Playing

Playing. It is really fun. I love playing. As the saying goes, "All work and no play..." well you know how it goes. But sometimes I overdo my playing than my working. I just can't help it sometimes. It is actually one of my hobbies.
When I was a little boy, I am often outside our house playing with my playmates every weekend, holiday or free time. In school I played with my classmates. Games such as "patintero", "darakupan", "aragawan base", "taraguan (hide and seek)" and such. And sometimes the harmful, "pellet gun wars".
I was also playing "text","mini-text" and "pogs" when I was a kid. I love collecting those things, unfortunately I gave them all away to my younger playmates when I was in my last days in elementary. I also raced my mini-4 wheel drives when I was still a little child. I had several of them. Unfortunately again, my set dissapeared. I cannot remember where it had gone. I kind of neglected it because my interest in those things grew cold.
I also loved playing with my toys. My radio controlled car, my zoo collection, my wild wild west collection, my mini toy car collection, my war toys collection and such. I really love my toy soldiers, along with the other war toys. They are now retired veterans with pension in my toy box beneath my bed, along with my remaining toys. I still play with some toys, like the radio contolled car. And I display some in my library and room.
Playing sports is also fun although I am not really good at it. I really love basketball. I am not really a good player, but I love it. I am also interested in bowling and volleyball, like my father. I rarely play volleyball and I only played bowling about three times only. I am not good at these sports unlike my father.
But what I really into is the world of "gaming". Like most boys (and a few girls) in my generation, I am a gamer. A gamer is someone who is into video games, either in console, arcade and PC. I am into all three. I am a gamer since elementary. My first exposure to it was with our family "family computer". I really loved playing it but I only mastered most of the games when I reached high school, playing those games in a vcd player. I then began playing arcade games. My favorites were Marvel Vs. Capcom, Marvel Vs. Streetfighter, X-Men Vs. Streetfighter and King Of Fighters. I finished the first four mentioned but up to date, I still cannot master the King Of Fighters.
Then the PC gaming came. I started playing PC games when I was in my early elementary. Playing in our family PC or in my mom's office. My favorite then was "Metal Marines", a hard 20 level strategy game that I was able to finish. But I started playing games in the internet cafe when I was in Grade 5. My peers and I played it almost daily. The popular games then were "Counter-Strike" and "Starcraft". Then the others followed, "Red Alert 2", "Yuri's Revenge", "Half-Life", "Team Fortress", "Stronghold", "Earth Empire", "Battle Realms", "Warcraft III", "Generals", "NBA Live", etcetera. I say "etcetera" because there is really a lot of games I played since then. I was a real gaming addict when I was a in my late elementary. Sometimes I played about nine hours non-stop a day. I finally got sick because of playing PC. I became sick of bronchopneumonia, then it became primary complex tuberculusis because of neglecting my health, my lunch time and heavy dose of radiation. Luckily, I got well after a year of medication.
That is what I got from over-playing. I advice you not to neglect your health just fot the sake of playing. I still pretty much of a PC "addict". I still played a lot of PC games when I entered high school. But I promised not to play so much now. I can control myself to stop, if it is really time to stop. Like when I decided to stop playing Philippine Ragnarok On-Line after I decided it is a game which is really a waste of money when I was in 2nd year. I still play with Ragnarok but in Aero (Asian European Ragnarok Online), which you do not need a prepaid card to play.
Playing is a gift from God. But we should not make it the center of our lives. We should not neglect our responsibilities and priorities. We must not be slaves of the games but masters over it. We can learn a lot from playing. Teamwork, sportsmanship, honor, patience, perseverance and ingenuity are easily learned. Computer literacy, communication with others and socializing are improved when we are playing. Playing is a lot of fun if used properly. A good player never cheats (this does not apply to gamers, as using "cheats" in some games are allowed). Winning is not important as long as you gave your best and had fun. Playing is as important with working. That is why we should all work hard and play hard, enjoying what we do and giving it our best until "Game Over".