Today being Friday, I got to thinking about how each of us tackle our respective weekends of gaming. But it wasn’t until a friend sent me a text today asking what my gaming plans for the weekend were, that I started thinking about how my weekend gaming habits have changed over the course of the last ten years.
Ten years ago, on just about every Friday, as soon as I got off work, I would scour for something interesting to wear (I have artistic ideas about fashion), and go dancing. Not for any ulterior purpose. Just to go dancing. I love it.
On the rare occasions when I didn’t feel like dancing until the wee hours of the morning, I would head to Ground Kontrol, my very favorite place in Portland, Oregon. It is the most wonderful retro arcade and bar, and there are usually always excellent DJs on the weekends. I would pop in, grab a beverage, and play Dr. Mario for an hour and then see where my interests went from there. Some nights I would play pinball for hours.
(Funny story: I once actually hurt my wrists from playing pinball for so long. This is true!)
After moving from Portland to southern California seven years ago, there weren’t really places to go dancing (within a reasonable distance) and there certainly weren’t any arcades even remotely like Ground Kontrol. It was around then that I started my weekends of at-home gaming.
Some of the most blissful weekends were when my partner and I were knee-deep in Borderlands. We would race home from work, pick up take-out on the way, and play Borderlands pretty much until it was either way too late for a proper dinner or a little too early for a proper breakfast. I cherish those weekends playing Borderlands co-op. Almost never have my gaming weekends been so delightful.
It wasn’t until Destiny came out that I started to really look forward to weekend gaming again. I would connect with various people and we would have marathon Destiny gaming sessions. As the hours progressed, the discussions would get sillier and sillier. I loved those times. I still wish for those times. Alas.
Now my weekends are full of odd gaming. I play Animal Crossing: New Leaf here and there, checking in on my town and hoping for those god forsaken last two pieces of art to complete my museum (seriously, in two years I’m still looking for them) and just puttering around. And I always find myself wanting to play Borderlands. It sounds like hyperbole, but I’m literally always in the mood to play Borderlands. I don’t know quite what it is about that first game, but I adore it.
When each Friday night rolls around, I wish I could get a group of people together to game, but it never works out that way anymore. The closest I’ve gotten was when I was really in the thick of Destiny, but that all fell apart. Now I just sort of wonder…hmmm…what should I play? I often find myself wanting to play something familiar to usher in the weekend.
Lately, I’ve been wanting to get back to the Witcher, as I’ve recently completed a challenge (more about that on Monday), and have now freed myself up a bit. But you know what happened? I managed to connect with a friend and we are going to dive into some Borderlands 2 tomorrow! The weekend is successful and it hasn’t even started yet!
So I am curious: what are your weekend gaming habits? How have they changed over the years? Are there things you wish you did on the weekends (gaming-wise) that you don’t do? If so, how come? I’d love to get a discussion going.
On that note, I bid each of you a safe, post E3 weekend. It’s an excellent time to be a gamer. Let’s all celebrate by…gaming.
:)
Cheers!
Categories: games
Rebekah Lang 
I usually just play whatever strikes my fancy so nothing special.
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but i like that about you. you play EVERYTHING. i wish i was more like that!
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Thank you,me too.
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I too, was once big on Destiny. For the first few months, I would play non-stop. Mainly, once I got off work. My weekends have been empty. Haven’t found a game yet that takes up my weekend like this wonderful piece of commentary points out. Maybe in the near future I iwll find that ONE game that does so.
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do you mind if i ask what turned you off of playing destiny so much? it seems like that game in particular is such an odd experience for people. i’m always curious about how it goes/went for them.
hmm…do you wish you had a game that filled your weekends? or just a good game in general? i have to say, each time i’ve played the witcher, the hours have just whooshed by. to the point of not sleeping.
oops.
but then, to me, that’s the sign of a great game. one you just can’t put down! :)
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I would like to develop some gaming habits. I used to be better about playing more regularly, I need to get back to that. One of the negatives from E3 was seeing all those great-looking games on the “Horizon” ;) and be reminded of all of the games I haven’t played yet. No better time to start than the present!
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you mean like swabbing down your controllers with alcohol and using canned air regularly?
oh wait. different habits.
oh gosh, i know. there were so many games coming, not to mention all the games already here. and that doesn’t even take into account a backlog! but honestly, it’s such a wonderful problem to have. :)
and no. you didn’t. the puns. THE PUNS!
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Sadly, I think I only try to clean them when buttons start to stick. It works in my favor that I never eat while gaming because I don’t want crumbs all over the sticks, but now I’m finding myself wondering about controller hygiene. Thanks for that ;)
It is a wonderful problem to have, but still a problem. I actually thought about completely giving up TV during the E3 stuff so I would game more. Granted, I don’t watch too many shows but the ones I do are still taking up time that could be spent with something I like a whole lot more…
I honestly did that on accident, and then just decided to own it.
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GROSS!
in honesty, i do recommend the occasional cleansing wipe for the controllers. especially on the back where the triggers are.
i don’t blame you. with the internet having eyes everywhere, it’s nearly impossible to avoid spoilers for e3 press conferences.
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When you describe your Borderlands weekend, I’m reminded about when my husband and I played Harry Potter 1 and 2 together on the GameCube. For hours and hours, our little girl safely tucked into her bed. And later still, we tackled Windwaker together. Most of the time he did the battles with me voicing my tips about how to tackle the boss. And together we would puzzle about how to move on. Perfect gaming bliss. Now I game more then he does, much more, and I mostly play alone. No specific plans for gaming in weekends, mostly it’s nights after work gaming for me!
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aww, i love co-op gaming so much. and i love the way you tackled wind waker together. :) that was such a great game. my lasting memory is the image of link crawling and making that WINK WINK sound as he crept along. it was my favorite.
hey, any gaming is good gaming! nights OR weekends!
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