Different gamers

Sunday 23 Sep 2007

So, you think you’re a gamer do you? Ever thought about what it actually means to be a gamer. Think about it for a minute or two - there are all sorts of kinds of gamers out there…hardcore gamers, casual gamers, console gamers, PC gamers…which one are you? Here is a bit of my gaming story.

Lanning and clanning

A couple of years ago I would not even have dared to call myself a gamer. The only kind of gaming which I had dabbled in back then was on a PC borrowed from my dad. My only claim to fame was a 17 inch monitor (which, believe it or not, was big at that time) and that I was a pretty good shot with a double barrelled shotgun. Of course the fact that I was forced to take a nick after consistently having a costume known as the ‘Crack whore bitch’ assigned to me made me pretty cool, well to my gaming friends anyway. After taking the nick ‘Leeloo’ I was upgraded to a costume consisting of bandages covering the essentials bit and bobs in honour of Milla Jovovich of The Fifth Element fame. Coincidentally Milla also happened to kick serious zombie butt in Resident Evil…damn, I was cool!

So, back to the plot. A couple of my friends were very interested in PC gaming and formed what is known as a clan called Yoda. The fact that we named our clan in honour of Star Wars shows you just how serious we were. Starting with just a few, our clan soon grew and prosper it began to, yes. The games of the time were Warcraft II, Starcraft and Quake. It was the official thing, I mean we had a ladder to track wins and losses and everything. Man, those were the good ol’ days…sigh. Looking back on it I realise now that our parents were quite understanding, (yes, we were all still in school). I mean we pretty much took over the whole house, occasionally the garage, arriving with our chairs and tables, set up our PCs, network cables running everywhere, late nights or should I say early mornings, hotdogs, litres and litres of coke, and let’s not forget the interesting zergling noises that emanated from speakers set up to drown each other out.

Growing up

This practice ensued for many a year but eventually friends moved away and some even became too ‘cool’ or too ‘old’ to dabble in the odd PC game. Strange that. To some lanning became a thing of the past but this did not stop the rest of us and although the clan pretty much dissolved, the ladder disintegrated and the network cable bag began to gather a bit of dust, we still managed to find the time to get together every once in a while to test our mettle against one another. Of course the games progressed to Counterstrike, Bomberman, Tower Defence and the contentious Battlefield 1942. I think I could write an entire book about both the fun and fights which network games created. Key words would include defragging, camping, reinstalling and leaching. But that is another totally different story which perhaps one day I will take the time to tell those of you who are interested because I am sure that quite a few of you would laugh, having had similar experiences yourselves.

A key component to PC games in my youth consisted of an entity known as ‘WANG.’ I feel it would just not be right not to mention this institution created by the male members of the clan. For those of you who might be in the dark, ‘WANG’ is an acronym for ‘Women Against Network Games.’ Now it would seem that many a male gamer considers his girlfriend or wife to be an obstacle in his gaming adventures and so it was that WANG was born. Despite the fact that most girlfriends/wives were, in my opinion, always very supportive of their men endeavouring to save the world and that a few of us of the female variety actually played PC games now and again did not take away from the fact that we were women and therefore we were WANG. You will be happy to know that WANG is alive and well today. It normally leads to leisurely ladies days spent shopping, having tea, gossiping and, budget permitting, trips to the spa for nails and facials. Love live WANG!

Looking back on the console journey

This is the point in the story that is generally called an epiphany. One day my friend decided that we needed to buy a GameCube. We dutifully set out to acquire this strange cube-shaped console. Little did we know that this journey would be the beginning of another chapter in our lives. Our quest to source a GameCube took us to no less than three shopping centers before we managed to purchase the last unit in stock. We set up this little black shaped box and started up Mario Kart Double Dash. Now I know that many of you gamers out there experienced this classic game many years before I did but we were simply hooked! Many a weekend after that was taken up with Mario Kart Double Dash or Mario Soccer and this was really when I began to become a console gamer.

Shortly after the GameCube epiphany, Toys ‘R Us advertised something called a Nintendo DS at a special launch price. Of course, my friends all got this funky little machine and I was left wondering what all the fuss was about. What was this game called Mario Kart DS and why did it cause people to get so excited? I must admit, I was not that interested (To read about the start of a beautiful relationship with my pink DS Lite, check this out). One of my friends then bought a GBA and a GameBoy Micro and was donated a PSP – the console gaming revolution had begun! What followed was the purchase of a PS2, new and improved DS Lites, a Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and more recently a PS3 has been added to the fold. Freek, did anyone notice when we managed to accumulate all three next-gen consoles as well as most of the handheld systems? Next thing I knew we had decided to share our passion for console gaming with others from around the world and EL33TONLINE was born. And to think that this was all started by a GameCube - wipes away tear.

Gaming is contagious

Not long ago my elder brother approached me with the admission that he wanted to buy a PS2. I was of course stoked, at least someone in my family had seen the light! That afternoon I showcased the Xbox 360 and PS2 to my noob brother. He immediately liked the 360’s Dead Rising but I had to explain that this console was a bit out of his budget. However, he was somewhat consoled (excuse the pun) when I let him play Tekken 5, Gran Turismo and Burnout on the PS2. I am proud to say he was a natural, although he did grudgingly admit to having played similar games in the arcades as a young ‘un. Apparently I had missed out on that part of our youth, presumably because I played the part of the bothersome little sister.

And so it came to pass that he became the proud owner of a PS2. The PS2 came packaged with Gran Turismo and Tekken 5 so I dutifully leant him the PS2-defining titles including God of War, Timesplitters 2 and Shadow of the Colossus. Something which you need to understand is that my brother lives on a farm in the Drakensberg…with no electricity! He has to run a generator in order to supply power to the PS2 and TV. He began playing the racing and fighting games until late at night, much to the disapproval of his fiancé whose membership of WANG is currently under consideration.

However, the real fun and games began when he started God of War. Being the legend game that it is, it immediately hypnotised him and he began to lose track of hours and sometimes even days, something which I am sure many gamers can attest to. One day he phoned me and said that he had been playing for about 8 hours already that day. I was, of course, suitably impressed. Next he told me that if he continued to run the generator he would not be able to run the stove and cook dinner, neither would he have lights that evening. The funny part is that he was actually considering continuing to run the PS2 and going hungry…I was so proud because he was not only a true gamer now but a hardcore gamer too! How many of us gamers have been faced with such choices before…one more level or eat, one more level or act like zombie at work the next day, etc etc? We all know what real gamers choose!

Recently my brother was fortunate enough to have two new foals born. Want to know their names? Sparta and Kratos of course! Which reminds me, I better get back to God of War II soon so that he can stop hassling me to finish it so he can play it.