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PC / Console Video Games I can only say I'm thankful for video games because it kept me away from backyard wrestling. I know if I had grown up in any different kind of environment anything could've kept me from backyard wrestling. But for me there was no right crowd or even a different crowd. I grew up mostly in a small trailer park on a mountain / hill, miles away from a small village. The only 2 male teens my age wanted to backyard wrestle & get into other kinds of trouble where I live. One of them is now in jail for the unintended murder of some guy at a party. I have no reason to be thankful for people. Because the kind of people I could've been thankful for I didn't grow up with. Or I had no way to fit in with them at all. In either case I feel thankful for Video Games instead of people. Handheld / Mobile The only one I ever owned that I enjoyed was my Kevin Nash C Watch. I still own it but last time I gave it a new battery it was showing its age by the animation & sound not syncing up. I also owned a Game Boy Advance, but I couldn't help but feel it was half assed when compared to consoles. In fact I still find a lot of Handheld & now Mobile Gaming to be half assed. Especially when those games require touch screens. Phone Up until I moved I constantly hated phones. It seemed like a technology for people you know that were too lazy to meet you in person. That & since I had Internet over phone wires it would take away from Internet time. But it changed once I lived on my own & could get phone over Cable Wires. I enjoyed it for calling for delivery pizza. Though I now only use it for reminding my landlord(s) to pick up the rent or other boring things. In any case I refuse to own a Cell / Smart Phone. Social Sites Outside of Internet Forums I hate social sites. Technology for people who could care less about technology if it weren't a phone or some other form of keep track of "real people". Face Book had caused me a lot of heartache. I consider it the first step where my aunt's could exclude me from their real life. It also became a place for me to feel virtually awkward around a crush I had in my High School / GED Years who would eventually hate me. There was also dating websites but those never worked out for me. I was too afraid to talk to anyone I might be interested in. And it didn't help I had problems with my financial situation & apartment. Those 2 things really helped in my 2011 being insane as it was. I tried to make a local Meet Up group about atheism but I couldn't find anyone locally in my town. PS Home (& eventually MMOs) I enjoy these a lot. Its one thing to be represented by an image on a forum. But by an actual customizable character it just feels amazing. Micro-Transactions might be a problem but they usually weed out the people that want to be there from the ones that don't. Part of the reason as to why I'll be selling my copy of GTA 5 since I hate GTA Online. I am or may eventually switch from PS Home to ESO but that won't be until there is news of a PS4 Slim release. I'd preorder it right now if only PS4 didn't rely on 1080P HD. And if I have to buy a new TV it might as well be when 4K Ultra HD TVs come down in price. My life without Technology. I spend too much time at times brain storming, day dreaming, or having random thoughts. I feel the need to type it down but at times never the want. I don't have a real social life but when I do I have none of that silly mobile stuff to distract me. I enjoy my small talk if that's all it ever is.

I don't know how you guys feel about it and it's probably a bad topic considering how much love for gaming most of you have but it's an interesting one none the less. I've been with a few friends who'd constantly text when we're at dinner or lunch and it does get a bit annoying. It's a different kind of social culture where conversations are about Instagram posts and how someone dissed someone on Facebook or Twitter or in the media. There's nothing stimulating or intelligent in that sort of thing, as far as I'm concerned. But hey, I also don't like stupid (not the cool intentionally stupid ones but just plain stupid) or really dumb movies that make big money at the box office, so I'll consider it as my failure to not keeping up with what's considered the social norm of our current generation. I used to be a big gamer back in the days of NES and SNES but only for a few games because cartridges for the full catalog was never available at the 1 or 2 video game stores back home. We'd have to do with what was available. This was back in secondary school up until the 8th grade. After that I wouldn't say I was addicted but I did play and finish Wolf, Doom, Doom 2, Quake, Quake 2, Duke Nukem 3D and would enjoy NFS, NFS 2, Commando and a WWII plane game (all PC). During this time, my brother continued to play more games than I did. He had a close friend who would give him a gaming system as soon as a new one came out. So when the PS2 came out, he gave my brother his PS1 and Dreamcast, and so forth over the years. So, he's a big gamer. In fact, he sent me that same PS2 and a bunch of games he said I could get into, they're staring right at me under the TV but for the lack of a power cable which I'm too lazy to look for, I haven't touched a game since I got it. It's been maybe 2 years. I noticed today that my interactions with him are few but that's not why I noticed it. I realized that every time I visited home for either 3 weeks or 4 weeks, which I've been able to for only 3 times in 7 years now, our social interactions often are with him playing a video game when we're in the same room. So he would come home from work and I'd maybe get home from meeting family and I'd find him in his room playing something on the PS3 and we'd exchange hello's and make small talk about the day or hey want to check out this movie or something and I'd then watch him play a game because that's what he would do. There's not much talk in the end and my limited time with him is invariably with a game being played and not as much valuable conversation. I blame myself for this failing in the dynamic of our current relationship because he's my younger brother and I should be the responsible one. There's little I can do to change his behavior but the next time I visit, I'll try things differently. I don't know how it's with you guys and I can only hope it benefits you where you don't have to go through what I go through with my brother, which's more of a social effect that I'd blame his gaming to. I'm very happy I'm not into games that much because it would be weird if I were in a different room playing retro games and him in another on his current generation console. I know of instances where games bring people together through multi-player gaming, which is cool. It does surprise me sometimes when I talk to a colleague's 12 year old kid and he kicks my butt when it comes to knowledge of weapons to the point where he knows the names of guns or this calibre bullet for that and all that stuff. Just wow. And when I ask the kid about other stuff like general knowledge or science, he draws a blank. When I asked his Mom about whether gaming's been good for him or not, she defends it saying that he's off the streets doing drugs and instead has a hobby in games that's now all he does when he's home. Fair enough, that's how she wants to raise her kid, out of potential social troubles. When it comes to my parents, technology is a big boon since I'm far away from home and it's one way to connect. So, I see a good side to it and a bad side to it, if I am to look at my own situation. Tech has always helped me keep in touch with friends of old and in fact make friends across the globe like being on AC and finally getting to meet some members in the years to come. I guess I benefit from tech in that regard which's a bit different than others. About two years ago I stopped what I would usually do on weekends or weeknights, marathon movies or TV series or Anime or read Manga endlessly as if there wasn't an outside world. By doing that, I personally found myself meeting more people, engaging in things like table tennis or tennis or swimming or socially interacting/ hanging out with new friends/ people in general. But that's my situation. I got to pursue things I've always wanted to. I was over-weight for the longest time and that sort of low self confidence trickled in my social interactions confiding me to my home or safe places where I could be left alone and stay in a happy place. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on reading books or being outside. I've been on more hikes since this sort of shift. I try to limit my interaction with any sort of tech like the TV or being on my phone (at home or when I'm out socially). I find that social media is pretty counter-productive especially at a workplace, and I can only vouch for that because of what I see my colleagues do. I've been trying to get our IT guys put blocks on Facebook or Celeb blogger news sites but it's a bit of a struggle since it would trickle down to them behaving agitated. I've seen that happen so there's not much that could be done about it. They're the kind who are unhappy if you didn't share the corporate wi-fi password so they can save on data while they play YouTube videos all day or iChat with their friends and family while they're on the job. But yeah, tech has made stalking anyone very accessible. The only reason why I have a Facebook is so my parents can see what I'm up to. Ideally I'd want to delete it. People often complain - how will I get in touch with you - to which I say, isn't my phone number or my email address enough? Why do you have to have a phone number, email address, AIM messenger ID, GChat ID, Facebook ID, Twitter ID, Instagram ID, Yahoo Messenger, etc. etc. to get in touch with anyone? It's pretty silly. How much of your social time do you spend on something to do with technology in your free time? How does that affect your social environment?

Hmmm, big post to follow (you have been warned). Whether you think it’s sad or not technology is a very big part of my life, both social and personal. It always has been and I’m pretty sure it deals a lot with me being an only child in the city. Both of my parents worked full time so when I wasn’t at Daycare I was at home watching TV (or playing with Lego’s, boy did I love my Lego’s) with my dad or watching TV on my own. I had plenty of friends growing up (and by no means did I spend all my time indoors, I loved to ride bike and hang out at the park with friends) but I suffered from a lot of anxiety when in large groups of people so I tended to stay home more than hang out with friends (I still suffer from anxiety in large groups of people but I’ve learned to cope with it, I still prefer to be alone though). It was just more natural for me to sit home and watch TV so I went with it. I also did a lot of reading as a child so my hermit ways come from that as well (still do spend a lot of time reading from books to educational stuff, nothing is off limits anymore with the internet when it comes to reading). My gaming addiction was brought about by my first babysitter/daycare. The lady who ran it used to let me play her kids Nintendo and Atari 2600 whenever I wanted to so I spent a lot of time from when I was 5 until I was 8 playing a lot of Mario and Missile Command (she’s still a very good family friend). Ever since that day I spent almost all my time playing either my Gameboy or going over to friends places to play on their consoles (heck it was one of the main reasons I went over to their places to begin with). When I got my first Playstation for Christmas one year that was it, I spent almost all of my free time outside of school and Basketball practice playing on it. Hours upon hours were spent in front of that machine (even when friends came over). When I met my best friend in sixth grade our friendship was based primarily on playing video games (not anymore mind you, we did a lot of stuff together outside of gaming but that’s how we became friends). It progressively got worse from their as newer consoles came out and I fell deeper into my addiction. Now-a-days I don’t spend as much time gaming as I used to. Between working all night and sleeping all day I rarely have the chance to put in any serious gaming on my consoles (I do play a lot of MMO’s but that’s a different story altogether). When I was first introduced to the computer I instantly fell in love and it started an addiction that I still can’t pull myself away from. It started as a mild addiction at school, back when I rushed through computer work so I could play games like Oregon Trail and Number Munchers. As I got older and the computers starting to get better as I progressed further in school it just got worse, to the point I would rush through daily assignments just so I could get the chance to get on those spiffy new iMacs the library had so I could surf the internet. In high school my parents finally broke down and bought a desktop for the house with internet access and well my addiction spiraled out of control from there. Seeing as how I got my first computer around the time Toonami started airing I had two addictions to satisfy and I found my drug in message boards and chat rooms (like AF, AP, GF, SS, etc.). These are the places I met some of the greatest friends I have to this day, though I’ve fallen out of contact with a few of them due to them moving on from their internet days (like Veggie and Anime Pimp to name a few). I eventually found AC through Cloud on GF and found myself coming here every day, if not to chat with Cammy/DX/Eppy/Drak/Anime Pimp/aqu/etc or plot the takeover of AC with Veggie and Cloud (way back in the day here people, no current plans to try a takeover (does not want a railgun shot to the face)). Hell my addiction to the internet and anime got so bad it lead to my shut-in days back in 2007 (ask Epples, he knows full well what I’m talking about. We spent many a long hour talking about anime and manga during this time (hell he nicknamed me Hikki-chan because of it)). I’m proud to say I grew out of that when I moved to Arizona for college and actually rediscovered what the real world was like again. When it comes to social media I basically ignore or have nothing to do with it. Facebook is a waste of time and I only say this after having watched my Mom spend hours upon hours on the damn site. You want to talk to me call or text my damn phone (and if I wanted to talk to you I’d of given you my number). Twitter I just use to follow my favorite bands and actors, keep up with what’s going on with them and what not. Don’t actually tweet, mostly because I have nothing interesting to tweet about, live a pretty boring life. Anything else related to social media just hasn’t come to my attention or interested me (though I did use Livejournal for quite a long while, quit using it years ago though). Honestly I have no problem with people texting or surfing the web on their phones when they're around me because I’m generally doing it myself. When I get together with friends we spend a lot of time on our phones but we still keep conversations going, not that hard to multitask. However it is an unwritten rule to keep them out of site when we’re drinking (aka out getting plastered) or eating, just rude to be playing on your phone in that setting. The only real reason I got a cell phone was for emergencies so the only real thing I use it for now is to surf the web and play the random mobile game that currently has my attention. I probably wouldn’t even have a phone if I didn’t need it for emergencies (though it came in handy when I lived in Arizona). Honestly technology and I have had a rather sorted history of addiction. I can’t live without it but I’ve mostly come to the conclusion that outside of gaming and keeping in touch with you crazy people it’s mostly just around to provide me with a distraction from the problems I face out in the real world. That’s really all it is to me now since I’ve been setting more time aside lately to read my backlog of books and to start getting back into painting/drawing (oh how I miss sitting down for long periods of time with a pencil in my hand and a sketchbook in front of me) when I’m not playing FFXIV or STO.

Last time I tried to play split screen, I was like WTF?! How did I ever enjoy this?! I do think Social media has numbed society, and put a strain on traditional social interactions. I grew up in a Coast Guard family, and I moved from state to state having to remake friends every time. I've kept in touch with my very best childhood friend through long distance phone calls until AOL came to be, and then we had an unlimited way to communicate through AIM for years. I also had over protective parents, they would never let me go inside another persons house... I did without them knowing several times. When I lived in VA, my bike was my freedom and I rode it long distances that would make my mom freak out if she knew. Once I moved to SC, I didn't have the bike trails and woods I once had, and it was mostly suburban pavement. Going from school to school I made friends here and there, but not the lifetime bond, best friends forever type gig. The high school I ended up at was an elementary/middle/high school combined into one, most everyone had been friends for 10+ years. I knew no one, and I never really was able to get close to them. They were mostly rich kids that could do whatever they want, a group I could not fit in. Chatting with my friend in VA, and eventually Anime Forums became my social life. GF, GT, AF, SS, and my final landing place at AC were my outlets. I spent hours on AIM chatting with Saiel, Xellous, Stormy, Vyper, Son, and Carmie. Heck, me and Son (TENNAY! ) would play Jedi Outcast on dialup and see who got the lucky kill with 999 ping and ultra lag. I spent all day posting on the forum, arguing about stupid shit for hours and hours, writing novels about my opinion vs. whoever I was debating against. I remember spending hours making banners for myself, others, and the Member of the Month/Week awards we use to have so long ago. Seeing someone sport your work in their sig with pride had a special feel to it. Even though my sigs were no where on the level of Cammy's and some others, I enjoyed trying to mimic their amazing talent with Photoshop. I would dedicate hours to a PM request, putting more effort into someone else's banner than I did my own. It wasn't until I got my own car and a job when I started making some local friends. I started out as a bagger for a grocery chain at 18. I was fresh out of high school with all the free time in the world. At work I met people that graduated from other schools. They didn't have those same lifetime bonds with their classmates as it was at the one I graduated from. We hung out after work, went bowling, played video games, went to the movies, went out to eat, went to concerts, casinos. Eventually we grouped into a circle of friends, with friends of friends coming into the loop. My time on forums, and online in general declined drastically. Being a young part time worker with little responsibility on the job, I took notice of co-workers I was attracted to, started dating for the first time... I was settled in... My dad retired a few years prior and there was no danger of me moving again. I noticed my online friends start to grow up as well. Xell got married and went to college, Saiel started college, Carmie disappeared... little by little I lost contact with a lot of them. I still have them friended on facebook, but no one really has time to spend hours chatting about yesteryear. Here I am now. I'm now apart of the management team within the company I started with. A lot of the friends in my circle are married and have kids. We don't spend too much time together anymore, but we get together when possible. Those of us with lesser responsibility still meet up a few times a week as previously mentioned. As far as a family for me? I'm not interested. I don't want kids, I hate kids. Working in retail has made me bitter to them. In the world of PC we live in today, kids are spoiled brats. I watch as they hit their parents, scream, and throw fits with no repercussions. I got my ass beat with a belt if I acted like that at that age... now that's considered child abuse. I've spent a lot of wasted time on women as well. I stopped putting an effort to it. I use to have the desire to get married and spend my life with a soul mate, but now I'd be content spending all my earnings on myself, and having all the alone time in the world. I'm a bit selfish I guess.

*big post* Technology has been good for me. It was a way for me to connect with my father. He introduced me into piecing together entire computers from components. He helped me construct my first 286 and then 386 computers before I even heard about Nintendo. DOS was the OS and then eventually Windows 3.1. and eventually Windows 95 was huge. I've always been a gamer. My parents bought me and my brothers the NES the year it came out. It was amazing. Ever since then me and my 2 bros have been into games. We had PC games before NES, but the NES was completely dedicated to gaming and it was a superior gaming system at the time. Retro and next gen games, we loved it all. I still love a good retro game and I still own a decent collection of my all time favorites, spanning numerous consoles and PC generations. Socially, games were good for me. Every weekend I was at a friend's house or had a friend stay the night. We'd play video games, taking turns on single players or playing co-op games together like Double Dragon, Battletoads, Mario Kart, Street Fighter, etc. Because there was no online game play, we all had to physically hang out to enjoy playing these games together. Years later, I moved to a different state. All my friends were in the old state and I could not afford a cell phone with unlimited long distance. Instead, I lost contact with many people. Along with full time work, 2 computers to share between 2 adults and 2 children, I learned that I missed technology and the newer games. I ended up watching alot more tv. I'd have had a more social life, but when you have an instant family of 4 you don't have time to go hang out after work somewhere. I was ok with that. I wanted a family of my own. I was also pretty broke. Families are expensive. I'd say money is a bigger issue for my social life than technology. We've been poor. Instead of buying more of the things we want, we'd put the money towards better food for the family. Of course we could have bought mcdonalds every day of the week, but that wouldn't have been healthy at all. We did spend the money to have high speed internet. It was an outlet. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars a month at restaurants and movies (family of 4 is expensive to pay for when it is every meal. x_x), we had the internet. Yay for technology. With it I was able to email and send pictures back and forth with my family. Years later.. as technology has progressed I have been able to keep in contact with my family more regularly. Before I got my own cell phone, my family had some cell phones that had free minutes after 9pm. So I'd get phone calls a couple times a week, which was nice. As I caught up with technology, I got a cell phone, unlimited minutes to talk to everyone and also skype. At least twice I year I skype with my family back home so we get to see some face time. One of the things that always annoyed me were people that say, "you don't need money to enjoy time outside of the house." Yeah.. Well, when you don't have many friends in your physical vicinity to go hang out with casually, pretty much everything enjoyable requires cash. I try to enjoy the outdoors when I can, but I have some pretty severe allergies and bad asthma. During the summer if I go out for a walk for 40 minutes, I'm usually a snotty hay fever mess by the end of the day. And winter here sucks. But what I do enjoy is my own free time. I like to read. Sometimes I read novels, other times its articles about random things. I like to educate myself. Years ago, I told myself I should learn something new every day and I've pretty much stuck with it. Sometimes I get interested in a subject and research info about it. I can loose myself for hours learning new things online or in books. If people think I'm antisocial, then thats their opinion. As for myself, I enjoy the time I spend doing the things I do. Thanks to the advancements of technology I can find things that interest me much faster and more efficiently. If not for technology, I'd have probably lived the same life style except I'd own a hell of a lot more books. Socially, I have only a handful of friends that I speak with outside of the internet. After not having a physical social life for so long due to my own choices, I've gotten quite used to it. In fact I enjoy my life the way it is. After years of drama and many people who were bullshit cut from my life, I really enjoy being able to relax and come home to the mrs. and the fur babies. I'm glad for the PS3 and PS4. These game systems have allowed me to be able to play games with my friends and family like I used to back in the day. Except without the physical need to be in the same house. I use video games to keep an active connection with my brothers outside of phone calls too. The biggest problem with current games in a physical social situation is probably online multiplayer. Because the games are designed for all players to be playing from their own homes, many games cannot be played together at all on the same game system or PC. If anything, current games keep people connected to each other by keeping them apart. As for Ancient Clan.. I started this site when I was... 19 I think. I never cared much for school and I've been working jobs since I was 14. I had severe anxiety as a kid, still do. Talking online is easier than being at a physical location. Forums were popular back in the day, so I made this site to hopefully find interesting people that have similar interests to mine and vice versa. A decade later and I still prefer to talk on AC than on social media sites like Facebook. Facebook.. ah facebook. I uninstalled the app off my phone over a year ago. I might use it again once I have a decent phone, but I might not. Half my family don't use it and only a couple of my old friends from Ohio that I talk to even have accounts. I used facebook maybe once or twice a week up until I got a PS4. Because that game system requires me to upload videos I want to save only to facebook, I have found myself using facebook more frequently over the past 4 months. If the console would let me save the videos from the system to a USB drive, I probably wouldn't even upload them to facebook because youtube is more efficient. But I've gotten used to it now. I've read about people having Facebook drama. I've never experienced it and I don't think I ever will. I think its stupid. I block it, don't read it, etc. I don't care who hates who or what somebody posted about somebody else. Maybe I'm out of the loop? Either that or people spend way too much time on the site. In terms of work, I refuse to friend anyone from my work on facebook. I've been asked and I've told numerous people no. Most of these people have nothing in common with me except for work. Why would I want to discuss my life with people that know nothing about me or would be confused by what I am interested in? Screw that. If they are offended that I don't friend them, then let them be offended. Also, anyone that uses facebook or dedicates their time to anything other than their work while on the clock where I'm at gets fired. Occassional texting, a phone call or a cigarette break is fine, but if people are browsing the internet in another window or chatting online, then its a waste of company time and they're gone.