I’m a college grad and two years removed from that experience. I went to school away from home, and like many, had some of the greatest moments of my life at college. In May 2008, I graduated and my group of friends, who once share a whole floor of a dorm together, went in a slew of different directions. In our group of friends, three of us got engaged near the end of college, and we all planned our wedding and invited one another as guests or to be part of each other’s wedding parties. In all honesty, if it weren’t for these weddings, many of us would not have been able to see one other after graduation. But we didn’t really feel all that disconnected when seeing one another. Why? Well, because of gaming.
Now yes, there is a lot of ways to stay connected in the world today. I have Skyped, Tweeted, Linked-in and Facebook messaged. I have texted, sent voicemails, picture messages and just simply called. But, when it really comes to spending some quality time with the guys, I did that playing video games. I can say that when you are a gamer and all you want to do is game during your free time, you can find yourself connecting to other gamers in the same way. Now, I am not a huge FPS fan, but, I prestige both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 and 2 with the help of all my college buddies. I wouldn’t play online unless one of them had already signed on or asked if I’d play. This led to those of us that were engaged, helping each other out with weddings plans, issues and even cold feet. Our non-engaged friends helped keep us sane when things were getting crazy and we all talked about our experiences at our new jobs. We were all able to stay connected to one another all the while being able to enjoy the online multiplayer competitive experiences that can only be found in FPSs.
One of the greatest experiences we had as a group was Horde mode in Gears 2 and ODST’s Firefight. The group of us working together to strategically plan out our attack, or run around on our own like a bunch of idiots. It was great! I never expected to connect to games in such an abstract way. I loved those games, not because they were great games (which they were in my opinion) but because they gave me opportunities and experiences that I wasn’t able to get before unless I was playing in the dorm.
And So, It Grows…
Now, I myself am a bigger gamer than a lot of the other guys I hung out with. I have grown very connected to the gaming communities on IGN (thanks to all of you wonderful people) and I am starting to see that I am not alone. Now, I have kept my 360 as my system that I connect with my college friends with, I don’t generally add anyone as a friend on that system that I don’t know personally, but when I decided to grow my system ownership to the ps3, I decided to make that system a place where I could friend the persons and personalities I have grown connected to or hope to connect with that I have met here, on IGN.
Since beginning my “open door policy” on PSN, I have come to learn a great deal from other members, and have grown to better mix my time between games, and single player vs. multiplayer experiences. I have learned from this experience that I can also be a helpful person in the community, offering my opinion of game, or even trophy. If you are someone who is looking to grow your PSN friends list, or just haven’t added that many people you don’t know. I would definitely suggest that you start. The IGN community is made up of a majority of good people… even if some get a little thick-headed in the review comments.
Finally, a quick thanks to you guys for being so supportive and listening to just another opinion. A quick shout out to Victoryismine, PSUdave and Misslehead, to whom I chat with on the blogs and online.
And to the community at large… Don’t hesitate to call me a friend.
Now yes, there is a lot of ways to stay connected in the world today. I have Skyped, Tweeted, Linked-in and Facebook messaged. I have texted, sent voicemails, picture messages and just simply called. But, when it really comes to spending some quality time with the guys, I did that playing video games. I can say that when you are a gamer and all you want to do is game during your free time, you can find yourself connecting to other gamers in the same way. Now, I am not a huge FPS fan, but, I prestige both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 and 2 with the help of all my college buddies. I wouldn’t play online unless one of them had already signed on or asked if I’d play. This led to those of us that were engaged, helping each other out with weddings plans, issues and even cold feet. Our non-engaged friends helped keep us sane when things were getting crazy and we all talked about our experiences at our new jobs. We were all able to stay connected to one another all the while being able to enjoy the online multiplayer competitive experiences that can only be found in FPSs.
One of the greatest experiences we had as a group was Horde mode in Gears 2 and ODST’s Firefight. The group of us working together to strategically plan out our attack, or run around on our own like a bunch of idiots. It was great! I never expected to connect to games in such an abstract way. I loved those games, not because they were great games (which they were in my opinion) but because they gave me opportunities and experiences that I wasn’t able to get before unless I was playing in the dorm.
And So, It Grows…
Now, I myself am a bigger gamer than a lot of the other guys I hung out with. I have grown very connected to the gaming communities on IGN (thanks to all of you wonderful people) and I am starting to see that I am not alone. Now, I have kept my 360 as my system that I connect with my college friends with, I don’t generally add anyone as a friend on that system that I don’t know personally, but when I decided to grow my system ownership to the ps3, I decided to make that system a place where I could friend the persons and personalities I have grown connected to or hope to connect with that I have met here, on IGN.
Since beginning my “open door policy” on PSN, I have come to learn a great deal from other members, and have grown to better mix my time between games, and single player vs. multiplayer experiences. I have learned from this experience that I can also be a helpful person in the community, offering my opinion of game, or even trophy. If you are someone who is looking to grow your PSN friends list, or just haven’t added that many people you don’t know. I would definitely suggest that you start. The IGN community is made up of a majority of good people… even if some get a little thick-headed in the review comments.
Finally, a quick thanks to you guys for being so supportive and listening to just another opinion. A quick shout out to Victoryismine, PSUdave and Misslehead, to whom I chat with on the blogs and online.
And to the community at large… Don’t hesitate to call me a friend.
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