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Pre-Console and Computer
I was born in 1991 and my dad was vehemently against video games throughout most of my childhood. He thought they were the devil quite honestly. Exposure to video games at this stage came to me from two places: at friends houses and at school. At friends houses we would play games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and try to beat each other's scores. At school I remember playing simple math games in the computer lab. -
Gameboys and Trading Cards
Ironically my father did let my siblings and I have a Nintendo Gameboy. Obviously the most popular thing associated with these was the 1st and 2nd gen Pokemon games. I can remember playing through these games and using the link cable to battle my friends or siblings and trade Pokemon between us. Pokemon had another trend that came with it too, trading cards. In a lot of ways the trading cards were more influential from a collaboration standpoint than the game. -
First Personal Computer
Our family got its' first personal computer in 1999. My brother and I played games on it like 'Backyard Sports,' 'Madden 99,' and 'MLB 99.' This was probably the first time I sat at a screen with someone else at the same time and we either worked together to complete a challenge or competed against each other to win. I remember the big Y2K scare and being afraid that all the computers in the world were going to crash. -
PS1-First Console
My parents finally caved in Christmas of '01 and got my brother and I a Playstation 1. Funny enough this was the holiday-year the original Xbox and Playstation 2 came out as well. A little older at this point, my brother and I really started to work together to complete single-player games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Tomb Raider. It was always a collaborative effort, as our parents forced us to take turns. We learned to solve problems together. -
Original Xbox & Split-Screen Co-op
My brother and I saved up to trade in our PS1 to get an Xbox in 2003. The first game we played on it was 'Halo:Combat Evolved.' This iconic game was significant in how it shaped my outlook on games in that it made me realize that games are almost always better with more people. This was also my first significant experience with an intuitive cooperative game. My brother and I played through the entire campaign story in split-screen co-op mode. -
LAN Parties
Before true online gaming LAN (Local Area Network) parties were the way to play games with large groups. Me and/or my brother would gather with a big group of friends from school and set up a room with 4-5 TV's and link up Xbox with network cables. With this setup games could support lobbies with up to 16 players. It was a big step from just playing 2 player spit screen. -
Gamepads
Xbox Live officially launched in 2002 but I don't truly remember it being on everyone's radar until a few years later. My first experience with it was at a local venue called Gamepads. It had a bunch of flatscreen TVs lined up in rows all with consoles on them with live connections. I spent a lot of time there experiencing online gaming culture for the first time, the good parts and bad. The part that stuck with me though was the genuine connection with some people for a 10-15 minute match. -
Xbox Live & Online Gaming
Around this time was when I got an Xbox Live subscription at home and really began a new period of gaming. Online interactions in games were much more intuitive than local parties. Team play was important as was overall skill level. Voice chat was a default back then so teams 'sometimes' worked together to win, but you were certainly compelled to communicate. This significantly shaped the way I perceived online communication and influenced how I approached digital collaboration. -
Halo 2 & 3
The 2nd and 3rd sequels to Halo came out in 2004 and 2007, respectively. I spent thousands of hours playing these games and made friends online via them that I still play with to this day. As these games evolved collaboration moved beyond just teamwork to win. I spent time in custom games exploring maps and finding little glitches in the games with my online crew. Also new was a handful of game modes players made up where you were expected to follow rules that the game didn't have coded in. -
Gen 2 Consoles- Xbox 360
Though the Xbox 360 launched in 2005 I wasn't able to get my hands on one until 2008, but the launch is notable because it came with a huge updated Xbox Live service. This is the first time I remember seeing a console-maintained friends list where you could see who was online, what they were playing, and talk to them directly. The new console also brought new games with their own online multiplayer modes. 'Call of Duty' and 'Gears of War' were both significantly different shooters than Halo. -
Computer Gaming
I built my first gaming desktop in 2014, though I had been playing PC games for a few years prior on a laptop. Co-op specific games, MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and MMO's (Massively Multiplayer Online) really introduced me to a whole new realm of online gaming and interactions. Role-based teamwork is a pretty common thread that these games follow. Specifically in MMO's, where 'raiding' activities have groups from 5-30 players at once communicating and doing a specific job. -
Tabletop Gaming
Tabletop gaming also heavily contributed to my ideas on collaboration and groupthink. When I say tabletop I don't mean games like Monopoly and Candyland. There's a whole subsection of 'board games' that involve a serious time-commitment and really complex strategies and imaginative thinking, both co-op and competitive. Grand strategy games like Twilight Imperium and co-op adventure games like Arkham Horror are great examples that combine collaboration and problem solving. -
Dungeons & Dragons
I have been playing D&D for upwards of 10 years now but this date marks the first I've DM'd (Dungeon Master) and ran a game of my own making. I can't stress enough what an amazing tool Dungeons and Dragons is for collaboration, teamwork, problem-solving, group-management, and most of all creativity; and this goes for all pen-and-paper RPG's because there are many of them now. D&D takes all those useful skills and applies them in a collective-party driven fantasy setting.
