Because of the tradition my mom had to run her errands in the morning, so I woke up early so I could go with her and purchase Metroid. We left and I did buy the game, and I was dying to play it. It was now 2:30pm. My mom was going to go to church and since I was with her so was I. Here is where my eternal shame now begins.

I lied to my mom and said I was feeling ill and asked if I could go home. I was a good kid and wasn't known for lying so my mom trusted me and I got to go home. I then proceded to play Metroid as soon as my mom left the driveway. I have never feared for my mortal soul more than on those three hours that day. I played on until my mother came back. I had alienated myself from my family and even my religion, all for Metroid. Thus ended one of the darker episodes of my life as a gamer. Just call me Mojo and pray for me.

- Raymond

There were a couple times when my less than likable girlfriend (Now ex of course) would knock on my door and I'd pretend not to be home because I was busy playing Final Fantasy Tactics or Wild Arms. But that's not my fault ya see, she was a bitch. I've also ditched the three parties I was invited to so I could stay home and play Earthbound, FF7 and Street Fighter 3 respectively. But then I can justify that too, I really don't like parties, I've never been a big fan of killing my brain with booze and cocaine and then having anonymous sex with an endless parade of strangers. Hmm...

I only went to one school dance in my life, and I was there for five minutes before leaving the crappy music infested gym of stupidity to go home and play me some Xenogears and wish that I'd spent my 5 dollar entry fee on a bag of chips and some root beer. I've never done anything really major though, I've never robbed a buddy of 50 bucks so I could buy FF8 or anything, the worst I do is use video games as my excuse to stay anti social and not have to deal with people, or maybe it's the other way around. Either way I don't see the point of a social life in the first place, I mean who needs people when you got the best friend in the world right in front of you, a little plastic box and a CD carrier full of shiny toys.

- Gilbert

~arc

Being a 20-something incarnation of Dawn Wiener, I've experienced my fair share of alienation. I can't speak of losing friends or significant others, because frankly I'm a nerd girl and I've never really had friends. I was an ugly duckling who grew into a very strange swan.

Sometimes this lifelong gaming fetish has served as a blanket for me to curl up under on the sofa of my miserable life. On prom night, I was stood up by a guy (who I later found out only asked me on a dare). So, Cloud was my date instead. May the Nerd Gods bless the PSX.

There's one time I can remember where I well and truly alienated someone because of my gaming, it actually resulted in blows being exchanged. At the time, I had a very old needs-an-RF-switch TV, but all I had was the AV cable that came with the PSX, so I had to run that through a VCR in order to play any games. One night I was playing FF7, and about 1k battle points off from getting Omnislash in the Gold Saucer arena. My sister stormed in rudely demanding I give her my VCR to tape something, and when I said no, she screamed about how "all I do is play those damn games". I paused the game long enough to tell her to kiss my ass, at which point she snatched my power strip from the wall. The fight which ensued put anything on Dynasty to shame, and my rubber Xena chakram even got involved (it's surprisingly good for whacking people). We didn't talk for months after that.

BTW, this is the same sister that I caught just last week flailing like a dying animal all over my Dance Dance Revolution mat to "Have You Never Been Mellow". My strait-laced mother, who *hates* video games but begged me to put my PS2 in the living room so she could watch movies on it, was on my spare pad next to her stomping for all she was worth.

Hmm...

--Celestra never laughed so hard in all her life.

This is why although I have never sold any of my "outdated" systems, I do not have my beloved NES.

I was 11, going on 12 and had just moved into a new house. I sat in our new den, frantically playing SMB3. Level 6. 58 lives. My item bar was -packed- because of that nifty card mini-game.

Chore break.

I reluctantly put down the controller and turn off the TV, but leaving the NES on so I could 'save' my progress (you remember doing that, right?). I clean my room, and move on to sweeping the floor. Almost done. Then, it happened.

The most unholy sound of my mother's inarticulate cries of rage flood from the den. I hear a controller slap against the wall. I freeze in terror, and see the console sailing through the door, across the room, and into the wall with a heart-shattering crack.

Mom had tried to play where I had left off. We only let mommy play Tetris, and well as you can see, for obvious reasons. Needless to say, my dear Nintendo died that horrible fall day, and I was never to play Duck Hunt while eating spaghetti-o's again.

Fortunately enough, the SNES came out rather close to my 12th birthday, so I got that and a shiny new mario game to play with...but it was just not the same, not even when Super Mario All-Stars came out.

So that is my tale of alienation. I was forever separated from my NES, and to this day I mourn its loss. With the advent of emulation, one would think that I could fill this void, but alas that part of my gaming psyche is still...empty.

Kids, supervise your parents when they play videogames, it can only lead to violence and sadness.

- Heather T. Burke, who still has the orange zapper gun for old time's sake.

- SonicPanda

The other day I was taking a stroll with my girlfriend. She's a pleasant girl. Wavy brown hair, bitingly cruel sense of humor, asymmetric-yet-still-pretty face. Good at DDR. The whole, in short, package.

I said, "You know, all this time with you is seriously decreasing the rate at which I can finish videogames." She turned her head at me and furrowed her brow, and smiled. And then she laughed. I was serious, and I think she knew that. She kissed me on the cheek, and that wasn't too bad. Then we ate lunch.

It wasn't the first time I'd thought that. Sure, no rational part of me is ever sorry that I spend less time bedazzled by quadruple-9's popping up after I hit "Attack," but sometimes when I'm falling asleep, I think: man, it takes me like three weeks to finish an RPG now. It's all because of her.

But she likes Ico, and once, a while back, she was asking me about "some game" that was coming out on the PS2 pretty soon. She said she was interested in it and I should buy it. And I asked, what game is that? Well, insert a 45-minute guessing game (over dinner, I think) here and you'd finally come up with the name "Metal Gear Solid 2," at which point I kissed her on the cheek because she had good taste, and I don't think she thought that was too bad.

I guess I don't have much reason to feel guilty. Better not print this one. :)

~Ian

My story of woe begins roughly 5 years ago when I had recently borrowed a copy of the snes version of Madden '94 (shut up, everyone needs a break from marathon sessions of Final Fantasy 6 every once in awhile!)

Anyways, it was Mother's Day, and I had spent most of the morning playing, after I gave my mom my gift, and went through half of a season and the playoffs! By the afternoon I was in the Super Bowl, and what an epic battle it was!

The Miami Dolphins were hammering the Chiefs more than 60 points, but then, as the family was starting to arrive for a nice holiday dinner, my asshole uncle decided to "prank" me and turn off my snes, and I hadn't saved in hours.......

AHHHH! He ran out the front door, and as any normal gamer would do, I ran after him in a sheer state of rage! I threw the glass door open with all of my might, but to my disdain, the door didn't open, but the glass broke and my hands went through it.

Both of my hands were turned into bloody messes, and we spent our Mother's Day at the emergency room where I recieved five stiches. Oh, and in case you're wondering, when I got home I constructed a new method of playing games with wrapped hands, it consisted of putting the controller on the ground and using only two fingers from both hands and putting the difficult on easy. I then procedded to wipe up the competition and finally get my Super Bowl Parad!

Kefka's Eden, who is still nursing his case of Gamer's Hand...