@Mindsgaming recently put out a call for us Minds gaming bloggers to write a collaboration article on The Blog Spot, giving a chance to explain why we game as individuals and what we’ve gamed. I love it! I believe one important way we grow as authors is by working together.
Plus, gaming has always been a co-op experience!
I started gaming as youth with the original Nintendo Entertainment System at a neighbor's apartment. My parents had just broken up, so us kids moved with our mom to an apartment complex in another town.
It was a confusing time for me, but I had nice and welcoming neighbors, one of whom owned a fabled NES. The structure of Mickey Mousecapade, the conformity of Super Mario Bros., even the crazy running-in-place for Track Meet, those all helped me to adjust and adapt to suddenly living in a strange land without a father.
The first system I owned was the Atari 2600, acquired a few years after living in those apartments. My parents had gotten back together, and one of the first things we got in our new house was a used Atari with about 30 games. Even though it wasn't as pretty or complex as an NES, it was good enough for me.
Pitfall, Joust, Centipede, all were delicately pushed into that Atari’s slot and played for nothing other than score and distance. I found that the high score in Asteroids just resets itself before hitting a million points, leaving me with a strange feeling of accomplishment, as though I had done something that was not meant to be done.
The firsts of many.
From there it was a Gameboy, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, Playstation 2, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Vita, and now an Xbox One, which is the only system I have and game on currently.
I’ve played PC off and on all throughout that timeline, from DOS games, to Baldur’s Gate, to WoW and whatever can currently play on my laptop, which isn’t a whole lot.
I don’t have a favorite system, I’ve played great games on all of them. The system is just the vessel which provide the joy, not the joy itself. While I have fond memories of Goldeneye for entire nights on a N64, or pausing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on a Genesis so as to not lose chaos emeralds even after mom said it was time for bed, the games are what stick out most, not the console.
Flash forward to the present and you can catch me streaming Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as part of @Mitsota101’s licensed game month and an upcoming Gaming Garbage Man review!
I try to stay busy *Pats self on back agian.
I've always wanted to review video games, to extrapolate each one, each experience. Was it important or a pass? Good, bad, or somewhere in between? What did I get out the hours spent staring into a screen? Those are questions I want to answer.
I figured if I want something, the best way to do that is to go get that something. I have it now. I am the Gaming Garbage Man and no one can take that away from me. Except maybe a cease & desist letter from the Jim Henson Workshop.
I still get outside, every now and then. Also, 5 years ago, so this counts as catfishing.
I’ve grown up gaming. I’ll die gaming.
It might be seen as pointless, a waste of time, but games have always been more than that to me. They are stories, they are plays that we are apart of, that we guide. From grand epics, like the Final Fantasy series and Mass Effect trilogy, to trials of reflex and endurance, such as Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, both on NES and then Xbox and PS2, respectively, video games have enthralled and taught me much.
Time management, accumulating experience, even love and compassion, all have been strengthened and imparted as important to me from video games. I have learned much from my times in ocean, land, air, even space and time. And I am still learning, putting my passion to work in the form of blogging, video editing, and showmanship.
I will continue to work towards my goals, and will continue to be me, just under the pen name of @TheGarbageMan.
So I game, not because I want to, but because I must.
And also because I want to.
No one cared who I was until I put this trash can over my head.
Thanks for reading, players. Game on.