It is difficult to put one's own experience into words. For some, it takes years of study and several years of bold-fleshed experience to just come up with a few chapters in their life's book. I am in a similar rut. Perhaps writing on my gaming experience will unlock chapters of my life for me to relish and meditate on. Though I am twenty-one years old, and my first console was an N64, I believe that there is something worthwhile in my experience with video games. They have shaped me, molded me, and at times ruined me. I recollect fond times of the golden years of Dofus, where I made a few friends and even a few enemies! Enemies are a very precious resource to a man. They are rivals. They challenge you, push you to further better yourself in ways that you would otherwise not even consider. This game-fueled rivalry has powered gamers to levels of fanaticism that has led to sibling rivalries all the way to national e-sport disparities. Who would I be without video games? What would my perception be on life without them? Perhaps I would have read more books, paid more attention in school, gotten better grades, gotten into a better college. But, the writing on the wall is written; I cannot erase it.

As of now, I sit in my college's library and type this. It is what I most enjoy; the raw exchanging of information between others. I thoroughly enjoyed Jeff's Jar time. It was such a personal exchange. I enjoyed his honesty and out rightness in answering user posted questions. It had some sort of, a sort of grit that other videos posted on this site don't possess. Premium content like TNT is amazing, but it is a show that has been at least somewhat scheduled. The camera pans, video effects are sprinkled liberally, and the guys just have a good 'ol time. But, it obviously does not reach the level of personal exchange that I so relish. Not to say that I don't enjoy it all. My usual routine, because where I stay doesn't have internet (I'd never leave my place if it did), is to download a few videos from GB and watch them if I get bored. I'm something of an LP addict, and I have watched my fair share of videos in the past. I would not and could not quantify said amount of videos. However, the amount is most likely more than a normal human being should partake.

Let us turn back to the subject at hand. My experience with video games stems from a rich history with Nintendo to the PC-oriented gamer that I am today. I started off with an N64 when I was, say, 8 years old? Just a guess. My family owned one of each system up to the Wii. They got me and my brother, starting from the Game Boy color (which has long since been thrown away) to the DS, both one of each of the handhelds. I have many memories of playing with my brother on my N64. Hours of Goldeneye, dual-wielding dostovels and beating my younger sibling's ass. We played tons of Mariokart, tons of OOT, plenty of Majora's Mask, Yoshi's Story, and SSB. On the Gamecube, we played WindWaker and SSBM. With our handhelds, we played Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and Metroid. On the Wii, our tastes differed. He enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy, I did not. He enjoyed Twilight Princess, I did not. I did not enjoy the Wii very much--so, it gathered dust. I found that I was bored with the gameplay offered up by Nintendo. Now that I was older, playing a Zelda game just didn't hold the same clout as it used to. This is where PC's really take hold of me.

In elementary school, my brother introduced me to Runescape. Thus began my foray into MMORPG's. For a few years, I played. I let it suck up all my time and it really ruined my grades. I regret the time I put into it all. I did make one friend, but I lost him in internet obscurity. Though he resurfaced later, it was but for a short time( I still remember you, FirePikachu. My apologies for not keeping current with you). It is this friend that introduced me to Dofus. After I was banned (for trivial reasons) I followed him to this brand new MMORPG. Touted as the first flash-based MMO, its French charm and grotesque cartoon influence won me over. Not only that, but its turn-based gameplay was refreshing and delightful to me. Bearing in mind that I played Fire Emblem for an entire year before I got tired of it, I fell head over heals for Dofus. The community was amazing, so mature and stocked with plenty of members of the opposite sex, the gameplay was new and exciting, and the classes were all unique and fun to play. I played for a few years and quit, but kept coming back to it. I still play today, but am on the verge of quitting. The reason I started up playing again was because I wanted to play a game with some of my friends. Let me touch on that subject some.

When I was about 12, we had some new neighbors move in. They introduced me to the Age of Empires series. This began my romance with the RTS genre. My house had a few computers in it, so we would host LAN parties for our friends to partake in. We'd spend hours playing multiplayer games in which I always reigned the champion. Unfortunately, I later realized that the only reason I won was not because I was good at video games, but because they were bad at them. To be fair, they were all younger than me and I sunk a lot more time into each video game than they had. We had such fun playing that series. It warms my heart just to think about it all. In this way, video games can be a positive influence on one's life. I would not nearly be as close to all those guys if we didn't LAN it up every night. I always rolled Spanish. Conquistadors all up in this bitch. I have faster gold miners, so what if they're expensive? They're the perfect hit-and-run assailants. No, everybody, you have to make 5 villagers the first age and 15 the next. Always keep pumping villagers. Hey, guys, "," and "." are great hotkeys. Good times, good times.

I haven't even gotten started about TF2. Oh my God, that game, that game. The game that never gets boring. It has held my attention ever since it came out. I also enjoyed the Half-Life series, too. So many games to talk about. So many LP's that I've watched. Some of which were pulled down and may never resurface on the web. But, that is what makes life priceless. One's own personal experience is what determines his outlook on life. Perhaps I will share my thoughts on a deeper level on some games that I have played. Maybe you will join me? Perhaps you will learn about your own self in my endeavors to ultimately understand myself. Good day.