When I was younger I played a LOT of computer games. I was always disappointed that my dad didn’t buy me my first console until I was nearly 10 years old, meaning I missed out on playing the classic Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive era. By the time I did play them, I was so used to playing the graphically superior Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that Sonic the Hedgehog was quite frankly rubbish. Although to be fair I now look back at that game and think the characters look no more humanoid than Tony Harts ‘Morph’.
This continued throughout secondary school, and then I made the fatal mistake of signing up to a World of Warcraft account when I was 17. I was lucky, the addiction only lasted a couple of years. Sadly the addiction has still got a firm hold of my brother Ross, who spends his free time in the Slaughtered Lamb in Stormwind with Bobonfire1000 the Elf and Ihaten00bs the Dwarf, discussing that night’s raid. Maybe I should change his password and make him go cold turkey? I’d find him hiding underneath his bed shivering and frothing at the mouth.
The fact is, over the past three years I’ve had very little time for computer games, which is very odd considering the title of this blog. It seems unless I’m playing a very casual game with a friend (or Ross when he’s taking a break from his Orc-slaying) I become very bored, incredibly quickly. Gran Turismo I will always love, as a petrol head there is nothing better than turning on the Playstation and spending a bit of time thrashing a realistic supercar around a track. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s casual. Just like my relationship with your mum (sorry I had to have at least one “your mum” joke in my blog somewhere).
However the only game I seem to play on a regular basis now is Guitar Hero. Because I have skills, I whack it straight onto expert guitar, and Ross goes onto expert drums (I hate him for being able to do the drums on that difficulty) and can spend hours at a time rocking away to the likes of Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Muse. Don’t worry people, that microphone has been out of the box once for when I did an amazing duet of ‘Play That Funky Music’ with Chris Allmond, and will never be used again. Your ears are safe. I say we spend hours playing Guitar Hero; lately because of old age we have to stop due to me having “masturbation cramp” in my hand and Ross looking like he’s just run the four-minute mile, and desperately in need of a shower.
Sadly, its not just computer games that have started disappearing from my life. Throughout childhood I was a bookworm, I would read a novel per week and I had a bookcase full to the brim with books. Yet now, I’m lucky to read a book per year, and the most action a book gets lately is when it connects very hard with a moth. The only reading I seem to do is browse a copy of Autocar magazine each week, and The Daily Mail newspaper each morning. How old man is that?
Films too; I never seem to have the will to sit and watch a film. Very rarely do I watch one unless it’s a weekend, its midnight, and all my friends are in bed. Even the cinema I’ve been avoiding. In the last 12 months there have been many films released in the cinema which I just have not got off my bottom to see. How To Train Your Dragon, Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, Kick-Ass, Sherlock Holmes, all of them were films I was fairly excited to go and see in the cinema but then when they were released, I just didn’t have the will to go.
In fact the only films I do watch are the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the (original) Star Wars trilogy. My comfortable double bed, my LCD TV, a bar of chocolate, and a film from one of those trilogies, I’m a very happy man! Unless it’s the end of Fellow of the Ring, where I cry without fail at the death of Boromir. I can’t help crying; my dad cried during the films too, it must be genetic. And don’t you dare complain I’ve just spoilt the film for you. It’s been available as a book for 55 years and a film for 9 years; you deserve to be punished with spoilers if you’ve not read or seen the story by now!
Also, TV too; I never ever watch it. People keep asking me “Oh have you seen this advert?” or “Have you watched this show?” and I never have. The only television shows I watch are Top Gear when it is showing on BBC2 (not Dave) and Doctor Who. Top Gear especially, you could put the most beautiful person in the world naked in front of me and tell them to bend over; I’d still ask them to move because I can’t see the cars properly. Thankfully although Doctor Who finished today, Top Gear begins tomorrow. Fantastic timing by the BBC there!
In the past I used to watch Doctor Who, Top Gear, The Simpsons, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Fifth Gear, My Family, Have I Got News For You, I even watched the bloody News. Now the television stays firmly switched off, even when I’m so bored I’m pulling my hair out. This also means I have several TV show box sets that I’m halfway through. Prison Break, 24, Battlestar Galactica, I should finish watching them to the end, but I can’t be bothered. I wouldn’t mind if it was because I was out having a life instead, but I don’t. I come home from work and due to lack of money, normally sit on my backside at my computer. And write blogs.
I think the reason for the games, films and television disappearing is because I have got to a stage where I want to watch them with somebody. Whether that be a friend or few to watch a film with a takeaway, or have that special somebody to snuggle up with on the sofa to watch the TV/put on a film, I believe I have stopped using these forms of entertainment because at present I do them on my own. I would rather be on MSN or Facebook holding a conversation, or out doing something. Does this mean I’ve become too grown up? I certainly hope not; although if being more grown up means snuggles in front of Star Wars, bring it on.
Just a shame that a special someone, and their snuggles, are yet to materialise.
