I have been wanting to write something for quite some time on what it means to ME to be a Geezer and what I think GeezerGaming represents and strives for.
I am not the oldest Geezer as far as belonging to this great clan, but have been here long enough, like many others, to have seen and experience episodes of turmoil, adjustment and growing. With those things in mind, I wanted to share my thoughts.
I had been looking for a gaming clan to possibly join when I first got into PC gaming back in the days when Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator series were new and popular. I belonged to a small clan back in those games and we had fun, but not a lot of structure or direction. Then BF2 was released and I purchased it. After playing on numerous servers, all the while looking for a gaming clan to join, I happened upon the Geezers BF2 server. Geezers like Xeno, Infosec, Clumpy come to mind right off the bat. They were there among other Geezers and numerous pubbers. I played, watched and paid attention to the chat going on. Really liked how these Geezers approached the game and playing together. In a way, I was gathering intel!
After many days playing on Geezer's BF2 servers, I decided to take a deeper look and visited the website. I read everything they had to offer that was available to the public. It all peaked my interest in them as a clan and after many days of thought, I concluded that THIS group of people was for me. So I applied to join Geezers. I was informed to keep playing with them and in about a month I would be considered for induction. Sounded good to me so..... GAME ON!
I was inducted into GeezerGaming at the next scheduled meeting. Thank God they didn't know everything about me or I might not have made it in.
I have gamed with Geezers exclusively since then and have been involved deeply, in my opinion, on what goes on within our community. I visit our site EVERY DAY, unless I am on a trip, and peruse our site, forums, Groups and Factions for anything new or in the works and attend every monthly meeting, again, unless I am on a trip.
From all this I have gleaned what I think, what I believe GeezerGaming stands for and represents. GeezerGaming stands for FUN, INTEGRITY and FRIENDSHIP!!!
FUN!
Have fun, plain and simple..... HAVE FUN. Now, I had and have loads of fun with this bunch. There was a problem though. With my A type personality and competitive nature, I would get angry, edgy and even testy while in game. I hate it when someone plays better than me! Oh yes, I want to win and I want to be the best.
This attitude of mine caused some problems. I can't remember the specifics, but I was complaining about the gameplay of some pubbers that was NOT helping our team win! A Geezer, and friend, whose name shall not be mentioned, informed me of a few things and I quipped back and then he "strongly" reminded me of a few things. Well, I had to quit for the night. When steam stopped blowing out of my ears and I began to reflect on what had transpired the night before, I became more embarrassed about the whole thing and knew without a doubt that........................ he was right............. there was no escape....... he was right!
The next day I went to the forums at Geezerdom and humbly offered my apologies, and..... myself up for sacrifice. I was surprised at the kindness displayed towards me in everyone's reply posts. They all could have easily told me that they did not want to game with me anymore.
At any rate, I realized after "gaming on" the next few weeks, that this is a part of me that I can NOT change. It's DNA or something, but it's here to stay sadly. I tried little tricks to mask, hide or limit this "Attitude" I would get into sometimes during gameplay.
I made the decision that rather than ruin those other Geezer's fun, I would mute my mike and/or play less in the FPS games we were involved in and supported. That was to adhere to the aspect of FUN in GeezerGaming. My fun could ruin the fun of many other Geezers and that was not acceptable to me. Are you having fun at GeezerGaming? If you are then that is a good thing and by all means game on. If you are having fun (as in my case) at the expense of other Geezers fun, then have the integrity to do something about it. YOU are ONE..... THEY are MANY!
INTEGRITY!
Yep.... gotta have it. I don't know how you could not have it and belong to this great gaming community we have. It was here long before I arrived and has had it's "attacks and attackers", but has survived and remained an integral part of GeezerGaming.
The attitude here is that you should game, interact with other Geezers and the public gamer on our servers with................ yep.... INTEGRITY.
When you are representing Geezers on other servers or posting in other forums as a Geezer, do so with INTEGRITY.
If you attend the meetings and listen, over time you can hear it screaming out loudly that INTEGRITY abounds. The GeezerGaming website is set up and run with INTEGRITY in many ways if you look. At least I think so.
I could go into a diatribe about INTEGRITY but I won't. Let it suffice that I hold INTEGRITY in a human being waaaaaaaaaaaay up there on my list (if not at the top) on who I consider a real friend and who is just .... someone I know. This goes for real life AND gaming acquaintances.
You and I may not have had much contact here at Geezerdom, but trust me..... if I haven't already, then in time, based on your posts, your gaming... what others say and what I witness, you WILL be placed in one of those categories. I know that to some, this may not mean anything to them. "Who gives a flying f....... what you think Fireman?!"
All I can say to that is, if you don't care.... then you don't have it... because someone with INTEGRITY cares what others think about them... no matter who. Their name is their word or bond, a concept sorely overlooked anymore. Deals were sealed with handshakes alone many, many years ago. Handshakes were "good enough" back then, because a man's name and honor was everything!
FRIENDSHIP
A gaming friend? Surely it must be a loosely based definition of friendship?? Oh, ok, you mean just a gaming type friend, not a real friend?
NO! I mean a real FRIEND and real FRIENDSHIP!
Over my time here at GeezerGaming, I have come to know many, many Geezers very well. I like them. Some of them and myself converse fairly regularly in game, in the forums or just in TeamSpeak sometimes. You get a sense of who this person is. You become friends.
I have met many at several of the QuakeCon events that take place in Dallas, Tx. every August... and one is coming up this August!! I will be there too. We will have our Geezer Dinner, sit around and talk and have a few brews.... gee.... kind of like .... um.... friends!
As a group, we have had some difficulties and muddled through them. We have had lots of laughs, shared countless posts in our forums from subjects ranging from "Thoughts", "Ideas", "Opinions", "Polls", "Life Events" and on and on. How can you NOT become friends with these people after getting to know them so well?
I don't think you can not keep from becoming friends from all that. If we have become friends, what does that mean.... FRIENDSHIP?
Well, I won't do anything to harm or hurt a friend. If, by my actions, I do something that offends my friend or causes them any strife..... I have to make amends where I can because I value our FRIENDSHIP. I won't let anyone hurt my friend. I won't engage, condone or participate in any malicious gossip about my friend....... instead.... I will be there defending them......... and in the process.... you are chipping away at our friendship.
And since I am friends with all these Geezers, I go to the website everyday, many times and check the forums, the calendar of events and see what's up with my friends.
Many people become Geezers and after their induction, you see them on the servers playing and you hear them in TeamSpeak too, but.... you don't ever see them on the website, or they aren't aware of what's going on.
I don't know how many times I have heard, "I didn't know that" or "I didn't know we were doing this or that" or ..... well, you get my point. They would have known had they only visited our website. Which, by the way, is tremendous and always getting better thanks to the hard work and effort of ... um... what's his name? Oh yeah, PFunk! 8-)
Which leads me to ask, "Why, if you claim that these people at GeezerGaming are your friends.............. why would you NOT visit our website regularly to find out what's going on with YOUR FRIENDS?"
Again, I could go on and on about FRIENDSHIP, but I won't and you're probably happy. lol
I would ask all Geezers who happen by here, and by chance read this, to think about it.
What does it mean to be a Geezer to YOU? What do you "bring to the table" and what do you hope to get from your inclusion into this clan?
Remember, being a Geezer REALLY DOES MEAN SOMETHING TO MANY OF US!
In closing I would like to say, "It's good to be a Geezer!!? And I MEAN IT!
