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      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
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              <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E"><img src="../../images/icons/boag_final.jpg" width="193" height="235" align="left"><loonystart>Vol. 
                2, Issue 6<br>
                December 14, 1999<br>
                </font></b></h5>
              <h5 align="right"><font color="#00025E"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> 
                </font></b></font></h5>
              <div align="center">
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="3">Birth 
                  of a Gamer:</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="6"> 
                  Half-Life <br>
                  <font size="4">(No more butterflies)</font></font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">by 
                  Heather &quot;<a href="mailto:heatherhazel@eudoramail.com">elki</a>&quot; 
                  Haselkorn</font></p>
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              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
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              <p align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="../../images/letters_new/a.jpg" width="22" height="39" align="left">round 
                graduation time, one of Josh Vasquez's columns inspired me to 
                try to look at video games from a literary perspective. I wanted 
                to see whether games could be considered a form of literature. 
                Most people laughed at me when I brought up the idea, but a few 
                suggested that I play <b>Half-Life</b>. They said that, as far 
                as games go, this one was fairly literate. Suffice it to say that 
                right after commencement I immediately began to worry about other 
                things such as a job, paying for graduate school, you know all 
                the little things. So I never got around to the research. But 
                now, this column has finally given me the opportunity to play 
                the game. Or at least, to try to play it!</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Once again, 
                I had to play a tutorial. I think tutorials are evidence that 
                games have just gotten way too complicated. Could you imagine 
                one of those old NES games requiring tutorials? Maybe some of 
                them did, but I don't remember ever having to spend forty-five 
                minutes learning how to play a game. The need for the tutorial 
                became immediately evident, though, when I found that I couldn't 
                even walk a straight line. I couldn't line myself up to jump forward; 
                instead I kept jumping off to the sides and missing the platforms 
                by about a mile. I did discover, though, that if I did a little 
                jump out of my seat at the exact time that I jumped in the game, 
                I could make it. I also found myself getting really dizzy while 
                I was learning how to walk and jump. <a href="../../1.2/feat.1">A 
                column from volume one</a> describes this &quot;simulator sickness,&quot; 
                but I didn't think it was really possible. I actually felt like 
                I was suffering from motion sickness! I finally mastered walking, 
                running, jumping, duck-jumping, and all that, and moved on to 
                the firing range. Where I proceeded to somehow blow myself up. 
                Oh well, I was getting bored anyway and I just wanted to play 
                the game. I've heard that the controls for most first-person shooters 
                are similar, so hopefully I'll never have to run through a tutorial 
                ever again.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The opening 
                of the game is probably familiar to most of you: You (as Gordon 
                Freeman) are in a tram riding through the Black Mesa Research 
                Facility while a pleasant, computerized, female voice guides you 
                through this &quot;tour.&quot; She then starts to talk about job 
                opportunities at Black Mesa, and asks you to refer your qualified 
                friends and family members. That actually surprised me. In an 
                odd way it seemed very realistic, sort of like those job posting 
                bulletins that you see in an office. You look at the postings, 
                partly to see whether you'd be interested in one of the positions, 
                but also because you'll know you'll collect a finder's fee if 
                you refer one of your friends to a job. Although, Black Mesa didn't 
                look like anyplace I'd like to work! In spite of my annoyance 
                at the tutorial, and the awful bout of nausea it caused, I was 
                starting to like this game already. The only drawback so far was 
                that the computer had to pause every so often to reload, and that 
                was more than a little annoying. </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So there 
                I am, Dr. Gordon Freeman, wandering around the research lab, trying 
                to find my suit. I'm saying hi to my co-workers and following 
                colored lines along the wall to the locker room. Maybe my suit's 
                in my locker? I check. Cute...photographs, sticky pads, typical 
                stuff that you'd find in any locker or desk drawer. I didn't bother 
                looking in the other lockers; even in the make-believe world of 
                a game I still felt compelled to respect the privacy of my co-workers. 
                I saw the toilet stalls, though, and the scatalogically-prone 
                side of my mind took over; I just had to look inside. Oops, someone's 
                in there. No the door didn't open, but I distinctly heard something. 
                </font></p>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Birth of a Gamer is &copy; 1999 Heather Haselkorn. All 
  other content is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction 
  is prohibited, you cartoonish villian, you.</font></i></p>
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