Gatekeeping in the world of video games is an epidemic. It is our duty as those who are “in the know” to help guide those who are “in the not know” and pass on our knowledge to younger generations. Who are we to hoard information in a time like this? Who are we to hold back newer generations of gamers from experiencing the vast world of imagination that lives inside our consoles, PCs, and phones? We rise above these notions because it is our duty to turn the key to the locks of gaming. I’ve spent my forty years in the desert of gaming to master my skill and I’m in the promised land. Now it’s time to take the hand of those who have not yet been granted access and lead them to it as well.
No confusion is too small.
As they say, “give a man a game, and he can play for upwards of 80 hours. Teach a man to game, and he is a gamer for life.” And so with this guide, I will teach you to game, gamers. I will set you off on your journey to a lifetime of experiences you could not imagine. Morpheus famously said, “I can show you the door, but I cannot open it for you.” Well this guide is showing you the door and opening it for you. I hope you glean what you can from it.
Nothing is more valuable than learning where to begin.
That’s what I’m here to show you.
So let’s begin the guide.
A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a two or three dimensional video display device such as a touchscreen, VR headset, or monitor/TV set. Since the 1980’s, video games have become an increasingly important part of the entertainment industry, and whether are are also a form of art is a matter of dispute.
That’s all straight from the horse’s mouth, if you consider Wikipedia to be a horse, and I most certainly do.
The input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, or even a person’s body, using a Kinect sensor. Players view the game on a display device such as a television or computer monitor or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and voice actor lines which come from loudspeakers or headphones. Some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets.
This, as before, is spoken to us from the same horse. The rest of this guide is all my own words, however.
Once you have access to the screen, once you have access to the controller, and once you have access to your mind — free from distraction and ready to “start,” locate the Start button on your controller.
Press it.
Now you have started.
Sit back, gamer… you’re gaming. You’re in the pilot seat. You’re ready. Nothing can get in your way.
But of course, you cannot press the Start button to start the game unless the game device is on, be it a console, PC, or phone. How do you turn on the console, you may ask? Well I think that’s a perfect question for our next guide.
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