I’ve played a lot of video games over the years. Like a lot of kids in the 80s, I started out playing arcade games wherever they could be found and an Atari console in the home. Back then the video game console was like the VCR, it was a family appliance, not a toy just one of us kids got to claim ownership over. The first time this changed for me was the day I got a Sega Genesis for my 12th birthday. Like a lot of kids back then, I dug into the trenches and joined the console war on the side of Sega. It wold be another two years before I picked up my first used Super Nintendo. At that time I just had the Sega and the original NES my parents bought for all of us kids one Christmas long ago.
I have played more video games than I could realistically ever count. Seriously if I tried to list every video game I have played, I couldn’t. I know for a fact there are dozens, maybe tens of dozens, of games I just can’t even remember the name of, or whetheer I even played them or not. I’ve always enjoyed video games.
I never really took sides in any console war or other silly debate after the 16-bit era. I got my N64 and PS1 on the exact same day, my 18th birthday. I stood in line in the cold at a Kmart to be the first person in my town to buy a Nintendo Wii. I also, despite sometimes making jokes online, never really preffered consoles over PC or any other silly arguments either. I basically play whatever I can whenever I get the change. I have played games on old vintage computers from the Atari 8-bit line, the Commodore 64, DOS to Windows. I was even one of the first to download extremely primitive moble games on my Samsung flip phone back in the day. For me, video games are just video games. I don’t care if they are running on a PC, mobile device, arcade machine or a dedicated gaming console. I just love video games.
I would be a fool to say I have owned most video game systems over the years. Sure I have owned the vast majority of the mainstream consoles at one point or another, but I know enough about video game and computer history to know there’s still dozens upon dozens more I have never even seen in person, let alone played.
I have very few video game regrets. I knew what I was getting when I bought a 32X. I was perfectly satisfied with my GameCube and I was one of the few to defend the Wii U. I can honestly say I have more regrets around the game systems I passed on buying than the ones I did buy. I was even happy with the Sega CD and Sega Saturn. Even though I rag on it a lot, and I still harbor ill feelings towards it, I even got a lot of good use out of that Nintendo Wii.
I think there is something special about video games that is hard to put into words sometimes. Sure gamers like to talk about games with good stories but let’s be real, not every game we sink hundreds of hours into even has a story so that’s only one reason we enjoy games so much. I know for me that can be a part but one of my favorite games of all time is Minecraft and frankly that game has basically no built in story.
Sometimes I find myself getting really into a good turn-based JRPG. Other times I want to play a fast-paced action game, run-n-gun or shooter. Sometimes I just wanna get lost in Tetris or passing the time playing Mahjong. I can honestly say if you asked me what types of video games do I enjoy my answer would be pretty much all of them. Sure there are games I can’t get into. Going back to story for a second, probablly my least favorite type of game is the type I refer to as “interactive movies.” I don’t mean those grainy FMV games that clogged up the Sega CD library, I enjoyed those for what they were. I am talking games like The Last of Us where you’re basically playing a movie. I don’t tend to enjoy those too much. That isn’t to say I can’t get deeply engrossed in a good video game story. I was so hooked on Finaly Fantasy 7’s story I have allowed myself to replay that game to 100 percent on multiple occasions across severl different hardwar platforms. I was really drawn to the story in Star Fox Adventures too. I just don’t need a story to enjoty a video game.
Another aspect of gaming a lot of gamers cite as what draws them to the hobby is the multiplayer aspect. I must admit I was a lot more likely to play multiplayer games back when it was couch local with your close friends. I enjoyed countless hours of multiplayer sessions with friends playing games like Mario Party, Gauntlet, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros., Doom, Quake, Wii Sports and so many others. Yet, again, for me I kinda stray from the mainstream. While I have enjoyed playing local games in the past with friends. I have learned over the years I just really don’t care for online play. Occassionally I will play an online game with my girlfriend or a close friend who shares my interest, but I have never enjoyed playing competitive online games with strangers, and I know I never will.
I have so many fond memories playing countless games over the years. I find it sometimes difficult to put into words exactly what video games mean to me. I know when I search back into the distant, faded memotries from my early childhood, I think there was a part of it that was the mystique. Back then video games were still fairly new. I was already fascinated with robots and computers and video games go hand in hand with those. I am not 100 percent certain it was my absolute earliest video game experience but the earliest video game memory I can recal is playing Ms. Pac-Man on a cocktail cabinet at a local bar when I was probablly four or five years old. I know I have dusty early childhood memories of playing the Atari 2600, but I can’t quite confirm which experience I had first. Either way I do know that, for me at least, video games have just always been a part of my life. Even as I am getting into my 40’s I dfon’t see myself ever not playing video games. I know my desire to have the current gen console or latest spec PC to play the hottest new games are over. I also know that as much time as I sink into Minecraft I know it will never become the only game I play.
I don’t feel I have to justify why I like playing video games. I know I enjoy them and that’s more than good enough for me. If someone cares to press the matter I could probably give them some standard stock nerd response about tactile interaction, immersive game play or even great graphics, but honestly I think the truth is I just like video games because I do. I don’t need a reason.
Stephanie Bri 