Cerise Magazine

I got a great many things from my mother: my love of reading, my imagination, and my independent attitude. But I always was and always will be my father’s daughter. I inherited his unpredictable memory, his propensity to be easily amused, and his love of all things involving science, including technology and electronic toys. My own love of technology developed at a very early age, mostly due to my father wanting to have the latest computer. My parents noticed and encouraged it as most girls weren’t interested in things of that nature. But nothing could have prepared them for Christmas of 1989.

Now, I was not the sort of child that should have been asked what she wanted. I never said anything ridiculous like a pony or a castle. Things I wanted were always easily attainable, but not something my parents had ever considered buying. When they asked me what I wanted for my fourth birthday, I said I wanted a cat. That was it—a cat. No mountains of presents, no flying horse or anything. A very realistic cat. What else could they do? So three weeks later, we were at the shelter and I was picking out my little orange striped cat, whom I had named Sugarball before we even went to the shelter.

So November rolled around. My parents ask me what I wanted. “I want a Nintendo.” I can even remember them trying to hide the shock. I didn’t know it, but a Nintendo was apparently very expensive. All I knew was that all my friends—especially the two boys next door—were getting them, and I wanted one too. My parents tried to make me forget the Nintendo. That Christmas was full of things I loved to play with: My Little Ponies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lego, etc. For months, my parents would ask me if I wanted other toys. But I always declined.

I had the Nintendo. As soon as we hooked it up and we turned it on for the first time, a gamer was born.

One day the following June, I came home from school and there was a giant box wrapped in newspaper. It wasn’t my birthday or Christmas or anything, but my parents told me to open it anyway. I tore the paper off to reveal a brand-spanking-new Nintendo with the light gun, running mat, and three games: Super Mario, Duck Hunt, and Track Meet. My parents laid out some ground rules for it—that I would only get 30 minutes a day on it, that I had to finish my homework before I played, and we wouldn’t buy any new games until someone beat the ones we had. I was totally fine with all that. I was totally fine with all that. I had the Nintendo. As soon as we hooked it up and we turned it on for the first time, a gamer was born.

I figured out pretty quickly that we got it because I wanted one, but mostly because my dad wanted one too. There’s that love of technology rearing its ugly head again! So my dad and I used to play together all the time. He finished Super Mario and picked out Super Mario 2 for our next game. It took me a long time, but Super Mario 2 ended up being the first game I ever finished. The rental store became almost as much fun to me as the library because I got a chance to play other games.

The next big thing in my gaming life was when the writer in me merged with the gamer. We got a Sega Genesis and my dad and I alike became absolutely addicted to Sonic the Hedgehog. We loved that he didn’t have a thousand confusing weapons, that he just had himself and his speed. It was a neat twist after the regular Mario side-scrollers. I started drawing Sonic, creating characters, and making comic books. This marked my beginnings as an author of fanfictions.

My evolution as a gamer reached its pinnacle when I went to college and got my very own computer. I could do whatever I wished with it. So I ran to the store with my heart set on putting a role playing game on it. I was torn between Everquest and Baldur’s Gate. I ended up with Baldur’s Gate as I left behind my Dungeons & Dragons group along with high school. It turns out this was a wise decision as I came to know people who had lost best friends, grades, significant others and jobs to Everquest. My PC gaming days opened up a whole new world with more game features, bigger stories, and more possibilities in general. As time went on, I learned how computer hardware worked. I’ve known enough to buy another after that one died, and I recently bought my third computer ever. I told my boyfriend it was for school, but we both know it was so I could play Neverwinter Nights 2. My old computer didn’t have the video card or the memory.

That—in a nutshell—was the short version of how this gamer was made. And all because my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas.

Current Issue:

Browse by Issue:

Categories

Search

You Want WHAT?!?

June 2007 Issue

Features

Interviews

Articles

Gamer Stories

Reviews