Am I A Gamer?

Farmville is what brought me to Facebook years ago. Maybe in 2009 or 2010. The years my mom and sister died. I got so involved in that game that I would ask others to plant and harvest my crops for me when I couldn't get to a computer to do it.

I got so involved that my daughter threatened to have an intervention for me when she moved back to Minnesota. I did quit and I’m not even sure what happened or how I did it.

Maybe it was because I was so involved in my sister's dying experience in 2010. My sister asked my daughter to move back home as she, her niece, my daughter was living in Alaska while her auntie was dying. My daughter is a nurse. In our cultural ways, my daughter was her daughter too.

Maybe my sister thought she could be helpful to her and maybe she just knew that we needed her. She moved home. My sister's funeral, memorials and being her and our mothers Personnal representative for their estates was really difficult.

I know it helped me to not think about what was going on all the time for my mother and sister. It felt mindless and I didn’t have that in my work. I juggled there and had to keep track of many things at once. I’m sure that helped also as a distraction from what was happening in my family life.

It was such a painful time. My mother was just 75, and my sister was just 53. Farmville felt like a really good outlet for me, even though I can see how it looked like it may be another addiction. I know that I never spent any money.

I have a friend who rescued Irish setters and so on Farmville, she paid for both dogs and dog food for them. There were many other ways you could spend money on that game. I don’t know if I am too cheap or they just didn’t sell the right thing for me yet.

Before Farmville, I played card games my entire life and continue to when I am with card players, never going out of my way to connect for cards. This included card games for money. I am not a gambler. I hardly spend any money in the casinos.

I am not playing bingo, except at a fair every so many years. I remember games like, different Nintendo games, Super Mario, Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong, I never got hooked. I played Atari, the firing game as it was an earlier game.

I of course probably played more Pacman and Ms Pacman. Then I played some of the word games and memory games. I don’t think they were called memory games but that was the purpose for me as I recovered from a respiratory code, chemotherapy, and menopause.

I have been playing candy crush for several years and haven’t gone on to the new versions or paid any money for this game either. I think after I lose the round so many times the game gives the round to me. That’s okay as sometimes I can win the round without a give me.

That’s probably why I continue to play.

So, does all of this make me a gamer? No, I don’t think so, but would I be the one to determine that? I think it is just that I don’t watch television. Television is always on in my house, and I watch very little of it.

Candy Crush is something I play either before getting out of bed or at night when going to bed. Both times are usually after checking email, and Facebook. In other words, I feel like it wakes me up or puts me to sleep.

I’m pretty sure I don’t fit this community, just like I don’t fit the Geek communities on Vocal. I can contribute at least once though and here it is. Boring for you and looking at whether I need an intervention or not!

Now, having said all of that, I will say that I am on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. I was on TikTok briefly to watch a granddaughter’s makeup TicTok’s.

During the pandemic, I have also been on Zoom and Facebook Live, and a few other platforms to talk with friends and support groups. Okay, I will admit to being online too much. Maybe I need a break from being on line so much. Hope to do that when the pandemic is over. Does that sound like denial?