Welcome to my 2 hours between classes

So, my name is Kelsey and I am, as you may have guessed, a freshman at Rochester Institute of Technology. I've dabbled in blogging before, but never in a public forum, so here goes nothing. My purpose is to try to create something that, if not comprehensive, is at least worth reading. I plan on writing things from video game reviews, to general advice about college life, to specific events at RIT. To get more specific into what I'll probably be getting to, I'll list the sort of games I play and systems I have.

First off, I adore my PS3. It's shiny, it gives me access to PS1 games, and it has some of the best systems for storing DLC ever. If you've bought DLC, it's attached to your account, and if it's attached to your account, you can log into any PS3 anywhere, and see things you've bought and redownload them. If that doesn't seem exciting to you, you must not have many other friends with PS3s.

Second, in case you haven't noticed, I have a bit of a soft spot for games that aren't exactly on the cutting edge. While I've been known to go crazy obsessing over a new game that just came out (Heavy Rain and Dragon Age come to mind), my heart lies with games that maybe don't get as much hype anymore because they're not tolerable by today's standards. As such, my N64 was just about as important as my PS3 to bring with me to college. Banjo-Tooie was one of the first games I ever completed, and the original Smash Bros. 64 is the only iteration of that game that I enjoy playing.

I have a DS, but I forgot it at home. It should be being sent in a care package soon, though! Either way, I'm not too experienced in the realm of DS gaming. I kinda dropped out of handheld world after Pokemon Crystal. The only games I really remember caring about on the GBA were the first two Harry Potter games. (For the record, they were awesome)

I obviously have a PC, but with very few exceptions, I don't usually use it for current gaming. For one, it sucks. It overheats when trying to run Skype and Youtube at the same time; I can only assume it would burst into flame if I tried to play Crysis. Generally, I don't mind, because if a PC game has a console equivalent, I prefer playing games with a controller in my hand, on a television. It feels less isolated to me. The main exception to this is first person games, which I just cannot play on a console. Luckily, I don't play many first person games, since many are shooters. Unfortunately, this means Oblivion is just sitting on my shelf gathering dust.

The one major exception to my no-PC-gaming rule is retro gaming. I am arguably obsessed with the Sierra games of the 80s and 90s. I enjoy LucasArts from time to time too. Honestly though, I grew up on Mixed-Up Mother Goose and spent all of my allowance tracking down the King's Quest Collections on eBay. I have a huge passion for the adventure games of old.

Honestly, that's one of the reasons I got into game development. I've never been a creative person (Well, except for that one time in 7th grade where I thought I was the next poetic genius), but mathematics and code and logic have made sense to me since I was very, very little. I created my first website at the age of 8, to celebrate my love of my literary doppelganger, Hermione Granger. Even before that, I spent most of my free time during car rides doing logic puzzles (you remember, the ones with the grids, that were like "Mrs. Green bought 3 items, at least one of which was a bicycle, and none of which were purple" and you have to decide which person bought which items and what color they were? Anyone?). It really was a no brainer to me that I wanted to program for a living. However, the King's Quest series, and other related products, were the things that made me decide I really wanted to create games.

I know that a lot of games these days rely on skill. You have to be skilled to play a first-person shooter online. You have to be skilled to succeed in an action game or a platformer. The difference between the requirement for skill in modern games, and the difficulty level of the older games lies in the fact that modern games require reflexes, physical ability. Classic adventure games require thought. I'm not saying that modern games are mindless, certainly not. They require a lot of strategy, timing, etc. My point is that adventure games were a lot slower-paced. It could take you weeks to figure out a puzzle, but once you did (provided you didn't look up the answer in a walkthrough) you got a huge sense of accomplishment and a sort of high. This slower-paced, more cerebral gaming experience is something I found hugely influential in my childhood, and something I'd like to help bring back. Games like Heavy Rain (which, in retrospect, require no skill at all) take it back to a slower, more intense gaming experience. I approve.

The last thing I really have to address here is that I'm a college student. There are plenty of gaming blogs, probably a lot fewer that focus on old school gaming, but still a good amount (maybe?). There are also lots of blogs about RIT (in fact, Brick City Ambassadors is a bit of a feature on RIT's website). So why do I feel I have something to say?

Well, first off, I get to chronicle the freshman year experience as I see it, which I don't think is something any of the official RIT bloggers do. Second, I'm a girl in RIT's Game Design and Development program. There can't be more than 100 of us in the freshman class. I'd honestly be surprised if there were more than 50. Third, I like to believe I'm an interesting person. I generally give good advice, so if you're interested in going to RIT's GD&D program, if you're interested in going to RIT even though you're a girl, if you're interested in the sort of games I'm interested in, if you're interested in the life of a random self-important college student with a blog (...I'm sure there are some people out there), you might want to check out what I have to say.