The past to the future. Why I think games are lovely, lovely, things.

My name's Shaun Carr and I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember in one form or another. My earliest gaming memory is way back in the day, when we had one of those old Amstrad things. I remember the games used to come on cassette tapes that I had to rewind when I was finished playing. Then I was bought a Sega Megadrive and experienced the wonder that was Sonic The Hedgehog - the one game that I actually played with my dad.


It wasn't until a few years later when I went round to my neighbors house to play with action figures (or something) that my obsession with gaming really began. As I was walking through his kitchen I saw his dad sat in front of a big beige PC. We didn't have one of our own at this point so, curious, I wandered over to see what he was doing. 
'It's time to kick-ass and chew bubblegum. But i'm all outta gum.' came the arrogant drawl from within that magical beige thing. Duke Nukem 3D. 
I'd seen FPS games before... at least I think I had. Doom, maybe. Somewhere. Possibly. But this... this crazy man with his mouse and his keyboard? It boggled the mind to not use a controller, yet here he was; chucking pipe-bombs at pig-cops and being chauvinistic to strippers with all the freedom and accuracy of a skydiving-ninja.


Then some time later, whenever it was that Quake 2 came out, I remember sitting in my friend's  bedroom as his dad came thundering up the stairs; bursting into the room with excitement.
'I'm playing Quake, online, against other people, from like, all over the world!' It was like sorcery and I was hooked. Consoles just didn't give me this kind of freedom, this connectivity and sense of community that the PC does. I've never looked back since. 


I firmly believe that games are art. Society just doesn't know it yet. No other form of entertainment media connects with people in the same way that video games do. I've ridden wolves across the great, empty, plains of The Barrens on Azeroth and stood sword and shield in hand, protecting my friends from giant slavering monsters. I've been to a future vision of China and walked its neon streets; beating up goons with my cybernetic fists and to the Orwellian nightmare that is City 17 as Gordon Freeman.


People love to travel and see new places in real life and they're respected for doing it. 'Ooh ain't you grand for broadening your horizons!' they'll cry, and I'll agree. Travelling is one of the most mind opening and interesting experiences you can have. And I've done it to a degree. I'll continue to do it. But when I don't have two grand in the bank to go backpacking around Thailand, i'll still be taking a bathysphere to the underwater dystopia that is Rapture. I experienced the same sense of wide-eyed wonder riding a train through the vineyard covered valleys of Italy as I did cresting that rock to see Andrew Ryan's underwater metropolis. And they say that games promote violence and hatred.


A well made game is a beautiful thing, and I'm proud to be part of the first generation of people to truly experience them. I'm literally going to be among the first wave of geriatric gamers sitting in their wheelchairs, headsets glued to their ears, blowing each other up on Team Fortress 2. Retirement is going to be a blast.


So, swing by if you can. Cos' I'm all out of gum.