To my non-gamer, fun loving, career chasing, fashion forward, adventure loving, rowdy, howling, friends...
Have you ever felt like you were dodging a bullet by staying away from that one person or thing, only to find out it was what you needed all along?
After working in the tech world for nearly 7 years and successfully staying above all of the nerdsations and geekouts, I have had a revelation.
But first some history. A socialite at heart, people are a true passion for me, and learning and working and weaving within groups is my favorite. When I was 7, I learned of a card game that used both people skills and smarts to win. My grandfather taught me with the most addictive substance in the world to play this fantastic game, and that's when poker for candy and cards were seared with deep love into my heart forever.
My great-grandmother was a live-in nanny who shared a love for cards and played solitaire many times a day and shuffled in between to keep her joints from getting stiff. The flitting sounds of shuffling will always be a comfort to me. Although I never converted her to poker, without fail, I was able to wheel her into a game a gin before bed. Cards feel like a bit of who I am.
When my card partner passed; I had no one else to play with. Looking for more mates to match me, I went back to good ol poker and found a flourishing scene. At only 15 in late night poker houses, I could easily double my waitressing tips for the evening. However, those nights can get dark quickly and before I knew it I had to walk away from that too.
It's been 8 years since I have really had that thing to go to and use my mind on while bonding with a person playing alongside. They were here all along, all around me, I just didn't know their names. The unfortunate simple minds had separated us with steriotypes, and I almost lost them for good. Because nerds and socialites can't love and do the same things. Gaming is for the kid who is super into math and science, right? Gaming is an addiction that takes days and days away from people sending them into isolation, right?
To be completely honest, I thought that doing anything that could associate me with gamers would banish me to a box that would no longer let me lead the socialite life I love. Anything that represented games was a big red X, because that wasn't "me."
Hearthstone was the name of the first game I begrudgingly allowed one of my best tech friends to talk me into trying. The grandiose overdone game interface with characters from "WOW" and names like "Gnome" were almost enough to put my nerd alert into overdrive and shut me down completely, but because I love my friend, I pushed forward. After getting the basics I was eager to try my hand for the sake of proving that being good at poker could translate to any card game, and after my first few matches I was hooked. Night after night racing home to get online, I'm playing my friends whose hobbies I've shunned for years- loving every minute. Getting to the point where they can't beat me, I found the myself fully satisfied and hungry for more, the next game, the next thing. I've since bought a PS4 and started a hunter on Destiny. Ready to crush the sterotypes around gaming and exemplify how they are for everyone with every lifestyle... I am here to spread "Game Love". I'm embarking on a journey to try out all types of games, beyond cards and see what else I'm missing out on. Because I'm done missing out.
So, feel free to watch as I find my game legs, #derp out match after match, and laugh as I use terrible terminology while I find my way around. But please, let's all start trying more things sooner, missing out on less, and spreading #gamelove.
ps. To all of you gamers who are way smarter and cooler than me for jumping in way sooner, cheers to you, I'm a derp.
