Joys and Woes of Gaming Life.

[Shogun]

Hey guys, its Shogun. Some of you will know me, most won't cuz I've been an inactive member of GATT for almost a year now (cuz now I'm in Canada).

I'm actually in Film School! Studying to be an actor! great huh? Well anyways one of my final projects is to write a mokumentary (fake documentary) script. And my concept was that based on gaming life.
Like how being a hardcore gamer affects a persons personal life.

So I'm using GATT as a resource to do some research. If you guys can sound off about the things you love about being a gamer, things you hate, and how it affects you as a person. hopefully I could think up of some character based on your stories!                    

[rb]

shoooooooooooooogieeeeee!!!!!
ok...

The things I love about gaming...lets see .... for me its like the song says 'It's the thrill of the fight , rising up to the challenge of our rival" . Yeah I know it's a cheesy reason , but without it I might have stopped gaming on the whole a year ago. I still play games but I am a shadow of what I once was. I lose interest in games too fast ... anyways back to the topic at hand. Gaming allowed me to meet alot of new people that shared my interests.

Things I hate..lets see..I hate whiners and people who don't try to evolve their skill and increase their knowledge. I hate gamers who talk senseless and pointless crap, outside of the normal sh*t talk that is.

Gaming has kept me very sane over the past couple of years, my personal life hasn't been as good as it might appear to be to the normal people that know me and see me regularly. The last year and a half has been the worst of my life. Gaming has been the only thing that allowed me to totally escape my troubles.

Anyways I've said too much about myself now..I don't like talking about my personal issues.

EDIT
This is a serious topic, even though this is the bar, I will DELETE any post that i find to be nonsense in this thread. So if you plan on making any dumb posts in this thread..think again                    

[Rampage]

Hey guys, its Shogun. Some of you will know me, most won't cuz I've been an inactive member of GATT for almost a year now (cuz now I'm in Canada).

I'm actually in Film School! Studying to be an actor! great huh? Well anyways one of my final projects is to write a mokumentary (fake documentary) script. And my concept was that based on gaming life.
Like how being a hardcore gamer affects a persons personal life.

So I'm using GATT as a resource to do some research. If you guys can sound off about the things you love about being a gamer, things you hate, and how it affects you as a person. hopefully I could think up of some character based on your stories!

which part of canada? toronto by chance?                    

[Shogun]

me? I'm in Vancouver

Anyways RB, thanks for the reply! This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for.

COME ON YA'LL SOUND OFF!!!!!!!                    

[DeadEyes]

aight, here's some other things, the time schedules for gaming doesn't really allow for a personal life in terms of a gf, and in that regard it gets even harder especially if you don't have your other half understanding your love of the thing in the first place. and damn it's hard on you for the lack of sleep, the pros are easy, the friendships you make, the ability to see yourself grow in skill, the sometimes FIERCE competition, the pride you feel of being good at what you do, and then there's the Psychological and emotional release it offers for those who need an acceptable NONviolent outlet to release frustrations..........hope this helps mih bwoy                    

[camrE]

I used to consider myself a hardcore gamer but I never sat in front the xbox for 12 hours or steal money to go to the arcade, but I had an affinity for excelling far beyond the other gamers that may have done the 12 hours a day. I was proficient in fighters in particular, but then I deversified, so to speak. And I found out I was a 10 in a few other genres and became a 10 in the others with minute effort Gran turismo 3 A spec, for instance. When people asked me how much time I would invest a day in this game, I would say 15mins to an hour, but I am the only person I know (personally) who has completed this game 100%. While many others are still yet to unlock hidden cars after playing for hours and hours for the last few years. My point it, don't be caught by the misconception of hardcore gamers are the ones who play non-stop and sacrifice their lives for gaming. We exist in many different forms and with many faces.                    

[Mugsy]

what i love hmmm.
fuh me is creatin ah player, team, character or whatever and watchin them build up there different skills or watch them growin by levelin up and such like.
it makes you feel good tuh see something of yours grow up                    

[TriniXaeno]

Shogun iwmc!!!

A boss topic. Yuh come back with a bang.

*Baego goes to write a best selling Novel about his life as a gamer to post in this thread.

I'll be back                    

[Shogun]

steeeeuupppssss baeog!! how you go leave me dry like that dread!

anyways, fellas this is good stuff. I'm getting little concepts and images for characters and an overall story.

I just want to be able to do my peers justice with a story. Then again my instructor might not even pick my script

                     

[Shogun]

For me, I know games was a way to escape my reality. If i had a bad day, I would play a good game and it would give me instant relief. Like a drug if you may, I needed it to be happy because I lacked other things in my life to make me happy. And with and organization such as GATT I didn't feel alone anymore. A group full of outcast such as myself with just as bad and even worse problems than my own. GATT gave me a place to belong.
                     

[Garret]

It's an escape from life-This isnt with games only. Anime,movies...anything can be. Just that we chose this nice to hide from life......or make our lives.
Sometimes you find a character you relate to so much, and sometimes play the game to be more in control in your life..concerning factors you cant change.

Sometimes it's closure for problems in your life as well. Take me for eg...
I worked in an arcade and when you mix the 2 too much you get sick of games. I sold my consoles and was living a game-free life for a while. Then I visited a friend who was playing FF8.  Now Edea looked alot like a girl who messed me up bad. So I took up that game just to beat her; and ultimately started back gaming (this was after I quit the arcade)

What most GATTers love about gaming-the competitive spirit. Most humans have it...the fight for survival. But most of us don't have the unfortunate opportunities to fight hard for something. And others need to rely on  that fact that they're better than others to keep going. This mostly lead to sports, but alot can't prosper there, while they're good at gaming, so they chose that path. I remember Baego washin me in Tekken. And I asked Shogun to train me until I could seek revenge. Honestly, never before in my life I cared enough to do something like that. Granted the fact that I never fought him again and got rusty in the game when Shogun left.
Anyway I think thats why I love gaming (all i think).                    

[rb]

Just had a convo with someone that brought back memories and made me remember that hate was once a powerful tool that drove me. When I say hate i mean HATE. It's kinda like how Sasuke is driven to succeed by his hate for Itachi. Hate blinded me for a long time. Thank goodness I had good friends that helped me regain my sight. You might think wtf does this have to do with gaming. I guess I'm the only person who would understand my situation.
                     

[TriniXaeno]

Deep waggy, Deep rb, Deep shogun.

Reading your stories are helping me better understand what may be my own motives for being a part of this gamedom.

It's been more by natural instinct and I haven't really gotten into the psycho analyizing of it before.

great stuff

*Baego ponders
                     

[SPK]

Welcome back Shogie!!!

I'll say that my love for being a gamer is being able to compete and hone your skills in what you really like. It's just like training for martial arts etc. You have to have a passion for it, and train nearly endlessly to be able to compete and succeed against your foes...

However, to focus on winning will make you lose out on the most important thing in gaming, and that's the passion of playing the game...whether you are playing to knock out Bison/Akuma in the Street Fighter series, or to knock out the German armies in Call Of Duty, you have to keep in mind that you aren't playing the game to just win, but to truly enjoy every aspect of the game itself...also in the spirit of competition against other people, never let yourself focus on winning alone, else you would only remain with bitterness and hatred when you don't....

I'll simply say that you don't play to beat others, you play to beat your own expectations...and once you can do that, you develop a love for the game...

Also, there's the intrigue into trying to find out what every game contains, so you can figure out everything that a developer may have put into the game, and in so doing, you gain more respect as to what has been put into a game, turning it into a personal favourite, like how it's happened to me WRT Chrono Trigger .

Games are a source of escaping reality, even if only for a little while, but sometimes that escape can be just what you need at the time...so long that the games don't become your reality instead :?

I could write more, but i wanna see what others gonna write in here first...welcome back Shogie boy! Good to hear from you again, can't wait to see u back down here.

                     

[Shogun]

Well SPK, I really don't know when I comming back to TnT. Was supposed to come back for Christmas but, too expensive.


Anyways ya'll, I was just thinking the other day (while i replaying The Mark of Kri! ) what are some of the general personality types of gamers? You know you have those that really take it seriously, and some who just play for kicks. I'm sure I can dig deeper into the different personality types of gamers. It's like comparing Touya and Baego. what categories or stereotypes do you fit into? (and by the way stereotype doesn't have to be negetive)                    

[TriniXaeno]

lol, we had a solid thread on the old gatt site with all of the different gamer stereotypes.

lemme see if I can dig that up.                    

[Shogun]

HURRY UP BAEGO YUH TAKIN TO LONG!
                     

[TriniXaeno]

steups, the old site keeps linking back to this site.
some dns entry thing I guess and don't have de talant to fix.

sweat buss for that.

Rack brain iwmc!

Lemme take a crack at the first question.

Gaming has been a part of my life from as long as I can remember. From dos games on diskettes to Atari cartridges.

Countless man hours have been spent in this digital hobby.

I am hard core and as diverse a gamer as you can probably get. Equal opportunity sweatage on Console, Arcade, PC, Cell Phone, the works.

The things that I have grown to love:

The Fun.

Gaming has made for fantastic interactive entertainment.

The Stories.

Some of the most incredible tales have been told using this medium. Some comedic, some heroic, some sad. Quest for Glory 1 - 5 , Final Fantasy, Baldurs Gate, Police Quest, Spell Force, Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, etc...

The People.

I have met tons during this adventure, the vast majority of them good, fun loving folk that you will feel proud to share this gamedom with. Good friends, good comrades. Gaming knows no boundaries either, creed, country nor race. A truly international, cosmopolitan past time.

The Competition

Nothing beats the exhiliration of taking yourself to the edge and back again. Facing strong opposition, dire straits and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

The Things I Hate:

#1 Animosity. It is easy to trample over egos in what can be a very competitive gaming arena.

#2 Poor Sportsmanship. This works on both sides, for the winner and the loser. Without it, we can see a lot of point #1.

For the last part, personally....gaming has made me the man I am today. A lot of my role models have come from the virtual world. To this day, I fashion my life after that of the Avatar from the Ultima series and a Paladin from the Quest for Glory series. As cheesy as that sounds, lol

I've tried my best to be a "no nonsense" beacon for light in the world as these virtual heroes were in theirs.

Back on planet earth, got good grades, good jobs, loving wife and a wonderful kid. Pretty typical by the yard stick of our society. Nothing radical.

It has been a struggle to juggle both, especially with increasing demands on my time from the job and kid, but it is a challenge  I look forward to facing every day.

I'll give you an example.

For the Guild Wars MMORPG beta weekend, I had promised my son we would play together. He was really looking forward to it, but then I had to work in the office for the entire weekend.

Solution...hooked up my laptop to a DSL connection there, called him up on the phone and we played together. Can't think of another hobby / lifestyle that can afford a father and son such flexibility!

suhuweat!!!!!!!!!                    

[trinigamer]

Good: Stress release
Bad: Carpal tunnel syndrome                    

[camrE]

Another thing to note is the difference in the gamers. There are two major categories, everything else falls a subset to these two, which are; Console/arcade gamers and PC gamers. From what I have noticed from my stay @ gatt.co.tt. Is, the console gamers don't tend to agree on much, but the PC gamers seem to loathe or disacknowlegde the console gamers. This is just my general impression of the masses. it may not truly be so in every case. I respect both sides as I play on both sides, while I am a console gamer to the heart, There is a specific genre which does not work on consoles; Real Time Strats, which I am developing a rather strong affinity for. I remember playing hours and hours of Simcity on pc, I couldn't stop. But I prefer to play my FPS's on consoles. The main thing that turns me off from PC gaming is the lack of standards, hardware costs, and interaction. To sit and play via a keyboard is very uncomfortable to me, but then again RB prefers it. The driver conflicts and general software conflicts is another problem. And then there is hardware costs, when I buy a console I know it will be adequate for every game for it's life span, but when it comes to PC gaming, you have to upgrade your hardware quite a few times every couple years to keep up with the new gaming engines and stuff. It boils down to simply, different strokes for the different folks.