A Gamer Is Born: A Journey Through Time

I remember it like it was yesterday. Sitting Indian-style on the carpet of my neighbors living room in upstate New York, 2 feet away from a tube TV, I was playing my first video game. Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. With an orange plastic “gun” in hand, I was aiming at ducks flapping their way out of tall grass. A barking dog would often try to distract me. I was having fun. Perhaps fifteen minutes later, my neighbor-friend probably switched to Mario Bros. and handed me the rectangular controller of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I’m sure I had to wait my turn of course, as it was his system. I remember dying often in the game. Here I am controlling a Italian plumber, jumping and head butting floating bricks. These are video games? I pondered. It wasn’t long before I knew there was something special about this idea of planting yourself in front of a television and immersing yourself in a virtual world. From there on out, I started my life as a “gamer.”