Blog Introduction

Two days ago in my journalism class our teacher handed us an extra credit opportunity, blogging. The deal is, start a blog. Submit a post once a week, each is due every Sunday before midnight. In order to get the credit you cannot miss one week, its either all or nothing.

I figured the extra credit could be good for me. It would help my grade and give me the motivation to be consistent with something, to actually sharpen my writing skills.

For a while I was conflicted about what to write about. I could go on talking about just anything like in my old blog, or I could do a themed blog. The problem with a themed blog is, it would need to be something that I could talk about every single week.

I was in deep thought as I was playing Banjo-Kazooie when it hit me. Its such an old game but it brings back so many fond memories, so nostalgic. It reminds me of simpler times. Times when I was just a kid, I had no disciplines or responsibilities.

Video games have always been such a big part of my life and but have also stunted my growth in several ways. And yet I still can't put them down.

Although I see how video games have affected me negatively, there are also ways they've effected me positively.

Online gaming has opened my eyes to all sorts of cultures and different points of view. But how you ask? The people. Think about it, thousands of people are online, playing games with one another. In most all MMOs (Massive Multi-player Online game) you can chat with other players you run into. You never know who you could be talking to, it could be someone from very far away with a life completely different from yours. But yet you both have one thing in common despite several cultural differences, you're both addicted to this game.

Through my travels in games like Runescape, Kingdom of Loathing, Necron (not very popular MMO's I know) I've met all sorts of people very different from me. College kids, soccer moms, thespians, vegetarians, liberals, homosexuals, children, drug addicts, alcoholics, nice guys, assholes, cancer patients, the list goes on.

Some people are more transparent with strangers online than people they have known for years. I've had so many people tell me their life stories, seen so many spill their guts. Through talking to people of many different paths of life I have been enlightened. Its like I've seen the world through 100 different pairs of eyes.

It may have been this exposure that gave me the desire to be a journalist. Just being able to hear someones story, and tell everyone else about it, is great. There are so many stories out there... right under our noses...

It is all thanks to the internet that I've been able to see that. Plus games like Banjo-Kazooie have really contributed to my sense of humor. I love you Rareware...

So I decided to do a themed blog about video gaming. I'll be talking about some of the games I am currently running through. I'll also be doing game reviews. You may see a few commentaries about certain MMO's here as well. So enjoy.