Gaming to stay in touch

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I have played games all my life – from computer games to board games. When I was a kid, we had most consoles and I can vaguely remember having a Commodore 64 before the first Nintendo. The first NHL game I played was NHL94 on a Sega. 20 years later (took me a moment to calculate that it’s actually not 10 years), NHL14 has an anniversary edition of the classic (official gameplay video), although I have to admit that I prefer the latest edition. In the spirit of nostalgy, I have to admit that I still remember the cheats to Ultimate Doom.

Being from Helsinki, Finland but living in Germany, my regular contact with my family is limited to Skype calls.  I was dumbfounded recently to see my mom join Facebook and I think it’s great that she can stalk me there. Skype calls work well with my parents but with my brothers, a game provides a great lubricant for discussions about life in general. Who has not discussed their school assignments while playing a casual deathmatch of Counter Strike?

I have been the follower in gaming by jumping to games that my brothers enjoyed. I never liked MMORPGs before I decided to try Archlord years ago after seeing how much fun my brothers were having. Since then I have tried a few other MMOs but I never played World of Warcraft using wotlk classic gold for this. Most often, Counter Strike: Global Offensive is the game we play.

It’s not only the conversations we have while playing but in a way it feels as if we are doing stuff together. My brothers end up teaching me in almost any game we play together and we get to struggle towards common goals. And that’s what makes it a great time, in addition to all the laughs we have. The only requirement I have for gaming is that it must be fun. The moment gaming is not fun, it’s not worth the time spent. By the way, one of our favorite games to play together is Drift Hunters.

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I have to thank the Internet and great multiplayer games for making it possible to enjoy time with my brothers from halfway across Europe. One of the biggest contributors is Valve’s Steam that makes it incredibly easy to try out new games and join games with friends.