A lot of people or kids growing up, I would assume can relate to video games in some way, shape or another. Whether you were a casual gamer or given a time limit from being obsessed with gaming from the start (this was me) can understand why there is such a vast appeal for gaming even at a young age as well. And if you were not as fortunate as some to have a console chances are you had friends who did have some that you would check out whenever you went there for a sleep over or after school fun!

The early days of my gaming were spent with my brother and sister and occasionally my mom trying to get the furthest on our Nintendo. My mom had another daughter who had passed away from a disease called Fanconi’s anemia. I wont go into detail in this post but you can read more about that here. We would all try to see who could get the furthest in an afternoon (remember there is no saves!) And try to get to Bowser than rescue princess peach! We also would try to play games that my dad had like a boat racing one that I cannot for the life of me remember as well as duck hunt. We even had the bright orange almost neon gun that was made of plastic and you used to shoot the ducks. If you missed be prepared to be taunted by the dog popping up over the tall grass too.

After playing this for years and seemingly being the only games my mom could kind of play with us, we received the original play station from Santa. And our family friends had gifted us destruction derby and Spyro the dragon (I know this really ages myself eh?). We played this for hours and hours. And as our friends got different games we would trade them for a week or two til we met them again. This was a good and free way for all of us to get different games without paying a rental fee or buying new games. And if we liked it we would end up saving our allowance to buy it. We ended up saving for the Crash Bandicoot’s and Spyro’s once they all came out as we loved those games a lot.

As we got older, my sister kind of fell off the bandwagon of gaming. Unless it was a classic she did not really want to be interested in them. My brother would slowly trade in the consoles he had as time went on getting a Nintendo game cube, then the ps2 when it came out. As well with games we would do the same thing. Trade them in for different ones at a local video game store. I normally got the same ones as always being the Spyro and Crash Bandicoots. They would be my top favorite and occasional other story games also too. My brother would trade them in for the newest resident evil games. I liked watching him play but even that gave me nightmares so I never played them myself. And he would always get the newest Super Mario or Mario Sunshine Games as well too.

As I got older and was in collage I jumped on the guitar hero bandwagon. I loved playing them in my dorm with my friends however it was always a joke and good time. Though my ex who was an absolute piece of garbage would smash them and replace them when he was mad at me. Thankfully he is out of my life since I was 20 and I have my current boyfriend of 10+ years who appreciates gaming as well too.

When my currently boyfriend and I first got together I did a bit of dabbling in call of duty on his ps3? Or maybe ps4? I’m not entirely sure I am nearly positive it was the play station 3, but I did play a bit due to not working a whole lot and when I stayed at his house he would be at work and I would have nothing to do. This was short lived because I eventually got a second job and had nearly no time left for anything let alone gaming.

Fast forward to when my boyfriend started playing Rainbow Six Siege. He was playing with someone who would be streaming. I was not really back into gaming however I did download a game on my laptop called Stardew Valley. It was such a fun game and reminded me of Harvest Moon from way back when I was a child. The more I watched him play Rainbow Six on his computer the more I thought that I could do that. Since he was on the PC I wanted to play but decided to start on the PS4. I found a few people from his friends stream who also played on console. And here we are today. I barely game on my (his) PS4 and I have my own computer. I did use his old potato after he upgraded but that was short lived due to it being so old and slow.

Now as of today, I would say I am a semi regular streamer streaming 3 days a week and trying to grow my community to include people from all around the globe. I know the impact and friendships that I have made streaming are some of the closest people I am in contact with today. So much so I probably talk to them more than my own family at times. The bond we have and the way you can disconnect from reality when gaming is incredible.

That being said, As silly as I thought it was when I was a child. I will more than likely limit screen time with my own children. There is nothing wrong with gaming or having some time on the screen however I do believe that an hour or two can quickly turn in to too many and then it becomes an addiction and a root of a lot of fights. I seen that with folks who had children far before I did. Sometimes it can be hard growing up with so much technology to remember that when I was a 90s kid there really was not a whole lot of technology around we had to essentially make our own fun!

What consoles did you have if any growing up?
What is your all time favorite video game?

Let me know in the comments below and I cannot wait to hear all about them!

• Stacey

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