#NBI2015 Talkback Challenge 3: What Made You A Gamer?
Can someone have just always been a gamer? As in, it was just part of who they were, something just waiting to be discovered? I don’t have any other explanation for it, because there was never a moment I can point back to that “made” me a gamer. It was just something I was.
I didn’t come from a gaming family. My parents weren’t gamers, still aren’t gamers, and probably will never understand the draw of gaming. I didn’t have a computer while growing up, and was only exposed to PCs and the Internet when I got to college and bought a PC for myself.
I noted in this Gaming Questionnaire that my first gaming memories revolved around a 5-year-old me and a hand-held Pac-Man machine in the early 80s.
When I was five years old, my family moved across country. Somehow during that, I inherited some of my cousins’ old toys — I guess they thought it would help keep 5-year-old me occupied on a 10 hour car ride. Among those toys was a handheld Pac-Man arcade game.
I played it until the batteries were dead (which sadly didn’t take long).
Once I arrived at my new home, living next door to yet another cousin opened up the world of Atari. He had it all!
When he graduated to the first Nintendo, we inherited his Atari system — good times! Whenever we visited, though, I would play his Nintendo for hours.
We finally got our own NES for Christmas one year, after saving up half the cost and splitting it with parents. Again, parents weren’t gamers, so they didn’t understand the concept of paying $100 for a gaming system. We were lucky (and happy) kids!
From that point on, everything I experienced about gaming came from all my own personal discovery. In 6th grade, I discovered fantasy fiction (again, parents were not fans) through The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. So when I stumbled on the stories of Final Fantasy games (particularly FFII/FFIV), I was immediately a fan of JRPGs.
It wasn’t until college, as I said, that I had access to a PC with an Internet connection. That’s when I discovered MUDs and eventually MMOs. I also became a huge computer nerd, learned how to code and run websites, learned how to build and maintain PCs and networks, and all sorts of things on my own… just because I was interested in it. For a kid who never had a PC, I think I’m doing pretty well in the technology area! XD
In response to the prompt NBI: Talkback Challenge #3: What Made You A Gamer?