A Family of Gamers Part 1 – The Memoir

Hello there, my name is Erick, and I am a gamer and a father. It all started when I was 8 years old. My father got me a Sony Playstation (PS1) with Crash Bandicoot and Ace Combat. I became addicted right from the start. The graphics and maneuverability were so new and amazing I couldn’t stop; I had to keep playing. For the first time in my life, I felt pure interactivity and joy and it was addictive. It gave me something to do on hot summers and freezing winters and when I got grounded; which happened a lot.

Gaming also helped me explore my creativity through other means as well. Such as web design, art, music and it is the reason I became a skateboarder. I bet you can guess which game inspired that.

My passion for gaming burst through the roof the moment I laid hands on Metal Gear Solid and it all went uphill from there, for me at least. My main point is; I’ve been a gamer for over 18 years of my life and there had only been a few days my eyes weren’t glued to a television. The only negative side-effects of gaming are sleepless nights and I do not regret either one of them to this day. I will always be a gamer no matter the age and will inspire my kids to stay creative people and explore vast worlds of video gaming goodness.

The Beginning

I became a father just two months after I turned 18 years old. Around that time my wife and I kept sane by playing Playstation 2 games such as; Blood will Tell and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Her pregnancy was a crazy one and in those times we didn’t have a place of our own. We didn’t have much but a couch, a bed, a tv and a Playstation 2.

Yes, we made sure the PS2 was up there in importance.

My wife was never a gamer before she met me and I was okay with that. I never expected her to appreciate my passion for gaming and even while she loved to watch me play games, she didn’t really care for it. Back to her pregnancy, she had to go on bed rest for 2 weeks and in that time I got a huge raise at work and had some extra cash.

I had more money now, so I did what every normal gamer would do; I bought more PS2 games. Among those games was a game that would change our marriage forever; Dark Cloud for PS2. After watching me play for ten minutes, she decided to give it a whirl and I realized just how much time I spent on my console. It was both amazing and terrifying though, I just wanted my Playstation 2 back. After I got over it, I realized that my love for her grew enormously because we now shared a hobbie together. She has been phenomenal in supporting my habit, er, passion, for gaming ever since. Don’t worry; I do share our Playstation 3 as well.

That concludes Part 1 of many more parts to come! If you enjoyed this article, please leave a message and follow me for more to come soon! I will be releasing one to two a week depending on interest. If you would like, feel free to ask me questions for part 2 or if you have suggestions, I would absolutely LOVE to hear them! Please excuse my excessive rambling, my brain works differently than most.

Thank you!

For updates and gaming discussion, you can follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/ErickmMattos

Watch my Metal Gear Solid based Machinima production at Youtube.com/CpmStudios