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Gaming
Some of those who have spoken to me at some length may already know that I lost my father to Prostate Cancer this October. As of today, my mother was diagnosed with Stage 1 Breast Cancer. Among the obvious internal and external emotional conflicts, this latest news has led me to a lot retrospectives these last few weeks as my family and I have waited for official prognosis. One of the larger excursions into dredging up past memories was how video games helped create fond childhood memories that I will always carry with me.
Gaming in my family started with the ColecoVision. Coleco had a giant manufacturing plant in my town back in the early 80's as did Universal Studios (MCA at the time). Given such convenient locational conditions, most of my friends and I had ColecoVisions. This was no Atari town! Also, like most of my friends, my Coleco collection was both extensive and pilfered from the manufacturing plant by relatives who worked there.
The Coleco stayed at my grandparent's house, where I spent the majority of my childhood surrounded by streets filled with children around my relative age. My grandfather, who was newly retired at the time the Coleco emerged was the biggest Coleco addict in the family, especially when it came to LadyBug. I remember just staying in bed late at night, listening to the sounds of him playing LadyBug until 2 or 3 in the morning, smoking his BelAir cigarettes and drinking Gennessee with a sprinkle of salt. Certainly he would play other games when the mood struck him but LadyBug was his thing. The man would sit there and loops the score multiple times in one sitting.
My mother's favorite Coleco game on the other hand was Cabbage Patch Kids Adventure in the Park. A great little arcade-platformer that holds a lot of warm childhood memories for me. Trying my best to compete against her and my aunt, everyone laughing and the competition was always playful and friendly. I have long since forgotten the patterns and timings of the game but what I'll never forget is this extra connection with my mother that the game provided me. Both my mother and I were enjoying the same thing, not just the game but the competition between one another. It wasn't one of those moments where a parent or a child engages in an activity because the other wanted to. We both thoroughly enjoyed the game as well as spending time together. It's a very enriching memory for me.
My father was much more strict and tended to have little patience for such things. Only twice in his life was he lured by such flippancies as video games. During my time with the NES one of the games that I had rented was Adventures of Lolo. For some reason I still can not fathom, watching me play the game had caught my father's attention and he became enamored with the game for a time. We would sit there together, share and compare strategies for the different levels and bounce ideas off one another. That was until we got to one stage. I don't remember which stage it was but it simply had the both of us stumped for a few days. Nothing either of us tried had worked and it became a point of frustration.
That was until one day I woke up to hear my father playing that stage over and over again in my room. I simply laid there with my eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the game and running over that stage in my head which had been burned into my brain. After a few minutes and a few choice words from my father it came to me. The solution which we seeked. I through off the sheets and jumped out of my bunk bed and dashed towards the controller, much to my father's surprise.Snatching the controller from him I quickly executed my perfect plan while explaining everything to my father and sweet success was had. This must have wounded my old man's pride some as after that he had never returned for the final few stages, something I didn't realize at the time.
The one other time a videogame had grabbed his attention was Hal's Hole-In-One Golf for the Super Nintendo. Golf was one of the few sports my father engaged in and had a passion for. I'm certain the fact that I had taken a liking to the sport along with some of his other choice activities such as chess was a point of pride in my old man. While the old man could easily best me in the actual sport with his numerous years of experience and practice, a golf video game was a whole different story. We were on even ground. Our battles would constantly sway back and forth until we were both averaging 18 under par on any course.
The point that I'm trying to make out of all of this is that growing up video games played a large role in creating childhood memories that I don't think I could ever forget. Spending time with my family with an activity I loved with it's friendly back-and-forth competition is a fond highlight of my childhood. It's something that I look forward to continuing with my own son as I watch him grow up and his taste in games is heavily affected by the types of games that I play and introduce him to.
I hope that during this season of family, friendship, sharing and giving, good will unto men that we all remember not just that we are gamers but why we are gamers. Take some time to reflect back on your life and remember why you enjoyed this hobby in the first place. I'm certain for most of us it's not actually the competition of the challenge of the game but the camaraderie and community that gaming brought together. Gaming is a very wonderful hobby after all...
Thanks for reading such a long winded recollection and as much as your condolences and well wishes are appreciated, what would help me most during this time of my life is to hear about your childhood memories of gaming, how it drew you closer to friends or family and in this time of media blitz and focus on the "evils of gaming" the good things that can come out of the hobby.
May you and yours have a safe and happy holidays,
~Jer
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