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Mar. 25th, 2012 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
girlofprey1. Is your fondness for gaming a relatively recent thing or was it a childhood hobby? If the latter, did you work your way up through the various standards of console/computer?
I was wondering if I seemed very very obsessed with computer games lately. Apparently the answer is yes. It's also funny because I've sort of been thinking about this lately. Essentially, I never really thought of myself as a 'gamer', largely because I never had a console and joined in with those types of games, I think. But looking back, I've played games and loved them for probably most of my life. When I was in primary school I had an Amiga, and played a bunch of apparently classic and a bunch of knock-off games. They ranged from Duke Nukem to the Super Maria Sisters (see what they did there? - (EDIT: I was wrong it turns out, I looked it up to answer a comment: it was the Great Giana Sisters. Starring Giana and Maria. Go figure)). Then I think I got a PC for my own bedroom, and played a bunch of PC games - I started pretty early on with the Elder Scrolls, with Daggerfall, and had a bunch of others I played all the time, like Dungeon Keeper and Black and White, and the original Sims. I had a few point-and-click games, like the Escape From Horrorland game - I think the thing was that I never really felt into games in the sense of wanting to play all of them, or play all the popular ones, or see what new things people were doing with them. I just wanted to play what I liked.
And that pretty much continued throughout high school and Sixth Form. When the third Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind, came out I played that pretty much all the time, and loved it. I think the real time when I stopped playing games was probably University, when I only had the one laptop and didn't want to fill up the memory with games, and knew I should probably devote more of my time to work and uni anyway. Plus there were a bunch of games I wanted that didn't really play on the machine I had, and a bunch of my old ones wouldn't install on it anymore, and I sort of lost interest a bit. I never really felt the lack of console, like I desperately wanted one - I think, in my contrary way, the fact they were so popular made me sort of less inclined to want to play them, if that makes sense despite being wanky? But there were occasionally games that I really did like the look of and didn't have a console for, and didn't have the money to buy a console for, and I used to feel annoyed about that.
And yeah. My decision to finally get/ask for one sort of stemmed in the same way the rest of it did - there were a bunch of games I liked the look of that you just couldn't play on a PC, plus I was a bit more able to get in touch with a community that liked them (not something I could say about my childhood friends or my family), and it sort of niggled me that I'd never had a console despite kind of wanting one. So I asked for one for my birthday. And here we are, with me sort of loving console games, loving PC games just as much as I used to (which may be partly due to the fact that I'm unemployed and have some time to devote to them), and very often looking for more new ones I can play. So to answer the original question, no, my love of games is probably not that recent really, and I sort of did work my way up through some consoles/computers - a few years of an Amiga, about 15 years of PC, and one year of a Playstation 3. And possibly a few more consoles soon if I can get my hands on them, afford them, and find some place to put them.
As an aside, I recently found a video (one among many) of Daggerfall gameplay. It turns out my golden memories were not exactly what the game was like. Behold my misspent youth (Warning for animated violence and blood and stuff. This is what happens when you break the law in The Elder Scrolls).
2. Are you musical at all? I just realised I had no idea whether or not you play an instrument. (Or some instruments.)
Not really at the moment. I used to take Electric Organ/keyboard lessons. Essentially, on my 10th birthday my parents - largely my dad - bought me an electronic keyboard and told me I was having lessons at a local music centre. I went to a taster session and really liked it and said I wanted to continue, but sadly it got a bit more difficult after that. The thing was that the machines we were learning on were big, two-tier machines, so practising on a keyboard wasn't really the same, and I never cared enough to want my parents to buy me one (they cost about £1000) and I never went to the music centre outside of lessons really, so I never practised. And also I hated it. But my dad wouldn't let me quit, so I went to them for 3 years. I wasn't too bad at it, and I did a few group recitals, and I can still read music a bit and remember some chords. But I was never great at it. I really did jump at the chance to stop when my dad finally gave it to me.
At the moment I don't play anything, although I listen to music a lot and do a lot of random singing. I wouldn't mind learning something - during university I went and had a couple of violin lessons, but it was while I was home for the summer and had to go back to Nottingham after that, and I had a few issues, like the violin I had having a snapped string, and not knowing where I could get lessons, and I never really got round to having anymore. I wouldn't mind doing some again though, but sadly my local music centre doesn't do violin lessons anymore. And there's a bunch of other instruments I sort of randomly, in a fantasy sense would like to know how to play (at last count violin, flute, electric guitar, harp, and trumpet), but I have pretty much accepted the fact that I'm probably not going to learn to play all of those, if any of them.
3. What job/career would you ideally choose if that was how the job market worked?
I honestly don't know. To be honest, the career paths I'm most attracted to are pretty much the artistic sort of ones, like writer or jewellery maker, which is not really the same as a 9 to 5 sort of deal. Although that's probably just my own way of thinking about it, but you know. It's sort of as much dependant on other people liking what you do and being willing to pay for it as it is about just doing the job. At least the way I imagine them. Alternatively, probably something like animal conservation, or studying animals. Wolves, most likely.
4. What's been your favourite holiday? (As in British getting-away usage rather than US festive-celebration usage. I don't know why I specified that seeing as we're both from the UK. Never mind.)
Ooh, that's a tough one, really. I have a bunch of good holiday memories from my childhood - my favourite from then was probably the narrowboat holiday we had going round the Cheshire Ring when I was fifteen or sixteen. That was nice largely because - well, there were lots of things really. It was a bit different, it was sort of busy but quiet, and we got to see a lot of countryside, and the weather was really great for it too. But a very nice part of it was that up until the end, when it started getting a bit sticky, we all sort of really pulled together as a family on that one. It was me, my dad, my mum, my sister, our grandma and the dog, and we all sort of had a job to do (except grandma and the dog). My dad did the driving, my mum did all the cooking, and my sister and I did all the locks, and helped out when it was time to moor the boat up and stuff. My dad probably got the short end of that deal, because he pretty much had to do the driving from morning till night most days. Whereas when I wasn't doing locks or mooring up I got to lay on the boat roof and watch the scenery go past. He tried to get the rest of us to drive a bit, but we usually found an excuse to go do something else pretty shortly afterwards. Still, he didn't complain. And it was really nice.
I didn't really go on many holidays during uni and when I lived in Nottingham I think, but my parents have been taking me away the past couple of years, and pretty much all of those have been nice too. We often went abroad when I was young, but we mostly just went to resorts, so I've really enjoyed going to see some cities. Of those three, I probably liked Barcelona the most. I don't know. Rome was really, really good, pretty special really, but Barcelona just felt a bit more relaxed and - I don't know, I just think I liked Barcelona better than Rome, even though Rome was a bit more spectacular. So yeah. One of those two really, Barcelona or the Cheshire Ring. If I had to pick, probably the Cheshire Ring. But largely both of them.
5. What if anything are you reading right now?
Nothing. I'm having some OCD issues at the moment with reading and re-reading things, which sort of makes it hard to get through a paragraph and keep the thread of a story sometimes, so I just sort of don't do it. Although I was sort of having problems with books before my OCD really became a problem, with starting them and then not continuing them. Which might have been because I kept reading books that didn't really interest me and then assumed it was my own fault when I wasn't interested enough to continue. But whatever. So no. If anything, I'll sometimes read non-fiction books at the moment on stuff I'm interested in, and even then mostly just flicking through them or just reading particular bits I'm interested in. And while doing my jewellery course I bought a few books on contemporary jewellery, like from the 500 series, which are basically picture books, and which I pretty much read all the way through. In terms of actual word-filled books, nothing. Although I do read quite a lot of fic and webcomics, now that I come to think about it.
That was quite fun. If any of you want any questions of your own, feel free to ask, although I can't promise they'll be terribly interesting or incisive. But incisive might not be what you're looking for anyway. So ask away.
I was wondering if I seemed very very obsessed with computer games lately. Apparently the answer is yes. It's also funny because I've sort of been thinking about this lately. Essentially, I never really thought of myself as a 'gamer', largely because I never had a console and joined in with those types of games, I think. But looking back, I've played games and loved them for probably most of my life. When I was in primary school I had an Amiga, and played a bunch of apparently classic and a bunch of knock-off games. They ranged from Duke Nukem to the Super Maria Sisters (see what they did there? - (EDIT: I was wrong it turns out, I looked it up to answer a comment: it was the Great Giana Sisters. Starring Giana and Maria. Go figure)). Then I think I got a PC for my own bedroom, and played a bunch of PC games - I started pretty early on with the Elder Scrolls, with Daggerfall, and had a bunch of others I played all the time, like Dungeon Keeper and Black and White, and the original Sims. I had a few point-and-click games, like the Escape From Horrorland game - I think the thing was that I never really felt into games in the sense of wanting to play all of them, or play all the popular ones, or see what new things people were doing with them. I just wanted to play what I liked.
And that pretty much continued throughout high school and Sixth Form. When the third Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind, came out I played that pretty much all the time, and loved it. I think the real time when I stopped playing games was probably University, when I only had the one laptop and didn't want to fill up the memory with games, and knew I should probably devote more of my time to work and uni anyway. Plus there were a bunch of games I wanted that didn't really play on the machine I had, and a bunch of my old ones wouldn't install on it anymore, and I sort of lost interest a bit. I never really felt the lack of console, like I desperately wanted one - I think, in my contrary way, the fact they were so popular made me sort of less inclined to want to play them, if that makes sense despite being wanky? But there were occasionally games that I really did like the look of and didn't have a console for, and didn't have the money to buy a console for, and I used to feel annoyed about that.
And yeah. My decision to finally get/ask for one sort of stemmed in the same way the rest of it did - there were a bunch of games I liked the look of that you just couldn't play on a PC, plus I was a bit more able to get in touch with a community that liked them (not something I could say about my childhood friends or my family), and it sort of niggled me that I'd never had a console despite kind of wanting one. So I asked for one for my birthday. And here we are, with me sort of loving console games, loving PC games just as much as I used to (which may be partly due to the fact that I'm unemployed and have some time to devote to them), and very often looking for more new ones I can play. So to answer the original question, no, my love of games is probably not that recent really, and I sort of did work my way up through some consoles/computers - a few years of an Amiga, about 15 years of PC, and one year of a Playstation 3. And possibly a few more consoles soon if I can get my hands on them, afford them, and find some place to put them.
As an aside, I recently found a video (one among many) of Daggerfall gameplay. It turns out my golden memories were not exactly what the game was like. Behold my misspent youth (Warning for animated violence and blood and stuff. This is what happens when you break the law in The Elder Scrolls).
2. Are you musical at all? I just realised I had no idea whether or not you play an instrument. (Or some instruments.)
Not really at the moment. I used to take Electric Organ/keyboard lessons. Essentially, on my 10th birthday my parents - largely my dad - bought me an electronic keyboard and told me I was having lessons at a local music centre. I went to a taster session and really liked it and said I wanted to continue, but sadly it got a bit more difficult after that. The thing was that the machines we were learning on were big, two-tier machines, so practising on a keyboard wasn't really the same, and I never cared enough to want my parents to buy me one (they cost about £1000) and I never went to the music centre outside of lessons really, so I never practised. And also I hated it. But my dad wouldn't let me quit, so I went to them for 3 years. I wasn't too bad at it, and I did a few group recitals, and I can still read music a bit and remember some chords. But I was never great at it. I really did jump at the chance to stop when my dad finally gave it to me.
At the moment I don't play anything, although I listen to music a lot and do a lot of random singing. I wouldn't mind learning something - during university I went and had a couple of violin lessons, but it was while I was home for the summer and had to go back to Nottingham after that, and I had a few issues, like the violin I had having a snapped string, and not knowing where I could get lessons, and I never really got round to having anymore. I wouldn't mind doing some again though, but sadly my local music centre doesn't do violin lessons anymore. And there's a bunch of other instruments I sort of randomly, in a fantasy sense would like to know how to play (at last count violin, flute, electric guitar, harp, and trumpet), but I have pretty much accepted the fact that I'm probably not going to learn to play all of those, if any of them.
3. What job/career would you ideally choose if that was how the job market worked?
I honestly don't know. To be honest, the career paths I'm most attracted to are pretty much the artistic sort of ones, like writer or jewellery maker, which is not really the same as a 9 to 5 sort of deal. Although that's probably just my own way of thinking about it, but you know. It's sort of as much dependant on other people liking what you do and being willing to pay for it as it is about just doing the job. At least the way I imagine them. Alternatively, probably something like animal conservation, or studying animals. Wolves, most likely.
4. What's been your favourite holiday? (As in British getting-away usage rather than US festive-celebration usage. I don't know why I specified that seeing as we're both from the UK. Never mind.)
Ooh, that's a tough one, really. I have a bunch of good holiday memories from my childhood - my favourite from then was probably the narrowboat holiday we had going round the Cheshire Ring when I was fifteen or sixteen. That was nice largely because - well, there were lots of things really. It was a bit different, it was sort of busy but quiet, and we got to see a lot of countryside, and the weather was really great for it too. But a very nice part of it was that up until the end, when it started getting a bit sticky, we all sort of really pulled together as a family on that one. It was me, my dad, my mum, my sister, our grandma and the dog, and we all sort of had a job to do (except grandma and the dog). My dad did the driving, my mum did all the cooking, and my sister and I did all the locks, and helped out when it was time to moor the boat up and stuff. My dad probably got the short end of that deal, because he pretty much had to do the driving from morning till night most days. Whereas when I wasn't doing locks or mooring up I got to lay on the boat roof and watch the scenery go past. He tried to get the rest of us to drive a bit, but we usually found an excuse to go do something else pretty shortly afterwards. Still, he didn't complain. And it was really nice.
I didn't really go on many holidays during uni and when I lived in Nottingham I think, but my parents have been taking me away the past couple of years, and pretty much all of those have been nice too. We often went abroad when I was young, but we mostly just went to resorts, so I've really enjoyed going to see some cities. Of those three, I probably liked Barcelona the most. I don't know. Rome was really, really good, pretty special really, but Barcelona just felt a bit more relaxed and - I don't know, I just think I liked Barcelona better than Rome, even though Rome was a bit more spectacular. So yeah. One of those two really, Barcelona or the Cheshire Ring. If I had to pick, probably the Cheshire Ring. But largely both of them.
5. What if anything are you reading right now?
Nothing. I'm having some OCD issues at the moment with reading and re-reading things, which sort of makes it hard to get through a paragraph and keep the thread of a story sometimes, so I just sort of don't do it. Although I was sort of having problems with books before my OCD really became a problem, with starting them and then not continuing them. Which might have been because I kept reading books that didn't really interest me and then assumed it was my own fault when I wasn't interested enough to continue. But whatever. So no. If anything, I'll sometimes read non-fiction books at the moment on stuff I'm interested in, and even then mostly just flicking through them or just reading particular bits I'm interested in. And while doing my jewellery course I bought a few books on contemporary jewellery, like from the 500 series, which are basically picture books, and which I pretty much read all the way through. In terms of actual word-filled books, nothing. Although I do read quite a lot of fic and webcomics, now that I come to think about it.
That was quite fun. If any of you want any questions of your own, feel free to ask, although I can't promise they'll be terribly interesting or incisive. But incisive might not be what you're looking for anyway. So ask away.
