What paths has gaming led you down....

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I have been gaming for years now, about 33 years. I have had love affairs with most types from CRPGs, Sports, War, RTS, etc.... but RPGs and RTS war games are definitely the main part of my gaming. Panzer General was my first war game per se and I have revisited it many times over. Long live SSI!(That would be "Strategic Simulations Inc".... for you youngings....)

But in recent years, mainly after I rec'd some WWII tokens from my father that were my grandfathers who served under Patton and was wounded badly in the Battle of the Bulge and survived, I have really started to read a lot of War Histories. First I read my grandfather's 5th Division book which all of the troops rec'd. From there I have found a passion for War History, mainly WWII and now WWI.

Where has gaming led you?

 

Not about gaming, but... My 2nd name is Ivan, which I got from my stepfather. He got his name from his uncle, who was a fighter pilot in WWII. He was a Brit shot down in an air skirmish over Arnhem NL, where he was subsequently buried.
Although I was born in Scotland, I lived most of my life in my mother's country, the Netherlands.

 

So you were playing RTSs and now you're reading books about WW2 because you realized that your grandfathers fought in it? I'm probably missing something in between the lines here, but how is gaming responsible for leading you there?

 

The progression was Panzer General(and other SSI classics..), to being introduced to family history of WWII(hence the PG connection....) to wanting to know more about the topic.

 

Gaming has provided me with a lot more self-assurance. For example, I am now able to confidently walk around naked in public, know that my ring of invisibility protects me from prying eyes. (Apparently the ring also has some sort of force field effect, because before people get too close to me, they seem to suddenly veer away.)

 

So much for a serious thread...

 

Not so much playing, but getting lost in modding has helped me through some tough times.

 

I'm studying Computer Games Development at university... I'm guessing that's the main thing.

Also would never have been friends with Frosty if it wasn't for our mutual appreciation for video games, we wouldn't have got talking back in year 8 and still be best friends nearly thirteen years later.

 

When I was about 8 years old, playing King's Quest and other adventure games resulted in a slightly more advanced English vocabulary compared to my class mates. But nearly 26 years later all the kids have caught up with me, I suppose, and gaming has lead me nowhere in particular.

 

OK, fine. Party-pooper.

Not so much a direct impact, but playing BG2 and looking for help led me to this site in 2003, and SP has been a reasonably important part of my life since then. I can’t say it’s really changed the paths I’ve taken so much as added to them.

 

Gaming has turned me into a Wild Mage with a 100% chance of a wild surge. Whenever I try to cast a Magic Missile upon those who irk me, it always seems to backfire, and I'm continually afflicted with Tasha's Hideous Derisive Laughter. I've given up on adventuring in real life, because my faulty character build makes it impossible to level up.

 

Here. For a decade.

 

Ditto though not for as long.

Blades, I actually remember SSI more for their D&D related stuff. Now that I think about it I remember that I refought a battle at least a few time when my party went into a room and found 2 or 3 beholders. Plus fighting sharkmen for exp.

I think I had (In Dark Queen of Krynn) a White Mage/Thief so I had a good character that could still do doors or traps or something (I'm not sure if that game made as much use of thief skills as BG2).

 

Yep. SSI was great for WWII games, Warhammer games, AD&D games and the best of all.....Buck Rogers! YEAH BAAAAABY!

IMO they are hands down, bar none, the best video game developer/publisher in the history of gaming.

 

It's forever in my biography, directly or not. Mostly the types of thinking I've learned, perspectives, looking at things, just doing them. For a moment I thought I'd perhaps end up working professionally in the gaming sector, but it's never happened. Right now, games are more of an off-hours thing than they've ever been.

Regarding genres, mostly RTS, RPG and grand strategy in a life scale, followed by econ/civ sims and car racers.

 

Let's see . . . LARP-ing the Thundercats in 3rd grade (without costumes) led to the creation of a Mary Sue, which sort of got that out of my system, allowing my later writing to be better. That particular Mary Sue also got me through (and out of) the stage of feminism where I actually thought women were better than men (instead of equals). So, I was a strange 3rd grader.

Gaming has also led me to most of my friends in one way or another.

 

They aren't?

 

No, they aren't. Especially not the stereotypical women (if any actually exist outside media, which is another issue entirely) who are catty, gossipy, and like stabbing each other in the back for no reason. Of course, men have an equivalent to that as well (though it tends to revolve less around gossip and more around beer and fart-sounds).

 

If you question whether they exist, you haven't spent any time in Asia.

 

All the men and women I've actually gotten to know have turned out to be decent people. Maybe this means I'm exceptionally lucky or maybe this means that the stereotype isn't as predominant as it seems. I suspect it's a little of both. And no, I haven't spent any time in Asia, but I have spent semesters in both France (2) and Russia (1), and I've met plenty of people who *seemed* to be like the stereotype, but turned out not to be once I got to know them better.