Day 27 - Your Favourite Platform Game 

We already know what Super Mario Bros. is, so why act like there is much to be said that isn’t already obvious? 

Today’s 30-Day Gamers Challenge involves side-scroller beat ‘em ups. I have no history playing any games of the sort, even though I was interested, when I was younger, in playing some, so I guess I’ll just have to skip it, sorry… 

Does anybody recommend any?

Day 23 - Your Favourite Free Game

Not a lot to say about this one. Sorry I haven’t expounded much on gaming with some of my most recent entries… I lose steam sometimes. I have a blog post that has been sitting in draft for two days I’ve yet to touch. D: 

Anyway, I don’t play a lot of games on my phone or any free games outside of that anymore, so, with that said, I do have one free game on my phone that is actually fun and pretty tough!

It’s for the Android and iPhone, of which, I have the latter version. The only thing I hate is some of the levels vary between phones. The placement of the bubbles will be the exact same, but one level, I remember, I could only beat using four moves, but Trey could use five on his Android. RIP OFF. Ugh. 

But it’s fun and kills time. 

My impatience usually requires me have something I can occupy my mind if I have to wait for something because I’m usually so excited or anxious I’ll almost make myself sick if I have to sit and wait for something for too long. 

I’m working on it. 

(Am late posting this, sorry.)

Day 22 - Your Favourite Puzzle Game 

Simply put: 

This game was seriously great. It is like any other puzzle game of its type, it is simple and yet addictive. I still pick it up once in awhile and play it for hours. 

Let’s face it, the N64-era was a good era in Nintendo gaming. My family would spend so much time challenging each other. And my parents have always thought Pokémon was ridiculous, but they loved this game, too.

Thank you, Pokémon Puzzle League, for bringing so much life into my childhood.

Good day, sir! 

Day 17 - Your Favourite Online Game

My favorite online game is probably not going to be anything shocking since I haven’t played many. I had to skip yesterday’s challenge because “My Favourite Shoot ‘Em Up” doesn’t even apply to me in the slightest. 

So, of the like, two games I’ve ever played online, I have to say I did play World of Warcraft for a very short amount of time, and I loved it. 

Call me a nerd. Call me a dork. Whatever you want. 

On a scale of all things nerdy I’m probably at a 5; I only know the term “gank” because it was explained to me long after I stopped playing, and I was never even on long enough to become a member of some guild and spend way too many hours raiding. I did menial quests and tasks to level up and then stopped because of insufficient funds to keep playing. 

Some people say they know people that WoW ruined. Honestly, if something as simple as a game ruins someone, something would have anyway, and quite easily, really. Stop blaming games for your problems. I understand it’s easy to pinpoint the problem to it, but why do that rather than accept if games didn’t do it, something else probably would have, anyway? People are strange creatures, it’s high-time your learn that. 

To back-up anything I say from this point forward, I would like to make note that, while I love my younger brother, he epitomizes everything about gamers that I hate. Every trait, every bad habit, everything. He’s completely lazy and stays glued to his XBOX 360 all day long. He doesn’t do anything, and he never listens to anyone, he just half-listens and half-asses any tasks assigned to him so he can rush back to his game as quickly as possible. Living with this is completely aggravating. However, my boyfriend, Trey, is the epitome of what I like to call a “good nerd.” He actually has a work-ethic. He graduated college with all A’s (other than French, but that professor was ridiculous), he works hard, and he knows that even though it’s fun to spend a lot of time playing WoW or Halo or whatever game he may be playing, it’s just a game—they are designed to be fun, not rid you of all of your integrity and basic human decency. He doesn’t flip out and curse someone out just because he loses. He’s got self-respect enough to just have fun with it. He’s good at games because he’s spend the time actually figuring them out, but at the end of the day, if it isn’t fun for him, and it’s just giving him a headache, he won’t play it. 

He is the type of nerd I like to spend time with—when I know a guy or girl who is like my brother, you won’t catch me playing games with them, or really, spending much time with them at all. If they can’t have fun while playing something designed for entertainment purposes, how the hell are they supposed to be fun around any other time? 

And I have a theory behind why some act like this: they are so incredibly insecure and wrought of all self-respect that they try to overcompensate in their online achievements. So, when someone beats them, or isn’t taking it as seriously as they are, their world falls tragically apart. If you like being this way, fine, be that way. But don’t expect me to think much of you. 

Most people put a stigma on WoW, but they know nothing about it. If you asked them what about WoW they cannot stand, they would probably just throw the cliché argument against gaming at you, about how it’s a waste of time, people take it too seriously, and it’s incredibly taboo to like something so nerdy. 

But what are we really arguing, here? Yes, some people take it to an unneeded extreme, but to others, it’s just a game, like it should be. And I’ll gladly say I did think WoW was a really fun game. What’s exactly wrong with having hobbies? Isn’t that why creative people come up with a vast majority of genres and styles? See, I thought it was to give different kinds of people with different kinds of tastes something to enjoy during their off-time. I guess I must be wrong, it must be all purposefully designed to divide us all and label us negatively. 

To the people who take it too seriously: get over yourselves, it is just a game. (And that goes for any game or thing you are meant to delight in rather than overcompensate for with your tiny penis and lack of relationship.)

To those who point fingers and scoff at WoW-players: what do you take too seriously? (Because, I’m sure, you’re probably here on Tumblr for hours out of your day—which is worse, in my opinion—or you are spending way too much time obsessing over some other collective fandom.) 

People like to blind themselves to anything they think might make them seem less cool. But who decided that playing an online game suddenly had to be taboo and mock-able? 

I guess I’ll just always have a soft spot for nerds because I’ll never be fully accepted by large crowds of people, either. 

And let’s face it, my nerves make me hate large crowds, so even if they did want me around, I wouldn’t want to be around them. 

As the rise in gamers has steadily climbed, we still find a lot people (a lot of females actually) who still scoff at gamers—particularly WoW-players. We can’t say it’s all their fault for just “refusing to like us.” It’s our fault, too. Gamers’ sense of humor is quite different and off-putting to others, and so whether you play World of Warcraft or Sonic the Hedgehog, you too have something about the way you might come off, that just might be the reason you’re being mocked in the first place. Sure, some people are cruel without cause, but being self-aware is never a bad thing whether you’re the mocker or the mockee. (I think I just made up a word, there.)

But I don’t think me saying “WoW was fun while it lasted,” for me, is a bad thing, and it shouldn’t even be a bad thing for anyone that spends hours of their life playing it, because, at least they have something they enjoy. To those who spend hours of their day bored, maybe they could use a Nintendo DS to fill those gaps, or at least a good book.

(I recommend: Harry Potter, The Looking Glass Wars, 1984, Farenheit 451, A Room of One’s Own, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Cay, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Hobbit, Let Fury Have the Hour: the Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, or [my recent read] The Hunger Games.)

Honestly, it’s like I said about games ruining a person: people show their true colors whenever they are comfortable. If they come off as a miserable person or just a jackass in general, then that is how they would have come across anyway, given time. Don’t hate the game, hate the bad gamer. 

And for those of you still skeptical, or drowning in some other fandom, you could always learn to enjoy life without a crutch period. It’s not that hard to make the most of what you have. You never know someone’s story—maybe gaming is all they have anymore. 

Sad, but it happens.

If you’re mocking someone for playing WoW, remember this: if you’re picking on someone else because you either need the selfish boost or you already felt superior, you’re probably more pathetic than they are. 

Just let people like what they want to like. Yeah, you may not agree, but why attack them for it? 

(I may think Twilight is a waste of paper, but at least I’m not going to all of my friends who enjoy it and calling them names for their opinion. [And I have a lot of friends who like it, surprisingly enough.]) 

Day 15 - Your Favourite Game Character 

He may move slow, he can’t jump high, but this Kong’s one Hell of a guy… 

…

Okay, no, it’s not Chunky Kong. It’s not even a Kong. The rap just popped in my head and I figured I would go with it. 

My favorite character is Yoshi. 

He may be dumb sometimes, and aggravating when spooked, but he will always and forever have a soft spot in my heart.