Comprehensive player reviews, video game backlog slaying, and thoughts on video game culture.
Hey, friends! It’s been ages and I hope you have all been well. While I’m still not in the writing mood very often, I wanted to show readers what hobby activities I’ve been up to this past year, which is mainly growing a LOT of houseplants, and also playing the tin whistle and making nerdy video game, anime, and film song covers!
Continue reading “Post-Pandemic Check-in: Orchids, tin whistle, and video game music! ♪”
The Autumn colors outside have had me feeling somewhat nostalgic lately and I wanted to expand a little on my older piece about how video games influenced the different phases of my life. It is less common than you’d expect for a non-sport hobby to stay with a child into their later adult life. What is it about video games that allow them to stick with us on such a deep, sentimental level for so many years?
Continue reading “Games of Our Childhoods”:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/customer-service-memes-25-5bf46da3c9e77c0051e7b0f4.jpg)
Okay, this one is a doozy and was the first and worst thing I ever experienced in video game retail.
It was my second week on the sales floor. I was innocent and hopeful, not yet jaded by years of entitled customers demanding discounts for no reason and being generally clueless or rude about everything. I had not yet been snapped at like a dog or had anyone yell in my face, so that was nice. Such a sweet summer child…
Continue reading “Tales From Video Game Retail – The Creepy Grandpa”
We had a regular at my second video game store who would come in multiple days a week to hang out for hours on end without buying anything. No one felt comfortable asking him not to loiter because he was a young veteran discharged with an injury, and he was nice, if oblivious. The main problem was that he would follow either me or my female supervisor around the store constantly, talking at us and preventing us from getting work done.
Now, I say “talking at” and not “talking to” because he didn’t particularly care if we returned conversation or not. I think he was lonely, but we had work to do, man.
During College I used to work at a Best Buy and then later a GameStop. If you have ever worked retail you will understand the pain. Customers are almost never right. I took a little time to write down some of my most memorable stories and interactions. I hope you enjoy some of these more than I did when I experienced them!
Continue reading “Tales From Video Game Retail – Peeves and Mistakes”
I have a long, involved history with video games. My childhood best friend and I bonded over Pokémon while others took to playing ball or drawing with chalk during recess. The first video game I ever owned was Pokémon Yellow. For the past twenty years I have been absolutely immersed in the world of video games, from the moment I got a Gameboy Color for Christmas when I was ten, to this past year when I finally caved and bought a Nintendo Switch.
Continue reading “How Video Games Influenced My Life and My Writing”
I grew up watching Star Trek with my grandmother. Everyone called Grandma “Sugar” because she was so sweet toward everyone in her life. I used to spend entire weekends marathoning Star Trek episodes with her when I would visit while growing up. She passed away eight years ago on Mother’s day weekend, and I miss her.
Voyager was our favorite, but we watched them all! My cousin had gradually gifted her all the series on DVD in prior years, which was a delight. I would curl up behind the crook of her knees on the couch as a child while we watched.
I’ve been writing detailed Nintendo Switch game reviews as a hobby while I steadily dig through my massive backlog, and Reddit seems to like them, so I decided to make a blog for them. Then I thought– Maybe I should turn some of my academic writing on gamer culture into blog posts? So I did, and then I wrote some new things too! Feedback is always appreciated!
Backlog Crusader 