that's vidya for ya

When I was younger I had a very active imagination, like most young children do. I would dream up grand worlds and scenarios; all I needed to have fun was inside my head. Walking around my backyard, I would be transported to different universes where anything I wanted could happen. As I grew older however this tendency waned. I started reading, and instead of dreaming up amazing circumstances myself I would instead imagine being in the world that the author had conjured up with words. I still sometimes would adventure in realms of my own creation, but my decline had started.             I was absorbed by a few different book series. The first I can remember was Harry Potter. I remember finishing the entire series in a few months, but that can’t be right. Maybe I paid little attention to the other aspects of life so it felt faster. I would say I became addicted. I soon moved on to Fablehaven, which was significantly different but ...

Many videogames contain microtransactions: small, optional payments that players can make in order to receive items or perks in-game. They're a staple in the mobile market where games are often free, and to make money the developers would otherwise rely exclusively on ad revenue. Free to play computer games also often have microtransactions. One such example is Team Fortress 2 (abbreviated TF2), a team-based first person shooter. Players can choose between nine different classes, each with a set of default weapons and the ability to receive (by random drop) or purchase special weapons from other players via the Steam Market (an item trading marketplace run by Valve, the creators of Team Fortress 2). This model works well in TF2 because the special weapons aren't necessarily better than the defaults, but instead different in a way that modifies the class's play-style and introduces more variation into the game. There are also hats available in the game. With a wide range of...

I play a lot of video games. A borderline unhealthy amount. My obsession started when I was seven or eight. I would play Flash games on my mom's computer. Looking back, they weren't that great of games. But when you don't have anything better to compare them to, they’re pretty fun. As I grew older I shifted away from quick Flash games and started playing more developed games. The first was Team Fortress 2, a multiplayer class-based shooter where teams compete in games like capture the briefcase. This was also the first game I got my brother to play. Most of my discovery of videogaming had happened in Norway, where I lived for two years with my mom. When I moved back to the U.S. my dad bought my brother and I an Xbox 360 for Christmas. We quickly fell in love with it, spending most afternoons playing Call of Duty games Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops II. It was a bonding experience, with us playing together almost every day. But it also strained our relationship, with us ...