From coin-operated Pacman to Atarii 2600 to the Nintendo Entertainment System to every next-generation console, I grew up gaming and gaming grew up with me. I didn’t have many opportunities to try classic tabletop or board games of the era, and it wasn’t until 2002 that I wandered into Warhammer 40K and War Machine Hordes. This was my first exposure to competitive gaming outside of sports; my sport was football.
From Pixels to Plastic
I dabbled in 40K until I learned about tournaments held at my local game store. I bought a Necron battle force and asked my newly-wed wife to stay up all night and help me assemble miniatures for the next tournament.
In retrospect, I could have been more patient about entering the world of competitive war gaming. If I had known about the Starcraft tournament scene I might have gone that direction, but the prospect of competing at something tangible really called out to me. And it was that drive to compete that drew me away from my love of video games.
I enjoy competition. I played in Hordes tournaments. I went to the two grand tournaments in Seattle. I’ve been to the Bay Area Open, the Nova Open and, the Las Vegas Open. I enjoy the camaraderie of competition, the feeling of playing well and winning, and the pride of playing well and losing.
Playing Full Circle
The World of Warcraft (WoW), which I was hyped about for five years before the world discovered it (warning: nerd elitism), brought me back to video gaming. At first I played mostly as a single-player adventurer. During the Wrath of the Lich King expansion I got into a raiding guild and this changed my relationship with gaming. I was no longer a solo gaming entity.
My journey into the gaming community really began around the time I began playing WoW. And as I grow older the gaming community grows with me. I look forward to seeing what lies on the horizon.
-LT
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