The Gaming Experiment

Thanks Mom and Dad.

When I think about videogames and my love for them, I need to thank my parents. Videogames are in my blood, my parents at the laundromat playing Ms. Pacman, or buying the intellivision in the early 80's. My exposure to videogames was early and often.

Over the years, my love for videogames has grown exponentially. My parents nurtured that love, of course school work came first. We owned most of the major systems while sidestepping some of the failures (I'm looking at you Jaguar!). A lot of our favorite family moments center around a new console acquisition, and the ensuing days of non-stop playing. Everyone huddled around the NES playing Super Mario Bros, and being amazing at the graphics of the blue hedgehog, Sonic, on the Genesis. Looking back at that time, I guess we made one mistaken purchase, the Sega CD, Sega abandoned development early and moved to the Saturn. But my parents, being the technologically advanced people that they are, wanted to be on the cutting edge, and that allowed for advanced PC gaming too.

As the years went on, the games got more complicated, and my parents played less and less, but still enjoyed gaming in general. The analog sticks are a tough hurdle to pass. But something happened, after showing my parents the PSP, they now both own and play them on an extremely regular basis. They are back into games, asking questions, and engaging the the videogame discourse and how it is moving forward. I'm excited and ecstatic that they are jumping into the fray again. Hopefully The Beatles Rock Band will bring them back, full swing!

Thanks Mom and Dad, even if I don't thank you as often as I should, you are the reason why I love games.