The Story Of A Gamer...

I always believed that a happy heart leads to a happy life.Dont worry this isnt one of those crappy lessons on how to live life fulfillingly.Infact i loathe such people who give out free advice,bore the pants off us and then smile as if they are expecting us to be grateful.

NO.im not one of them.i just like to bung down my thoughts on that nice white screen in front of me hoping against hope tht someone would match their frequency with mine(hehe...one of my friends's favourite quoutes...that person knows what im talking about)...

But anyway,like i said we all need to be happy on the inside to ensure we are always ready to pull the trigger on our smiles(seriously whats up with my humour today?)...i see a variety of people everyday all satisfying themselves in the way that they see fit.Some play a sport,some drink their pains away,some find it a necessity to gatecrash every single movie out there and some like me(the category tht ppl usually laugh at)Game.

I can honestly and proudly(dont raise your eyebros yet)say im a gamer.Not your run of the mill lets shoot the next bad guy in the face type of gamer but really a serious one, one who thinks twice if not thrice before loosening the purse strings.

But throughout my life(my gaming life that is...which has been in existence since probably the late 90's),i have always been made to feel that what i was doing was something that ranked equal to what adolf hitler had planned for the world in general...something along those lines,people around me made me fully conscious of the fact that i was doing something that they thoroughly disapproved of...

Right from the bald headed and not so baldheaded uncles to the fully haired dad of mine(im sure he's beaming...ought to...free publicity what?)and all their respective spouses,everyone always gave me the impression that although i grew up physically,mentally i was as fresh as a new born baby.

But despite all the bad publicity and what not that i had to endure on a daily basis,i still managed to remain hooked to the games that i adored more than my grandpa(dont tell him that...yikes!!!)...

However,like i pointed out earlier i take my gaming seriously.why do i take it seriously is a question that i had never asked myself until today...the reason?because no one ever asked me what fascinated me about games.And that was exactly what my dad did today for the first time.for the first itme in my life he asked me the most difficult question that not even an f.e.m paper could match...

and my answer was as clear as a bell...

errrrrr.......................

I was forced to think for the first time in my life what really made me such a dilligent follower of this addictive hobby of mine.

you see,gaming has not been just a pastime for me to blow up some dude on the screen swearing their mouths off to no one in particular...it was a drug and like all drugs pretty addictive.But im not the kind of guy who enjoys seeing blood and gore pointlessly being splashed around the screen...

Gaming for me is like an escape port,like a place where i could go to at will and make me feel the environment,connect with the characters,realise their emotions and in short be a part of the experience.

There.that was what i was looking for.the experience.tht is the single most important part in anyones' life right?who likes doing something if the experience wasnt right?And for me gaming will always be about the experience.

Im a sucker for games with a good story.Infact, i go out of my way to sometimes play the game a little more slowly just to ensure that the game draws me in.However,todays games are all about the eye-candy and how gorgeous the game looks.Which is not a bad thing i agree but it sort of feels that some of the developers in todays world feel that most of the gamers are very superficial in their judgement of the games they play.Which is one of the biggest bloomers i feel that any developer could ever make.

Of course everyone wants to see brilliant visuals and fantastic breath taking graphics on their screens but many of us do keep popping this question in our heads:is there a point to this game or not?"And sadly many a time u suddenly realise that no matter how hard u look all u would encounter are just those gorgeous visuals and scenic backgrounds, leaving u scratching your head wondering why you are still wasting your time with something equivalent to a really good looking dumb blonde!No offense really.honestly.

So i find story driven games the most essential because they immerse you in the story so much that u would actually have your heart in your mouth when wandering down a dark alley,sigh in relief when you near a safe exit,jump up with joy when you score a goal with your favorite team or cry in happiness when u have just saved the love of your life from the jaws of death.

So,Gaming in short for me is like an interactive movie.How many of us really ever felt content by just watching a pretty awesome movie?How many of us actually wanted to jump into the screen and be THAT guy swinging off buildings,killing romans,driving super fast cars and fall in love with the perfect kiss at the perfect time?And how many of us actually glued ourselves to a window waiting for an owl to get us a letter of admission into the most awesome school ever?(was it just me?)...

Anyway,We all fantasise dont we, about being that person on the screen that we adore watching.But,reality hits us then and we realise that we have as much chance of doing anything as much as getting a letter from an owl.(Seriously,was i really the only one?).This is the one thing that sets gaming apart.i remember reading somewhere where one of hollywood's biggest icons(i think it was steven speilberg)said that gaming was the one thing that he expected to take over the movie industry in the future.Simply because in a game the viewer or the user gets to interact and most importantly affect and get affected at the same time by the whole experience.

So the answer to why i game is pretty obvious isnt it?Gaming lets me live the total experience in the most fascinating way possible.

But even today,I still put up with a lot of those insinuations that people throw at me for my so called 2 yr old mentality but u know what at the end of the day its not just a game for me but also not something more important than real life.It is something that puts me in an environment where i feel a sense of satisfaction and happiness that can only leave me amazed and make me crave for more.A feeling that can only be experienced and felt and not something that anybody should miss out on.

So regardless of what people say,I can honestly and proudly(dont care if you're raising your eyebrows) say im a true GAMER.