231: Are You Happy Now?

[aequidens]

if it were my parents, I wouldn't have been allowed any electronics for the rest of the year.

Well, it was in december, so not that much year left...

Sweet that you got your computer then, I had to share the family computer until I left the house, I remember saving up a lot of money for a voodoo card for the home computer when I was 16 or something.
I loved being 18 and finally leaving the house and getting my own money and my own computer, I never want to have to share a computer anymore, if I get kids, they'll get a computer as soon as they show interest.

 

[Obrien Xp]

if it were my parents, I wouldn't have been allowed any electronics for the rest of the year.

Well, it was in december, so not that much year left...
quote]

Allow me to re-phrase, until the next christmas.

 

[The Warden]

Yea, we all do stupid things we regret as kids, there to torture us for our entire lives, living down the embarrasment and regret.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

That's quite a nice story.

I didn't have a good enough pc to play Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, so I played it round a friend's house and it was truly a great game for the time. I suppose I've resigned myself to being later on the gaming scene than everyone else because of money issues (my parents never bought me a console or ever really updated the PC on my account), I got a PS2 fairly late on and I only got an Xbox360 a few months ago. I'm definitely not one of these people who can't resist waiting a month for a game's price to drop.

 

[domicius]

Rob - you never said if the game was as good as you thought it would be... although I think I know the answer.

My parents had this wierd little thing they did every Christmas. Every Christmas I would beg for THE toy, the ONE thing I wanted in order to be happy. They would never buy it for me for Christmas. I would be disappointed but inevitably would enjoy whatever present I had received.

Some time later, when Christmas was a hazy memory they would give me a surprise present. Inside would be that one thing that I wanted. You know what? I would invariably look at it and go "Huh. I wonder why I wanted that?"

Their side of this was interesting. They didn't want to deny me anything, but they didn't want me to think I could get things by begging and whining.

My experience was rather more formative. Whatever I really thought I wanted, the most important thing every Christmas was that I had my parents.

...
Although there was this one time I wanted Subbuteo for Christmas and, when I finally got it MAN, was it ever sweet!

 

[Nurb]

I've not had tirades about christmas gifts, but I had a few on some other occasions... Unfortunately it's a rite of passage for kids to be greedy, unappreciative assholes, but the most important thing is that we realise what jerks we've been in the past so we can be better people in the future... and then put up with snot nosed brats of our own!

However I did beg for a 3D0 the year it came out because I was impressed with a game I played in a demo, but thank god they didn't get it for me!

 

[Captain Kail]

This article makes me want to give my parents a hug and apologize for getting angry when Knights of the Old Republic wouldn't run on our old Dell.

 

[orangeapples]

*starts slow clap*

 

[Roguey]

Great article!

I remember a similar thing happening when the ps2 was released and my ps one was destroyed. My Dad had recently been retrenched and I was suprised to be getting one after being sat down and talked to about a little fit i had over not being able to play Gran Turismo 3.

I think as kids we're spoiled by being born into a place with readily available food and shelter. (not everyone in this world can say that) Having these two things handed to us so easily puts our focus on thing that are ultimately trivial. I feel like it's only later in life that we start to realize what really matters.

Completely agree.

Thank you for sharing this!

 

[dNz]

such a great, and for many of us gamers, a familiar story. i can so relate to this, up to the point where you actually get the upgraded computer, whereas i, never did :/

kind of felt bad for your parents at one point while reading, hope they're doing well. seems like a good bunch

 

[ucciolord1]

That was beautiful, and a reflection of how I feel every Christmas, or whenever I ask for something.
Plus I was listening to a Smiths song, so you damn near made me cry.

 

[Orange_Clockwork]

That was a really well told story! Despite the truth to it. Are we ever going to see the picture of you looking a dumb-founded 14-year old?

 

[allieinsa]

This article really touched me. Not tears running down the face touched me but I can relate to it in a way I cant really explain. I think most children have some memories like this one.

Anyways wonderful writing and thanks!

 

[The Random One]

Everyone together now: D'AAAAAAAAW.

Cute story. I find it funny that I, on the other hand, now spend more time playing old games I get from Good Old Games. Although maybe I should upgrade my computer, since it doesn't run Braid.

 

[Octorok]

This made me really, really sad. Not because of the nice moving Christmas story, but because of the way it applies to me, or rather, doesn't.

While reading that, at age 14 and just had a family argument over Christmas presents, I really though, "Huh. Am I living your life or did you live mine?" right until the end. In my version I would not have gotten the present I wanted, nor would I have had some great Christmas epiphany.

My Dad does not approve of gaming as a hobby. That is about understatement of the year, but I'll leave it at that. He also disapproves of my religious beliefs and uses them as an excuse to punish my gaming.

If he ever bought me a gaming related present it would be something I had picked out and a relative had gotten for him to give to me, as it is with all of my presents. He doesn't make any effort for anyone, he just sits around looking somber and reading The Catholic Herald . It really made me sad, knowing that I'll never experience this. I'll never realise that they did really get me the present I wanted, or indeed, ever get a surprise at Christmas, since my Dad just doesn't care enough to take the time to find out what I like without somebody else buying for him.

I wish I'd never read that. It's like sitting outside a factory making copies of Half-Life 3, Team Fortress 3 and Portal 2 knowing that they're going into a massive fire.

 

[karmapolizei]

This piece brings back bittersweet memories of my PC gaming heydays (or are they now?). I was 12 at that time, luckily, I could play Jedi Knight, but all the other hot titles of that season escaped the reach of my Pentium 90Mhz machine (gosh, 90 Megahertz, that's a figure just about indistinguishable from "640 K RAM"). That never got any better, the year after that, my father bought a Pentium II machine, but without a proper video card, and at that age, I just couldn't shell out the kind of money I needed for a Voodoo 2. It went on like that until 2000... and just a few months after that, gaming became a mere afterthought in my everyday life. So worrying about hardware specs is maybe THE feeling I assosiate with PC gaming.

 

[Icecoldcynic]

This reminds me a lot of what happened with my Xbox 360. I had been saving up for a while and still had a long way to go, but little did I know, my parents had actually bought me the console and just not told me. And for a while I was asking my Dad if I could possibly borrow some money, combine my christmas and birthday presents, all that, and he would always say no. I never had an outburst like in the story, but it was the same kind of disappointment of knowing I couldn't get the games I wanted.

Still, christmas day, as amazing as it should have been that year, was tarnished by the fact that my Dad passed away on the 22nd. He never did get to see me unwrap the Xbox 360 that he'd bought as an extra special surprise. Oh well, such is life.

 

[Trotgar]

The Dark Force-series or whatever it is is kinda confusing. Isn't it like:

Dark Forces
Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

 

[300lb. Samoan]

That reminds me of when I was 8 or 9 and I'm waiting in my dad's truck for the school bus to arrive, and his glove box fell open to reveal the copy of Sonic 2 that I had wanted to bad. I threw a huge fit because I thought he was hiding it from me, when in fact he was moments away from giving it to me. Man, I still feel like a little prick when I think about that day. To make it up to him, I just bought Sonic 2 on XBLA and on Christmas I'm gonna remind him of that story and show him how to use the XBox.