BENGALURU: I was at a bar recently, and going through the social motions – of meeting people, asking them what they do, and moving on to topics that are common and shallow enough for the entire group. Which is when I met a young man who introduced himself as an ‘e-sports professional’.
My first response was to smirk. I do that sometimes. I pursue five careers at the same time, and when at a party, I usually mention the one that is likely to elicit the least number of questions. The young man was probably trying to evade questions. But the standup comedian in me couldn’t resist a few potshots. ‘Do you have to go to the gym? Since you’re a sportsperson and all?’ Without batting an eyelid, he replied that he did have to go to a gym, and in fact, had to take extra care of his back since gamers are more prone to back injuries than bank employees!
I am not usually condescending to youngsters. I firmly believe that humans have thrived and taken over the planet because the next generation is always smarter than the previous one. It is the reason we have smartphones, and AI, and the planet is getting tired of us. But I grew up in a generation where the word ‘video games’ was always used in a negative sense. They were seen as distractions, and could ruin your life.
The first video game I ever played was ‘Road Rash’. It was a game where you rode a motorcycle through poorly designed roads while hitting, kicking, and punching all your opponents. I belong to a generation that played Road Rash and (unsurprisingly) grew up to become Salman Khan fans! It was when my relatives bought a computer for myself that I was exposed to the first generation of video games. The first game I tried to play was ‘Minesweeper’.
The name was exciting, but the game itself – was probably my first experience of depression. I clicked on buttons randomly and lost the game, feeling like a British emperor colonising the world through a series of global disasters. Then there was Spider Solitaire. I later found out that Microsoft had created the game to get people familiar with using the mouse! To think that I spent hours playing a game that was not even created with an intent to entertain!
Then came the second generation of games. Like ‘Cricket’, which had names like ‘Suchyn Tendolkayr’ and ‘Virayndr Saywahg’. I played a game on skateboarding without ever having touched a skateboard in my life. And then, I chanced upon the greatest product Microsoft has ever created – Age of Empires. Having newly discovered the joys of bhang, I plunged into the game, playing it for hours. And even as an adult in my 20s, I would always feel a sense of guilt about ‘wasting’ my time on video games. By the time the PlayStation and XBox arrived in the market, life had caught up with me. I never invested time, effort or money in gaming – content to play a pirated version of Age of Empires when I could.
Who would have thought that youngsters would defy their parents, and choose to pursue video games as a professional career? These kids were breaking generations of stereotypes and indoctrination by choosing to do what they truly enjoy. I felt bad for judging the kid, and apologised to him while ordering another beer. He shrugged it off, probably used to people my age being judgmental about his career. ‘What do you do?’, he asked me. ‘I…I am a journalist’, I fumbled. He looked at me, nodded, and smiled.