MMOMFG Round Table: What got you into video games?

Hello everyone to our first Round Table discussion featuring the entire editorial staff of MMOMFG. Each week we will have a meeting of minds to answer questions posed by ourselves or the readers. With the site having its official launch early last week, I posed an easy, yet engrossing question to each writer. They had a chance to respond then give their feedback according to everyone else’s answers.

The question at hand is: How did you get into video games? If you have any comments regarding the opinions shared below or want to pose a question of your own, please comment below or shoot us an email. Enjoy!

Dustin: To kick the site off officially, I’d like to pose a question to you each so the readers can learn a little bit more about us. So gentlemen, how did you get into video games?

Justin: I’ve always been fascinated with technology and it carried over when I was 6 years old, playing Mario with my older brother. We had never seen anything like it. The ability to control this character, hum along with the music, and compete for a high score stuck with us instantly. From there we began our quest into Hyrule and later tried not to get the pulp beat out of us by Mr. Sandman. What started out as a simple fascination with technology blossomed into a full blown obsession!

Brandon: My first experience with video games came in the late 1980s (1987 is my best guess, I don’t remember the actual year) when my parents gave me a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas.  I can’t remember actually asking for the NES, or playing video games of any kind prior to that, but when I tore open the wrapping paper that morning I remember thinking that my life had changed.  I now have reason to believe that my parents gave me the NES because my Dad secretly wanted one for himself.  His unrelenting assault on Mega Man 2 shortly after should have tipped me off even back then.  But from that moment on, I was a video game man.

Between us, my brother and I have managed to collect every system Nintendo has released (excluding the Virtual Boy, but who owned on of those anyway?) as well as the majority of Sony and Microsoft systems as well.  We never owned Sega’s, because we were Nintendo men through and through, and you just didn’t cross those lines back then (see: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/20/ ).

Beau: My gaming days actually started with the Intellivision, which came after the Atari and in my opinion was better, but had less famous games. I also had the “NES for Christmas” experience like everyone else, and it was indeed a glorious moment.

Andrew: Like Brandon, I started off on this unproductive path on a Christmas morning when got an NES.  I remember unwrapping it and completely losing my shit.  In fact I remember seeing some photos years later of this very moment and thinking “Holy shit, that little kid is way too excited…Oh wait, that’s me.”

Cam: The earliest memory I have of video games is actually simply the box that the original Donkey Kong came in (http://www.tomheroes.com/images/NES%20Donkey%20Kong%20Classics.jpg). If I recall correctly, I thought the game involved tearing up the styrofoam that the cartridge fit into, and I believe I got in trouble because the game was borrowed. Nintendo in general has been present in my life for a long time. Like Brandon said, having owned all of the systems so far meant there was always something new to play. I know there are thousands of good games out there, but something about Mario will always have a place in my heart, be it in a raccoon suit or a go-kart (another one of our dad’s favorites).

Dustin: Gaming for me began with playing games such as Pitfall and Masters of the Universe on the Intellivision with my brother. I was too young to truly appreciate the sheer genius that was video games, since nearly my entire life at that point had involved having them around. I feel bad for the guys who were in their 50’s when gaming systems came out. It literally blows my mind to think that some person in their lifetime will go from first witnessing Pong to eventually being in the game with virtual reality systems and the new concepts from Microsoft and Sony.

Justin: My love for gaming continued to steamroll ahead. I can remember taking public transportation for the first time as I went to the local Funcoland to buy my Dreamcast on 9/9/99 (a day that will forever be in my memories). Since I had preordered I got a ton of swag, t-shirts, stickers, and I didn’t even have to wait in line. I was the envy of all those waiting. Come to think of it, I’m lucky I didn’t get stabbed in the parking lot or something. Soul Calibur is still my favorite fighting game on a console.

Cam: Like Justin, I have fond memories of visiting my local Funcoland. Eventually I played my first RPG, Chrono Trigger on the SNES (I was way behind the curve, searching high and low at all of the Funco Lands to find a used copy for $60!), and realized I had found my genre. From there I moved on to Final Fantasy 7 (My memory sucks, but I believe I bought a playstation specifically for it. Brandon probably knows the real story), an experience I will never forget. I had never played a game like that, one that had me so entrenched in the story and characters. I literally could not put it down, because as soon as I did I was wondering what was going to happen next.

Justin: Cam, Chrono Trigger was awesome. I can remember picking it up and loving the combo system. It was the first RPG I can remember that didn’t feel like a grind. Just a few months ago I played and finished the DS version. Everything from the music to the setting warped me back to my SNES days. In fact I’m whistling the music right now.

Brandon: Cam is incorrect in the reason for the Playstation purchase, though. Two moments in my gaming history stand out among the others as being life-altering to my gaming experience.  The first came when I purchased Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation.  Prior to that, games has been different things to me.  A foe to be beaten.  A tool with which to humiliate others less skilled than I (thanks, Killer Instinct!).  An instrument of self-torture (HOW DO I GET ANYWHERE WITH THE VAN IN TMNT?!?!).  But Metal Gear Solid changed everything.  This wasn’t a game.  This was interactive art.  It’s a movie with you as the lead actor.  Mind status = blown.  From then on I craved that depth.  I still enjoyed the occasional first-person shooter or classic side-scroller, but there is a reason my list of favorite games includes about 47 Final Fantasy titles and anything made by Bioware.

Beau: I’ve always been a big fan of platformers, even to this day, and have always loved fantasy RPGs like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, and others like that. Thanks to those, I’ve since become a fan of series like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and the like.

I have to give props here to the Sega Genesis, which may have been my single favorite gaming system. Between Sonic, Streets of Rage, and Joe Montana’s Sports Talk Football, I had some of the best gaming times of my life. I still think the Genesis is underrated in the pantheon of gaming systems.

Andrew: Sure, Mario, Sonic and Tecmo Super Bowl were fun, but what really got me into gaming was the Playstation era.  I remember being 13 and playing Resident Evil 2, Final Fantasy VII and VIII and being blown away.  I remember thinking that those games were like the best book I’ve ever read and the coolest movie I’ve ever seen combined into one.

Games like those really got me hooked. I remember making my brother take control when you had to walk down that one hallway in RE2 where zombie arms burst through the windows because it always scared the shit out of me.  I remember playing those first FFs for the Playstation and wishing that the real world was more like those worlds. Ever since then i’ve been chasing RPG and Survival-Horror game experience to rival those.  Alas, this search has been fruitless.  There have been near misses (Dead Space) and ones that made me want to cry (FFX and X-2).

Dustin: This brings me to how it all began, and where I am currently at with gaming. I love a challenge. As discussed with friends through my childhood, games are intended to be difficult; however, I love things on “easy mode.” This does not mean I am incapable of beating games on difficult settings, but I prefer to finish content if possible rather than get frustrated and quit. Fellow editors here will attest to the fact that I do not beat video games. This is 90% true. The last game I have beaten in 5 years or so was Resident Evil 5 simply because fellow editor, Justin, literally held me at gun point over the phone and forced me to sign in on XBOX Live to join him. I must be honest; I had a great time playing and beating it!

Justin: Damn skippy I pressed your ass to finish Resident Evil 5. I mean, playing co-op with AI is nice and all, but you miss out on a whole different (and better) experience. It’s just like playing Fifa or Madden with someone else. You’ll thank me in your old age! Andrew, we share the same love for RPGs and Survival Horror. Both the Final Fantasy and Resident Evil series have blown my mind and are incredibly critical games in my youth.

Cam: My gaming life has largely been observational. It started in elementary school when I would sit next to my grandpa while he dominated Adventures of Lolo. From there I moved into my teen years when I would ride my bicycle up to Triple Play with Brandon to watch him pull of ultra combos in Killer Instinct against unsuspecting combatants. In fact I recall watching watching Brandon play a lot of games. When I got Chrono Trigger, I was in middle school, and I came home one day to find Brandon playing it (he always got home before me, being in high school). He was hooked, and I don’t recall being able to play the game again after that until much later. The funny thing about me as a gamer, especially considering my favorite genre is RPG, is that I’ve never finished an RPG. I’ve gotten very close on multiple occasions, but I always lose focus. It doesn’t seem to bother me though. Really I play games because I want to see the characters and worlds and the story. If a game allows for a large amount of exploration and storytelling, it immediately stands out to me. I like to have choices. The more choices the better.

Dustin: Cam, I have a ton of memories of you hanging out while Brandon and I played NCAA College Football or some iteration of a baseball game and you would just chill out in the background and enjoy the banter. I never pegged you as much of a gamer until we started to try some MMOs out together and I found you randomly playing games in your room once we moved in together.

Cam: I have very specific memories of watching Brandon play video games. In regards to MGS, I remember watching him in a sniper battle against Sniper Wolf while eating Digiorno pizza in that back room of our house. I also remember watching Dad hop from block to block while Dr. Wily’s robotic dragon chased him down (Spoiler alert: Use Quick Boomerang from the top block to defeat him.) I have tons of these memories of both watching people play and playing myself. It always amazes me how video games can crystallize a moment like that.

Brandon: I feel I should mention a genre of gaming which has dominated my life and yours for a while Dustin. The second transcendent video game moment came in the spring of 2005.  That was when I installed World of Warcraft on my computer.  It was my first MMO ever, and I was just blown away by it.  I was just awed by the massiveness of it.  I mean I know it says right there in the genre label “Massively Multiplayer blah blah blah”.  But how do you describe what that means to someone who has never played one before?  Playing WoW was like contracting a virus, I couldn’t get it out of my system.  Sure I had flings with other games–City of Heroes, Warhammer, Everquest 2, to name a few–but nothing compared.  And so four years later here I am, as hopelessly addicted as I was the first day I played.

Dustin: MMOs, but WoW and Ultima Online in specific, have ruled my life for a long time now. It is too hard to put them down because I always want to continue improving my character. However, when I want to have a ton of fun I would/will play all sports titles on Rookie settings and turn travelling, out-of-bounds, off-sides, fouls and the like off. I wasn’t going for realism; I was going for what would make me have the best time. I once threw for 1,500 yards in a single game of college football until it broke the yards tracking system and showed my QB had thrown for -843 yards, ruining my efforts to win the Heisman trophy that year.

My gaming today consists of picking up new titles and playing them for an hour or two, then putting them to their eternal resting place on my cabinet. I love gaming and I’ll always support the escape they offer the player, but I’ll likely never get back to where I feel I must beat a game as I did when I was a kid with games like Final Fantasy, Suikoden 2 and many other games.

Cam: I’m pretty sure you left out a big (huge) chunk of your gaming life.

Dustin: More than likely, yes.

Cam: Justin, Dreamcast was an amazing system. Remember the little memory cards with the display screen that you popped into the controller? I still contend that the Dreamcast controller is the best to use while playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2. And speaking of picking up gaming systems, is there anything more fun than waiting in line for a midnight release of a system? I pre-ordered a PS2 when they came out, and going to pick it up was really exciting. Not only that, but I was a youngun still and was premitted to stay up a few hours playing it even though I had school the next day. I don’t understand how some people don’t like video games, but are happy watching hours on end of crappy television.

Dustin: So where does this leave you guys today with your gaming and expectations for the industry?

Justin: No matter who’s the maker, be it Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft (who maybe someone new in the next 3-5 years), the joy of experiencing new worlds, new ideas, and new stories will always be in my blood.

Beau: These days I don’t have nearly as much time to play as I used to, but I still enjoy a good RPG, RTS games like Dawn of War and Age of Empires, and the occasional great FPS like Bioshock. I try to limit my playing to really excellent games these days, rather than trying out everything, so I tend to wait a while before buying games and see how they get rated and how my friends like them.

Andrew: I continue to game today in my never-ending search for the great RPG and Survival-Horror game.  I also continue to game because FIFA has my will power in a rear naked choke hold.  Especially over the last 5 years, I have played every installment of FIFA on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis year round.  I just can’t kick it…but I’m not complaining.

Justin: Andrew, we share the same love for RPGs and Survival Horror. Both the Final Fantasy and Resident Evil series have blown my mind and are incredibly critical games in my youth.

Cam: FFVII was the first game I can remember where people were talking about it non-stop, even people I didn’t think were into games or RPG’s, and I was like, whoa, what am I missing here? And it’s weird because for the longest time I had no interest in it. I don’t even remember what got me to buy it. But once I did, I couldn’t stop playing it.

I’ll always enjoy playing video games, but over the years I’ve learned that I am much more interested in game design than in playing the games themselves. I like to think about what players will find compelling, the little (and big) things that will pull them into the game the way I get pulled into RPG’s. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to do that for someone, but until then I’ll just keep losing myself in virtual worlds.

Dustin: I’ll say this, at least games are easier these days and are capable of being beaten, because I hated the bullshit difficulty of games such as Karnov, Fester’s Quest and the non-existent ending of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… I’ll discuss this another day.

Brandon: For over twenty years I have had a love affair with games.  Sometimes people ask what I’m going to do once I have kids around.  My answer to that: tell them to put their quarter on the machine and wait their turn.

Dustin: Well that wraps up our first week’s Round Table discussion. Look back every Friday for a new Round Table. Don’t forget to leave us your comments about what got you into gaming and pose new questions for us, as well. Thanks!

Got a news tip? Send it to press@mmomfg.com and we'll shower you with love!