Halo or Hot Date?

I am not ashamed to admit that I'm a gamer. Now I'm not one of those hardcore gamers who will plant themselves in front of the TV and veg out. I consider myself to be a healthy gamer. What constitutes the difference between a healthy gamer and a veg? Simple, I play to maintain my sanity. As odd as that sounds, I play games to escape from the reality of life for a short duration, live out an alternate life and then have a few hours of fun before returning to the normalcy of life.

Now vegging out in front of the TV with a game is just one way in which gamers can get a bad rap. Another is when they take gaming to a new level and make it an alternate lifestyle. For example, my cousin met up with a young man and they got to talking. He seemed like an interesting sort and over the course of conversation she began to think that maybe he would be a nice guy to date. As the conversation progressed farther, she asked what he liked to do on the weekends. His simple reply was, "Oh, I like to kick back, relax and play on the Xbox." To this my cousin asked what else he like to do. His even simpler reply was, "Um... nothing really."

My cousin took that as her cue and quickly ended all proceedings and hints at dating the guy. Granted, my cousin is not a gamer even in passing, but dude! Seriously! If a girl is showing even the least bit of interest in you why would you even sabotage things that way? I mean okay, if you're meeting a girl like this at the local Electronics Boutique or other such place, that's a totally honest response, but if that is the sole purpose in your life, you have some issues and it's time to re-examine your priorities. If you're over the age of 20, it's even more of a requirement.

I am obviously over 20, but my response to such a question would bring up a variety of things I do for fun. Gaming would be one, but it's not the end all be all of my existance. Not that there's anything wrong with playing games. I own a fast car, but I can't race it around all the time. Well, I can, but my insurance would undoubtedly go up and if I get into a shunt (that means crash to you non-Formula 1 fans -- editor) then the cost of repairs would be tremendous. I grew up wanting to be like Luke Skywalker, now I can be. All I have to do is pop in the appropriate disk and I can go to a galaxy far far away and battle the evil Galactic Empire.

I was among those gamers out there who went nuts at the release of Halo 2, I was out there waiting for the game to go on sale and once it was, I was among the first to snap it up. The day I bought it, I also happened to meet up with a girl I was interested in. We ended up agreeing to meet sometime soon, when she suggested that we go out that evening for some coffee, I faced a momentary dillemma well known to all gamers. To date or to play the new game. I chose the path which made more sense to me and had an evening of simulating conversation and hot lattes. I know of a few friends who went the opposite route. Needless to say, they were on the sofa for a few nights afterwards and not just to play the games they got.

I play on the Xbox because it's an outlet for frustrations and a way to unwind without losing my mind. But again, it's not the only thing I do to unwind. My Xbox is tucked away underneath the TV in my house, ready to be broken out at the appropriate time. But only at the appropriate times and never in lieu of a potentially meaningful meeting with a member of the opposite sex.