Welcome to the first entry in my new blog! I suppose that for my first entry, something of an introduction is in order.
I'm an aging, 34 year old man who grew up calling himself a gamer. Once upon a time, I considered myself quite the avid fan of video games in general, and I could tell you more than the average person about a large variety of many different game series, even ones I hadn't played much. Though I could never afford all the latest game systems, in my teenage years I tried to make a concerted effort to be as knowledgeable as I could be about the industry in general.
But as an adult, my hobby fell mostly apart. Life dealt me a rough hand in my early twenties, and I found myself financially unable to pursue more than a small handful of games, which I didn't have time to play. Furthermore, I became depressed and found myself emotionally unable to pursue most of my former dreams and passions.
I still tried to advance my video gaming persona where I could, and I got involved XBox Live in my twenties. I had always enjoyed playing multi-player games with my brothers growing up, and playing Halo 2 and 3, and other games online filled something of a void after I moved out on my own and lived alone. Looking back, I realize I developed something of an addiction, which began to have a bad impact in my life when my group of online friends moved on to various other games. I also realized later in life that this "addiction" was a large part of the reason I stopped playing the types of games I loved growing up.
I began to find healing in my late twenties for many of the things that had caused me emotional pain in my life. At 29 I got married, restructuring much of my life (generally for the better). At one point, while my wife was pregnant with our daughter, I chewed out some party members for their poor performance in a game of Halo: Reach. Soon after I became ashamed, and realized that this was something I would never have done years ago. I thought about the daughter I would soon be raising and the type of father I wanted to be. Although it wasn't easy, I decided to quit online Halo games for the time being and focus on other pursuits.
That decision has had a positive impact in my life in many ways. In particular, as relates to this blog, it opened the door for me to rediscover (and in some cases newly discover) many of the games that I loved most growing up. In playing old favorites like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and The Legend of Zelda, I feel like I have rediscovered a part of me that had nearly died out in me. And I found I've had some very memorable, enjoyable, and positive experiences in following that part of me.
Recently I've been feeling a desire to share some of my experiences for anyone willing to read them. After some consideration, I decided a blog would be the perfect way to proceed. At various points in my life I've been told I had a talent for writing, but I've never really had a chance to develop that talent. Maybe creating a blog about something I have such passion for will help me to rediscover another long lost passion for writing. Whether it does or not, I think that I might well enjoy keeping a blog for at least a little while.
