Articles

From A Computer
Somewhere In The Berkshires…

…A gaming column is born. As Ned Flanders (come on admit it,
you LOVE The Simpson’s) would say. “ Hi-Diddly-Ho Adventure
Gamers “, welcome to the first Girl’s Got Game monthly
column. A column that will drag you kicking and screaming into the
mind of a female gamer (yes, we are indeed out there), who over the
course of these column’s; will make every attempt to use as
many pop culture reference’s as possible. GGG will be a monthly
opinion and article column, with a little madness thrown in for good
measure. Okay, let’s get the turkey in the oven, this month:
Thank God I’m a Gamer Girl.

Can we really be into
another holiday season already ? Wasn’t
it just Christmas, yesterday ? Time sure does fly, when you’re
in front of a computer screen exploring the world of ‘Guild
Wars ‘ (more on this RPG gem in a future GGG). Mean while,
off in the distance I hear the faint gobbling of Tom Turkey, as he
pleads for us to “ eat the other white meat this Thanksgiving “.
His gobbles regrettably go unheard, once again. On Thanksgiving we
gather to reflect back and give thanks for all that we have, so now,
so shall I…

• I am thankful for a recently
  upgraded computer, which allows me to indulge my every gaming whim.
• I am thankful for
  strategy guides in times of trouble, like this weekend, when
  I couldn’t get Sir Dan Fortesque to kill the
  first boss in MediEvil 2.
• I am thankful for
  my spouse, who understands what it means to be married to a gaming
  junkie.
• I am thankful to be
  living in a two-computer household, all gaming, any time.
• I
  am thankful that PS1 games are playable on PS2. The thought
  of not being able to play classics like Crash Bandicoot,
  Diablo and the
  like,
  would be like
  a world without ice cream or chocolate.

Now that I’ve gotten the holiday formalities out of the way,
let me get to the matter at hand; which would be introducing myself
to all of you wonderful Just Adventure + reader’s out there
in the cyber gaming world. I’m Helen Wassell and I reside in
the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts. I live with my partner
of six years, Paula and “ our three feline fur children – Shug,
Smudge and Avalon. “

I began my life of gaming
the old fashion way, with pencil, paper and a little tabletop RPG
called ‘ Dungeons and Dragons ‘ (you
might have heard of it). From my first roll of a twenty-sided dice,
I knew I was forever hooked. I would run adventures every weekend
(except holidays), taking friends into the deepest of dungeons, finding
all sorts of gold and treasures; all the while, fighting an assortment
of monsters. Dungeon crawling was the sport of gaming geeks everywhere,
of which, I would soon become a proud life long, card-carrying member.

Prior to my discovering ‘ D & D ‘, gaming was limited
to every Sunday morning with my mom. After church we would come home,
sit on the living room floor and play a board game; There really
wasn’t a favorite, it could range from an old stand by like ‘ Scrabble ’ to
one of the more popular games of the day, like ‘ Mousetrap ‘.

As I got older, my friend’s
and I would take a bus from the suburbs every weekend into the
city; heading down to Games People
Play, for some serious arcade action. Our jean pockets would eventually
get holes in them, from all the quarters they held. To this day,
I still love the atmosphere of arcades and the sound a quarter /
token makes as it goes in the coin slot. Long live old-school gaming
and those of us who played them, may those pinball machine lights
flash forever.

Zoom forward, the computer
age came upon us and brought with it, an entire new gaming universe;
from home gaming consoles (PS1, Game
Cube, PS2, etc.) to get up and go, hand held game systems (Game Boy,
PSP, etc.) to the interactive (not to mention, constantly expanding)
online computer gaming communities. I can’t wait to see where
the future of gaming will go next. I’m sure it will only get
better and better, after all, the universe is a pretty big space
to fill.

These days, most of my
gaming is done on the computer, PSP or PS2 and yes, I still do
play and love ‘ Dungeons & Dragons ‘ (both
table top and computer versions). The thing I have always loved most
about gaming is the interaction with other people, people who one
wouldn’t get to know otherwise.

I want Girl’s Got Game to be an interactive column, a place
for dialogue to occur. A place to talk about the spirit of gaming,
why we all love it so much and what we don’t love about it?
As Joan Rivers says, “ Can We Talk? “ Feel free
to drop me an email with your thought’s about gaming and what
you would like to read / now about in future Girl’s Got Game columns.

Until next month…Happy
Gaming !