Games, glorious games

When not reading, writing, watching movies or drawing, I like to play games. Like all my hobbies, my attention waxes and wanes. Sometimes I play a lot of games (translation: we eat sandwiches for dinner) and sometimes I don’t turn the PC on for more than a week. Oh, yeah, I have a PC just for gaming. (I really like to play games.) On a side note, I have an Xbox, Wii and Playstation as well. Delving into why I require so many gaming devices is another ramble entirely, however.

Some of my favourite games are produced by BioWare. What I love about their games in particular are the stories. I become my PC (player character) and I feel as if my actions have consequences. The experience is similar to watching a movie or reading a really good, involving book. Afterwards, I sometimes write stories about the characters I played (fan fiction) where I take their adventure one step further, or in the case of the handsome fellow to the left, five or six steps further. That’s my Warden, Aedan Cousland, from BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins. What a game! (Painting by Kay Steele)

Recently I had the pleasure of traveling to Boston for four days of games, glorious games. I attended PAX East 2013 with my husband and my friend, Jenn, and her husband. We drove up from PA, they drove down from Canada. We connected and  became friends through a mutual love of games (BioWare’s in particular) and because of the wonder of the internet, can play online together at any time, regardless of geographic location. In the meantime, we had a weekend together to explore all the games we hadn’t played yet, and enthuse over the ones we had. We also met up with other folks we’ve been chatting with online for a number of years.

In between all the socialising, we trawled the exhibition floor for glimpses of what was to come. There was a lot to see. It was a crazy couple of days. The evenings were spent drinking beer and talking about games. And playing a few. By Sunday I’d had my fill of convention, but not of one of my favourite pastimes.

To read my review/experience of PAX East 2013, click through to SFcrowsnest.