Change is one of the hardest things to accept.
As I am going into my 40’s, I have finally had to accept a
few things in life.
My hair is no longer brown but filled with streaks of gray.
My weight…ummm…is more than it used to be.
My athletic conditioning…ummm….is less than it used to be.
I could go on and on.
I can deal with these changes.
However, I am still struggling with one thing.
My blog is entitled “Random
Thoughts of a Middle-Aged Gamer.” Well,
when you look at my posts, not that many are about games.
I am getting to the point that I have to accept that I am no
longer a “gamer.” I spent more than 35
years playing almost every game and system under the sun. I’ve cycled through pong, the Magnavox Odyssey,
Atari 2600, ColecoVision, NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Playstation, Nintendo 64,
Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, 900 different versions of the Gameboy, Xbox
360, Wii, etc.
As work and family responsibilities have grown over the last
several years, I’ve seen myself change from a hardcore gamer to a casual
gamer. I long for the days when I could
drop 80 hours into an RPG, but those days are gone. I am lucky to get a small amount of time on
an iPhone game or on my DS. My last
console game played was….gasp….Nintendo Land on the WiiU. Not real hardcore, although I do play a good
game of Mario chase.
With the newer generation of consoles arriving, I have had
to deal with my mid-life crisis. I am
not a hardcore gamer anymore. I will buy
the consoles for my kids and try to play when I can, but the man who played
Shining Force for three straight days is gone. He has been slowly replaced by a father who
spends time with his kids, coaches youth sports, and runs a scout program. I spend more time trying to teach kids
wilderness survival and how to cook over a tin can than I do saving the world in
the latest video game.
Long story short, all good things must come to an end. I originally started this blog because I thought it would reignite a fire in me to become a hardcore gamer again. It didn't. It just helped me to realize that I am not that person anymore.
This will be the official final blog post for “Random
Thoughts of a Middle-Aged Gamer.”
The blog won’t end though.
It needs to change as I have
changed.
Starting today, it will have a new title.
Random Thoughts of a Middle-Aged Scout
Leader.
You can find it here if interested: http://middleagedscoutleader.blogspot.com/
You can find it here if interested: http://middleagedscoutleader.blogspot.com/
Hey- that's cool that you're realizing though.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can still enjoy games whether you're a hardcore gamer or not. I'm not sure if I ever would have been considered hardcore by the real hardcore guys, but I used to take my games pretty seriously back in Highschool. I definitely was addicted to some MMO's back in the day.
But in college and especially after college when I began to work full time, I simply didn't have time and I instantly had to become a casual gamer, if that.
But now as I have more time, I still enjoy playing some console sports games and RPGs, and the occasional computer game as well, even though I don't have a gaming PC per say.
Anyway, I guess my point is that it doesn't matter whether you play 55 hours per week or 2 hours per week, you can still enjoy gaming, and you absolutely can still enjoy blogging about it.
Thank you for the comment Ronnie. I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI checked out your blog and found it very interesting. Anyone who reads this blog should definitely check it out.
I've had a few folks ask me to continue the blog. My primary focus is on developing my scouting program, but I can't deny the call of the new consoles may occasionally pull me back to my first love, video games.
speaking of random aged gamer and good things, i find these dirt bike games at http://www.xdirtbike.com/ absolutely awesome :)
ReplyDelete