Bring On All The Feels

Alright, how about we delve into a bit of gaming psychology this weekend. Countless amounts of people record gaming sessions, review their favorite titles or simply enjoy an all-nighter with a good game and their preferred brew. However, what makes one gaming experience different from another? Sometimes you'll come across a player killer in your favorite RPG who fowls your entire night. On the other hand, sometimes you'll run into the friendliest of company who make your gaming day. Perhaps you find yourself raging in a Call of Duty match but, you find yourself overjoyed when you pick off your nemesis for the third time in a row. Players come across moments that overflow of euphoria and we don't focus on them as much as we should. Let's change that this weekend while I recount some of my favorite gaming moments that sparked a sense of jubilation in me.

One of my fondest moments is probably amongst my most embarrassing in my gaming history. I never fancied myself as a big first-person-shooter gamer. I was never very good at them and never bothered to invest time into them. People raved about COD and Battlefield and when I played with my buddies, I seriously sucked all kinds of rubbish. Furthermore, I received COD Ghosts for Christmas and figured that I should give the online mode a shot. Surprise, Surprise, I was still the worst player ever. I was so bad that I wished people reversed their K/D scores. I started to really invest myself and got a few kills, like four kills coupled with twenty-five deaths. It was an abysmal attempt. COD Ghosts has a bit of customisation and I remember really wanting the wolf emblem and looked up how I could possibly obtain it. I need a ten kill killstreak. YEAH RIGHT! As if I'd ever be able to obtain it. Safe to say, I grabbed my favorite shotgun and went on a rampage one day and nabbed nine kills. My face should have been filmed; I was so nervous. I need just one more kill but I had a shotgun and I couldn't just risk running around. Therefore, I planted my butt in an entrance of a building and waited for my prey. When someone, possibly worse than I, ran into the building and got a face full of lead I leapt with pure joy. I felt like the king of the world, a king who just wrecked some nubz. I may have dropped my glass of rum and shattered it on the floor in that scenario, but casualties happen when you kick online ass! Rum and I have reconciled and we game better than ever.

By the same token, a story I find myself retelling often enough involves Montreal's Otakuthon. I used to attend Otakuthon a lot in my younger years. Sometimes I faced the crazy horde of anime fanatics with my buddies, sometimes with my gals, but I always investigated the gaming room. There was always an alley of game consoles set up to play the hippest 2D fighters. The year in mind, Blazblue was set up on a Ps3 and to my surprise, there was a dude wrecking the competition. I laid back with a good friend and watched as this guy tore people up. Was I impressed? No, not quite. The line up was about to loop back around to the first man I saw get his arse whooped so I looked over to my friend and said: Watch this, t'will be a joke. I interrupted the fellow just before he grabbed the controller and said if I could have but one turn. The "champ" smirked with arrogance as the other man kindly let me have the controller. He was playing Rachel, a short vampire girl who focuses on pressure plays and long combo chains. I picked Iron Tager, a slow but heavy hitting grappler. I barely touched my controller as I let him take the first round flawlessly. The crowd awed at the first round. Second round debuted with allowing him to damage me to about mid-health before I combed him into a special. KO for myself and the crowd took such intrigue in me. Round 3, I let loose on my opponent. I made sure to not allow him a single hit on my health bar. I built up meter for my special move which is a grapple that normally deals about half a health bar of damage. Since he had burst (a combo breaker that makes you more susceptible to damage) and used his ultimate, I backdashed (allowing me a frame of invincibility) and used my Genesic Emerald Tager Buster (ultimate Grapple) to end the match in a blaze of blue glory. I got up, said nothing and walked away as the on-looking crowd cheered. It felt amazing as my friend commented "You wrecked him". I probably ruined that guy's day but it was inevitable. If I'm having a good time, you're probably having an awful one.

All in all, I've had plenty of moments while gaming that really got me hyped. It's so easy to find yourself lost in rage when playing with others. Sometimes you swear yourself off of online games. Sometimes your friends refuse to play Blazblue with you because of mad Tager Skills, bunch of wimps. Just remember that games are meant to be a fun divertissement. Next time you're raging on Dota 2 because your team lost a tower, remember that the player who got that tower might be having a field day. Play the games like they're meant to be, for fun! Make some late night memories while you're smashed with buddies, play some COD a la strip poker style and prepare yourselves for the awkward madness that ensues. This is Charlie bidding you all some fond gaming memories and an adieu. Also, Rum and I are no longer speaking, he found out about Gin and I.