Gaming has enabled me to live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world and spend 10 hours a day, everyday, staring at a screen in a dark room.

My addiction to gaming started early, one of my oldest and fondest memories is sitting behind Dad as he battled bats and demons in a fantastical underground dungeon. I was barely old enough to understand what was going on beyond the pretty colours and explosions but that didn't matter. I wasnt even playing, that didn't matter either. it was like watching the best movie ever and someone in the audience is in control, you can give them input and react to the enviroment with them. It was my faveourite part of the day, Dad would explain things in the game to me and I would point out that a bat is hitting him and he really ought to wack it back before his mighty character topples.
Spectating a game is almost never as much fun as playing it yourself so naturally I took the next step and picked up the mighty sword myself, except I wasnt a big gruff soldier defeating the hordes of the underdark, I was a little purple car who's only dream was to join in the car parade that will soon be rolling through town, and all you have to do to join in the parade is find a few items by solving puzzles. Or if getting to the parade on time isnt exciting enough I could shoot asteroids in a little grey ship till the asteroids become strange purple amiba's that fire blobs of sticky green goo at me. I always blew into a million pieces when they appeared, but strangely I wanted more!
With the birth of 3d and the release of the intel mx processor I became a racing driver in a championship where the 1st prize is a ride on the last rocket to leave planet Lo. The losers all share the same fate, certain death. As the planet is soon to be destroyed by a some very nasty green goo. I would start a championship game on it in the morning before heading off to primary school then as Dad was un-empolyed he would do a few races over the course of the day while looking for work and I would finish the campaign off when I got home. It was this I thrived on, I got to play something with my Dad. We where even on an equal footing. Especially as he is a fairly quiet man and doesnt get excited over much, saving his racing driver was exciting!
We saved that lucky racing driver allot through the last few years of primary school and no matter how many times I saw the rocket jet off into space it always gave me a happy chill.

After saving one guy the next step is to save 2 guys, or a whole town! I played with my brother, we controlled little villagers, made paths for them to follow and decided where they where going to erect that big scary fort to fill with little gruff soldiers. We had to control complex economics, trade and conversions to win over the other one. It wasn't about who was best at fighting but who was best at managing the assets they where given. Because I was the older of the two of us (I still am!) I tended to win against him. This didn't matter tho, without knowing it i was getting better at simple maths and it is probably the reason i excelled at early maths in both primary and secondary. Once i stopped playing and turned to simpler first person shooters I started to drop down the math class rungs 1 a year until everyone got worried and I had to do more work at home to make up for my early rush. We tended to play build up then attack tho.

3 Months after the release of the big black Xbox and its flagship game. I had finally saved up enough pennies to save the galaxy! Doing menial chores does have its perks! Of course mum foot the bill for the second controller so my bro could join in, while saving a galaxy on your own is pretty epic it can be a bit lonely at the top, two is most definitely company. The first boot up was an awe inspiring affair, everyone sat round the TV, one controller in my cool calm hands the other in my brothers sweaty palms. The intro was accompanied by ooos and aaahhs and then we where off. We had finally found a game we could work on together. I took point with my brother slightly behind as we cleared rooms full of little grunt soldiers, there screams and whimpers only increasing our blood lust. These times where probably the longest single sittings we have ever gone without squabbling over something or arguing. It was our combined effort together, not singular, that made it possible and I think we both gained something from it. I know my brother has my back if aliens ever invade because we defeated the covenant.

Playing with one person is all fine and dandy. Gaming however is best enjoyed with as many people as possible. During secondary school we used to invade a friends house after school most days. He had a few computers networked up and so we proceeded to knock four seasons out of each other as army marines on the battlefield, ancient empires or high tech war generals. Still tho, the most popular games where the ones where we played together as a team to defeat the AI overlords as they threatened to take over our world. It gave us a bond like a football team might get after training and playing together for a long time. It also gave me some stability and a social life. I wasn't the best at socialising. Especially in those awkward early teen years where everyone is trying to find their place in the world. We had our place for a few hours each day. It was behind a computer screen pretending to be someone else. Have a go in their shoes. From a big gruff soldier to an entire nations army. For these brief moments i was a confident and vocal teen. On days where we didn't play i would wonder home on my own and then proceed to ride around the block in circles for hours on end. Maybe i could have done something but i lacked the confidence to go out and do it.
For one of my birthdays I decided to have a big 16 man LAN, 4 people per Xbox, 4 consoles and lots of soft drinks and pizza, it was definitely a spectacle to behold. 8 versus 8, everyone knew each other, everyone was friends. It didn't matter what kind of person you where outside of the game. Inside the game everyone was a super soldier who could drive around in tanks and hovering purple bikes that fire hot purple death. Or grab a sniper rifle and pick off the other team at extreme range. We had crazy king of the hill matches on tiny levels, the hold point was a rainbow mix of colours as multicoloured master chiefs where massacred and dropped. At the end of each game, as the last flag was captured there would be a unified uproar from the the winners room while the losing team let out disappointed sighs. Shortly after the uproar the winners would rush into the losers room with big smiles on their faces as stories where shared and tales recanted. Soon everyone was smiling as the most flamboyant fables where recalled.
"Did you see my warthog totally flip over your tank as the rocket hit it?! I totally dodged your tank shot"
"Yeah, it killed me!"
After a good 10 minutes of talking new teams where chosen and the game started afresh. My birthday was so popular with everyone who attended that soon weekly halo LANs where being held at a friends house and they where always amazing. Because of the frequency of matches new tactics and play styles could be tried out. One team decided to make all 8 members of their team camp the flag room, as we rushed in expecting little resistance we where met with a solid hale of bullets as all 8 fired their machine guns from the back wall. It was hilarious, we where forced to try new tactics, at one point we had each tank firing everything they had into the two entrances while the rest of the team tried complex acrobatics to get to the top room where we could get at the enemy. Then they all rushed out at once and destroyed us. There was one guy left who screamed.
"Hey everyone, look at this!"
as all 8 of the enemy team where jumping and dancing around our vehicles and corpses like ants, it took us a good 5 minutes to stop laughing, during which they captured our flag and took the lead. This soon became a tradition as the attacking team tried feverishly to crack the nut while the defending team all sipped tea and ate crumpets round their camp fire. After a couple of weeks everyone started assigning roles to themselves, some people specialised in sniping, some loved rockets while most where getting used to vehicles. It was interesting to watch the teams develop and tactics improve. It was like watching people play football for the first time, over a few weeks of play they will try new things, they will all improve and will become better friends because of it. To me the idea that gamers are anti social is rubbish, i am social because of gaming, how else would i have got to know people from allover the world? I might still be riding around my block in circles for hours on end.

Towards the end of secondary school we finally got broadband at home and my eyes where opened up to all the possibilities. In the beginning of my Internet gaming life i was strictly a console man. I had a PC which I played some stuff on but the majority of my time was spent on Xbox live. Mum set it up downstairs on the main TV so she could keep tabs on me but apart from that I was allowed to do wonder freely within the game. I quickly started to make friends as an anti terrorist operative, on the Internet you aren't playing with the same people every week, instead every server you join has completely different people playing. Completely different strategies and skills. Sometimes the team would gel, sometimes they would clash. It was always interesting. I knew my role and I brought it with me, I was and always will be a rusher, i like to run in fast and hit hard. Because of this I spent allot of time dead, waiting for the next round. During this limbo time we would all talk, socialise. Talking to huge numbers of faceless people built up my confidence, because it didn't matter who i was in real life i could relax more. If things didn't go well I could start up the box and hide behind anonymity, offline I was shy, online I was a big gruff soldier. It took my shy guy and hugged it into submission. I had a voice and people to talk to at every crazy hour of the day.
On the last day of school one of my best friends killed himself, the world continued spinning and I was destroyed. It was like the over dramatised American series, but it was real and it had happened to me. I wasn't a violent person so venting with violence didn't even come into my head. My friend went on a long run to escape but i wasn't very good at running and i didn't want to be alone. I wanted to escape with other people. To be someone else for a bit. I could play with people online that had no idea what had happened to me, it was never mentioned so I could try and get over it in my time without feeling obliged to fake my feelings because everyone wants me to be happy again. I think without gaming the crushing feeling would have been too much for me. It was like my world was over, why would he do this? I went through the natural progression, always asking if it was because of anything i had done. I am pretty sure now it was nothing to do with me but that doesn't stop it from hurting.

During secondary school I developed a taste for 3D modeling from my interest in games, I wanted to give my character a giant scythe he could swing around and defeat little gremlins with. I failed. But it had ignited a deep overwhelming spark inside me. Finally I could create fantastical creatures and dump them into the world with me. during 6Th form I went on a trip to Sigraph 06 in Boston, America. A convention that shows new and emerging technologies relating to graphics and interactive technology. I learnt a few new programs and started to create simple beasts with the intention to eventually get them into a game environment. After 6Th form I started to look for a course that would help me realise my dreams. While looking I continued to play about in 3D in both gaming and modeling, unfortunately most courses I investigated wouldn't even look at my 3d creations, they only wanted traditional artists and I was simply not good enough. Fortunately my mum stumbled upon an international course. It was more compact and I wouldn't run up a huge student loan that would need paying off at a later date. I applied for it and now I am sitting in a room at the Y.M.C.A. Auckland, New Zealand. Its an amazing place full of amazing people and I can safely say without gaming in my life I would not be here now.