So, another end-of-the-semester Game Night was held by the Computer Science Student Union, and I went, after my essay research adventure through Robarts (and Toronto, I guess). I was expecting to see a whole bunch of people I knew from the U of T Game Design and Development Club.
I DID NOT.
Well, that’s not true. The few recognizable peeps I did run into, I made sure to stand near, very awkwardly, for long periods of time. This allowed me to observe a blue Scout in Team Fortress 2 running around countless times like he’d wet his pants, which was interesting. I stood awkwardly in front of the Tekken 6 screen. I stood awkwardly next to the Rock Band area. I stood awkwardly next to a lonely laptop with Starcraft on it.
I stood.
Then I finally ran into someone and played Modern Warfare 2 and stuff.
Overall, the experience was not that bad. There were fewer people, but the set-up was the same: giant screens with games that are good for tournaments (Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Street Fighter, Mario Kart, and I think there was Marvel vs Capcom at some point), various first-person shooters, (whether or not you turn into a zombie in front of them, you look like one from far away) and new stuff! Like Tekken 6 and Super Mario Bros. Wii, or New Super Mario Bros. Wii, or whatever they decided to call it*. Dare I betray Nintendo and say I cared more for Tekken 6?
I didn’t enter any tournaments, as I wasn’t able to stay for the entire 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. event. That, and one now has to have a CDF account to join (i.e., you have to be a computer science student **). In that respect, the set-up was … not the same. Anyway.
Tekken 6 is as wonderful and hilarious as the last six games (since Tekken Tag is like ... 3.5). I can now decide whether I’m going to pay $60 this Christmas to make super-steroid character archetypes pummel each other. Rock Band continues to be a phenomenon I wish I did not understand, but do. I got to play the drums once on the medium-difficulty setting, which was a terrible idea. I felt less shame in squealing with fear than I did in not being able to play the drums.
In characteristic, unnecessary reflection, I realized something crucial while waiting to play the psuedo-drums. One of those things everyone else realizes in high school:
When you go to a school event that will undoubtedly be crowded, and you know you'll wind up standing awkwardly alone …
take a friend with you.
Benefits of this:
- If the friend is your guest, you get to drag him or her where you want to go.
- You won't interrupt other acquaintances already enveloped in FPS intensity, or the equivalent at an event with another theme (e.g., a super-intense conversation with the guest speaker, or something).
- If you try to chat with a stranger and are snubbed (which doesn't happen often, by the way), you can turn to your friend and pull a "Psshht! What crawled in his speakeasy moonshine?"
This seems to be the magic solution to being the quiet stalker in the room — looking at everything and saying barely anything. There is, of course, still nothing wrong with being quiet. There are benefits to being able to enjoy things by yourself as well. If you move to a new city, who are you going to chill with? Yourself. When your kids leave home or lock themselves in their rooms to finish last-minute essays, who are you going to chill with? Yourself. No one else wants to see that Lithuanian sci-fi flick with you? Go alone. Yeah. Do it. If you are super-angry at everything and everyone, are you going to sit at home hating yourself, too? No! When you eat that gallon of ice cream, enjoy it. Okay, no, but I hope you get the point.
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- Liesl
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* They did call it that.
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** Noooooo...
Haha I remember meeting you at Game Night last year. It’s really not that bad going alone because a lot of people there are in a similar situation as you.