've been playing video games since I was four years old and my brother first got his Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario Bros. Over the years, my tastes developed in games that featured a good story, interesting characters, and a pleasurable soundtrack. These things are partly what have inspired me to pursue my dreams as an adult. Video games made me want to become a writer, a musician, and a programmer. I'd spend days as a teenager studying games, playing through them time and again, ignoring my homework. I feel these games have shaped me into the man I am today and will continue to influence my career aspirations in the future.
Whether it be a career goal or a hobby you've picked up, have video games influenced your life in such a way?
I can't even tell you how many times I've 'borrowed' graphical design concepts found in games and used them in my own work... If you're ever watching a training film in New York State and wonder why you're suddenly reminded of 'Ridge Racer Type 4,' rest assured I probably had something to do with it ;)
The game Starflight, which I first played as a third-grader in 1986, shaped my perception of science fiction; taught me the names of nearly two dozen elements; and supplied me with words such as obsequious, hostile, lithosphere, amorphous, and radial. Two years later, a science project requiring my classmates and I to create make-believe solar systems was an invitation for fan-fiction.
My playing has ebbed and flowed; and honestly, I still don't consider myself a "gamer." But here I am, with G&P, occasionally acknowledging that the dream job would be as the big-picture guy on a dev team.