A gamer origin story
I was given the Red Box Basic Set as a Christmas gift from my parents in 1981 when I was in the 7th Grade. I’d played my first game of D&D earlier that year. Christmas that year was with my paternal grandparents; a more arch-conservative, closed-minded pair of people you’d be hard put to meet.
I was incredibly excited to receive this gift. It was much-wanted and I spent the days following Christmas poring over the rules and The Keep on the Borderlands; at least when I was permitted to be inside to read, as my grandparents were firmly of the belief that children should be seen and not heard, and certainly not inside reading during daylight.
I do not have fond memories when I remember the long drive home. My Mum was very upset. My grandparents had made it clear to her that they believed her to be an unfit parent for buying me the Basic Set. I was sure to end up corrupted and an outcast—both true in a sense, but never in a bad way 😉
The following year, my high school was one of the first in Canberra to get personal computers, with a couple of VIC-20s and an Apple II. Immediately hooked, I bought a VIC-20 computer of my own that I saved for with pocket money. Two years after that, I upgraded to a C-64, which lasted me through university. Attack of the Mutant Camels and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, among others, became my go-to entertainment.
Interestingly, Christmas the following year ended up much the same when my sister and I were both given variants of the original Donkey Kong Game and Watch, surely another gift that would rot our brains and make us unsuitable members of society.
Upset mother notwithstanding, Christmas 1981 kicked off a lifelong (so far) love of TTRPGs and boardgames, though the boardgame enjoyment came a little later. There's a cupboard full of old Avalon Hill titles about 20' from where I'm sitting to write this post and a bookcase of RPG books and other things on the bookcase behind me.
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