Playing Games: Then and Now

I haven’t figured out what direction I want to go with this blog yet but I set the account up and I feel the need to post something. Until I can determine what it is I want to say I thought I would throw some random thoughts around and see what sticks. To kick off this new venture into the Internets I decided to give a small glimpse into who I am and do a little public complaining at the same time.

I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. I started gaming on my Dads Atari 7800. I spent hours on end trying to beat the high scores he had set in games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Dig-Dug and Galaga. Then I fell in love with a little game called Super Mario and gaming took a new turn for me. Games were no longer about high scores, they became about reaching the next level and saving the world.

As a kid, I would stay up all night at a friends house and we would take turns exploring 8-bit dungeons and competing to reach the last level first. Occasionally we would take trips to the local arcades where high scores still seemed to matter, but our dreams of being the best were always shattered. Every time we would go to the arcade there was that one kid with a never ending supply of quarters waiting to jump in on our game and kick our ass. I swear that guy must have lived in the back room or something. He was ALWAYS there. So we kept most of our gaming experiences to our living rooms. (It was cheaper that way.)

As I got older, systems changed, graphics improved, and the digital worlds I spent so much time in became 3D. Even though the looks had changed the same formulas always applied, leveling up, collecting treasure, and saving the world. Then one day, my girlfriend and I found this game for the Playstation called Duke Nukem. This was not hottest game on the market, but for us, it was turning point in gaming. We could play four player death match with the multi-tap thing. We started having Duke Nukem parties in our parents basements. The player with the least kills in a round would have to give the controller to the guy waiting on the side lines. This was the most fun I had ever had playing games with friends. Slowly we found more and more games that allowed this group game play.

Those were the old days though. Now, I am an adult, I have lived through countless Counter-Strike, UT, and Warcraft games, but I just dont have the time for gaming that I did as a kid. I have a PC and several different game consoles hooked to a high speed internet connection waiting for me to meet up with people from all over the world. I just wish that when I do get online to play, I could find some nice people looking to have some fun. Why do I always end up in a room full douche bags that dont want the new guy around? I cant help the fact that I dont have 90 plus hours a week to memorize maps and tweak my controls to perfection. I just want to sit back and have some fun. I dont want to hear your racist rants and listen to you praise yourself for being the best around. If thats the experience I wanted I would go back down to the arcade and throw my quarters away playing that guy that lives in the backroom. Am I the only one who feels this way about playing online? I think they should come out with two versions of games, one for douche bags and one for people that just want to have a good time.