Calling all students

[Kurt Zisa]

I am currently writing up a 4 page magazine spread that will supposedly go in a school magazine for my level 3 Media Studies assesment. Its on Growing up on Videogames and i need some quotes from a few people roughly around my age (17) although anyone will do really.

How old were you when you recieved your 1st videogame or consol?: basicly i need your age (if you can remember) and the game/consol your were given (again if you can remember)
Do you still play videogames to at your current age? No brainer really but im supposed to ask a wider range of audience.
Have videogames affected/influenced/inspired your life in any way? If you cant answer this one it's fine, i couldnt think of an anwser either.

the answersthat i like or are the most varied i will use, at that persons consent of course. i'll probly give a thanks to who ever answers for helping me out but i only want about 5-10 but im not fussy. Thanks!

EDIT:i dont know if this belongs here but i couldnt thik of anywhere else to put it.

[Unknown Entity]

How old were you when you recieved your 1st videogame or console?: I got my first console back in either 1998 or 1999, so I'd have been six or seven years old. It was a Sony Playstation console, and my first video game was Tomb Raider III.

We'd had a N64 before that, but me and my brother weren't allowed to play it, and it ended up broken anyway.

Do you still play videogames to at your current age?
Not a day goes by without some form of video game being played. No matter what age you are, the right game can really help you wind down, relax and have some fun.

Have videogames affected/influenced/inspired your life in any way?
I probably would be leading a completely different life, and I wouldn't know what that would be for good or bad. I know I wouldn't have the friends and the other half if it wasn't for a video game, haha.

Also, because of my love for video games, I did an E-Gaming course at college. I did a bit of software development, website design, 3D animations and environments, and even made a small game and a bunch of applications for the iPhone. If I hadn't liked video games, I wouldn't have done that course.

I aim to one day maybe design games, review games for a magazine, or go into social media for a gaming company. If I can get a testing job, maybe.

[Michael Swayne]

I don't know if you can use my responses, since I'm twenty-four; but it couldn't hurt.

My name is Michael Swayne. I am twenty-four years old. I am from Peebles, Ohio; though I was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona.

I was four-and-a-half years old when I got my first video game system. I know because it was about the time my little sister was born. I think it was originally bought for my dad (then 25 at the time), but it turned out to be a toy that I played while my mother could tend to my brother and sister. It was a NES, and I only had the game that came with the console, Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. I played other games as well. Mom and Dad would rent them from the store down the street.

I still play video games now. My taste in games has changed from what I grew up on as well. I grew up on platform games, and then as time went by I learned to appreciate the classics while still loving to play RPG, Racing Games, Sports games, shooters, Simulation, etc.

I would say that Yes, video games have affected, influenced, and inspired my life. Science has determined that playing video games improves brain function, hand-eye coordination, and other positives as well. I grew up in the Gifted classes in school, graduated 2nd in my class, and now I work as a writer for a newspaper. I think that my life would be much different if I hadn't developed problem solving skills from playing video games.

If you have any other questions, feel free to VM or PM me. I also give my permission to be used by you for your project.

[motscroises]

I got a SNES when I was...maybe 3. It was more my older brother's because he was actually old enough to play, but we shared as I got older and could actually figure out how to play. We played a lot of Mortal Kombat XD

Not really gaming much since October because the XBox is my ex's However, I think of it as a gaming hiatus more than no longer gaming.

When I was a kid, liking video games felt pretty obscure. Maybe it was just the area I was in, but I got teased a lot for it. So if I met fellow gamer girls, it was a major bonding experience because I had to actually risk being teased by admitting that I liked video games XD
It also brought my family closer together. My brother and I would always play together, and my dad was a big fan of Goldeneye on N64. It was pretty exciting when my stiff-man pops (think Robert Downey Jr. in Due Date) would sit down and play video games with us kids.
Overall, I'm glad that I was raised a gamer.

[Freya]

How old were you when you recieved your 1st videogame or consol?:
I think I was 6 years old. We owned two or three GameBoys. And we got our first SNES when I was 7... if I remember correctly. ^^" But my first console definitely was a GameBoy.

Do you still play videogames to at your current age?
Yes, I do. I'm not a hardcore gamer and I don't play THAT often, but I usually play about six games/year.

Have videogames affected/influenced/inspired your life in any way?
... Maybe?
I write novels - and sometimes I had the feeling I was inspired by FF. But other than that... Videogames were a good reason to get in contact with my boyfriend. ^^ In the beginning I always told him I wanted to play with him. xP So, yes, maybe videogames influenced my life.

[Xanatos]

How old were you when you recieved your 1st videogame or consol?

Atari 2600 was my first console, shortly followed by NES. it was actually my uncles, though he gave it to me shortly after the purchase. As for my first game, it was either Chip's Challenge, or Ski Free on my old trusty PC (386), either way I was five, max six years old.

Do you still play videogames to at your current age?

Yes, though not nearly as I used to, and with less passion, nevertheless, games are part of my life, and I'll always find time for it.

Have videogames affected/influenced/inspired your life in any way?

Nothing life changing really, I guess I gained more imagination, and my English has improved greatly.

[Angel of Iniquity]

How old were you when you recieved your 1st videogame or consol?:
I was 4 when I first played my first game. It was a Sega Genesis and I played The Lion King as my first game, followed by aladin. (Great Memory). After that, I got a Snes at my 5th birthday and played Yoshis Island and Super mario world.
Do you still play videogames to at your current age?
Hell yea, actually, I don't go outside for the most part. Nothing to do on the outside world that entertains me especially if I hate physical Existence
Have videogames affected/influenced/inspired your life in any way?
Yep. I took all these neurotic ideas or what I did at recess in my younger years, refined them, and basically transformed it into a Video game design field.