A couple months ago, I was forced to upgrade my system due to motherboard failure (the board was close to fourteen years old; it put in a good run. I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU MOSTLY FONDLY, SCREWY ASUS BOARD). I didn't absolutely have to get a new power supply, but figured it'd be an idiot move not to with how the wattage was marginal for the components. I procrastinated on it, though, and finally got one, all fancy-like, a few days ago. Was working great. Was.

Now, I have a thing in my Stormfall neighborhood that likes to stack sieges, which makes my raiding for resources needlessly difficult at times, and while it is free to claim ownership of inactives, I am just as free to not recognize such ownership. I normally only use my offense for battlegrounds and raiding, so there's not much and it's quite weak, and I don't tend to come out ahead, as far as PvP points go. Given that, and how the thing is lazy and dumb, not recalling units, I wait to destroy the sieges when there is no PvP tournament going.

Well, after the PvP tournie ended today, I sent out a great deal of my offense on this mission. I don't much mind losing offense, but I'd rather it would be during killing stuff, not impersonating sitting ducks. Was a ways out for one of 'em, an hour and change, and I did spare a few thoughts to boosting them back, but decided not to. Planned instead to wait, read some news, and then went to brew another pot of coffee. (Note to Self: Do NOT do this in the future. Return and tuck away IMMEDIATEDLY, you fool!)

So, I'm making coffee and my computer mysteriously, chillingly goes quiet and dark. "Computers don't simple turn off on their own, not when the power settings are to stay on. Not for good reasons," I whispered to myself and slowly turned towards my PC, eery music playing in my head. Walked back to it like I was approaching a rattlesnake and pressed the power button... CRACKLING, POPPING, AND SPARKS! SPARKS FLEW OUT FROM THE BACK OF MY COMPUTER AND I AM STILL TRAUMATIZED. Stared at it for a bit, realized that my returning troops needed to be catacombed in twenty minutes and I had no other way of accessing the game that early in the morning, and went about replacing my brand spanking new power supply with my ancient but steadfast one, all the while praying to the Gods I don't believe in that nothing had been fried.

Never have I replaced a power supply so quickly! XD Usually, I like to take my time and arrange the cords perfectly and neatly. *glances at current tangled mess and twitches* I will fix that, BUT THE POTENTIAL CRISIS WAS AVERTED, as the dumb thing sieged my castle shortly after I put my units away. Woo!

Okay, I had a happy ending, but it did get me wondering, as I know that computer hardware can fail at any time, ANY TIME.

TL;DR: What's the worst that has happened, or, hopefully, almost happened, to you in an online game because of such fickle hardware fate?