| I am 22 years old. I have a very good job as | | | | |
| a Field Engineer with a very large, | | | | So what is it that makes a good game? What |
| well-respected company. I have responsibility | | | | has kept me coming back for more when so many |
| now, and I guess it's time to start growing | | | | other fads and hobbies have come and gone? |
| up. However, there is one vise that I hope I | | | | More importantly, why do so many other people |
| will never abandon, and it started back when | | | | not understand my passion, and see it only as |
| I was only a few years old. Sometime in the | | | | a waste of time? |
| late 1980's, my father brought home an Apple | | | | |
| II GS, and it came with a huge stack of | | | | A good computer game will trick us into |
| 5.25inch floppys loaded with some of the best | | | | believing the impossible, in the same way |
| entertainment I had ever experienced. Mission | | | | that a scary movie leaves us afraid of the |
| Impossible, Conan, Wings of Fury, Marble | | | | dark. Whether we are commanding an army, |
| Madness, Olympic Winter Games, and BounceIt | | | | blasting demons back to hell, or slashing our |
| were just a few of the games that molded me | | | | way through a medieval village, there is |
| into a 2D gaming aficionado. | | | | always one place that we should never |
| | | | be...and that's sitting at a desk watching |
| In the mid-1990's, our family purchased a | | | | pixels move on a screen. The realization that |
| computing powerhouse in the IBM Aptiva, which | | | | a group of coders has predetermined the |
| sported a Pentium II processor and Windows95 | | | | outcome of every choice we could possibly |
| operating system. I still remember trying to | | | | make can be the ultimate disillusionment to |
| wrap my head around that 4 Gig hard-drive. | | | | our electronic daydream. |
| More important than the computer was the game | | | | |
| that came with it. Mechwarrior II Mercenaries | | | | And why can I spend hours immersed in a |
| was my first 3D game, and it remains to this | | | | game-world. That's easy. Imagination. Those |
| day one of the most well-designed and | | | | of us with strong imaginations, those of us |
| enjoyable games I have ever played. I was | | | | who played outside as kids instead of |
| immersed in the game...I really was a | | | | watching TV 24/7, those of us who lived as |
| mercenary, piloting my "beer-can of a mech" | | | | Robin Hood, Batman, and Davy Crocket as |
| to earn cash and salvage. The storyline, the | | | | children have no problem becoming Gordon |
| voice-acting, and the gameplay were so good | | | | Freeman (Half-Life), Master-Chief (Halo), or |
| it almost hurts me to think of the potential | | | | the Supreme Commander (Supreme Commander) in |
| such a game would have today with the | | | | our computer games. |
| advances we've made in graphical effects. | | | | |