Right from the moment way back when my Mam (and Santa) got me an Amstrad CPC 464 for Christmas I’ve been a gamer. Of the computer sort that is. I’ve been a fan of board games a lot longer and have fond memories of the family getting together on Sunday to play. But I’m in danger of digressing.

Since turning 40 a couple of years ago, together with becoming a parent, my gaming has subsided a little. Probably more because of parenting than age. Recently, my hobby has come more to the fore again (and weirdly I have parenting to thank for that) and I thought it would be a decent topic to write about.

From Amstrad to Amiga and Sega to Sony

I like to think I’m of an age when gaming launched at just the right time. It started in my early teenage years with Amstrad. Some games I remember from this era were Roland on the Ropes, Rigels Revenge and Robin Hood. A different kind of 3 Rs you might say?…. One of my favourites though was Classic Racing which was a horse racing simulation. Little wonder I grew up liking the odd bet here and I there!

Into my late teens it was all about the Amiga and the football simulations that were Championship and Premier Manager. But I also started to get into RPG type games like Populous and Dune 2. This type of game became the mainstay as I moved onto PC gaming and I lost count the amount of hours I lost to Age of Empires.

I joined the console generation with Playsation one and have been with them right up to the PS4 today. I haven’t anything against its rivals and wouldn’t call myself a fanboy but I’ve always stuck with them. There’s far too many games to mention that I loved but I’ve always been a fan of the single player RPG type games. From Oblivion to Fallout, Resident Evil to Grand Theft Auto. But it wasn’t all about that genre. Gran Turismo, Pro Evolution Soccer, turning to Fifa later, the Lego games and the storytelling worlds of Uncharted, the Last of us and Assassins Creed. I could go on forever.

Speaking of Gran Turismo. It’s now pretty much 20 years ago since my friend and I had an afternoon gaming together. I went to the loo and when I came back he’d “accidently” erased my saved game, The one with copious amounts of hours put in. Amazingly we’re still friends now and still laugh about it to this day. Well… he does….

Gaming around adulting

What’s one of the best things about being a responsible adult and a keen gamer? Meeting, falling in love and getting married to a fellow gamer! My wife grew up watching her brother play games and being his sidekick. She’s more than happy watching me play a big budget story led game. She also loves joining me in the Lego co op games and we had a right hoot teaming up on Resident Evil 5. She went through a spell of being completely addicted to Sims and Lemmings.

Becoming a parent didn’t really stop the gaming hobby that much in the early days. I remember managing to play with my Daughter cuddled in and asleep on me, albeit with the TV volume on mute! I used to steal a good hour during her weekend daily naps and would often have a bit of time on a morning before she woke up. Before the days of the 5:30 wake ups that is….

The last year or so has seen the gaming take more of a back seat. My Daughter has grown up and doesn’t need naps anymore so I’ve found opportunities to game hard to come be. This has gone hand in hand with a bit of apathy towards the current generation of games. I’ve never really gotten into online gaming that much (well apart from dabbling in Star Wars Galaxies and World Warcraft a long time ago) and I’ve found recent RPGs almost too big. I only have an hour at most late in the evening to play and when you can easily sink 100+ hours into a game it can feel a bit of a grind sometimes. I started to play less and less and there was a point recently when I actually considered selling my console

Getting my gaming mojo back

The last couple of months I seem to have got back to enjoying gaming a lot more. There’s been two main reasons for this. Firstly, I received Assassins Creed Odyssey as a Christmas present. Despite the game being huge I’ve really gotten into it. I’m a big fan of Greek mythology which has helped.

Secondly, my Daughter has started to show an interest and I’ve been introducing her to the Lego games. She seems to be really enjoying them and I’m trying to ease her in gently as I don’t really want her playing them too much. Thank you parent overthinking brain.

The best thing about this is she likes me to sit with her while she plays. I’ve become the sidekick. I make sure to cheer her on and praise her efforts as she gets to grip with the game. I’m also happy to jump in and assist when she’s stuck, naturally….

OneDadsView

Gaming has always been a big hobby of mine and I can’t imagine a time when that will wain to be honest. Apart from that recent blip I’m enjoying it just as much as I used to. I just don’t do it as often. I can definitely see myself getting the PS5 and I hope my Daughter continues to enjoy it as it’s another activity we can do together while she still wants me to play with her.

Are you a parent gamer? What’s your poison and how do you fit it into a busy life? I’d love to hear your comments.