Greetings, Salutations, etc.

Hello, all.

Andy has already kindly introduced me and provided the introduction for my new column, man games. I thought that I ought to introduce myself a little further.

I have been gaming since my early adolescence. In those enchanted days of my first forays into gaming, my opportunities were sparse but cherished. My parents did not consider video games to be a very high priority for them. That is not surprising. And so for awhile, my primary opportunity to play games was at friends' houses. I always jumped on these chances. And, in the process, made gaming at that time into a social activity for me.

Back then, I played some of the more primitive PC games, such as Oregon Trail - which I got to play at school sometimes (gasp!) - as well as Hugo's House of Horror's, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Scorched Earth. Then there was the much wished-for Nintendo Entertainment System, which my parents eventually bought for me. Even then I only had precious few games.

As time went on, adulthood brought on the ability to buy and play games as a chose. Now I run into the problem of having games that I don't even get around to playing. It is a state of affairs I would not have imagined in those young days. Now that I look back, though, there was something special about those times of trying to squeeze every last bit of fun out of those old, low-tech games. You cannot go back to where you came from sometimes. But I am happy I was there.

These days, I share my gaming hobby with my beautiful fiance and fellow geek, Linda. She is not as much a gamer as I am. But that has its own fun. I get to introduce her to games she has never had a chance to see before. So once again, I have returned to gaming's social aspects - not just in terms of multiplayer games - but in single player games enjoyed with others.

It has been and will be a fun journey.

God be with you.

Steely