Today is my daughter’s 1st birthday. Let me start off by saying that I am an avid gamer. I was hooked the moment I first played Frogger and Pitfall on the Atari 2600 as a small child. I had a NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Xbox, and a 360. Wolfenstein 3D was the first FPS I beat. Dragon Warrior (Quest) was the first RPG I beat. Street Fighter 2 was the first Fighting game I mastered. My favorite game of all time is a tie between:
Fallout – it was the first game that spoke to me as an adult.
Virtua Fighter – it was the first and only game I was able to straight up hustle people at in the arcades.
Oblivion – it was the first game I ever watched my wife play through to completion.
I LOVE listening to video game podcasts. I listened for the ENTIRE runs of 1up Yours, The Brodeo, and EGM Live*, and 1up FM. I am (or was) a huge fan of Rebel FM, Listen UP, Out of the Game, Geekbox, Gamespy Debriefings, and A Life Well Wasted.
Today is my daughter’s first birthday and I have decided to give up gaming. While I still love video games and will proudly refer to myself as a gamer, it’s time for me to stop. I’ve decided not to spend another minute playing games or listening to podcasts that could be spent with her or my wife. Today is my daughter’s 1st birthday and while it’s been an amazing year, it went too fast. Life has been good. I have a good job, exciting prospects, an absolutely beautiful family, and we are in the middle a modern gaming/entertainment renaissance. But a lot of time I spent making Trials tracks could have been spent interacting more closely with my wife and daughter. The late nights I spent wandering the Capitol wasteland with Dogmeat I could have spent sleeping to wake up earlier with my family.
I’ll never get that time back.
I had so much fun gaming last year, but the time I spent with my wife and daughter were the only achievement points I scored that mean anything to me right now. If my daughter ever wants to play games I’ll play them with her. If I have free time to myself, I’ll spend it staying in shape, reading books, or watching movies.
So I just wanted to say “Thanks”. To all my favorite podcasters and fellow gamers. It’s been a good game. Have fun. :)
Chuck Diamond
