Girl’s Got Game – November 2005 – Article

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 !