Thursday, February 18, 2010

Hardcore "clueless" Gamer

So here's the thing, although i see myself as this hardcore gamer pounding it out on the battlefield, night after night, i am a little clueless when it come to my gaming rig. I tend to follow my fellow clan mates and when they upgrade, i tick the DITTO box and sign the cheque.

You see, i dont think there is a problem with not knowing how much memory is in the machine or what the graphics card is called or the size of my processor - my only concern is that it's enough to get online and play my games.

I liken myself to Livingstone, trying to carved his way through the jungle, looking for a suitable means of public transport - he did'nt care that his machete was a XT9000 RazorBlade or that it had diamond coating on the bladed edge or that the grip contained flexable molding.

He was above all that crap and from a practical point of view, all he knew was that he had suitable tools to do the job. Over time when the blade went all rusty and dull, well... he just left it there and requested a beter one that worked. He did'nt spend days comparing the various options and weighing up the pro's and con's - he just picked up the blade that could do the job and headed out to the jungle...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Still gaming after two children - P1

Part one - Coup

So first there was only Me, now we are seven.

That's the wife - Jay,
my baby girl - Kate,
my know it all at 4 year old son - Liam,
the claustrophobic cats - Josey and Alexey
and of course old faithful - my gaming rig.

Life was completely in balance, i own a little victorian house in sunny drugged up Observatory, with a small squint eyed view of Table Mountain. My practical and safe cars are paid off. Work is literally 1.25 minutes down the road where i have the honour of working with a great bunch of eager predictive modelling analysts. Where maths and stats pours forth like geysers and we all come to work to change peoples lives. We are the credit doctors of South Africa, people. Our models grease the cogs of the mighty financial services industry - we enable credit, we bring all the glittering, buzzing, clicking, whirling, gleaming expensive toys within the general populations reach. ...and NO we did not cause the credit crunch!!! No one blames Mikhail Kalashnikov for the state of Africa.

Up to a few months ago, everyone was at peace and contentment smiled around every corner. I was pushing at least 6-10 hours of gaming a week with real life buzzing around the edges (ok - maybe it is closer to 16-24 hours). Work took priority coz thats where the money comes from, with my online gaming coming a (very) close second, then the wife and kids... Each evening i would walk into the house, with the cats purring at my feet, switch on the PC and kiss the wife and kids hello. A glass of wine later, i would settle into my comfy chair, click my preferred weapon selection and jump into the war.

One evening, a few close wins later, i discovered that my family was plotting a coup d'état of the greatest and most evil proportions. Suddenly i was being interupted by babies crying, kids pulling at my headphone cord, cries to read stories, brush teeth and wipe bums. All very unusual coz Jay normally took care of these things and life flowed peacefully - or as peacefully as a 10 in a row kill streak with the title "unstoppable" and "most feared" beaming across the screen - did i mention "MOST FEARED". In all of my pimply "before there was work" life - i was never able to boast being the most feared... most fearing of the world, would be closer to the truth... Mmmmm lets not open the door to the choas and tears of my teenage years.

At this point the background noise could not be drowned out by my Maelstrom headgear and i left my fellow soldiers to fight the 3 minute war without me - loosing my bonus points in the process. Feeling very guilty and a little pissed off, i wondered over to the bedroom, to find Jay streached out on the bed, reading a book. With all this choas around me, clearly she had gone deaf or was suffering from some paralyzing ailment. I reached for the keys to rush her to the hospital and tried to drag her off the bed but she calmly brushed away my hand and asked me whats wrong - can't you see the house is going crazy... to which she relplied - yes, this is what you miss every night while you are stuck behind your PC.