Who Got You Into Gaming?
As the holiday season approaches, I am reminded that it was almost 27 years ago this month that I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons. It's hard to imagine, but in that long ago time before I thought about other boys... okay, so that's a fib, I was pretty much always thinking about the other boys... I had never heard of D&D, or of role-playing games. It was my grandma who first got me into the game all those years ago, sending the boxed set of Basic Dungeons & Dragons to all of her male grandchildren of a certain age. It was a gift for which my parents complained ceaselessly for years.
The tabletop rpg community is slowly dwindling. That is doubtless part of the reason for 4e, which aims to broaden the community. While I'm not ready to whole-heartedly endorse 4e, I am mindful that a single gift given to me as a child played such a pivotal role in my life. My grandmother died today after a long illness, and in thinking about what she meant to me, I realized just how important a role that gift had in my life. Instead of the usual pithy gaming reporting, I'm asking everyone to just think about who got you into gaming and how much that means to you.
If each of us got as many people into the game as my grandmother, our hobby would be much stronger.
Faerie Dragon
Posted to Roleplaying Games on 12 December 2007
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: d&d, nostalgia, rpgs
ok who got me into gaming? Well I think it was myself? But really my ma bought me a Nintendo for Christmas way back when I was like 5 years old!!! I remember playing Super Mario Bros. and Toe Jam & Earl all the time and I loved and felt great about Toe Jam & Earl!!! that was for the sega though....
but when I really got into gaming was when I went over to my friends house and he imported a Playstation 1 and that was before they ever hit the United States that was awhile back can't remember exactly when but he also imported Resident Evil 1 and I was watching him play it and was amazed at how interesting and cool it was. I never got to play it that day just watch it but what I saw was everything! So I begged my ma to get me one when it comes out in the US and she did! I loved playing the games I got for it....I member back in the good old days playing Twisted Metal, Resident Evil, Silent Hill 1, some game called UFO Defence or something, Lunar 1 etc. and I was just infatuated with the games and I was young and growing up and was learning from them...I became more intelligent from playing videogames though from the stories they portrayed etc. and learning all that stuff they jam into one lil cd....I don't know I had a excellent time when I was growing up..I also remember watching those old X-men cartoons on fox and I wish so much how I could go back to being a kid growing up and experiencing games in the beginning stages when they were starting to really become popular...Recently though my life has gone completetly terrible...I went on a medication called Risperdal which ruined my life! It changed my voice and is called something like Spasmodic Dysphonia which is a side effect I wasn't aware of while taking the medicine...then 2 months later I was talking realy loud and paralyzed my vocal cord from the Spasmodic Dysphonia...so I was told to go on a medicine called Cogentin which relaxes muscles which has to do with the Spasmodic Dysphonia and is supposed to help bring your voice back somewhat and it didn't all it did was cause brain damage...I now have a very hard time thinking and concentrating because of this medicine...honestly I just want my life back the way it used to be....ya know? These 2 drugs destroyed my life and scarred me till my dying days completetly! I wish I never started that Risperdal medicine....I have lost interest in everything I do and I notice all these great games coming out really good quality games in the past few months...The Orange Box, Silent Hill Origins, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Umbrella Chronicles, Mass Effect, Folklore, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, etc. and all around the same time and man this couldn't of happened at a worse time! This happened to me about 4 and 1/2 months ago....I feel like i'm going crazy and sometimes losing my mind from what the medicine did to me...it changed my personality because of the brain damage and the voice change and paralyzed vocal cord...i'm only 21 too!!! and all this happened right around my 21st birthday of June! I am so mad...I can't remember my past as clear now or anything...at least typing this here on this forum has helped me out to express myself as best I can so I can feel better...I sometimes think there is nothing to live for anymore cause of all this cr@p that has happened to me recently...I recommend nobody ever go on any drugs for depression/aniexty,schizopherinia/bipolor disorder/ etc. because I went on it for post traumatic stress from a loved one dying and I was told the side effects ain't severe and if I experienced any side effects they would go away after stopping the drug and THEY NEVER DID! I was also told it was supposed to make me feel much better! IT DID NOT! I have to live like this for the rest of my life! I feel so alone and isolated now cause my voice is like a whisper from the paralyzed vocal cord and spasmodic dysphonia and then I can't think clearly from the brain damage! These drugs do not make you feel any better they only worsen the problem and make you feel like giving up on life! They cause severe damage to your mind and can make you do unrational things and can cause all tons of side effects that will never go away and severly ruin your life and make you sad, lonely, and miserable like it did 2 me! I never thought anything like this could happen to me...I can't remember time anymore either and sometimes forget what day it is...and Christmas is coming up too! It already ruined my Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! God what I would do to have my voice and mind back! But again I won't get it back! Sorry for the long rant ya'll also sorry for the loss of your grandmothers death! I hope you feel better...how old was she by the way? Also there is such great upcoming games coming out too Metal Gear Solid 4, Super Smash Bros., Silent Hill 5, Grand Theft Auto 4, and many more and i'm forgetting right now...I just hope I didn't attract Altimizer's from this medicine too which it feels like I did cause I forgot things and can't remember or focus anymore and my feelings are somewhat gone too! Does anybody know how you get checked for altimizer's? again though I just wish I never took that one lil pill! I didn't know it could have such a huge negative impact on my life! Any recommendations on what I should do for my life or anything? Thanks
Who got me into gaming? His name was Andre, and he was a year behind me in high school. My junior year (if I recall), he approached me and asked me if I wanted to run a D and D game with him. We started off in 2nd ed, went to 3rd briefly, and then went back to 2nd. Over time, we tried to implement more games, Vampire, Hunter, Silver Age Sentinels, various other games, but we always went back to D and D. As time went on it was the thing we all did, the thing that kept us together and kept us as friends.
And then one day I showed up for the game (which I had since stopped running and started just playing in), and the guys never showed up. And they never did again. By that time my class was nearing graduation, and Andre had his own stuff, various things got in the way... but I don't think I'll ever really forgive any of them for such a sudden and abrupt abandonment. People write off gaming, especially tabletop, as stupid and pointless, but to some of us it's how we interact with the outside world in general. Since that day, I second guess everything when I'm dealing with friends and fear that what I'm doing is wrong, that I'll drive people away again. It's funny, really, how much games can affect your life. How a simple diversion can alter your course... hm. Well, anyway, that's my two cents. Your grams sounds like she was a wonderful woman, Faerie, or at least cool enough to understand a good gift.
Wow, so far a lot of... sad stories here.
I was introduced to gaming by one of my best friends in Elementary school, Daniel. He was the youngest of five brothers, all of whom had played lots of D&D. He hadn't played as much but knew the basics of it. Anyway in 5th grade a bunch of us who played together on the playground started to get into the idea of role playing games, probably though some of the computer RPG's some of my other friends had gotten into (I never really got too into vidoegame RPG's). We started playing ad hoc RPG's together, without any dice rolling or anything. Anyway at some point Daniel said he'd like to get us together to play a "real" RPG. So some weekend we all went over to his house, and he and his older brother (who was acting as "assistant DM' helped us role up characters, and from then on for years throughout middle school and maybe even a little ways into high school we all played D&D just about every weekend at sleepovers we had. After that it got a bit more sporadic, until we weren't really playing at the end of high school, but it is still a very fond memory of mine, and now, post college I've gotten back into the habit with a group I've played with most every week for the last 2 years or so. (A bunch of us wanted to play during college too, but never could quite get ourselves together enough with someone who wanted to DM to get it off the ground).
Anyway it was my friend Daniel who got me and at least 3 or 4 other people into tabletop gaming lo these many years ago.
Never underestimate the significance of RPGing clubs at school—mine got me into it in Grade 7, and it's a hobby/passion that's lasted all the way until today, in first year university. I find the friends I can RP with become my very closest.
I'm very sorry to hear about your grandmother Faerie.
I got into gaming through a few different routes. My dad got me into video games, as he was an avid Commodore 64-er, and I progressed from there owning a good chunck of the home consoles and several PC's from there. I got real heavy into games onve high school came around, with the advent of the original Warcraft, Decent 1 and 2 and eventually, Warcraft 2.
Tabletop stuff came into play freshman year of high school. My buddy Richard got me into Magic: The Gathering (sheesh, right before 4th edition I think?). It was a fairly small town we lived in, and there was a comic store right next door to the high school we went to. They'd host a gaming night every Saturday from around 5-10 PM, we'd ride our bikes over and it became our little social outlet and way to meet new players.
From there, I met Patrick (oh god, I had the biggest crush on him then!) who got into pen and paper RPGs. We started with D&D 2nd and played a few times with a group at the comic store. We moved onto a few other games like the Star Wars tabletop. When I moved to Cincy, I played D&D on and off, mostly one shot events with a few friends and some beer. In college, I got turned onto the fabulous World of Darkness setting and forced everyone that could throw dice to play with me.
Now, after college, I've found a few board gaming groups to participate in and was part of a (mostly) gay D&D group for a bit. I'm still hoping to find another good WoD group, but we'll have to wait and see. My boyfriend thinks (ok, knows) I'm a total dork because even though I don't play with anyone currently, I still covet the new books getting published and drool over them whenever we're at Borders!