Ode to "The Game"

I have recently been playing American McGee's "Alice"

What a brilliant game it is. Completely messed up and wicked fun. Its a few years old now but so is my computer so that's all good.

One of my favorite authors Neil Gaimen has a poem that describes the feeling you get when a game hooks you in and doesn't let you go till you defeat the big boss!


"There was a computer game, I was given it,
one of my friends gave it to me, he was playing it,
he said, its brilliant, you should play it,
and I did, and it was,

I copied it off a disc he gave me
for anyone, I wanted everyone to play it,
Everyone should have this much fun.
I sent it upline to bulletin boards
but mainly I got it out to all my friends

(Personal Contact. That's the way it was given to me)

My friends were like me; some were scared of viruses,
Someone gave you a game on disk, next week or Friday the 13th
it reformatted your hard disk or corrupted your memory
But this one never did that. This was dead safe.

Even my friends who didn't like computers started to play
as you get better, the game gets harder
maybe you never win, but you can get pretty good
I'm pretty good.

Ofcourse I have to spend a lot of time playing it.
So do my friends, and their friends
And just the people you meet, you can see them
walking down the old motorways
or standing in queues, away from their computers
away from the arcades that sprung up over night
but they play it in their heads in the mean time
combining shapes
puzzling over contours, putting colours next to colours
twisting signals to new screen sections
listening to the music

Sure, people think about it, but mainly they play it
my record is 18 hours in a stretch
40,012 points 3 fanfares

You play through the tears, the aching wrist, the hunger, after
a while
it all goes away.
All except the game, I should say.

There is no room in my mind anymore, no room for other things
We copied the game, gave it to our friends
It transcends language, occupies our time
Sometimes I think I'm forgetting things these days

I wonder what happened to the T.V. There used to be a T.V.
I wonder what will happen when I run out of canned food
I wonder where all the people went, And then I realize how.
If I'm fast enough, I can put a black square next to a red line
mirror it then rotate them so they both disappear.
clearing the left block
for a white bubble to rise..........


(So they both disappear)


And when the power goes off for good I
Will play it in my head until I die."

--------Neil Gaimen
VIRUS

I would like to dedicate this poem to all the hard core gamers and to some personal fiends of mine who have suffered.

To Rimmy,Kibilz,Dupaxes,Uber Smelter and Arkamedies

I salute you, for we have suffered together and Killed each other ;)

Dig It.