The earliest gaming experience I can remember is of me sitting in front of a TV, connected to which was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The SNES is definitely not the first videogame console to hit the consumer market, nor was it the first console I played. But for whatever reason, it’s the one that sticks most fondly to the most basic recollections of my gaming nostalgia.
I was introduced to such whimsical characters like the brothers Mario and Luigi, their severely underprotected Princess Toadstool, and the hovercraft-riding Bowser; I saved worlds from total destruction by the hands of evil entities such as Lavos, Smithy, and Ganon; I kicked ass and took names as a Street Fighter, a Double Dragon, and a Ninja Turtle; and sometimes, I’d just appreciate the scenery from above the Kongo Jungle canopy , driving along the sands of Koopa Beach, or scaling the cliffs of Yoshi’s Island.
As early as then, I knew I wanted to be involved in games for the rest of my life. Of course when you’re as young as I was when that desire set in, you don’t really have a plan on how to achieve the goal, and it didn’t help back then that game development wasn’t exactly a very well-advertised course. So I made do with what was available in those simpler times: books, paper, and imagination.
The first game I ever created was a very simple choose-your-own-adventure. I was a huge fan of the Goosebumps books (Ermahgerd) and my school library was stocked with them, which is interesting to note because I went to a Catholic elementary school and the Catholic Educator’s Research Center isn’t exactly a big fan of R.L. Stine’s work. My own version was only 15 pages long and had just three endings - good, bad, neutral - but I remember how great was the sense of accomplishment I felt upon completing it. That small step into game creation solidified my aspirations, and I decided soon after that I wanted to write stories for games.
Now, years later, I’ve helped make a handful of games for iPhone and Android devices. Aside from lending a hand at designing most of them, I was also given the chance to write the story and dialog for some. These opportunities arose after a couple years of writing about games for a popular local magazine, a job which itself only came to me after several years of non-professional game-related journalism. To answer the Avenue Q song, this is one thing you can do with a B.A. in English.
What does that have to do with this website? Well, as it turns out, I’m not the only one whose life has been hugely influenced by videogames. There are others out there who can speak about the positive transforming power of games. Games have repeatedly been cited as sources of inspiration and motivation. For some, games have helped them come to terms with their depression, their worldview, even their sexuality. Even medically, games have shown their effectiveness as tools for physical rehabilitation.
This website may only be a few hours old at the time of writing, but the stories and experiences it will eventually contain have been in the making since people first started playing games.