Ode to Gaming
O dear God in heaven, I am a poser.
Quick note: I am a Star Wars fanatic, especially when it comes to the expanded universe involving clones and Mandalorians. Long story. But suffice to say, I have bought an action figure in the past year, I read comic books, I religiously follow the progress of a Star Wars game with a release date loosely based late next year, and I was a moment’s decision away from buying a child’s Clone Wars bedspread.
So last night when Andy asked me something about a droid enemy in the Republic Commando game, I had to admit–and this is so hard for me to say–that I had never finished the game. Everyone was floored. I told them I was no good at first-person shooters, and I watched my brother beat it, and that was enough for me.
So that got me thinking: how in the world do I know so much about video games? Where does my enthusiasm for them come from? I haven’t beaten a game since Zelda: Twilight Princess in 2007. I love playing games, but I rarely make them a priority. I could take the easy route and say that I’m in school and that keeps me busy, but I can’t just abandon one of my hobbies because I have some menial class like pathogenic microbiology.
Back when life was riddled with difficulties such as reading page requirements in young adult books and doing 20 pre-algebra problems, I played a lot of video games. Middle school bred such habits with less than an hour’s worth of homework. The school year was like summer back then, and I made friends with my Sega Dreamcast and a game called Skies of Arcadia. It’s one of those role-playing games set in a fantastical universe where airships roam the sky and pirates steal things–oh, and there are giant living weapons that live in mountains and stuff. You do that for about, eh, 46 hours and then you find out the characters’ lame endings.
I love that game.
I went on to play first-person shooters such as Halo and Halo 2. But I played on easy mode, looking forward more for the story than how many aliens I slotted. I am a writer, you know–got a blog and everything.
Since then, I’ve merely dabbled in video games. I have a Nintendo DS and I play things like Pokemon, where there are no life and death situations if I stop playing. The worse that happens is that my Geodude stays at level 23 until I pick up the game again. You would think with such a great, trendy little portable like the DS, I would play more. Hardly. Carrying that device around is just a hazard to me, so I refrain in order to keep from having it get broken.
At any rate, while I associate myself with gamers and I know a lot about video games, I’m like that person who has seen one episode of a TV show and call myself a fan. It’s not that I don’t want to play video games, either, but between trying to keep up with my writing, not ignoring my family, friends, and boyfriend, as well as trying not to fail classes, video games have really taken a back seat.
But I’ll still pretend like I know a bunch about them and tell you things you never needed to know.
