I’m not sure if this will reach you, and you may not even care, but I appreciated this. I’m your age, also got a Nintendo when I was 6, also played Battletoads (and I swear, I beat the racing level twice), also came close to crying when Ceres jumped in Final Fantasy VI, and also ended up being a pretty good athlete. People our age were probably the first group where gaming became something that most people did, even though not everyone played. I can remember playing Goldeneye and Perfect Dark and NCAA Football Dynasties in college with guys who weren’t what these #gamergate people would think of when picturing a gamer. We played sports, we worked out, we chased girls, but we played the hell out of some games. We even went so far as to get a Pole Position arcade game for the shitty house we rented.

Anyway, I’m in my 30’s now, married to a beautiful wife with two beautiful little girls. I still play videogames to relax. After a long day at work and the girls are in bed, I try to land my Kerbals on the Mun or explore a new area in Fallout 4. The other day it was raining on a Saturday, and I broke out the Nintendo the other and hooked it up and introduced my 5 year old to Zelda and Mario. She had a blast. As I said earlier, people our age are the first group where gaming became sort of mainstream, and my wife is one of the people who still sort of thinks it’s for weirdos like these douches, so it’s good to see someone call them out for perpetuating this bullshit. As a fairly normal guy who enjoys gaming, the last thing I want is for them to be marginalized.

Cheers.