The other day I sat down with my little brother to reminisce about the two of us gaming together as kids with our sister Annie. We grew up in a gaming household, and whenever we get together video games always come up in conversation: “What’ve you been playing lately? Did you get the new DLC yet? Remember when we used to play…?” We don’t game much together anymore, since we’re all busy in our adult lives, but I’m sure we’ll get back to it eventually. It’s too hard to stay away.
Keezy: So…remember when we played games when we were kids?
Charlie: Yeah! So we didn’t really play as many co-op games, but one of us would play and we would sit around and watch. We used to play together that way. I remember we used to pool our money together so we could get the different installments of Heroes Chronicles [a turn-based fantasy strategy game in 12 parts]—we would wait and save up for the next part…
Keezy: It’s funny now since we got the whole thing for like $10 on GOG, right?
Charlie: Yeah, totally. Thanks for pointing me to that sale, by the way; the game is actually still really fun.
Keezy: Nostalgic.
Charlie: Super nostalgic.
Keezy: What else do you remember playing?
Charlie: We played The Sims! The Sims was fun. I forgot about that. And Dad likes the RTS stuff, so we had a lot of those, like Command & Conquer.
Keezy: Age of Empires…
Charlie: Oh yeah, of course! Age of Empires was the best. Walls, walls everywhere.
Keezy: Make a wall like 7 miles thick, line it with castles.
Charlie: Yeah, you have an enemy, you besiege them. Just surround them with walls and they can’t get out. That was a fun game to watch, yeah.
Keezy: Good times.
Charlie: Really good times, yeah.
Keezy: Did it ever bug you when we were standing behind you, backseat gaming?
Charlie: No, it was actually fun, I really enjoyed it…I mean, I enjoy playing independently, but it was kind of the highlight of the day sometimes just like, sitting down and hanging out with you guys.
Keezy: Sometimes it’s fun to show off a bit, too!
Charlie: Yeah, totally. Or like someone saying, “Oh hey, you should go over there, go that way…” or, “Check your health, use your potion!” In the middle of a boss fight you’re not paying attention, so it’s nice.
Keezy: What kinds of games do you think are best for that?
Charlie: I think the point of an RPG is more seeing your character is build-up and the story, whereas RTS is a lot of micromanaging, so that’s not as much fun to watch, so I guess I’d say RPGs are the best. Games with stories and characters and stuff.
Keezy: Would you play with us again if you could? Like especially if we move to different cities or whatever, and can’t see each other often?
Charlie: Occasionally even nowadays me and Annie will go to her house, because she has the PS3, and we’ll play…like we played Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us. I’d go over and we’d open a bottle of wine and hang out. It’s still fun. I think if I knew we were all playing, definitely…like we’re too busy right now, but yeah, I think I would try to get you guys to play again. My best memories of World of Warcraft were when I was playing with people online.
Actually back in the day when we would play World of Warcraft after school, Annie would borrow gold from me, and I’d be like, “Yeah, here’s your gold,” and then I’d charge her interest. I’d forgotten about that.
Keezy: Would you play with Mom and Dad too?
Charlie: Yeah, if Mom were to ever get into it, sure…Dad is playing Battle Pirates nowadays but…a 5-man raid would be fun to play with everybody.
So yeah, to answer the question, definitely, I would consider asking you guys to join a game. I think it would be really fun.
[download file=”http://www.pixelkin.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Get-Connected.pdf” title=”Get Connected: A Pixelkin Guide to Family Gaming”]
