Storytime: My First Gaming Experience

I don't know about you guys, but thinking back on my first experience with gaming simply brings
back levels of nostalgia insurmountable in today's day and age. Let me tell you a story about a
little boy, his uncle, father, the scourge on my sanity that was nemesis from resident evil 2 and
some weird flying creature in silent hill.

Thinking back, I can sort of remember little chunks of games that I really enjoyed and more than
anything else, I enjoyed watching my uncle, who was in highschool at the time, playing games,
and one of only games I can remember him playing, scarred me to today, imagine a kid, sitting
down in a dark room when visiting my grandmother and uncles in johannesburg, following my
uncle around like a puppy dog because he was, and still is, one of the coolest people I know.
So i was sitting with him and my dad, watching them playing this strange game, I cannot
remember anything before or after the point of no return but I do remember the police station in
racoon city, walking down a hallway, unassuming, unknowing, innocent to the horrors that were
to follow, when: BAM! In through a window comes the biggest, scariest person-creature thing
that I had ever seen, coming right up to the character my uncle was controlling and completely
wrecking him, or was it a her, either way, it matters not, in my mind, they no longer existed in my
mind. And in this moment, out came the sinister uncle, knowing my weakness and being a giant
meany, he had what he needed to traumatise me every time I came to visit.

“But Jonothan, you mentioned Silent Hill earlier but haven't said how that completely
traumatised you.”

Yes, I mentioned Silent Hill, And at this point in the deep dive of my emotional
disdain for horror games, enters dear old dad. Yet again, I cannot remember the circumstances
or reasons why this thing happened, but all I know is that the next time I came over to visit the
family, my uncle had a new game, and my dad was hooked, which is special because that never
happened, ever. Now enter a older, but still young Jonothan, aged seven at this point, walking
into my uncle's room because they were talking and seemingly having a great time playing this
shiny new game. Yet again, unknowingly walking into a situation I inevitably regretted, there I
was,sitting on the bed, as my dad walked into a coffee shop or a diner, something along those
lines, and again, like clockwork, a massive pterodactyl type creature bursts in through the
window into this confined diner and I was out, out of the door, out of the house in the yard,
terrified.

Those were the first two games I can remember, those are the games that laid the foundation of
my gaming life, those two games ruined horror for me forever, still to this day, I struggle, nay,
cannot bring myself to play a horror game, a prime example is the first 15 minutes of Outlast,
the first jumpscare sent my hand towards the alt and f4 buttons so quickly that I couldn’t stop
myself.

I guess I should try to get over this crippling fear of horrors, but until then, you can find me, in
the well lit room, staying far away from anything that deems itself as a horror game.

I hope everybody enjoyed this little tangent into my life and I know for a fact I am not the only
one with this fear. For more nonsense and shenanigans you can follow me on any of my social
media pages.

Steemit: @thatguyjono
Twitter: @thatguyjono
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