"Our Adventure Begins"

No not in the way that you think.

I've always tried being a girly girl since I was a kid joining in the various activities of singing, dancing, school yard games etc although not so much dress up with dolls, they freaked me out too much. But mummy had this cool box that you could plug into the TV and play games on a little cassette tape thing. Ah the Amstrad ZX Spectrum.

Recently celebrated it's 30^th Anniversary on St Georges Day

Image by Google

Best game was Treasure Island Dizzy. I'm sure we had a space invaders style game and Tetris but my mother and I are in a debate about this (as I'm writing in fact). As I got older, Birthday and Christmas gifts expanded to make up, hair accessories, anything with pink on it, my keyboard and the SEGA Mega Drive. Not just for me mind. I realise only now that my parents did make our console gaming a family affair. Me and my younger brother bonded over the classics Sonic, Streets of Rage, Dizzy (again!) and Bubsy the Bobcat. Let's pause while you reminisce.

Me at Christmas circa  late1990's?

Then you got older and school did that girls only P.E sessions where they made you do gymnastics or netball. But what you really wanted to do was go beat the lads at hockey or football. So you ask to go do that and you nearly, “nearly” break someone's collar bone so they ask you to no longer participate in P.E. Benched. Me? But I'm so sweet (awesome) and lovely (badass).

Again, Birthday rolls over and you get a Sony Playstation! Full with games and a cheat cartridge! Wow. My little brother was so jealous he got one for his birthday 6 months later. We collected the Playstation Magazine with the demo discs every month! Ah man my parents are so good to us. I have to say again it was a very family orientated activity we would rearrange the furniture in the living room and play a tennis game or virtual pool. I really enjoyed: Hogs of War, Alien Trilogy, Discworld Noir, Driver, Silent Hill, most driving games, Bubsy 3D (of course), Broken Sword, and not ashamedly Digimon. Throw in a few PC games in there too like the rest of the Discworld series, Myst, and yeah some Hentai dating sims which opened the world of consequential dialogue options for a new style of RPG, if you will. Ahem.

X-Change 2: A guy gets turned into a girl due to a crazy science experiment and is finds himself in embarrassing situations. Pic from MobyGames.com

That was a boyfriend who suggested I play those types of games, for his own amusement? Probably.. In my teens I guess I played games to appease my male friends, since being a girl sometimes you got left out sitting reading comics in the corner. This was a time where boys started to integrate with our group and had an influence on what we would do. So one day I thought fuck it and picked up the controller and never looked back.

In my early twenties I met a guy who was heavily into a little known game called World of Warcraft. In all honesty he was into ALOT of games, obsessed with getting 120% trophies on the ps3 etc. I sat by his side for many a year watching him play a variety of PC and console games. Some of which I thoroughly enjoyed. It wasn't until after 2 years he actually let me play WoW.. I wasn't all that bothered about it at first since we shared his PC so I was never on it for more than an hour at a time, he got tired of watching me play so would take over. Until I got my own laptop and my very own copy of the game.

Oh holy hell I was hooked.

I was so engrossed in the whole concept of this fantasical world. I based my final year dissertation on it. Yes. That's right kids. Social Identity and Online Gaming was what I based a year and a half's work on AND I got to play a game for social science! Cybersociology became my passion especially anything related to the medium of computer gaming and the notion of gender-swapping, mechanics of AI emotions, game addiction, online communities and gaming being a social group activity. I have been reading and collecting articles on each of these subjects that I will share with you in future.

This stems from when I lived with Trophy boy there was up to 5 different people living together in student accommodation and at some point two consoles or a pc combo would be hooked up to multiple TV's and monitors and someone would be playing a game: the whole house would join in. Trophy boy did open my eyes to a new world of gaming and the negative side too. The obsession. How there is a fine line between hardcore and health risk. Sadly we were not meant to be but if he ever reads this he would be pleased to know he has ruined me for any other man after him. And my prospective dating conversations.

Pic unrelated. Or is it? 

I had no idea you could get this perk. Sorry Moira.

Chances are, now, I have played or seen played every game released the past 5 years, know how to get all the trophies/achievements and can probably play the game better than you thanks to his training. Good times. Thanks man. 

I recently came across something about why girls feel the need to announce to the world that they are geeks, gamers, nerds etc. It's true we shouldn't feel the need to scream to the universe about the lives we lead, but we all have a voice and EVERYONE feels the need to express it. Isn't that all this is? Just to add another label to ourselves that isn't just “woman”. Some deeper socio-psychology going on there me thinks.

I quite possibly have been influenced more by the boys in my life than the women, when it comes to finding my likes and dislike in games, sci-fi, music etc. Some may say that leads to my lack of femininity or sensitivity to certain things, the tomboy from my teens showing through? Maybe. But the women of my life have influenced me in different ways. My mother was the one with the Spectrum remember? I will talk about some of these women in later articles.

Now I'm 24 I have the best of both worlds. I can quite happily sit with my male friend leading him through Resident Evil 5 one day and enjoying planning my cousin's Disney Princess wedding the next.

Don't get me wrong I still know all the words to Dirty Dancing, most of the choreography to the Spice Girls videos from the 90's and I like watching tat films for shits and giggles. Yeah so I didn't get a Gameboy and I didn't play Mario. So I've never completed a Final Fantasy game (there's a story behind that). Tough shite. I enjoyed the games I played, with my family, and yeah they weren't “hardcore” that doesn't mean I'm completely devoid of the gaming culture. Everyone starts off differently but they all end up playing Warcrack anyway.

Which brings me to next time...

A true life encounter

p.s i have no idea what is going on with the formatting :(