COMMUNITY
Describe yourself and your family. Were you the youngest, oldest, or only child? What was your relationship like between your siblings and parents? Was it a happy environment? Were any of them a major gaming influence on you?
I am the eldest of three kids. My brother Colbey is 4-5 years younger and my sister is 3-4 years younger.. love them both. We had a great childhood always playing games/toys with each other and me tormenting their existence. I was a pretty classical older brother. There for them when they were sad/in trouble but also half the reason for most of their injuries and a LOT of teasing/being picked on. My parents are/were loving and extremely supportive. Always helping me to expand myself with reading, art and sports. I was never confined to what they wanted but allowed to find my own interests and explore them with their support. My parents did divorce when I was 12 years old and that was extremely difficult, had to grow up very fast at that time and it was a source of a lot of sadness/anger but eventually something like that makes you stronger and overall I am thankful for the lessons I learned. How and when were you introduced to StarCraft? Do you have any stories of how the game has affected your social life? Did you meeting any lifelong friends through the game?
Above: The original Warcraft games were a major inspiration for Blizzard’s later titles, Starcraft, and StarCraft 2.
Top: This screenshot was from the original Command and Conquer. Want to try it out? Check it out online here, all redone in HTML5. Isn’t technology great? C&C HTML5 Remake:
http://www.adityaravishankar. com/projects/games/commandand-conquer/
32 G O O D L U C K — H A V E F U N
I played Command and Conquer as well as Warcraft II for a bit before Starcraft. Unlike the other games I had played (which I always enjoyed) these games grabbed me.. they clung to me like something I have never experienced. I think the mix of strategy and competition made it too much for me to overcome. Eventually I read in a PC Gamer magazine that a new Warcraft was coming out but taking place in space. As a Sci-Fi junky this was too much.. my favorite genre of a game being moved to the future meant that I was going to be hooked doing that for a very long time.. and boy was that accurate. It never really damaged my social life and really only enhanced it as some of my most fond memories are playing Starcraft at friends houses or lans. I never became a recluse and stopped going outside or something.