GAMING WITH MY DAD

It all started with Duke Nukem 3D.

- Joanna Nelius

My dad was the kind of man who would let me be in the room with him while he watched TV if I didn’t breathe too heavily. If I asked a question, he’d ignore me. If I giggled, he’d tell me to shut up. It wasn’t what I called bonding time, but he was the reason I fell in love with videogames at a young age. When I wasn’t watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as he snored loudly on the couch, I was stood silently next to him as he played ‘kid-appropriate’ games like Leisure Suit Larry and Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist until my mum told me to get ready for bed.

Oh sure, I had a few actual age-appropriate games that I played to help me improve my sub-par math skills, but no game enamored me more than watching my dad play Duke Nukem 3D