gamesandtings

So much of my gaming has been done with others around, I mean I’m sure that’s the story for almost everyone. Either with a brother or sister, a friend or a friendly stranger, gaming has always been about besting one another, outjumping, out-karting and out-trashtalking those that would sit beside you.

And of course, as gaming became more sophisticated and the internet too, the feeling of people all on a couch, huddled over a mammoth CRT TV, swearing like a Trooper that’s just stubbed his toe – all of this was transferred to online. Online strangers that soon turn into online friends with gaming parties, people you feel obligated to ensure your scheduled gaming event was not to be interrupted.

Both online and off, I’ve had so many gaming eras which I’ve hoped I could replicate (with not much luck recently). From Mario Kart 64 to Double Dash, then online with Battlefield Bad Company 2, Team Fortress 2, Battlefield 3, L4D1/2 and more recently Overwatch – a routine of nightly gaming with a loyal gang.

And here we are right now, in a pandemic that finally seems like it might have an end. And what have we discovered having been shut away from one another, with our lives less busy – we’ve had a return to something that we’ve always loved. I never thought my Mario Kart gaming days would return as it would. Not to say I’ve not sunk hundreds of hours into the latest Mario Kart, but most was done entirely on my own.

But every Monday, a “room” full of middle aged gaming has-beens get together and recreate the couch competitive gaming moments we’ve all longed for. Mario Kart Monday, with the few sessions I’ve joined, has become the true start of the working week, where for hours we’re locked in, vying for grand prix wins, muffling swear words and accosting each others’ mums on voice chat. And done with the people that I started this gaming journey with in the first place.

Never did I think I’d be able to create those gaming eras that I was blessed to be a part of but corona, in a roundabout way, has delivered precisely that.

Long live Mario Kart.