We may need a Christmas miracle 🎄

Video games are more popular today than they ever were. I started playing in the 1990s and it was frowned upon by many at that time. Gaming was a waste of time, bad for the brain, and all sorts of things adults would say. Now if you are against gamers, you are against the world. Things have changed in more ways than most people care to see.

There is one major thing that kid and adult gamers are missing out on in our futuristic world today. I am talking about the glory days of split-screen and couch co-op video games. The remnants are still there with a game every so often, Nintendo Switch still drops awesome local multiplayer games for instance. Even then, it's just not the same.

The balance of nature has fallen out of place. Children used to spend hours playing outside together all summer and then run inside one of the neighborhood homes to cool off and play some video games together. Now, it's kids staying at home by themselves and playing all of their games online. Their friends are often people that they will never meet in real life. They have no clue what they are missing out on.

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Have you ever had to worry about your friend knowing exactly where you are on the map during a match of Halo? I'm not talking about radar or some in-game cheat code. There is nothing more frustrating than somebody who has every map memorized and can just look down in the other quarter of the screen to find your location. We called that screen watching in my neighborhood. At first, we had no idea how to solve this problem, but eventually came up with a fix thanks to some cardboard and tape.

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I know most of us have probably heard of stream snipers. The people who watch live streams and then get in the person's game just to ruin their chances of winning. They are able to watch the live stream and know exactly where the person is at all times. This is modern-day screen watching. It works quite well, but not being able to face your opponent in the same room just makes it feel so dirty.

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Screen watching was a major problem, but there was also the issue of who would get to use the good and bad controllers. Not all parents were able to provide four of the best controllers for their one or two children. It was overkill to have that many and quite costly. Oftentimes they had two, maybe three good ones. Then one really cheap off-brand controller for the rare times that there was a full house.

Nothing is worse than being the best gamer in the room, but not being at your own house and getting stuck with the crappy controller. I can remember playing Super Smash Bros. Melee on GameCube and getting stuck with the horrible Mad Catz controller. I never stood a chance on those days.

^{Did anybody ever figure out what the Macro button did on the Mad Catz controller?}

What is my gaming wish❓

^{Now that I have explained where I am coming from, let me tell you what it is that I wish for gamers worldwide.}

Those days of playing with friends in real life are something that kids today will probably never get to experience. It really was one of the best parts of my childhood. I am so thankful that I got to play some great games with some amazing friends.

I got so good at being under pressure, talking shit, adapting to my environment, and just making clutch plays. I may never get to talk to all of the kids I used to play video games with around my neighborhood anymore, but I have memories that will never be forgotten. It sucks knowing that so many gamers will never get to experience what I had.

We all are missing out on something at one point or another. I never got to enjoy going to the arcade for instance. I haven't hit the circuit and participated in professional gaming tournaments ever. I don't do live streaming. There are all sorts of things in the gaming realm that I have yet to experience. The thing that sits at the top of my gaming memories is playing games like Halo and Super Smash with my buddies in one of our living rooms. If you got to enjoy times like those, consider yourself lucky.

My NFTs: @daltono/nfts