Holy Moley. I think I just hit another low spot, for nonstop gaming with no reprise even though I am feeling freaking grouchy from the lack of sleep. Even though this massive farming that I do might not see its effects anywhere soon, to heck with it.
What am I on about? You know the usual whatnots, namely where I have one hand still grappling for my psp’s analogue controller while trying to prevent myself from dozing off. Alright. I got hooked this time around. On a card game. That usually would not be approached even with a 12-foot pole. Then why did I play it? Well. Two words. <!–More To See–>
Peer pressure.
And now, even though the peers are not around to watch my every move, whether I was utilizing cheats or walkthroughs to make my life alot easier, the point was that I feel the need to level up quickly. A simple conversation can attest for this obsession.
Me: Mm. *settles down to play*
2 hours later…
Me: Mm. *groans from sitting too long in a position*
4 hours later…
Me: Mm. *stomach growls*
6 hours later…
Me: Mm. Zzz.
Back in the days when I was playing good ol’ WOW (World of Warcraft), I could swear that I was onto something, what with my clocking of 18 hours farming gold time and running instances to get better loots. It was the same repetitive moves, day in and out, and I LOVED it.
You literally have a catalogue of unknown acquaintances you have not yet explored or troughed around killing monsters with. Even if you are alone in the real world, in WOW, you will always be able to meet some random 9-year old kid whose mother has gone gallivanting off to the shops, or a pregnant teenager waiting for her husband to get back from school. The possibilities are endless.
Of course, coming back to the card game I am obsessed about… let me say that this peer pressure can be a very powerful one, where unattractive games can instantly glitter with some magical-like dusting.
Imagine, the ability to challenge your opponents anywhere you head to, unbound by the ball-and-chains of your PC, without any constraints of space/time/venues. The very thought of being able to beat my ‘peers’ seemed like a chance bestowed from the heavens itself. How else can you beat your more athletic and physically fit other half who seems to be great at any game?
P.S – the game is called Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 3 (UGO for short form). There is more information here if sought after. Ever played Magic the Gathering? Well, it is kind of like that except bearing in mind that for each battle, you could spend a good half to an hour fighting the same person, until your deck of 40 cards has been completely annihilated. Strategy against your challenges is of upmost importance.
Think ‘the Art of War’ where without ample thinking and reading what the cards are capable of, your army would instantly submerge within a few rounds. The tutorial itself took me a good day, where with over 20 battles lost during this learning process, you can perhaps imagine the anguish felt having to act as a hunter-gather. Namely, there are over 3,500 basic cards and well, endless possibilities as long as you can hunt them all down and consolidate them. Somewhat like Pokemon perhaps, if you would like to think of it in a more up-to-date context. As players you can even go online to download entirely new decks or unique cards, or hook up to up to 4 friends via the PSP Ad-hoc LAN mode. That is old school card playing gone cyber.
Enough ranting for the night. Back to the game. Must. Sleep. Soon.
First posted 2010
Mariel Wong 
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