Day 3: My First Love (from a nerd's perspective)
Well, I'm not sure, even at age 31, that I know what love is. I've been in *zero* serious relationships, and everything else resembling one didn't last more than 6 months. I suppose this one, in its true form, will have to wait until I meet my Baroness, my Harley Quinn, my Alyx Vance, my Juliet, etc.
Now, to offer a different spin on the definition of love, I'll share a bit about the love for gaming that I established early in life. Over the years, this has evolved into an obsession.
Early childhood: Loved board games. I always (unsuccessfully) tried to convince my family to play Monopoly, but nobody wanted to dedicate the time. I remember playing countless board games with my friend Nikki, who lived across the street from me.
Also early childhood: My brother bought the Nintendo Entertainment System. I think I was seven. I've loved it ever since, and still play it regularly.
Freshman year of high school: Magic: The Gathering became a money sink for me. My stepbrother got me started, which didn't take much, since I had been fascinated by it for quite some time. I stopped collecting a few years back, but I still have all of my cards.
Junior year of high school: I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time. It was love at first sight, so to speak. It became a huge part of my life, and I still play on occasion. RPG's were what I did during college instead of going to parties and getting wasted, like most other college boys.
1999-2003: My first exposure to MMO's. I played Everquest with some friends and was mostly addicted for a few years.
2000: Then, a brief stint in Anarchy Online - which was a cool game - but I had nobody to play with.
2003-2004: Next, I started playing Star Wars Galaxies, which was, by far, the best MMO I've ever played, but a shitty internet connection and unnecessary (and silly) changes made this one unplayable after about a year.
2004-2011: Later, Everquest 2 came out and it united most of my gaming friends in one location...this addiction lasted 7 years.
2009: Attended GenCon for the first time, and my life changed. I became a huge con-goer and expanded my gaming to obscure board games that one finds only at specialty stores, conventions, and online (when I say I love board games, I'm not referring to the famous household ones like Life, Scrabble, or Sorry....though they're all great games in their own right).
February 2011 - August 2011: Finally, I spent 6 months playing DC Universe Online, because it looked neat.
I could talk about my mostly meaningless romantic relationships, but I feel like gaming is a much deeper love that has affected my life more significantly than any woman I've met. When I find that gamer chick out there who is as passionate about gaming as I am, I'll repost this one.
Now, to offer a different spin on the definition of love, I'll share a bit about the love for gaming that I established early in life. Over the years, this has evolved into an obsession.
Early childhood: Loved board games. I always (unsuccessfully) tried to convince my family to play Monopoly, but nobody wanted to dedicate the time. I remember playing countless board games with my friend Nikki, who lived across the street from me.
Also early childhood: My brother bought the Nintendo Entertainment System. I think I was seven. I've loved it ever since, and still play it regularly.
Freshman year of high school: Magic: The Gathering became a money sink for me. My stepbrother got me started, which didn't take much, since I had been fascinated by it for quite some time. I stopped collecting a few years back, but I still have all of my cards.
Junior year of high school: I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time. It was love at first sight, so to speak. It became a huge part of my life, and I still play on occasion. RPG's were what I did during college instead of going to parties and getting wasted, like most other college boys.
1999-2003: My first exposure to MMO's. I played Everquest with some friends and was mostly addicted for a few years.
2000: Then, a brief stint in Anarchy Online - which was a cool game - but I had nobody to play with.
2003-2004: Next, I started playing Star Wars Galaxies, which was, by far, the best MMO I've ever played, but a shitty internet connection and unnecessary (and silly) changes made this one unplayable after about a year.
2004-2011: Later, Everquest 2 came out and it united most of my gaming friends in one location...this addiction lasted 7 years.
2009: Attended GenCon for the first time, and my life changed. I became a huge con-goer and expanded my gaming to obscure board games that one finds only at specialty stores, conventions, and online (when I say I love board games, I'm not referring to the famous household ones like Life, Scrabble, or Sorry....though they're all great games in their own right).
February 2011 - August 2011: Finally, I spent 6 months playing DC Universe Online, because it looked neat.
I could talk about my mostly meaningless romantic relationships, but I feel like gaming is a much deeper love that has affected my life more significantly than any woman I've met. When I find that gamer chick out there who is as passionate about gaming as I am, I'll repost this one.