Good evening fine readers! Tonight I would like to talk about the importance, to me at least, of using gaming to socialize, what gaming has done for me, and what I think those who don’t game could stand to learn from it. So let’s begin!
First off, a little background on your writer is probably needed. I was born in a small town in Western Kansas, and slowly moved east a little bit at a time. My father is a PGA Professional, and as such took jobs at various golf courses around the Midwest. Moving from course to course early on, meant that the family moved too. Eventually we moved to Lawrence, KS and I began school. During my first year in kindergarten it was clear to my parents and the teachers that I had an issue with perfection. If I couldn’t do something perfectly it seemed to stress me out to no end. So at the end of my Kindergarten year, it was decided I would go to an alternative school the next year to learn how to cope with making mistakes. Well, they must have done a good job, because from there on out, I couldn’t care less if I mess up! Just kidding, I still have some of these tendencies today, however they’ve become a lot less prevalent.
However, I bring this up because going to this alternative school meant leaving behind my friends. Once I completed this year of alternative learning, I rejoined my class but while I was away, they had mostly forgotten me and were fast to form their own groups. So I never really felt like I belonged. From then on out, school wasn’t really an area I used to make friends. While I did eventually come to make some friends later on in school, this was never the primary way I bonded with anyone.
If we fast forward a bit, my family left Lawrence when I had about two weeks left to go in the current school year. This meant I joined a new school with two weeks to go. Obviously not very much time to make any friends there. However, during that summer my younger sister and I were in need of some oversight as both my parents worked. Dad at the golf course, sun up to sunset, and Mom at the local bank. Typically bank hours. So in the mean time we were shipped each morning to a day care called La Petite Academy. Pretty fancy name for a place where most kids ate their own boogers. However we did have quite a bit of fun here, if I say so myself (boogers not included.) They had weekly events, such as going to the local pool, the movie theatre, the skating rink, etc. They also had a little yard out back with a playground and some room to play kickball. We all loved kickball. Lastly and most importantly, they had a nintendo entertainment system! This is where I met a character you may remember if you read my last post, Samuel. Sam and his brother Kyle both also went to LPA. While Sam and I were able to be in the class with the bigger kids, my sister and his brother both had to mostly spend time with the younger kids.
Sam and I became fast friends, bonding over the usual stuff, video games, cartoons, video games, and of course, video games. At some point out parents found out, and we began what would become a frequent ritual of going to each others houses over the weekends, and of naturally, sleep overs! Because the bigger kids, well bigger than Sam and I, would hog the NES most of the time, we would have to wait until the weekends when we could play on our own systems at each others houses. I had an NES, and later an SNES, while Sam went the SEGA route (as you’ll remember from the last post about the SEGA Channel, I think he got the better deal.) Eventually getting the SEGA Saturn, and the Dreamcast, before we moved on to PC Gaming. I would have to say that Sam became probably my first real friend. While I had made a couple of other friends before, I always ended up having to move. Sam and I lived about a block a part (4 minutes by bicycle if I remember correctly) for most of our young adult lives. By the time I had to move again, this time just to another part of the same city, I was able to drive, so it didn’t have much of an impact.
During our Junior Highschool years, Sam and I were in different grades, and coming from different elementary schools (even though we lived so close…) we had a few personal acquaintances. One of Sam’s elementary school friends had convinced him to check out a local hobby shop not to far from where we lived. Sam came to me shortly after telling me all about this amazing place where people were playing PC games, card games, war games and the like. So I decided to go with him the next time to check it out. This place by current standards was pretty shabby. It was a three room shop in a strip mall where they had about 5 tables for various table style games. Magic the Gathering, D&D, Warhammer, etc. In the other two rooms they had 5 computers each. This. Was. AWESOME!
At this point in our lives, we both had PC’s and were becoming quite addicted to playing the very few available games, online. Our two favorites were Team Fortress Classic, and Counter-Strike. Of course not everyone had the internet or PCs able to run games back then. Even some of those who did had parents who absolutely refused to let junior install anything on such an expensive educational tool. PC’s were meant for school, dictionary and encyclopedia software, and occasionally things like Quicken – the financial software. So in order to play games lots of kids had to come to places like 31st Century Games. For us it was like heaven. For a small fee, sometimes as little as taking out the trash because the owner didn’t want to get up, we could play for a couple of hours or until someone else paid and kicked us off.
I will be completely unmoddest here and say that Sam and I were probably two of the best gamers in our little piece of the world. Almost no one could touch us when it came to play TFC and CS. Except for these two little jerks that seemed to also be the best. Naturally, you would be forgiven to think that this started a rivalry the likes of which our neighborhood had never seen! Instead we became friends. Bonding over various cool new things we had learned in the games, and discussing how bad we beat so and so and their friends when they came up last week. This was the first time where I felt that I was in my element. I was making friends and doing it whilst also doing something I really enjoyed, gaming. Now our duo of Sam and I, became a core of four. From that point forward I had not one best friend, but 3 that I have gone on to know and stay in practically daily contact with for over 25 years. We have gone through life’s ups and downs together. Been their at each others weddings, funerals, and everything in between. Our love for gaming has attracted more friends to the fold. We all went on to be successful in our careers and our friendship I believe, has given us the confidence to be our selves. We aren’t embarrassed to be gamers. We are proud of the fact, and more than willing to share our passion with anyone who feels the same.
I have gone on to experience one of gaming’s greatest inventions, MMO’s, or Massive Multiplayer Online games. In these games I have met hundreds of people who share my love of gaming. We have combined with people all over the world to take down mighty boss fights together, or just sit in game, or in voice chat and talk the night away. We’ve formed teams to compete against other gamers for bragging rights, and trophy’s. I am no longer that shy boy who felt too out of place to make friends, or felt that it wasn’t a worthwhile endeavor to spend time making friends with people when I would eventually be moving. Instead I have been able to stay connected not only to friends I’ve made in person, but those I’ve made online.
In short, I believe I owe the journey of coming out of my shell to gaming. To the fact that I was able to make friends that had the same hobby that I do, and have a passion for sharing that hobby with others. I sincerely hope that you readers have a passion and a place to share it with others. A way to use that passion to forge connections and friendships. It’s been a blessing for me and I hope for you as well.
Comment below and tell me how gaming, or any passion you have, has helped you blossom to be the best version of yourself! Thank you once again for taking the time to read this, and happy gaming everyone!
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