One of my favorite card games is a collectible card game (CCG) called “Warlord: Saga of the Storm”:http://www.warlordccg.com. ((I also enjoy a good game of Yu-Gi-Oh from time to time.)) I haven’t actually played the game in about 12-18 months due to a number of reasons – there doesn’t really seem to be anyone in my area who plays anymore; like all CCGs, it costs quite a bit of money to continue playing due to a new expansion coming out every three months or so; and it requires a fair amount of your free time for travel, deckbuilding, and actual play time. Unfortunately, my budget is tight and my free time almost nonexistent, so I haven’t gotten to enjoy this game I love so much for quite a while now – and it’s possible I will never again pick the game up seriously. I simply have too many other interests that also demand my time.
Now, when most people think of gamers, particularly the CCG(Collectible Card Game) or the RPG(Role-Playing Game) types, they think of guys (and some gals) who dress up in Lord of the Rings or Star Wars garb and parade their latest geek-fest wares at the local convention downtown – and that stereotype is, on a fairly significant scale, justified. Not all of us are that immersed in the game culture, however. A lot of us who consider ourselves gamers are just your average, run-of-the-mill Joes who enjoy games that are both imaginative and strategic. We enjoy our sci-fi and fantasy genres, but we don’t try to _live_ in them, _per se_.
Probably the two biggest reasons why I love Warlord is 1) it is a strategic game; it makes me think outside of the box, and 2) there is a solid fantasy backstory that serves as the foundation upon which the game is built that brings the characters on each card to life. In short it sparks both my intellect and my imagination. It lets me be a kid for a little while who can just have fun playing cards with some friends. I wish I had the time and the money to keep up the hobby, but alas, real life has this annoying way of encroaching and sacrifices have to be made in the interests of keeping food on the table.
Am I a geek? Sure, but that doesn’t mean I’m not just a normal guy, too.