Syp is AFK on vacation this week and put out a call for substitute writers! Today’s guest post is brought to you by Iogro Merryberry of A Hobbit’s Journey. Check out his blog for more great word-stuff!
Here’s a big shout out to Syp over at Bio Break who recently asked if anyone would like to do a guest post while he is out on vacation! So, thank you for the fantastic opportunity Syp to expand my reach a bit into the Blogosphere and gaming community, and ENJOY VACATION my friend!!!
I wanted to take a minute and share one of my favorite topics in gaming which is Community as it’s huge for me and that is why I’ve been so excited and anxious to get this post written and out.
For me, Gaming and Community started back in the days of the Nintendo and our favorite little hero Mario…as my friends and I would have huge weekend parties full of junk food, way too much soda, and more hours of yelling, and being boys then I can even count. Now, let me set the tone here and let you know that when the “NES” or Nintendo Entertainment System first came out I was only four, and no I wasn’t playing Mario at the age of four but I wasn’t much older before I got my first gaming system…which was all mine and not my brothers….”Insert Obnoxious Little Brother Grin”.
See, my brother was older and his gaming systems were a different generation; his first gaming system was the original Atari, and yes I did play it, but my big brother was a typical big brother and I only got to play it every once in a while….or if he wasn’t around….I may have snuck into his room and played it on occasion. Typical brother stuff you know.
Ok, let’s fast forward a few years and breeze by the era of my “SNES, Sega Genesis, and pretty much every other gaming system you can think of” and we’ll land around the time I got my first PC that could handle gaming. The system my brother had built for me was an Intel 486 and probably something like half a K of memory or some nonsense like that….but the first PC game I remember playing was a flight simulator, and yes I know what you’re probably thinking “A FLIGHT SIMULATOR?” are you kidding me? But this game was not only fun, it’s something my friends and I had massive competitions over to see who could get the best flight times, or even complete some side missions of landing a plane. Though this flight simulator wasn’t anything that blew your socks off on graphics or intense game play it did create community among a group of friends that spawned a passion for gaming, competition, and stronger friendships.
Just as all the gaming systems have changed over the years, the way we interact as gamers has dramatically changed as well! We have so many social features at our fingertips when playing games, and whether that’s on a console system or a PC we can choose to interact over a chat message screen, or throwing on a headset and chatting with some of your “Guildies, or Kinnies” from a favorite MMO game you play. For me, MMORPG games are what revolutionized the communities we see today as they draw players in and allow them to customize the way they play the games.
It wasn’t until I started playing LOTRO back around 2008 that I really even understood how huge the gamer communities had become. What has come from playing games like WoW and LOTRO for years is not only a place that I can meet friends and go team up on a large group of mobs, or even 12 man up on an instance, or even those groupies around the Blog-O-Sphere realm, and also connect over socially media while doing all of that!
This passion for games and community has grown for me and a great friend of mine who goes by the gamertag: Victus Darkaero – you can find him out on Twitter @Victus_Darkaero or wondering the digital platforms. Now why mention this, well for both Victus and I…this love of gaming has grown into a monthly podcast called All Things Geekery. Swing by and check our site out sometime!
We threw the idea of podcasting around for some time as we both loved listening to podcasts, and honestly both of us always wanted to try creating our own. We’ve just begun this journey into the podcasting realm and currently have two episodes released. Each month we explore the world of geeky hobbies which plays right into our love of the gaming community and blog-o-sphere realms. Check the podcast out sometime as we would love to hear from you and get your feedback. You can find us out on iTunes, Stitcher, Libsyn, Overcast, and Google Play Music.
Community is so important in games, writing, podcasting, etc…as without that core foundation these things would be boring for the most part as we would have no one to cheer with, or make fun of when that one guy or gal “Accidentally” pulls that huge mob over to your RAID group and wipes you all… I promise I’ve never done that, EVER! More importantly community goes even further than just the games we play, it reflects our character and who we are as people, and I just want to say thank you to all my gaming friends I’ve had the pleasure of sharing exciting gaming moments with, or possibly some witty banter on Twitter. See, community is more than just zero’s and ones that make up a game or a social network, it’s people and their personalities and that my friends is why I love community and gaming so much…It’s all because of you!
Come visit me over at A Hobbits Journey where I write weekly on gaming, community, and many more great topics. I look forward to connecting with you and chatting sometime.
You can also find me out on Twitter @iogromerrybelly.