ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2024 Entry 28th November 2024: Post 1: Playing with yourself - No solution. Playing with yourself - No solution. When it came to having mates to play with on Christmas Day I was most lucky, what with having two brothers and three sisters. I got use to always having someone to throw a dice with. In those days there were no alternatives to playing board games given that computers hadn't been invented for the home, let alone games for them. The concept of dungeons and dragons wasn't even a consideration in my early years. The closest we got to strategy warfare was games like Risk. The preference of board games generally lent toward Cluedo and Monopoly. Time was war games were conducted between my brother and some friends where we took over the lounge and built armies of Airfix battalions , stationed on wooden castles and railway models. The battles were epic albeit a little vague in terms of actual rules. Generally it turned out more of a pie fight in the end. For controlled gaming we played Subbuteo and there were various leagues in the street and we all had our favourite teams. By the time I reached college the family was getting older and some brothers and sisters got married and or when in the RAF. I was then confronted with a time of playing games at work or not at all. Computers were still a long way off. Fortunately by now the pubs had Space Invaders and Pong. Dungeons and Dragons first reared its head with The Dark Tower a board game with a kinda computer in a tower that randomised its actions courtesy of some rotating lighted panels. It was all very entertaining, but required others to play. Pretty pointless trying to play with yourself. I did enjoy the Dungeon and Dragons books that allowed you to kinda map out your own journey through the story. I moved into the era of The Games Workshop and playing games with work chums late into the night. We played any number of elaborate boxed games. Primarily ones that least used a dice. I recall we played this gladiator style battle arena that got very heated. Thankfully it seemed only a hop skip and a jump to the ZX81 and for the first time I had a chum to play chess with any hour of the day. The computer became my very own artificial friend that was on tap to suit my own play time. It kinda heralded the start of everything to come gaming wise. So much so that playing with yourself became quite fashionable. Moving on to memorable Christmas games that I enjoyed on the computer I guess the first had to be Manic Miner on the Spectrum. We were snowed in and I stayed with my girlfriend and her brother playing Manic Miner for three days running. We did very little else. It was crazy. Later on I recall playing Terminator on the Amiga till my fingers bled. But the games that started to dominate over the festive period were games like Ishar. By now another factor started to create problems that prevented me playing. All these games were strategy games that involved problem solving. Sadly some of the puzzles were impossible, it seemed. So you needed the solution. Some solutions you could actually ring into the offices of the designer to get answers. The Vulcan games were killers to be honest. I would get stuck at one in the morning and spend all night it seemed going round in circles. Man did that get very frustrating. Interestingly online games like Warcraft did use to be more puzzle solving than they are now. I was taken to buying the large guides and spending endless hours studying players own solutions. My desktop was forever filled with mountains of hastily written notes on notepads. And to the crux of today's blog and the difference I sense between today's gamer and the gamer that I grew up as. I have been playing the classic Tomb Raider and seriously I get stuck so quickly. I am less tolerant of my own problem solving techniques and so am taken to watching YouTube walk-throughs. So much so I watched a walk-through today of a remastered Tomb Raider II in preference to actually playing the game. Today Warcraft is less about problem solving and more about getting stuff in game. Normally players have forfeited their desire for gear in favour of collecting transmogs, pets, mounts etc. As part of the 20th anniversary there is this crazy quest chain you have to do to obtain this rare Fel bike. I haven't even bothered. Shooters dominate the online gaming world, and players like to team up with their mates for dungeon style action. Times of sitting with a board game and a couple of dice seem a dull distant memory. Today you can always find other players online, or just pair up with a virtual friend. The strategy game requiring the solutions of old have given way to simple boss carnage and or one on one battle arenas. Stuff today tends to be fast and furious. And when not killing each other in game they play doodle-jump or what ever it is called on the phone. The norm today encourages playing with yourself or with others that you have no previous knowledge of. We entrust our gaming time with folk we have no idea of just who they are, generally. It is akin to stopping in a busy town of old and asking any Tom, Dick or Harry if they would like to play chess with you. Something you would never consider and yet today player partner with other like minded individuals from all over the globe. So hey, took a lifetime but eventually the act of playing with myself, that is on my own in say my bedroom, actually has become the norm. Gone are the days when I felt guilty of locking myself from friends and family and playing on my own. What I reflect is that this mode of behaviour came quite late in my life for me. Most of my life I spent in the company of actual real life human beings that for the hours we were together we valued as actual friends. I do trouble myself with youngsters these days simply locking themselves away from an early age. Or becoming closed off and never lifting their heads from the phone. All I would say is that there is no substitute for the real world. The rich tapestry of life is tangible by touch, and there for all your senses. It really is that easy to tap into. You certainly don't need a solution other than the lessons you learn from your own interaction. There isn't anything very lasting about winning a bit of pixel dust online, but real friends and family can give you rewards your whole life. So maybe instead of being a sad old git like me this Christmas, sitting at his computer playing with himself, maybe go interact with that way more intoxicating game that is real life. So get up, put the phone down and go out a bit. Playing with yourself - No solution.

If you can only see this CONTENT window
then click the image above for the full site

Last updated 23rd November 2024

Chandraise Kingdom

Keep the Faith
scuzzscink 2024