Girl Gamer

Pretty much a newbie... hopefully not a n00b :)

By TUID 3 years, 1 month ago • 5 Comments

Ok, here goes. I’m not much of a blogger… not much of a gamer at the moment! But, as I’m beginning to get more and more into the world of gaming, I figure here is pretty much the perfect place to attempt writing about it.

As I wrote in my bio, I’ve loved computer games since I was little… Pi-mania and Cuthbert when I was a kid, the Doom releases on the pc as I grew a little older, online Flash game sites saw me through years of university library sessions… but I always felt a bit shy about it. It wasn’t something any of my friends were into, and I could never afford all the cool consoles anyway (apart from a secondhand, battered Playstation 1 from my friend’s exboyfriend… my confession? I played Crash Bandicoot… and loved it).

When I met D, the husband-to-be, he was exactly the techie-gadget-gaming-surfing geek I’d always dreamt of finding, and suddenly I became aware of this wide world of gaming waiting for me! D and his brother own pretty much every console and techie joy going, and when he first lent me his PSP, I spent hours perfecting my Takedowns on Burnout. He bought me a Nintendo DS for my 28th birthday, and I drove Luigi and DryBones around endlessly attempting to get stars. He gave me Spore and Halo for the Mac… I managed to give myself tendonitis from overuse of the laptop trackpad.

This birthday, after having some quality nights in at his with multiplayer Deathmatch on Halo, I received an XBox 360 from his brother (he loves the upgrading!) and an HDtv from the mister. My wrist is strapped up safely, and I’m discovering how wonderful the world of XBox Live can be.

Here comes the real honesty, then. Just a few minutes ago, I played Matchmaking on Halo3 for the first time ever with a bunch of random gamers from around the world. I tied for first place, then won the second… and by the time I finished, I was actually trembling – like the proverbial leaf. I remember, in the early days of teacher training, asking my mentor whether he still got nervous taking his class… he smiled at the thought, and said that he couldn’t remember back that far. By the end of my short teaching career, I understood how that felt: to be confident, relaxed and totally at ease with it all. That’s why I wanted to record it today… the buzz, the sheer unfamiliarity of it all – yes, I want to get to being a confident, chilled gamer… but I also don’t want to forget this.