quote: (post)

Originally posted by Lek Kuen
With me it kept me off the streets. Basically in the neighborhood everyone was heading down a bad path for the most part all my friends at the time idolized their older siblings who were basically all about drug dealing and thug life and of course were heading down the same thing. I always had an interest in gaming and such but I was wrapped in the same stuff as everyone else to extent fighting and basically little gangs and stupid crimes. A few trouble with the law and time away later I began to sort of engage myself with roleplaying games more and more to sort of get away from it and other issues going on in my life and mind. I began to see that sort of thing wasn't about much and without much else to do and not fitting in with any other group I turned more and more to the worlds of video game and small sense of accomplish within them. It sounds lame but I began to rather explore more of these virtual places then hang out with my friends and roam the streets, and when they would come over it became more about Zelda and soul calibur then about who we hated and wanted to beat up. I don't have the best life right now and I'm not exactly someone people should point to as some great member of society or success but most of the people I spent my life with are in jail or still out there on the streets in petty gang shit and having kids they don't raise.

Games still get treated as scapegoats for issues with the youth and anytime some domestic issue occurs and it bothers me. I know most don't think anything special about gaming besides a hobby and that's fair but just wanted to say to me it gave something to do and a place to go when there wasn't much else and it helped me step away from being just another person continuing a dark cycle. And for that it will always be important to me.