The lights of this 24-hour internet LAN gaming shop blinked and twinkled before us.
"Welcome to DotA Land," the lights seemed to say.
We had spent the evening after dinner walking around our KL hotel at Bukit Bintang looking for one but the only LAN shops we found were the kind where they include foot reflexology and body massages, and other er, health services. I have never seen a street with so many strangers concerned for our health.
We had almost given up hope, because our meetings finished late and it was already past the closing time of most shops. Also, most people we asked could only direct us to the internet cafes with the semi-comatose PCs that only did email and had an old version of Explorer.
Then we stumbled on a late-closing toy store opposite Federal Hotel, and I asked the owner if by any chance there were any LAN shops nearby. I guess you have to ask the right people, because he was a wellspring of cyber-info. After boasting that there were at least 8 such shops near where he lived - which was nowhere near his shop - he said we could try the 24-hour AM/PM one at Plaza Lowyat. But don't be fooled by the fact that all the shops were closed in that building, he said. Just ask the security guard there.
"Holy Shit! Monster kill! First blood! Ownage!" we said, as we scurried like creeps to find our base. And after wondering the forests of the Lowyat, there she was, our Secret Shop.
It was a clean and well-equipped shop too, expensive by Malaysian standards (RM4 an hour) but worth every sen. The only blip in our night of gaming bliss was this moron kid next to me, who decided that it would be fierce to play DotA while blasting Kelly Clarkson(!) at full volume. But after I jacked up my PC's volume and blasted "Holy Shit!" and "I am the Law!" into his ears, he got the hint and voted to play without his American Idol and lowered his volume.
Good for him. Wait I blink strike him then he know. Never piss off a group of guys feeding their DotA withdrawal in a foreign land.
