Where It All Started…

When I was at the young age of eight, I found my love for video games. Although my love for video games was not shared with anyone else in my life besides my brother. My brother was obsessed with video games. When I say obsession, I mean obsession! He struggled to focus on anything else except for how to get all the achievements. Sadly, he did not graduate high school and he struggled to keep his job. In my opinion, it was because he was at his happiest when he was in another world. For these reasons, my father would not let me own a video game console or play games under his roof. That did not stop my brother from still allowing me to play with him. As I got older, I got better, and playing with my brother was our way of bonding. He was the first person to show me that it is perfectly fine to be a little nerdy. He also gave me an escape from the seriousness of the world and our poverty. Unfortunately, that was the only time I got to be my nerdy self and it only lasted for a few years as my brother moved in and out of my parent’s house a few times. It took many years before I was able to enjoy the endless possibilities of the gaming world. During my junior year of high school, I met my current boyfriend of almost six years, and we bonded overplaying the classic video game Terraria. He also went the extra mile to encourage me to be myself and embrace my nerdy side. He gave me a laptop with a keyboard falling out of it just so we could play as he lived in Oshkosh and I lived over 200 miles the other direction. Once I graduated and moved in, he let me use his old Xbox console and we played games as much as we possibly could. I was working full time to support myself and put myself through school. Playing video games with him was my stress relief and always will be. Video games have become my escape from the real world because they allow me to be whomever I want to be. Have you ever wanted to be a war mage fighting to save a world from Dragons and evildoers? Or maybe you have dreamed of being a soldier without the painful hardships. Ever fantasize about owning a zoo filled with lions, tigers, and bears (Oh my!); with video games, you can. I have never felt more like myself when I am pretending to be someone else in a video game. Maybe that is because I dream of saving the world and in the real world it feels almost impossible. With video games, you can connect to many people of all ages and all genders. It gives you an outlet to express yourself and find yourself. To this day I have even more love for myself because of the creative freedom of video games.