The Games of Life
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
I have been a gamer all of my life; in fact, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t playing them. Even before the advent of video gaming in the early seventies, I loved anything to do with games. My father was an avid gamer, and he passed the love of gaming to all of his children. It started with board games like Risk (that took days to completely dominate the world), Life and chess, and he even created some board games of his own as well that we would play with him. My dad would take over the basement floor with a group of friends and reenact World War II battles using plastic soldiers and armament. We weren’t allowed to go down there for weeks, on the off chance we would knock over a well placed platoon like some kind of kiddie panzer tank. My mom is more of a card player; she and I still love to play card games whenever we get the chance to, so you could say that games are in my blood.
When the very first video games came out it was only natural that they would end up in our home. My father would have loved video games if he had lived long enough, but after fighting a brave battle with stomach cancer for three years, he succumbed in 1972. He missed the video game revolution totally, but sometimes I imagine what it would have been like if he were alive still. I can see him in my mind’s eye at age eighty-seven, controller in hand, as excited as a kid in a candy store; probably playing a role playing game because he loved stories as much as I do, or a strategy war game, as he loved history as well.
The first game we ever played was Pong (of course), as most older gamers started with this staple. I believe it was a Magnavox Odyssey console because I remember getting it at Sears, one of my family’s favorite stores. The next console I can remember getting was the Atari 2600; it had several games to play including Space Invaders and Pac-Man, both of which I had played as console machines in the bars I worked in. It is amazing to me as I think back on these early games that we were all so caught up in them, as simple as they were. Working in the bar scene as I was, I saw people waiting in line to play the seated arcade game consoles when they were first released. You could see the future of video games would be a bright one.
Burger Time
The next console I owned was the Commodore 64, which was actually a computer and capable of playing an incredible amount of games. I can remember playing a few like Burger Time and Duck Shoot. These were a lot of fun and could be hard at the same time; I must have spent hours trying to beat them.
The Sega Genesis and its many games, including Sonic the Hedgehog, were the next additions to my video gaming experience. By this time I had a five year old who loved to watch me as I played it. I think I had a Nintendo at some point after that, but then came the console that changed everything for me: my first PlayStation.
It was through the PS1 that I became totally involved with RPG games. I think I’ve played every title available in this genre for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles. My brother is also an active gamer and loves RPGs, so we would swap games back and forth. Games like Suikoden, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Xenosaga and of course Final Fantasy were always in my collection. Many still are, including every Final Fantasy from seven to thirteen (sans eleven), Final Fantasy 7 being my favorite game of all time so far. In many ways Final Fantasy 7 set the bar for all of the RPGs that came after it; its use of story to create emotional response was unparalleled and it deserves to be recognized for that fact alone.
(NorseNote: some of the older Final Fantasy titles are just as engrossing in terms of plot, but lacked the graphical oomph that FFVII introduced to a lot of gamers for the first time.)
Playing these games was an escape from the hard realities of life for a little while. I’ve worked hard to put food on the table, and this gave me a way to relax and enjoy beating a monster or two, or solve a difficult puzzle to be able to move on in the storyline, (though I must admit I sometimes felt like a blind man trying to find his way out of a corn maze). This is what gaming has always been to me, it is my 
version of playing a sport or whatever other people do to relax and forget about life for awhile.
When I got a PlayStation 3 back in December of 2009 for Christmas, everything changed for me once again because I discovered Home. This happened at a time in my life when I was coming to a sort of crossroads and had to make some hard decisions about which direction my life was going to take. Home helped me to make a few of these decisions by giving me some new friends in my life who I could talk to about things that I didn’t feel as free to speak of to the people populating my real life. Having this sounding board helped me to do what I had to do, and I am glad that I did.
Before coming to Home I had never been in a chat room or online playing any game in my life with the exception of some card games on Yahoo Games. Being able to play a game like Red Dead Redemption with a group of friends revolutionized how I think of gaming and being able to have a group of friends from all over the world to speak with on camera or in Home has changed my whole perspective on gaming in general. It has opened my eyes to the incredible future that console gaming can have for us all.
Having lived through the evolution of gaming from its infancy to the present, it amazes me how far we have come in just the past five years alone. Home is a unique experience — one that no other console has yet. But I think that once the other manufacturers realize the potential that Home represents as a place of not only social interaction between gamers but also advertising for their future games and merchandise, they will all jump on the bandwagon. We in Home are leading the way for a new revolution in the way people think about gaming, though I for one still believe that Home is much more than a game, and I always will.
Some of my many friends.
With the great leaps and bounds that the industry has experienced in the past ten years, I can only imagine what the future holds for all of us. The new 3D technology now being introduced into television is going to play a factor in the development of future games, but whether it sticks…only time will tell. As for Home and the role it will play in all of this, I see a future where a virtual reality like Home is the norm for people on any console and also a way for us as human beings to interact and connect with the world and its people with a depth never before available to us.
The future of video gaming is secure, though when it was first introduced many believed it would just be a flash in the pan. There was even a time back in the early eighties when video gaming took a dive and was almost abandoned because the market was glutted and some of the manufacturers made bad decisions about the games they produced. I don’t see that ever happening again, through the beta testing and feedback they now receive, developers have their fingers on the pulse of what people want. As the saying goes, “We’ve come a long way, baby,” and I believe we have a long way to go.
November 26th, 2011 by Burbie52 | 3 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
I too remember the time when “Pac-mania” was huge,at the time it was revolutionary stuff.Speaking of board and card games I think Home would be a good place to try some of them out because 1st most have ppl that already love them so you got a built-in fanbase.2nd Home can offer some pretty good inter-activity between players,which is something many older video games based on board games lacked and which Home could probably do better than a disc-based developer could now.3rd it would be something Sony could easily monetize,no 1 expects to get a board game or card game for free.Like Norse I’m surprised Poker on Home is and always has been free,it was the main reason I never bought a disc-based Poker game and probably still wouldn’t unless the price was close to what a disc-based developer was charging.4th I think many board games makers would cut a fair deal with Sony,some board games aren’t as big as they used to be.Probably many reasons for that but certainly 1 is price and the manufacturing costs,which I’m totally guessing here but I’d imagine would be less for Sony.Sony only has to make it once while,let’s say,Parker Brothers would have to make 50.000 units seperately also the profits from some of the card games wouldn’t even need to be shared.I’d certainly pay $5to$10 to be able to play a game of Clue in my Cutter Ridge estate with some of my Homies.Lastly these types of games don’t require high tech graphics to be judged as success’ and wouldn’t require any of the top-self graphics that FPS(and probably other types as well) players seem to demand.Nice trip down memory lane Burbie,makes me want to break out my 20 sided dice for some D&D action.
Right on Burbie!
I totally agree with you about Final Fantasy 7, that game changed everything. It’s amazing to remember a game and it can take you right back to where you were in your life when you where playing it!
Video games are simply fun. They’re not just for kids and people of all ages love to play them. Women are also becoming a bigger part of that population as well.
They are in effect an escape from the real world where one can be who and what they want to be.
Love your articles Burbie.