This. Is. Everything.
I don’t know if you guys know this, but I’m a gamer. Well, not a gamer in the sense that I play Halo, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft or anything like that. Games have been a big part of my life though. I love video games, computer games, stupid iPad apps, etc. I get addicted to finding every coin, getting the best score, completing missions–everything!
Nowadays games are so high tech. I mean, they seem cool, but they just go way over my head. I have this game on my iPad called Temple Run (it’s so addictive) and the objective is to run as far away from these monkeys that chase you through the jungle. The graphics are better than anything that’s on my N64. It really amazes me.
Computer games really started me off early as a gamer. And I know these games are totally lame, but I still pop them in every once and a while for a walk down memory lane. They all had cheesy names like Pajama Sam, Spy Fox, Feddie Fish, and Putt-Putt. My brother and I still make references to these games. I remember kicking each other off of the computer because we each had our own game going. Perhaps one of the biggest shocks of our lives was when we found out that Freddie Fish was a girl. WHAT?! Still doesn’t make sense.
I was probably around 9 or 10 when Rollercoaster Tycoon came out. I would literally sit for hours playing that game. During 6th grade in Tech Lab, there were different areas where you could, I don’t know, do tech-y stuff. In one of the sections they had a computer set up with Rollercoaster Tycoon. I guess building virtual Rollercoasters is considered lab work. I stayed at that computer for the entire class. The next morning, someone went on my saved game and ruined the park that I had built so carefully. They were clearly jealous of my amazing skills.
Once Nintendo 64 rolled around, there was no turning back. I had no time for Rollecoaster Coaster Tycoon. Super Mario 64 was a family affair in my house. My parents played it just as much as we did. Such good memories.
After that, gaming systems were being launched every other year–Sega Dreamcast, Playstation, GameCube, X-Box, X-Box 360, etc. They all offered some great games. Crazy Taxi was one of my absolute favorites.
Last night on the Daily Show, they compared the Florida Debates to Mortal Kombat and called it “Floridal Kombat”. They depicted Mitt Romney K.O.ing Newt Gingrich. It was pretty funny. Paul leaned over and said, “Do you even know what Mortal Kombat is?” I looked at him, narrowed my eyes, and said “Do you even know who I am?” 
Lily In Canada 
I used to play Civilization for hours. I think I played for 12 hours straight, once. Fun stuff. And I liked the old infocomm text adventures, too.
Civilisation, what a game! I had the original one on the Amiga.
Great times. Awful graphics.
Civilization is cool, but I never got super into it! Maybe I should re-visit it? It’s so easy to play a game for 12 hours, lose track of time, and cry yourself to sleep because you have literally no life. I mean…what?
I totally had no life at the time. And I played some depressing music while I played – Leonard Cohen mostly – as if hating my job and my house and my prospects wasn’t enough to depress me. I was usually so tired by the time I finished I didn’t need to cry myself to sleep I just sort of passed out on the bed. Fun times!
Passing out into a gaming coma sounds like the best way to go about things. I’ll have to try that sometime…!
If someone has found a good way to deal with depression that doesn’t involve passing out I certainly haven’t heard about it.
It’s always a surprise when a girl turns out to be a gamer!
I have spent far, far too much time and money over the years on games. Had just about all the consoles over the years as well. Crazy Taxi was great fun – did you know the turbo move where you put it into forward gear, then reverse and then forward again really quickly?
I never knew that trick! Wow, that probably would have helped a lot. They had the Crazy Taxi arcade game on the ferry from Dover to Calais. I remember playing it and getting super seasick and wanting to kill myself.
Funny that you started with computer games. I got my start on classic Arcade games before they became “classic”.
My girl is a huge roller Coaster Tycoon fan, but I prefer to blow stuff up (read stuff as people).
How did the conversation with Paul end?
Oh yeah I can definitely appreciate Pac Man and Galaga and stuff like that. Those are always fun.
The conversation pretty much ended with Paul calling me dumb. Then we went to Dairy Queen.
I started with PONG. *crickets-tumbleweeds*
It’s true, these were great family mems. When you have kids, games will be amazing!
I can’t believe Paul could ask such a crazy question?!
Pong and Asteroids!!! Those were the days my friend!!
We thought they’d never end!
Pong…so challenging. The Wii already amazes me. How could it get any more life like?
Paul just doesn’t understand my life sometimes.
Yeah, how DID that conversion go???
I was only allowed to play Oregon Trail. I think it is because I died very quickly, thus allowing Bud and Anne to continue their hours long times on the PC to commence. They have all the game systems and, on occasion, I am allowed to play.
Who am I kidding? I play Gardens of Time. Oh, well.
The conversation pretty much ended there.
Oregon Trail was fun, but you would always end up dying of dysentery and that’s always depressing.
I’ve never heard of Gardens of Time, but that sounds like something you would play. 😉
I have a strange addiction to Angry Birds, I got three stars on every level then got a new phone so now I have to do it all over again. Agh.
I used to love playing Age of Empires II when I was at college, which is probably why I’m not on 100k a year hah!
I was strung out on angry birds for a long time.
Me, too. I’d play for hours. HOURS. Damn pigs.
Angry birds is great. Getting 3 stars in everything is crazy! Nice work. Having to star over sucks though..
Never played age of empires but it sounds good!
i have great memories of gaming with you–not counting a few icy levels of ‘mario 64’ that i still despise for their stupidity (and penguins)–especially you showing me what it looked like underwater on ‘crazy taxi.’ good times, and some things never change: recently bud was trying to show me how great the graphics are on ‘sky rim’ and my first question to him was “yeah, but what’s it look like underwater?”
Hahah. Everything is cooler on underwater levels. I don’t think either of us have been more scared in our lives then when we saw that eel on the underwater Mario level. Terrifying.
The penguins were the most annoying. So many good mems.
I never made it underwater. Just reading these comments regarding the good times playing games makes me want to ban Bud and Anne from my Wii, even though I struggle to succeed in Wii Fitness.
P.S. Always a bit of a blink occurs when I see Bud mentioned here, and it’s not my Bud. The whole, “How do they know Bu–oh, yeah, it’s LiC’s Bud.”
I love knowing this about you. That you’re 6′ tall, and that you play video and computer games. They don’t really have anything to do with one another, but I’m just building a mental picture.
Alas, I was afraid of dying in video games, so I rocked out Tetris and that’s about it. But we do have a Wii and swiped my bro’s Mario Kart for a while. That was fun, and dying wasn’t a big fear. Skill, that’s my angle.
Hah such a lovely visual. 6 feet tall, staring at a screen playing games. So normal.
Being afraid of dying is understandable. Tertris is fun! Mario kart is great! I’m always yoshi.
I have never even played Pac*Man.
That’s okay. You’re probably doing bigger and better things with your life!
That sounds like a confession?
It is a confession. My hand-eye-coordination is, well, it doesn’t exists. So, I would be a total loser at any and all things gaming.
This is why I died in every game in the beginning. First crevasse I’d come to, down the hole I went, so, I was allowed to play Mario. Once, in Oregon Trail, I died before we left. *sigh*
Luckily your hand eye coordination does not impinge on your lipstick or mascara application.
Whoa, whoa whoa. Maybe I do have great hand-eye-coordination because my lipstick and mascara application are always perfect. Picture perfect. I smell a sub-text to Lily in Canda’s blog on gaming. “Does Gaming Make You Smarter and a Better Athlete?”
I was never good at video games. I stopped at PS2 and even that I received a few years too late. I remember first hearing the name Playstation and I thought it was a child’s jungle gym with a slide. I never got why 14 year old boys wanted one so bad until I saw it.
Roller Coaster Tycoon was definitely the best computer game. The only thing I didn’t like was that they’d be too afraid to ride a coaster that in real life would have been epic.
In 10th grade “website design” class there was one computer that had a racing game. It was probably a game from the early 90s or maybe even 80s. Still, we fought over that computer. We also didn’t have the Internet at school which made most of the class pointless. How do you design a website with the Internet?
Any time someone threw up in my park in RCT, I would dunk them into the water–they would flail around for a while, and then I would save them. Teach them to never puke in my park again.
How did that class work without the internet? I remember my high school had the internet but they blocked email websites, myspace, etc. So boring/no point.
But yeah any time you can play computer games in a school setting, its like a little bit of heaven.
We used a mock Internet. The class made no sense and I literally didn’t go on the Internet for a year after it.
I’d do the same in RCT. Sometimes to suspecting victims. Or I’d name them after people I didn’t like and let them drown. Bwahaha
And the teacher rubbed people’s backs a lot. As creepy as it was, he did get a couple of knots out.
Hahah I would name them too, but I never thought about naming them after enemies. I just liked being able to call them something after they littered or puked. “Dammit Pablo, what’s you’re problem?!”
It’s always so bizarre when teachers touch you. What’s the proper response? Nervous laughter would be mine.
You have to play zoo tycoon w/ the aquarium add on. You can feed unruly guests to the sharks!
You’re the cutest “non-gamer gamer” I’ve ever seen, Lily!