Atari released its 2600 console system in 1982, the year I was born. There had been a number of home gaming systems before then, but none too successful. Everyone I know has had or knew someone who had a 2600.
I got my 2600 in 1987, my NES in 1989 and numerous other systems since. For the most part, I've witnessed the full evolution of video games. Our entire generation has.
So who are these new punks in town?
I first realized the existence of videobrats back in January. I'd purchased my beloved Xbox with Christmas money and was enjoying the gaming delights offered by Mech Assault on Xbox Live.
I was piloting my trusty Madcat. Some guy in a little Hackman annihilates me. I respawn and hunt him down. He does it again. And again.
"Ha ha, I'm kicking your butt!" the pilot's voice taunts me over voice communication. His speech was shrill and squeaky like a mouse.
"Uh, how old are you?" I inquire.
"12," he replies.
I was having my posterior handed to me by a pre-teen. I turned off the Xbox, drowned my grief in Mountain Dew and cried like a girl.
I'd written the junior mechpilot off as a fluke. I was not reminded of my veteran's age again until recently.
In desperate need of something to do this summer, I reinstalled the Desert Crisis Half-Life mod on my PC. Desert Crisis is a little-known first-person shooter. It's sort of a hybrid between Counter-Strike and Team Fortress.
When the game was first released my friends and I were notorious for our fun-loving nature and 1337 skills. (NOTE: Internet slang) So notorious for both that we were frequently booted and banned from servers. I suppose they could have handled our superior abilities, but our trash-talk was too much for them.
Upon returning to the Desert Crisis world I came to find that little had changed. Before long I was being discriminately kicked off of the evil Clan FOE server for taunting. I decided to exercise some futility and go to Clan FOE's Web site to log a complaint.
The Clan FOE Web site had photographs of their members. The oldest couldn't have been 15. Some 15- year-old kids were kicking me off of their online gaming server.
Am I getting too old for this?
What strikes me as sad is the attitude of these younger gamers. My friends play videogames for fun. Winning is all too important, but in the end, it is just a game. Sure, if I win the last match of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, I am a fundamentally human being than my opponent -- but only until next time.
These spunky tots take themselves far too seriously. They want to pretend that being the best at a particular game is something to be proud of. Their gaming egos are sacred, solemn and not to be miffed.
To these guys, video game war is real.
Perhaps these young bucks will accidentally date a girl and their priorities will be realigned -- but I don't think so. I think the newer, younger generation of gamers is different. They didn't lose their innocence -- they never had it.
Videogaming has been thrown into the mainstream and that has raised the stakes. You can't lose anymore, because now it matters. That's too bad.
Write to Mouse at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
Visit http://www.classicalgeektheatre.com
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