Confucious said "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
But it is a trade off and you often times have to decide between doing something you love and getting paid. It's a rare situation where someone gets both. Most people look for that sweet spot. A LOT of people have to settle for less than ideal. But that's life.
In a perfect world everyone would get their dream job. But then in a perfect world, no one would have to clean the toilets, so....
Chasing a dream is okay, but be careful not to put all of your eggs into that basket, or you could end up out of options. Do you think all of the road sweepers, bin collecters, toilet cleaners, and office temps, chose to be those things?
I always wanted to be a pilot (and still do!!!), but I just have to face facts: there's no way in the world that that's going to happen, unless I win the lottery and get really lucky. Pilot, along with musician, actor, and anything in the gaming industry, are the kinds of jobs that millions of people want, but only a few hundred can have. Ergo, you have to be very lucky to get it, and there's a good chance you won't. What then?
I'm not saying don't try at all, but be careful. At least make sure you've got some options if your chosen career path does fail, otherwise you could end up screwing your life up. Trust me, I speak from experience.
@Belanos It's alright if you given up yourself, but don't encourage other people to do the same. I might be too young, but you definitely sound like a old fart already. A toxic old fellow at that.
Also, thank you people for assuming than, for the rest of my life, I won't ever think of any alternatives or "what-if" scenarios. That's very encouraging of you.
I just upgraded to 4.0,and my first game was packman iirc,later i got a commodore 64.Must say i don't have the patience to go on and on as i just to.The real fun began when i got Baldurs gate on PS1,from there it was NWN but i had to uninstalled it because it took way to much of my time.BGEE is probably the best game i ever played since,loved it.
When i was young, i spent 5 hours in morrowind training my combat skills against mudcrabs.
Been there. Done that. Got the tee-shirt. I spent endless hours in Oblivion simply summoning monsters and then killing them. However in that game it actually hurt me because although I had the stats, I was still casting useless spells that couldn't stand up to what was out in the world. :
The only difference I'm really aware of when I play RPGs is my reaction to the romances. I loved the idea when I played BG2 and I still feel like they were probably as well written in that game as any, now I often find them kind of annoying and cheesy tbh. As far as the first game I ever played, no idea because I was raised by the NES and was playing when I was 3. First PC game I remember getting into was the King's Quest where you're the servant of an evil wizard, but I was too young to figure anything out.
First game I played? I couldn't say. I do remember "Adventure" vividly. And I did play Zork, but probably some time after it came out. First game I REALLY loved? Probably Gold Box Pool of Radiance. LOVED that game. Played it like a dozen times.
Seeing as learning new things and keeping the mind stimulated is the best way to fight Alzheimer's, I sometimes wonder if the disease will become a much less common issue once the video game generation gets that old.
It's alright if you given up yourself, but don't encourage other people to do the same. I might be too young, but you definitely sound like a old fart already. A toxic old fellow at that.
Spoken like a 22 year old. They have all the answers and know what life is all about. Don't feel bad though, I was exactly the same when I was 22. I hope you don't end up being too disillusioned when reality finally sinks in. Though by the tone of your posts so far, you probably will be. And what do you mean that I sound like an old fart "already"? I'm 57, I've been around the block a few times now and fully earned that distinction. If you think that someone trying to point out the reality of life is being toxic, then I suspect you're going to have to deal with a lot of bumps on your road.
But it is a trade off and you often times have to decide between doing something you love and getting paid. It's a rare situation where someone gets both. Most people look for that sweet spot. A LOT of people have to settle for less than ideal. But that's life.
Agreed. Life is all about compromises, and you quite often have to settle for the one that is at least acceptable.
Do you think all of the road sweepers, bin collecters, toilet cleaners, and office temps, chose to be those things?
Before my father moved to Canada from The Netherlands, he was a rising star in the insurance industry there. He was a district manager with his foot in the door at the head office. But when he came here he couldn't get any work in that area as Canadians at that time didn't think of insurance the same way as people in Europe did, so the opportunities didn't exist for him here. Plus he had some language barriers to contend with. So he ended up having to get a factory job in order to make enough money to support his family, and he did that until it was time for him to retire. That's how life works sometimes.
Some of the earliest games I played were the D&D Gold Box games on the Commodore 64, Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bond, and Secret of the Silver Blades. I went through all of those several times, I just couldn't get enough of them. Eventually I got an Amiga 500 and got into the Eye of the Beholder games. So my D&D experience on computers goes way back. And I've played pretty much every one of them so far, most more than once, right up to Neverwinter Nights 2.
Don't worry about me. I'm better than anyone here is giving me credit for. And, Belanos, don't speak shit of me when you know less than nothing about me.
And, Belanos, don't speak shit of me when you know less than nothing about me.
I'm not the one calling people "toxic". And I'm not "speaking shit" of you. I'm just trying to point out that you're being rather naive and inexperienced. Which just comes from being so young. You'll learn eventually.
Alright everyone. Be respectful and get back on topic. I have seen several people (including the OP) request we stay to the topic. Things also seem to be getting a bit heated here so cut that out too.
You and I are very similar @typo_tilly. I also played Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers as some of my first games. I too wrote about my games in school, and probably confused some of my teachers in the process. We both started BG at about the same age (but knowing how old you are I think one of us is slightly off on what age we started BG, not sure who though). I also replay my old games a lot (almost exclusively these days).
Lets see... The first games I ever played were on an old Macintosh back when they were called "Macintosh" and had rainbow colored apples and used big ol' floppy discs that were actually really floppy. I think I was about 1 or 2 when I started. My mom and my aunt would have me watch them as they played Bard's Tale. I would name the characters and they would try to explain to me what they were doing. (When I was in college I downloaded the game as abandonware and found out just how little of it I understood back then). They also had me play this game called "Marble Madness" in which you had to guide a marble through an obstacle course. I wasn't very good at it but I didn't mind because I had a marble fixation at the time. There were other games I vaguely remember but I couldn't tell you their names. When I was around 4 or 5 my dad made me play Myst. I was actually able to beat it within about a year I think (and the only reason it took so long was because we lost the disc at one point). Not counting the lost disc months I think It took me about a month or two to beat Myst. I am still very proud of the fact that I beat Myst on my own at such a young age. The only time I needed help was with this one puzzle that required understanding of compass degrees (which I didn't learn in school until several years later). Later I would move on to beat Riven in about a month or two (Riven was harder than Myst). Other games I played included some virtual pinball games (Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth specifically), a Star Wars themed rail shooter called Rebel Assault, and a flight simulator called F-A 18 Hornet (My parents were very impressed by that last one since I was only about 5-7 and learned practically all the controls through experimentation. My dad once had a friend of his watch me play it and they marveled at what I was doing with it at such a young age. I didn't get the fuss at the time.). Heroes 3 was the next significant game in my life and, while I still play it from time to time, my mom has played it far more than I have and still plays it to this day. Then came Buldur's Gate, which I had started playing at about 10-11. Originally my parents had planned to play it as a family, but I was so impressed by the game I took it for myself and got hooked on it instantly. Some of you who know about my fascination with Pokemon may be surprised to know that I didn't start playing Pokemon games until I was 12 or so. This was solely because my dad didn't really care for hand held games. I had to borrow Pokemon Yellow from a neighbor in order to play the game for the first time. Since then I have played every game in the main series.
Seeing as this is already quite the text wall I think I will stop there for now. Let me know if anyone wants me to keep going.
Edit: How could I forget?! At around the ages of 6-10 I played quite a few of the Mecc games including: Oregon Trail, Amazon Trail, and several others.
When i was young, i spent 5 hours in morrowind training my combat skills against mudcrabs.
Been there. Done that. I swear I didn't read @the_spyder 's post before saying that phrase.
I usually use the infinitely respawning health cheat on xbox, pack on heavy and medium armour, and then get the sh** beaten out of me by mudcrabs to level my endurance to 100 as fast as possible for maximum HP gains by end-game. When I someday get my hands on the PC version, I'll probably just use console commands to edit everything so that I get the same results without gaining any advantages over doing it the long and tedious way.
And then there are rare play-throughs where I just play the game. What can I say, optimal leveling is a scary and addictive thing. Sometimes I'm glad Skyrim's leveling system is so much less complicated.
@FinneousPJ Eh? Whats that? The only time I was ever really visible on another gaming website pretty much ever was when I was in the Serebii chat room for a few weeks in which I used the name "Portalbendarwinden". I may have also used "Tresset" a few times but it was usually "Portalbendarwinden".
Aw, bless, you're all so wee (Scottish for little) When BG first came out I was around Charname's age, I still feel like I'm Charname's age but the face in the mirror tells me different, I feel like Keldorn in this forum ;-). As for careers / jobs, the thing I wanted to do when I was younger didn't work out & left me utterly unprepared for actually having to make money to pay the bills, however I'm nothing if not adaptable & I may not be working in what I thought was my dream career but I do something with lots of variety that will (hopefully) always mean I'm employable and I only have to do four days a week. Some people would kill for that.
I started up Pokemon yesterday, FireRed (upgraded version of the original red, better graphics and gameplay). And **** me, this shit is still entertaining as hell!
My first games were Lemmings, Prince of Persia and some odd helicopter game on the mac where you could rescue people OR kill them. Killing them was much more entertaining for tiny Sion *Shrugs*.
I started playing Monkey Island when i was 6 years old, and it's the reason i speak English today. In Monkey Island II you had to do a main quest to gain enough money to get on a boat to the next Island, I think you needed 500 coins? There was this guy sitting next to his boat who needed someone to polish his peg leg and gave 1 gold for each time you polished it, the animation took around 10 seconds. Tiny Sion didn't follow the main quest, instead he spent 5+ hours polishing this guys peg leg over 500 times or however many was needed to get off that Island.
The only difference is when I was little I used to look at Ajantis and Garrick and think to myself "wow they're so old and they're adventuring, hope they don't break a hip or something" and now I just have a crush on their portrait. So yeah basically that's the difference
The only difference is when I was little I used to look at Ajantis and Garrick and think to myself "wow they're so old and they're adventuring, hope they don't break a hip or something" and now I just have a crush on their portrait. So yeah basically that's the difference
Don't be ashamed, Garrick does that for me too *winks at Garrick*. Come here you little lore guy, i'll be rubbing all my unidentified items up your sweaty nake......
When I was a young man, in the eighties, we had a BBC micro computer and a few games on it. Monopoly I remember, and Time Pilot, and a few other shooters whose names I can't remember.
Downloaded Time-Pilot for my Xbox more recently... of course, I only play it with the original pixelated graphics and beep sounds. Got my nephew to play it... he didn't like because there were no autosaves and you have to go back to the start of you lose all your lives.
Can't say that games have ever made me feel old though. I still find games exciting as it's the only art-form that's still evolving.
What did make me feel was when I went into an electrical store with my niece, when she was about 7 or 8, and they had an old fashioned rotary telephone and I had to explain to her how it worked and where the term 'dialling' comes from. And another time I was watching a TV show from the nineties and they referenced a thing we used to have in the UK called Ceefax. Even though they only stopped it in 2012, some of the younger people in the family still didn't know what it was.
Oh yeah, and my nephew didn't want to watch Independence Day with me because apparently that film is 'ollld'. Even though it was obviously only a few years ago that came out, wasn't it?
Seeing as learning new things and keeping the mind stimulated is the best way to fight Alzheimer's, I sometimes wonder if the disease will become a much less common issue once the video game generation gets that old.
It is a fact that video games are used to keep eye/hand coordination in peak condition. They joke about it on TV, but it is a fact that surgeons use it as do professional athletes. Since it helps the physical condition in a measurable way, it is reasonable to hypothesize that it will help mental faculties as well.
Either that or we will all be playing Baldur's gate and going: "Hey, when did I clean out the Beholder caves?"
It is a fact that video games are used to keep eye/hand coordination in peak condition. They joke about it on TV, but it is a fact that surgeons use it as do professional athletes.
NASA actually use(d?) the Nintendo Wii extensively for hand-to-eye coordination training. And someone I know who was partially paralyzed after an accident was actually told by her doctor to play tablet games to help with regaining full use of arm. There's probably dozens of examples of games being used for constructive non-entertainment purposes but sadly the world is still lagging behind in realizing the potential.
Comments
But it is a trade off and you often times have to decide between doing something you love and getting paid. It's a rare situation where someone gets both. Most people look for that sweet spot. A LOT of people have to settle for less than ideal. But that's life.
In a perfect world everyone would get their dream job. But then in a perfect world, no one would have to clean the toilets, so....
I always wanted to be a pilot (and still do!!!), but I just have to face facts: there's no way in the world that that's going to happen, unless I win the lottery and get really lucky. Pilot, along with musician, actor, and anything in the gaming industry, are the kinds of jobs that millions of people want, but only a few hundred can have. Ergo, you have to be very lucky to get it, and there's a good chance you won't. What then?
I'm not saying don't try at all, but be careful. At least make sure you've got some options if your chosen career path does fail, otherwise you could end up screwing your life up. Trust me, I speak from experience.
When i was young, i spent 5 hours in morrowind training my combat skills against mudcrabs.
Also, thank you people for assuming than, for the rest of my life, I won't ever think of any alternatives or "what-if" scenarios. That's very encouraging of you.
I haven't stopped playing games since
As far as the first game I ever played, no idea because I was raised by the NES and was playing when I was 3. First PC game I remember getting into was the King's Quest where you're the servant of an evil wizard, but I was too young to figure anything out.
Lets see... The first games I ever played were on an old Macintosh back when they were called "Macintosh" and had rainbow colored apples and used big ol' floppy discs that were actually really floppy. I think I was about 1 or 2 when I started. My mom and my aunt would have me watch them as they played Bard's Tale. I would name the characters and they would try to explain to me what they were doing. (When I was in college I downloaded the game as abandonware and found out just how little of it I understood back then). They also had me play this game called "Marble Madness" in which you had to guide a marble through an obstacle course. I wasn't very good at it but I didn't mind because I had a marble fixation at the time. There were other games I vaguely remember but I couldn't tell you their names. When I was around 4 or 5 my dad made me play Myst. I was actually able to beat it within about a year I think (and the only reason it took so long was because we lost the disc at one point). Not counting the lost disc months I think It took me about a month or two to beat Myst. I am still very proud of the fact that I beat Myst on my own at such a young age. The only time I needed help was with this one puzzle that required understanding of compass degrees (which I didn't learn in school until several years later). Later I would move on to beat Riven in about a month or two (Riven was harder than Myst). Other games I played included some virtual pinball games (Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth specifically), a Star Wars themed rail shooter called Rebel Assault, and a flight simulator called F-A 18 Hornet (My parents were very impressed by that last one since I was only about 5-7 and learned practically all the controls through experimentation. My dad once had a friend of his watch me play it and they marveled at what I was doing with it at such a young age. I didn't get the fuss at the time.). Heroes 3 was the next significant game in my life and, while I still play it from time to time, my mom has played it far more than I have and still plays it to this day. Then came Buldur's Gate, which I had started playing at about 10-11. Originally my parents had planned to play it as a family, but I was so impressed by the game I took it for myself and got hooked on it instantly. Some of you who know about my fascination with Pokemon may be surprised to know that I didn't start playing Pokemon games until I was 12 or so. This was solely because my dad didn't really care for hand held games. I had to borrow Pokemon Yellow from a neighbor in order to play the game for the first time. Since then I have played every game in the main series.
Seeing as this is already quite the text wall I think I will stop there for now. Let me know if anyone wants me to keep going.
Edit: How could I forget?! At around the ages of 6-10 I played quite a few of the Mecc games including: Oregon Trail, Amazon Trail, and several others.
I usually use the infinitely respawning health cheat on xbox, pack on heavy and medium armour, and then get the sh** beaten out of me by mudcrabs to level my endurance to 100 as fast as possible for maximum HP gains by end-game. When I someday get my hands on the PC version, I'll probably just use console commands to edit everything so that I get the same results without gaining any advantages over doing it the long and tedious way.
And then there are rare play-throughs where I just play the game. What can I say, optimal leveling is a scary and addictive thing. Sometimes I'm glad Skyrim's leveling system is so much less complicated.
http://pokemon-online.eu
My first games were Lemmings, Prince of Persia and some odd helicopter game on the mac where you could rescue people OR kill them. Killing them was much more entertaining for tiny Sion *Shrugs*.
I started playing Monkey Island when i was 6 years old, and it's the reason i speak English today. In Monkey Island II you had to do a main quest to gain enough money to get on a boat to the next Island, I think you needed 500 coins? There was this guy sitting next to his boat who needed someone to polish his peg leg and gave 1 gold for each time you polished it, the animation took around 10 seconds. Tiny Sion didn't follow the main quest, instead he spent 5+ hours polishing this guys peg leg over 500 times or however many was needed to get off that Island.
Downloaded Time-Pilot for my Xbox more recently... of course, I only play it with the original pixelated graphics and beep sounds. Got my nephew to play it... he didn't like because there were no autosaves and you have to go back to the start of you lose all your lives.
Can't say that games have ever made me feel old though. I still find games exciting as it's the only art-form that's still evolving.
What did make me feel was when I went into an electrical store with my niece, when she was about 7 or 8, and they had an old fashioned rotary telephone and I had to explain to her how it worked and where the term 'dialling' comes from. And another time I was watching a TV show from the nineties and they referenced a thing we used to have in the UK called Ceefax. Even though they only stopped it in 2012, some of the younger people in the family still didn't know what it was.
Oh yeah, and my nephew didn't want to watch Independence Day with me because apparently that film is 'ollld'. Even though it was obviously only a few years ago that came out, wasn't it?
Either that or we will all be playing Baldur's gate and going: "Hey, when did I clean out the Beholder caves?"
Nevermind, I will just split the discussion for @SionIV so maybe we can actually talk about video games in the video games topic...
Stupid mod powers are broken, hang on...
Note to self: Do not split a discussion and re-merge it like that again... Weird stuff will happen.