The plight of the offline gamer (Me)

So, as you all know, I'm an old fogey.

These days old fogeys don't shake their fists at teenagers and play backgammon in the park, rather they just hit ignore when Windows wants to update something and play their video games offline.

I'd like to say I don't have a PS3 or XBox 360 because of money, but really, I don't have one because I don't want what they'll provide me. The perfect platform for online gaming.

See I have an allegedly internet capable PS2, but I've never used that function. Playing online means getting utterly destroyed by 14 year olds and their friends or embarrassed by that unmarried 40 year old who has Call of Duty listed as a hobby on facebook. The online gamers are good, tech savvy and looking for better interaction than the computer can provide.

Good for them, I mean that. But that's not what I want, and I don't think I'm alone.

For me, video games are an escape. They aren't where I get my real challenges (work), or where I find happiness (Kelli) or fulfillment (God). They are how I turn my brain off for several hours.

I like a challenge, but I like a hobbyist challenge, not a doctoral candidate in gaming kind of challenge. The online crew is good, almost too good. And let's be honest, that's where the people want to be for the most part.

What is sad is that on a game like NCAA Football 2011, I can't say, create a team unless I use their online stuff. In other games coming out now more and more is dependent upon and internet connection

While I think it's great that many have found something they really like in online gaming, I hope that game designers will realize that for some of us, they're just games that we want to be able to fiddle with from time to time without the distraction of a 15-year old girl who's trying to impress her brother's friends by playing Modern Warfare and shouting trash talk into a headset.

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Guess that's all I had on the offline part. But here's a bit more on me and gaming.

I play NCAA Football 2011 on PS2 for 3-4 hour stretches. It is GLORIOUS. While playing, my only objective is to build a good football team, and defeat my opponents. I know the game, I know the controls and I know what I can do.

Sports games are great because each game really is different, there's so many possibilities. Maybe I'm doing so well I'll see if I can score 100 on Bowling Green. Maybe I'm locked in a tight battle with Alabama. Maybe I'm inexplicably losing to WKU in the fourth quarter and need to see if I can mount a comeback.

There is variety, but there is a single focus.

 And, it is a world that has rules.

Those rules can change wildly game to game, but in each game, there are rules. In Ace Combat 5, if I fly outside the mission range, I lose....if I kill all the enemies, I win. Simple.

In sports games (99.99 percent of my gaming), there's the rules of sports. It's not like life.

My jet pilot isn't going to get seriously ill, my quarterback isn't going to start making personal decisions that baffle his family and my starting pitcher isn't going to tell me how I could have thrown that pitch better....it's a world where I might not be the God, but in a sense, I am a God.

I decide when the players exist. I can make them go away. I can always control at least one of them. And, because the AI no matter how difficult isn't that great, I can find a way to win.

I dunno where I'm going with this.....I like playing my old PS2 and my sports games on them....the end.