triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Computer Power

Found, while searching for something else, proof that we crazy visionaries weren't wrong all those years ago (warning - text is followed by lots of images).

Programming video games is directly responsible for my role in the computer industry today. I remember the Christmas that I first unwrapped the Commodore VIC-20 that awaited me that morning. Cracking open the box, connecting it to my 12” black and white television, opening up the BASIC book that accompanied the system and watched my school grades decline steadily as I sought to learn everything that VIC-20 could teach me. Through the VIC-20, I found worlds to explore, enemies to fight, races to win, stories to tell, space ships to fly and problems to solve. The most important thing that the VIC-20 gave a 12 year old boy was CONTROL.

At a time in a young boy's life where one has very little control: you are told when to get up, go to bed, what to eat, to go to school, etc., the computer gave ME control. I could be anything I wanted to be, make the system do what I wanted it to do. Tell the stories I wanted to be told. Fight the fights. Win the race. Be the hero. That sense of power and control for a child who has very little was liberating. Understanding the system was just one long, drawn out puzzle waiting for me to solve and master. As any of you who program know, there is almost no better feeling than waking up at 2:30am with the solution to a problem and having it work. (Well, ok. Not the BEST feeling, but you know what I mean) The effects of those experiences with the VIC-20 shaped me and my future.