Gaming - something I will never grow out of.
I can remember the first video game I played on the Computer. It was Zaxxon. The computer was an Apple IIe, it had "16 colors!!!!* and my monitor was an old TV that barely worked.
I was 11 years old and I was in heaven. On that day, a geek was born.
My childhood was a good one. My parents didn't make a lot of money and we didn't have a lot of clothes or toys or things of that nature. For that matter, we lived in upstate Washington along Highway 20, way out in the boonies, less than 300 yards from the base of Diablo Dam. (Real close to Canada).
BTW - Faydred can attest - it's still the boonies.
My friends were my brothers, a neighbor kid (kid - he was 17) or some little kids across town (town consisted of 50 some odd families). So when my parents purchased the computer as a quote - unquote, learning tool: I was estatic. My parents were ok with me being a kid, so they let me play Zaxxon as much as I wanted, providing my school work (and I was homeschooled) was done - needless to say, I played a lot.
Fast Forward 15 years. It's now 1996 and I've just purchased my very first, very own personal computer. It was a bad-ass Pentium 3 with 256m of memory, 2gb harddrive. I think I had a voodoo gfx card. Anyway, with the computer, I purchased Daggerfall and Command and Conquor/RedAlert. My wife was happy that I was happy, but she never really understood that tech was my calling and that gaming was in the blood. That it had been since that fateful day in 1981.
I recall a few weeks after purchasing the computer, my Mom pulling me aside at some family function and telling me that I was too old to be playing "childish games" and to grow up.
I think I heeded her advice for... wait a second. ......... That long. Sorry Mom. Gamings in the blood. You see, by that time - I had discovered Multiplayer and Redhands Thumpers (my C&C handle) were chewin through the various maps with my friends from work.
The next summer. Oh.. the summer of joy. In September of 96, the wife decided to spend a few months with her Mom (something about a surgery), so I had a lot of time to kill. On the way home from the airport - I picked up a copy of UO.
In the 2 months that followed, I really do not remember sleeping. I remember work. I clearly did well, because I was in sales and if I didn't I didn't get a paycheck. What I do remember was "Paladin Redhand". That was my first UO character. I roleplayed a good paladin, out to save the world. As it turns out, the world had other plans. You see - I also remember Hobbes and Lady Deyth (who later turned out to be Ashen Temper). My 2nd, 3rd, 4th, characters - lets just say that they were subverted by "the saboteurs". You see, I took the principles of PVP and applied it to political machinations within guilds. On some level, I am proud of those days..... *snaps back from memory lane*
Anyway... Most of you know the gaming history from there.
A few months ago, I was chattin with my Mom and somewhere in the conversation, I mentioned the guild and gaming. In exasperation (you could hear it in her voice) - "When are you gona grow up?!!!"
"Never" I replied. "You should know better than to ask that question. Besides - it's been proven that keeping the mind active, wards off dementia. Would you rather I zoned out in front of a TV? That's harldy healthy for the mind".
"I give up" - she said.
The point of this is to relate this little tale.
Roughly an hour ago, I was speaking to my ex-wife. It was a pleasent enough conversation, talkin about the kids, school, her new beau, etc - when out of the blue she starts cussing me out (laughingly). All three of my kids (including my autistic son) are in her words "verifiable gamer geeks".
My heart burst with joy.
I am a gamer, my kids are gamers. I will never stop being a gamer.
I was 11 years old and I was in heaven. On that day, a geek was born.
My childhood was a good one. My parents didn't make a lot of money and we didn't have a lot of clothes or toys or things of that nature. For that matter, we lived in upstate Washington along Highway 20, way out in the boonies, less than 300 yards from the base of Diablo Dam. (Real close to Canada).
BTW - Faydred can attest - it's still the boonies.
My friends were my brothers, a neighbor kid (kid - he was 17) or some little kids across town (town consisted of 50 some odd families). So when my parents purchased the computer as a quote - unquote, learning tool: I was estatic. My parents were ok with me being a kid, so they let me play Zaxxon as much as I wanted, providing my school work (and I was homeschooled) was done - needless to say, I played a lot.
Fast Forward 15 years. It's now 1996 and I've just purchased my very first, very own personal computer. It was a bad-ass Pentium 3 with 256m of memory, 2gb harddrive. I think I had a voodoo gfx card. Anyway, with the computer, I purchased Daggerfall and Command and Conquor/RedAlert. My wife was happy that I was happy, but she never really understood that tech was my calling and that gaming was in the blood. That it had been since that fateful day in 1981.
I recall a few weeks after purchasing the computer, my Mom pulling me aside at some family function and telling me that I was too old to be playing "childish games" and to grow up.
I think I heeded her advice for... wait a second. ......... That long. Sorry Mom. Gamings in the blood. You see, by that time - I had discovered Multiplayer and Redhands Thumpers (my C&C handle) were chewin through the various maps with my friends from work.
The next summer. Oh.. the summer of joy. In September of 96, the wife decided to spend a few months with her Mom (something about a surgery), so I had a lot of time to kill. On the way home from the airport - I picked up a copy of UO.
In the 2 months that followed, I really do not remember sleeping. I remember work. I clearly did well, because I was in sales and if I didn't I didn't get a paycheck. What I do remember was "Paladin Redhand". That was my first UO character. I roleplayed a good paladin, out to save the world. As it turns out, the world had other plans. You see - I also remember Hobbes and Lady Deyth (who later turned out to be Ashen Temper). My 2nd, 3rd, 4th, characters - lets just say that they were subverted by "the saboteurs". You see, I took the principles of PVP and applied it to political machinations within guilds. On some level, I am proud of those days..... *snaps back from memory lane*
Anyway... Most of you know the gaming history from there.
A few months ago, I was chattin with my Mom and somewhere in the conversation, I mentioned the guild and gaming. In exasperation (you could hear it in her voice) - "When are you gona grow up?!!!"
"Never" I replied. "You should know better than to ask that question. Besides - it's been proven that keeping the mind active, wards off dementia. Would you rather I zoned out in front of a TV? That's harldy healthy for the mind".
"I give up" - she said.
The point of this is to relate this little tale.
Roughly an hour ago, I was speaking to my ex-wife. It was a pleasent enough conversation, talkin about the kids, school, her new beau, etc - when out of the blue she starts cussing me out (laughingly). All three of my kids (including my autistic son) are in her words "verifiable gamer geeks".
My heart burst with joy.
I am a gamer, my kids are gamers. I will never stop being a gamer.
Comment
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Comment by Faydred on April 26, 2008 at 9:24am - And thanks for the story Kirel, I am enjoying reading all these gamer histories.
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Comment by Faydred on April 26, 2008 at 9:24am
- Faydred can attest, Diablo isn't just kinda in the boonies, we are talking serious boondocks here.
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Comment by Alik on April 26, 2008 at 3:10am - My dad introduced me to gaming, and when I have kids, I will pass the torch to them. While watching sports can be fun, if that was all I did for escape, it would be such a drab life. Gaming is the acting out of reading science fiction - you are opening yourself up to so many more possibilities and ideas that you would simply never encounter in day to day life.
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