Multiplayer

I have been a gamer since the age of 4, playing Donald Duck's Playground on my dads Commodore 64, but it wasn't until getting my hands on Warlords and playing it multiplayer with my cousin, that I turned into a real computer geek. Why? Because multiplayer makes gaming social and I love socializing!

This thursday I got to add multiplayer to the baby experience as I attended my first mothers group. My little daughter got to meet 4 other babies between the age of 5 and 6 months.

It was awesome hanging with people in the same situation as yourself and because my daughter is only 4 and a half months old it was really interesting seeing the slightly older babies and what they were able to do.

It felt like when you as a complete noob joins a guild full of highlevel players. You get a glimpse into the future and you get to benefit from their experience and advice.

My daughter seemed  to mainly enjoy the experience although she did have a slight meltdown towards the end of the gettogether. In the long run I think she will benefit hugely from watching the other babies in action and I know I thoroughly enjoy discussion strategies with the rest of the "players".

The mother of all games

When I was 12 years old one of my favourite computer games was Scorched Earth. I played it religiously for months even though I rarely had anyone but the computer to play against.

For those who haven't had the pleasure of gaming in the early 90th, Scorched Earth was the predecessor to artillery strategy games such as the well known Worms series. The goal is to shoot down your opponents using a variety of weapons while battling obstacles such as wind and terrain. One of the more frustrating things with Scorched Earth was that if your tank got hit, but not killed, the power of which you could shoot with was diminished making it impossible to reach your opponent if they were just a bit away from you. This could be mitigated by buying batteries to replenish your power, but most of the time you would just sit there waiting for the computer or opponent to finally take you out.

Scorched Earth was nowhere near as advanced and polished as the later games in the genre came to be, but it was intensely satisfying to take aim, shoot and be rewarded with a big explosion.

But hold on, why am I suddenly talking about a 20 year old game you wonder? Well, I have realized that some parts of having a newborn baby is kinda like playing Scorched Earth. I am thinking of diaper change here.

If you have never changed a diaper on a baby before you might not be able to relate, but if you have you will recognize this scenario:

You place the baby on the changing table and remove the diaper. Suddenly their behind transforms into a deadly weapon aimed right at you. While you are cautiously trying to clean your little one, they in turn are wiggling their bottocks trying to calculate wind speed and velocity.

Most of the times we parents manage to finish the cleaning and changing task before they get the right angle down, but I bet others like me have experienced a couple of game over situations where you find yourself needing a change and shower after the ordeal.

The reason for writing this blogpost today is that my little beloved baby owned me good this morning with a fully powered up straight hit from with her deadly combined pee and poo ammunition.

It was quite yucky and I will spare you any further details, however luckily I didn't explode like the tanks in Scorched Earth and at least now I know my little daughter is already on her way to becoming a pro gamer!

(Oh and there are points for those that gets the reference in the headline!)