We all have our reasons for gaming. Some play to escape the drudgery of an otherwise stressful day. Others might play because they want to enjoy the game as a work of art. Many do it just for the fun of it. But for me, I was raised on it for more than most of my living days. Video games have always been a huge influence in my life. Whether they’re aware of it or not, there are also many people in my life who served to further my interest with electronic gaming.
Reason number one goes directly to my Grandfather. I couldn’t tell you when my Grandpa was born or what his childhood was really like because him and I never discussed it and admittedly my memory isn’t perfect, which in hindsight I really regret. If there is one thing I will always remember about him (he passed away this week), it’s that he got things done no matter what and he encouraged the same quality in me. When I sat down in front of the Atari 800XL in his office, he showed me how to put the disc in, the commands to boot it, load the game and make sure the controllers were connected so I could play.
He showed me once and I better remember on my own after that. That was always his thing - he only spoke once. If we were running through the house pushing each other near the top of the stairs, Grandpa would gently stroll out of his bedroom, look each one of us in the eye, hold up his index finger and ask us what it meant. We would giggle, but he would remind us that he only spoke once and to knock it off. We never did find out what the consequences were. I tried to stay out of as much trouble as possible though being attached to that Atari by the controller. I played so many of my first PC games on there that they still remain tattooed on my brain to this day. The first time I was ever exposed to classics like Ballblazer and Archon, both of which I still remember to this day thanks to my Grandpa. As time went on though, technology evolved compelling Grandpa to purchase a PC. It was a 386 - laughably slow by modern standards - but my Grandpa was never too busy to sit me down and show me how to navigate Windows 3.1 or a DOS prompt. I’m still convinced to this day that I ended up a system administrator because of his patience in teaching me. But as always, there were the games.
Being of early age, I was exposed to the normal round of games. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego is probably still one of my favorite titles to this day. Additionally, in conjunction with the time-traveling incarnation in the series, my Grandpa made me fall in love with history, geography and the many varied cultures of the world. The man made me enjoy learning and I didn’t even know he was doing it. Yeah, age does have its points of wisdom. As I played through the games haphazardly fast, there was one game I constantly went back to and the game I single-handedly blame for my lifelong love affair with puzzle games. The Castle of Dr. Brain wasn’t the greatest puzzle game ever created. All the same though, it was still damn fun exploring the castle and solving the different puzzles that actually require you to be somewhat intelligent. I can’t even begin to describe how many times I’ve beaten the game on easy, medium and difficult, but if there is anything I’m sure of, it’s that I’ve played through that game at least once a year for the last eighteen. In doing so, I’ve downloaded Dosbox countless times so I can emulate the game on whatever latest PC I happen to be running at the time. If you want to play it nowadays though, you may have to find the image of the code sequencer grid.
This feature editorial continues on the next page, please click below to continue my explanation of Why I'm a Video Gamer - Reason One.
