a ranked game; leaving was not an option.

Frostfire did not know this. He hit the page button. "Page sent to Poorochondriac."

On Poorochondriac's screen, the words: "Frostfire 2112 would like to chat." It was a shot off the bow; neither knew it at the time.

No answer came. Frostfire realized that the page was not a singular thing, that he could hit page many times and have it continue to appear on the receipient's screen.

He tapped the Y-button. Over and over.

In response, Poorochondriac initiated a different private chat, and began paging back himself. A competition ensued, friendly, funny. Neither would give up.

All at once, silence from Poorochondriac. Had he given in? Frostfire waited. His cell phone buzzed; it was a text message. Perhaps a girl? He opened his phone.

Poorochondriac would like to chat.

The competition had turned into a war.