I rather fancy myself a gamer. The day job keeps me from honestly slapping on the mantle of “avid gamer,” but I play a LOT of video games in my down time. I’ve been playing games nearly as far back as I can remember, which is kinda amazing all things considered.
I grew up the child of a staunch Roman Catholic baby boomer. My Nana believed that there were things for boys to do and wear, and things for girls to do and wear, and an asswhoopin’ awaiting you if you dare cross over either of those boundaries. Her belief was passed on to my mother, so when I came along lacking the third leg my fate was sealed before I had a chance to be slapped by the doctor that brought me into the world.
To this day, I swear that nearly every article of clothing my mother bought for me up to third grade was pink. Socks, hair bows, shirts, underwear, everything was pink. I’m sure it’s the reason why I detest just about everything pink to this day. [obvious exceptions: hello kitty, this website] I didn’t get to wear pants to school until fourth grade, didn’t own a pair of denim until seventh grade. The only toys I could have had to be distinctly girl or girlie in their nature. Imagine Christmas [or Festivus if you prefer] morning opening up Barbie after Barbie, when all you asked for was Lincoln Logs, or and Erector Set. No He-man for you NinJa, revel in this EasyBake Oven. [Ok, so the EasyBake didn’t suck, but I wanted a Spirograph.] I know it sounds like I’m whining, but the fact that I couldn’t even have access to types of toys based on the singular fact that they were perceived to be specifically for boys by my mother has always bothered me. So when computers came along at got popular I knew I was screwed.
The first video game that I ever played was on a Commodore 64. The game was called Zaxxon, and I was addicted to it. A school friend of mine had the C64, and I would beg, borrow, and sneak over to her house to play on it. I didn’t even like the girl, [we actually ended up hating each other by the end of the year] but once I played with that game I just had to do it again and again. I wasn’t even good at it, but something about the sights and the sounds intrigued me. It was like nothing I had ever seen or played with before and that excited me.
Pleas for a computer fell on deaf ears.
Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. I think I knew then that I had been born a geek, I just didn’t know what to call it or why I was so drawn to electronic tech. I just knew that I was, and I’d probably never get the chance to do anything about it, because I was a girl. I felt doomed for a long time, until a strange and wonderful thing happened. My cousin was leaving for college, and could not take all of his crap with him. Knowing a was a budding technonut, he offered me his Intellivision system [on the DL because he knew my mother would say no] and I am forever in his debt.
I played on that thing day in and day out. My mother worked during the day in Boston, so she never got home before 7pm. My dad could see that I was crazy curious in love with this toy so he’d let me play it when I got home from school. He showed me how to hook it up to the TV and how to disconnect it before my mom got home that night. It was at least 4 months before my mom figured out that I had one of these “boys toys,” and by then, it would be stupid to try and give it back to my cousin. Score one for me. I think a couple of months after that, my mother let me hook the system up to the living room TV permanently and gave me a designated hour of playtime per day I could use provided my chores and homework were done and inspected. [The birth of my honor roll student career is owed to video games]
The cool thing that happened over time was that my mother became interested (1) in watching my interest in video games grow and (2) watching the games unfold herself. It was because of this time and shared experience that my mother’s view of “boys stuff” versus “girls stuff” started to change and wain. By the time the Nintendo Game System came out, her view had softened enough that instead of getting a Barbie that year, I got the Nintendo system bundle that came with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt game with the Light Zapper gun. And that was the start of a now 20 year long love affair with video games. For both of us.
My mother now plays video games. Mostly the brain teasers, [things like Scene It and the occasional RockBand attempt] but more importantly my mother is engaged with me or my sister in the gaming experience. I think one of the best memories I have with gaming was the launch of God of War 2. When it was about to come out my mother drove both my sister and I to the local GameStop to help us reserve a copy. Paid for both our copies in full [by this time I was no longer living at home with my mommy] and then sat in her easy chair and watched us as we toiled through the entire game the next day. Making us pause every time she needed a potty break, getting completely drawn into the story. Every time we died, she’d laugh her ass off making us more determined to get through the damn level.
It was freakin’ awesome.
I guess that’s why I love gaming to this day. Despite the guys that I play online against reassuring me that I must either be a dog or a lesbian in order for me to (1) enjoy playing video games and (2) be so good at some of them. [I admittedly suck at FPS and RTS games] I enjoy experiencing new ideas that developers come up with, sharing that experience with those I love or whose company I enjoy, but I never take for granted the fact that I may not have been allowed to do so at all until my adult years.
I grew up the child of a staunch Roman Catholic baby boomer. My Nana believed that there were things for boys to do and wear, and things for girls to do and wear, and an asswhoopin’ awaiting you if you dare cross over either of those boundaries. Her belief was passed on to my mother, so when I came along lacking the third leg my fate was sealed before I had a chance to be slapped by the doctor that brought me into the world.
To this day, I swear that nearly every article of clothing my mother bought for me up to third grade was pink. Socks, hair bows, shirts, underwear, everything was pink. I’m sure it’s the reason why I detest just about everything pink to this day. [obvious exceptions: hello kitty, this website] I didn’t get to wear pants to school until fourth grade, didn’t own a pair of denim until seventh grade. The only toys I could have had to be distinctly girl or girlie in their nature. Imagine Christmas [or Festivus if you prefer] morning opening up Barbie after Barbie, when all you asked for was Lincoln Logs, or and Erector Set. No He-man for you NinJa, revel in this EasyBake Oven. [Ok, so the EasyBake didn’t suck, but I wanted a Spirograph.] I know it sounds like I’m whining, but the fact that I couldn’t even have access to types of toys based on the singular fact that they were perceived to be specifically for boys by my mother has always bothered me. So when computers came along at got popular I knew I was screwed.
The first video game that I ever played was on a Commodore 64. The game was called Zaxxon, and I was addicted to it. A school friend of mine had the C64, and I would beg, borrow, and sneak over to her house to play on it. I didn’t even like the girl, [we actually ended up hating each other by the end of the year] but once I played with that game I just had to do it again and again. I wasn’t even good at it, but something about the sights and the sounds intrigued me. It was like nothing I had ever seen or played with before and that excited me.
Pleas for a computer fell on deaf ears.
Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. I think I knew then that I had been born a geek, I just didn’t know what to call it or why I was so drawn to electronic tech. I just knew that I was, and I’d probably never get the chance to do anything about it, because I was a girl. I felt doomed for a long time, until a strange and wonderful thing happened. My cousin was leaving for college, and could not take all of his crap with him. Knowing a was a budding technonut, he offered me his Intellivision system [on the DL because he knew my mother would say no] and I am forever in his debt.
I played on that thing day in and day out. My mother worked during the day in Boston, so she never got home before 7pm. My dad could see that I was crazy curious in love with this toy so he’d let me play it when I got home from school. He showed me how to hook it up to the TV and how to disconnect it before my mom got home that night. It was at least 4 months before my mom figured out that I had one of these “boys toys,” and by then, it would be stupid to try and give it back to my cousin. Score one for me. I think a couple of months after that, my mother let me hook the system up to the living room TV permanently and gave me a designated hour of playtime per day I could use provided my chores and homework were done and inspected. [The birth of my honor roll student career is owed to video games]
The cool thing that happened over time was that my mother became interested (1) in watching my interest in video games grow and (2) watching the games unfold herself. It was because of this time and shared experience that my mother’s view of “boys stuff” versus “girls stuff” started to change and wain. By the time the Nintendo Game System came out, her view had softened enough that instead of getting a Barbie that year, I got the Nintendo system bundle that came with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt game with the Light Zapper gun. And that was the start of a now 20 year long love affair with video games. For both of us.
My mother now plays video games. Mostly the brain teasers, [things like Scene It and the occasional RockBand attempt] but more importantly my mother is engaged with me or my sister in the gaming experience. I think one of the best memories I have with gaming was the launch of God of War 2. When it was about to come out my mother drove both my sister and I to the local GameStop to help us reserve a copy. Paid for both our copies in full [by this time I was no longer living at home with my mommy] and then sat in her easy chair and watched us as we toiled through the entire game the next day. Making us pause every time she needed a potty break, getting completely drawn into the story. Every time we died, she’d laugh her ass off making us more determined to get through the damn level.
It was freakin’ awesome.
I guess that’s why I love gaming to this day. Despite the guys that I play online against reassuring me that I must either be a dog or a lesbian in order for me to (1) enjoy playing video games and (2) be so good at some of them. [I admittedly suck at FPS and RTS games] I enjoy experiencing new ideas that developers come up with, sharing that experience with those I love or whose company I enjoy, but I never take for granted the fact that I may not have been allowed to do so at all until my adult years.
Labels: History, Ninja-Rant, Ninjasistah, Videogames
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