close errorfacebook-simple family menu multiplatform multiplayer nnid Untitled-2 playstation reviews search servers steam store twitch twitter-simple xbox

Blog

Why I'm Part of the LDS Gaming Community

Easter will soon be here. With that comes an opportunity to do all things Easter, including eating too much candy, ham, hiding eggs and of course the eternal debate on whether or not Peeps are good or disgusting. This weekend, my family is host to my brother-in-law who's visiting from north eastern Montana. What's interesting is my brother-in-law, we'll call him George (so does his mom even though it's not his real name), was my main gaming partner for years. Yet, try as I might, he's not part of the LDS Gamer's community and I've been trying to figure out why. All that did was lead to another question, why am I part of the LDS Gamer's community? It's sort of like the "where did I come from? Why am I here? And where am I going?" questions without all of the eternal implications.

I grew up playing video games. My dad somehow got his hands on an Atari 2600 when I was four and I managed to soundly beat my oldest brother (at the time a college student) at Combat. I don't think he played another video game again. I did, a lot more and so did my other brothers. We spent a lot of time gaming together, especially when it was too hot out where I grew up in the American southwest. We have literally hours upon hours of fond memories of those times. When I was first married, it used to drive my wife crazy when we'd visit as my brother and we would sometimes game until 4 or 5 in the morning (this was before online gaming was easy). As brothers, that was our thing. In other words, it's how we maintained the familiar bond between us. That, and I was simply better than him at all things Tekken.

Which brings us back again to the why am I part of all this. For me, it is a chance to establish new friendships with people that share similar values all across the world. It's a chance to experience again the same enjoyment that I think many of us had with our siblings (or other family members), playing video games together. You can see for yourself in one of our recent gaming sessions. It's long I know. But you can jump to just about anywhere in the video and hear the laughter, the enjoyment, and the camaraderie that is so terribly infectious.

I may not have been successful in persuading my brother-in-law to join up to the community and that's OK. I know if he does join up, there's already a community waiting for him and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Comments

Support LDS Gamers by Donating

Donate