In the early to mid-2000s, when I was an infant, my maternal uncle brought home a trinket from Russia, where he finished his higher studies. This particular one was left in the attic, forgotten, only to be retrieved a few half a decade or so later. When this gem was recovered, everyone in the family wanted a piece of it. Every single individual from my grandfather to my parents to me was intrigued and amazed by this foreign piece of technological marvel, which he had brought from the faraway land. I vividly remember my Grandfather rushing home from work, bubbling with excitement to tinker around with the trinket. The same was the case with all the other grown-ups.
The trinket he brought home was a video game called Syberia, don't remember if it was the first in the series or the second instalment whichever it may be the video game was a third person puzzle solving title, my memories aren't super fresh but aren't that rusty either I remember a common situation where everyone mainly me, my uncle, grandfather and my mother [ there may have been others but I can't remember sadly ]staring at the screen trying to connect the dots to solve the puzzle and progress ahead, while all the adults were there to see what will happen next.
I was simply excited to be there with the grown-ups and doing something together. It must be my first time bonding with someone, and the video game being the catalyst just made it special, I guess? I don't know if anyone has this strong emotion, memories and feelings attached to their first video game.
Syberia was my first taste of video games. There was a gripping story and beautiful environments, it is all that I can remember and my understanding of what a video game was that it is an interactive movie, it can be a valid explanation today too !!
A few years passed and my mother discovered a new video game which was also educational called bookworm adventures where you had to spell words from jumbled tiles to attack baddies and progress, longer the words = higher damage, it was fantastic to say the very least, the game inevitably had a positive impact on my diction and vocabulary on what scale and magnitude I may never know but I am absolutely sure there was an impact and thank you bookworm for that. For those who want to give it a shot, you sadly won't be able to, as the developers pulled the plug on it somewhere around the early 2010s. It is such a shame; it was fantastic while it lasted.
Moving on the next video game that blew my mind was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, can't put a pin on which year I discovered this infamous title but I am sure it was after the bookworm phase, it was the GTA 5 of my generation we were drooling over this for the same reasons kids these days drool over GTA 5 the reasons being " limitless freedom" which includes but not limited to harassing and assaulting innocent pedestrians, having cops come behind you [ can either raise hell by killing them and gaining more heat and evading them or getting busted.
The next reason is interacting freely with a boy's first love, aka driving or riding [in a car or bike] around the place at high speeds and feeling badass doing insane stunt jumps, because that's every small boy's dream, I feel, which one day they hope to fulfil, if no stunt jumps at least driving around the city at reasonable speeds will satisfy them. I am the living proof, as I got my driver's license a few days ago [ YAY !!!!].
I can be sure of this, as these were the reasons for my pubescent second cousin, who is very dear to me, drooling over GTA 5 and in the end, got his hands on them only to drive around just like I did then [for those wondering, I didn't buy it for him]. Back to GTA Vice City, it was here I was introduced to the mechanics and gameplay systems in a video game, which, till now, I didn't know or care about the story aspect of video games because my brain cells weren't active enough to perceive it, I guess. I had to go to various relatives' houses to play this, as there wasn't a proper PC at home; those big bros were gods to me.
The PC at my mother's house was fairly decent and could run games, and the game which had everyone buzzing was Need For Speed: Most Wanted. It is the perfect racing game to date. It had a generic story, fantastic gameplay, and a great open world. I had to get a pirated copy of it as I didn't know then that you had to buy it with real money. It flared up my flame to want to drive further; of course, I won't be doing any of what was done in the game in real life. I will be a responsible and sensible driver.
Now, when I was in seventh or eighth grade, finally, after literally years of whining and pleading, my father agreed to get a PC for our house. Till then, there was an ancient netbook in which no games could be played. The main reason why my daddy ji didn't get a PC was that he had literally no use for the machine, so I was exploding with joy when this borderline potato pc came home, as something was better than nothing. [I don't mean to sound ungrateful that beauty kept me going for years]
With this coming home, I didn't have to do the embarrassing dance of going to others' houses to game and that itself was marvellous. With the PC at home, I needed a game to play and obviously, I wanted GTA San Andreas because that was the talk of the town as it had a stupendously large map [at the time] among other things and this was the time I got to know the story aspect in video games and after finishing this one I was spoiled for story/script it was like watching an over the top Hollywood movie by Micheal Bay mated with a phenomenal script.
In Indian society, as far as I know, gaming/esports are looked down upon by all the uncles and aunties who believe they are at the top of the world, who know everything there is to know, beaming with abundant knowledge in everything imaginable. So when someone under this category asks you to tell everything you like to do, you are hesitant to tell gaming is your hobby maybe it's just me I don't know when I think about I may be the only gamer in the family there may be others under the radar hopefully the only person other than me who [used to] game is an uncle who can be labelled an outcast from the category above.
I believe the reason for fewer gamers in my family, other than my second cousin, was that either they didn't have the minimum requirement PC because budget-friendly PC don't have the specs to run it, which must be the main reason. After all, I have asked my cousins why they don't play games, and this was one reason.
I don't understand why gaming is looked down upon it is just like any other indoor hobby to name a few it is challenging, you need to get creative for it and most importantly you are living 100% in the moment, it is the peak of mindfulness when you look at it, you aren't anxious or concerned about the future, nor are you dwelling on the past, you are in the present thinking about how to pass this hurdle and progress further. Those saying it is virtual, it isn't real, it's a waste of time, energy and everything in between, I ask you isn't life just the same you do seemingly stupid and wasteful things like obeying others to get some printed papers at the end of the month, you eat things, you play dead for 10 or so hours when the sun goes down, you become happy and excited because of one thing while sad and upset because of another thing.
Life is what you make of it between birth and death, let people do what they want between it, as long as they are not hurting others physically and mentally. If they are doing it intentionally or otherwise know that they themselves are projecting their suffering just look at that hopelessness and pain and empathise with their misery, knowing that everyone is hurting in one way or the other, all of us are waiting for the end game some may the excited for it while others may feel the exact opposite, whatever happens, in the end, we all die that which I can say confidently is the only objective truth. Is it a respawn or a bonus level? Only we can find it out.
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