Reawakening of an Inner Gamer
Article by To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box. --- Read more from this authorLast year with some help from my friends I went to my first gaming convention, Phoenix Con Games. It was the start of my reawakening as a gamer. You may ask, what made it go to sleep in the first place? That would be a trip back in time…
From the age of 5-7 years old I really enjoyed playing games, at least when I could talk my sister into it. Games like Monopoly, and Sorry, and Hungry Hippos, Don’t Break the Ice…But as I got older and the age difference between she and I became more apparent. She stopped enjoying gaming like I did; she would rather hang out at the mall instead of watching her baby sister while Mom was at work.
You will need a bit of family dynamic, I was 5 my sister was 12, my parents divorced, turning our family into a single parent home. So while Mom was busy working to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads, it left my sister and me to take care of each other. My sister didn’t appreciate that much and didn’t like me because of it. I didn’t have many of my own friends, because I didn’t get along with people my own age and didn’t have the social skills to make friends. So I didn’t have anyone else to ask to play games with me either. The last time I had asked my sister to play I was 7, and here is how it played out:
“Sissa, Play a game with me please?” “No, go play in your room.” “Please? I will let you chose which game.” “No!, Do you want to go ‘hide’ in the cedar chest?” (Ok, now I was given a choice here…freedom or stuck in the chest until I gave up or right before Mom got home) “Fine.” *under my breath* “Meany!” As I walk out of the room.
I stopped asking at that point, Mom was too tired, Sissa wouldn’t play and there was no one else to ask.
My inner gamer fell asleep. 20 years later, I am living with friends who have become family, who I come to find out like games a lot. But I was “stuck” I would watch them play the games, stand back wanting to play but telling myself I didn’t really “feel” like playing. I was feeling left over echoes from when I was little. I was too afraid to ask if we could play something else or if they would teach me how to play the games that they enjoyed. A little bit before June 2008, they started discussing Con Games, and the excitement was contagious, I didn’t have the money as I wasn’t working at the time, so I didn’t think I was going to be able to go. They offered to pay my way, YAY! So with Hoss’s help I set up a tentative schedule of what I wanted to play or what I thought I wanted to try at the convention. That was just the beginning of the preparations! I organized Hoss’s Descent box without his knowing; my way of saying thank you. (He didn’t know until he got to the convention ahead of us.) I also helped him and Jolly Red Giant and Miss Kitty set up a life size board of “Kill Dr. Lucky” for a LARP game. Miss Kitty, The Boy and I were to arrive later with all of our stuff, Hoss and Jolly Red Giant had arrived earlier to the convention due to a morning breakfast tradition that they have. After we got everything packed into the car we headed to Mesa where the convention was being held. Arriving at Con Games 2008, we asked a bell boy to grab a cart to pack everything onto to get it into the hotel room. The convention itself was a bit of a whirl-wind. I ran into people I hadn’t seen in years and that I didn’t know enjoyed gaming. I tried a lot of games. One of the games that stand out in my memory is Hex Hex and its sequel Hex Hex Next, which I was introduced to by a friend. I did a midnight session of Arkham Horror. Being the only girl playing was a bit awkward for me at first but once game play started I forgot about it. I also did some non gaming things like belly dancing, which Zoot was running. At the end of the convention I was non-stop talking about gaming dice, and different games I wanted to try and gear I wanted to buy, and the next gaming convention and… Hoss winked at Miss Kitty “I think we made a geek” as he chuckles…
The geek was always there. I just needed other geeks to play with.
-Lady Bratt
Tags: gaming, inner gamer