OG Gamers

I was born in 1983. It was still rare to find someone with a gaming system in their home. My parents had a Kalico Vision & Atari. I spent a lot of time playing Pit Fall as a toddler. This was my first time with electronic games as a form of entertainment. Then my parents bought a Nintendo system. I remember being over the moon about it as far as there being color and such. We had the cartridge that played Mario Bros., Duck Hunt & Olympics(The grandfather to pad style controllers). I played all three of them and loved the slight upgrade of them. It was a huge leap for me as a young kid. My dad wasn't home a lot as he was a fireman at the time, but when he was we would play video games together.

Then my dad bought a Game Boy (That I still have to this day). I only had 3 games to it, but it was another big leap for me in terms of gaming. I didn't have to be confined to my home in order to play games! I could go anywhere and play! My dad's favorite was Tetris. He and I would play to try and beat each others score. We also had a Baseball game and one other I can't remember. The downside to the Game Boy was you had to be in a well lit room to play it. I remember times when coming home from a family gathering and it being dark out. I played by street light. The struggle was real.

I wouldn't get a new gaming system until the Playstation was released. My dad was excited about it. This isn't to say I didn't play other systems at friends houses. I was actually really good at Super Mario Bros. for the SNES. The Playstation was a thing of beauty though. I had a small amount of games at first and then we just kept adding to it. FFVII, Castlevania:SotN, Racing games, airplane games, GTA & a bunch of others. I fell in love with the Playstation. From then on we were strictly a PS household. When the PS2 came out, my dad got it. One of my favorites because it introduced me to Kingdom Hearts & God of War. My all time favorite being Fatal Frame: Crimson Butterfly. I was into the PS2 until about 2000. A friend of mine had told me about a game that could be played on a PC and I had to see this for myself. It was my first dive into MMORPGs. I was so insistent on it that my dad bought an upgraded computer to play it. It was like a virtual game of D&D! I didn't have to wait to get a group together to play. I just logged in and people from all over were there playing the game as well. This continued on for another four years until a new contender showed up.

I was pretty much forced into changing games. I didn't want to, but all of my real life friends were going to be playing it. They wanted to start a guild and do all the content and become well known. I was reluctant at first. I loved my first MMORPG. Then, the day they announced open beta for the new MMO I was thrown into it. Sure it took me five minutes to take one step and the FPS was HORRIBLE, but it was all brand new and exciting!

I instantly went from a console player to a PC gamer. I rarely picked up a controller anymore. I had traded it for a keyboard. With that said, I was a horrible keyboard player. I would use the arrow keys rather than WASD to move and I was a clicker when it came to targeting and using skills. It wouldn't be until about 2008 that I trained myself to use the proper movement buttons and to TAB target. Then another six years to create and use shortcuts effectively. When I was able to figure that all out I was ten times better and more effective as a player. I saw an increase in my damage output and reaction time. I became better at proper placement during battles and moving out of the way quickly. Yes, it took me almost 30 years to get the game style down to a science.

So what is the takeaway from all this? I started as a console and arcade gamer. I was thrust into the PC world. While I was good, it still took me a long time to get the game play right. I remember my roots, but I'm not confined to them. I changed and adapted as time went on. In other words I might be stuck in my ways with some things, but I'm also open to change when it's necessary. I don't agree with change for the sake of change. If it isn't broken don't fix it. While I may be OG as far as gaming goes it doesn't mean I'm completely stuck in my ways. Respect the players before you and teach the players to come.