For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by computer games. It’s the nerd in me. It started with The Oregon Trail (I’m still SO FUSSY that I can’t play it on my Mac with 10.5) and then I fell in love with a sailing-to-the-new-world type of game. I can’t remember the name of it (Mom, I think it’s still in your floppy drives box at the house, hehe) but it was something about discovery. I played this game for HOURS upon HOURS all throughout junior high, high school, and yes, even college. I also enjoyed various CD Rom games that you could easily purchase at your neighborhood office supply store. You know, the lame ones.
But it wasn’t until I discovered the amazing games from Maxis that I realized I was a gaming nerd. I’ve played SimCity and all of The Sims games. And my favorite, up to this point, has been The Sims 2 (I’m eagerly awaiting The Sims 3). Of course, I like to say that I play it for the architecture but come on, it’s also fun to make your characters dance like chickens whenever you want them to.
I fell in love with Neopets. Embarrassingly. And yes, I still have an account there. And my little pet, proudly, has TONS of money.
There is also a distant memory of Kerry and I curled up in an A-frame cabin at The Wild’s, playing Myst for hours. That was my first introduction to the game and OH MY WORD. I absolutely LOVED it. I still do. We even have the Myst novels. I bet you didn’t even know there were novels.
I’ve tried Second Life. It was fun for about a week. But I got tired of it, or perhaps just never really understood it.
It’s really awesome that I married another nerd. For so many reasons. But gaming is one of the big ones. We both LOVE to sit for hours and game and snort and laugh and share and pretty much nerd it up. Our poor children will have very little social skills but they will be able to say “hai ur mai friendz. lol. omg. kthxbyz.” No, really, we’ve banned chat speak in our home. Drew will actually have to get down on the floor and LAUGH OUT LOUD for REALZ for it to be acceptable.
But even though we both love gaming, we are oh so different when it comes to strategy. You see, Daniel loves to explore and wander through worlds and strike out on his own. And I love to sit on the couch, balancing my laptop and strategy guides very carefully.
YES. I USE THEM. IS THAT SO BAD?
I’ve never played a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) before. That is, until World of Warcraft. I’ve always assumed it was a blood and gore, shoot ’em up, and pointless except for body counts.
But I got intrigued and downloaded a trial copy. And pretty much fell in love. Blizzard has done an amazing job of making a fabulous world (or well, worlds) with quests to complete and friendships to forge and enemies to slap upside the head (okay, to KILL DEAD).
My main character (I have three right now) is Faerlanna, a Blood Elf. Don’t make fun of her name, please. I thought it was sooo cool at the time. Now I think it sounds like her parents named her after, I don’t know, a brain freeze?
I’ve enjoyed exploring Eversong Woods and the capital city, Silvermoon. But Ghostlands is a bit weird. Beautiful, but weird.
When I reached level 10 (I’m at 18 right now), I tamed a crazed dragonhawk, Ella, and she has truly helped me out of some scrapes. We are a team now.
The most interesting piece of this story is that Daniel and I have discovered that we game SO differently. We created two characters, hoping we could adventure together. But we’ve had FIGHT after FIGHT over where we are going to go and what we are going to kill first and he’s tired of my strategies and I’m tired of his adventuring forth into the unknown when I might get KILLED.
The fights ended and turned into snorting. Seriously. Are we actually fighting about which farm we are going to ransack next?
We are Such Nerds.
And I, for one, am a girly nerd who is somehow having to work into my day of mommying, housework, and ordinary life – time to bash zombies, monsters, and wicked, wicked Alliance enemies.