A TardNation without Borders
Its Friday night, midnight my time to be exact. My send-off is complete and my stream has ended. On my way off i set it up to host Shingouki76's weekly stream of Street Fighter V aptly named “Friday Night Fights”. After a quick bite to eat I’m back on my PS4, request an invite to the party for the fights. No sooner I’m in do i hear djbladebrown lending his knowledge to FoxPug on how this move counters that one and when and where to hit that ever so clutch “V-Reversal”. To me that doesn't mean much but an eager and willing FoxPug soaks up the knowledge in hopes to use it in their next match. Shingouki76 waits patiently as their set ends and his begins. Not long after I enter the regulars begin to roll in. The Tech Tard enters the party next, he’s looking to play Overwatch and I’m more than happy to oblige. Bisepone is the next to enter, he’s looking to jump in on the Overwatch too. On the other end of the world, AGRO-SMASHA is finishing up lunch, hes the next one to jump in the party; he’ll be mowing down the opposition in Alienation all night, a game seemingly made to fit his play-style; Shoot ‘em all! The last spot remaining in the part gets filled as BDoon, a fellow “Rhode Islandah” jumps in, he just finished climbing the corporate ladder in Grand Theft Auto V along with the “Beast from the East” (Japan) spada21. Now begins a late night of level grinding, story sharing and of course laughter with a group of friends who would have never even known of each others existence had it not been for our mutual adoration of video games.
By day i go by Derek MacDonald, i am a 26 year old male who has worked in logistics for 10 years. For now though; that means nothing. Tonight I am DMACTASTIC; an avid gamer whose sole concern is to move that payload to its destination in OverWatch. I believe that to be glory of the PlayStation Network or “PSN”; for all the stresses normal life brings and all the hardships that come with the grind of everyday life in 2016, come Friday night its time to play. We have been fortunate enough to have found a group of gamers with similar interests. It doesn't matter what we do during the week, who we are outside of PSN, our race, creed, color, time zone, none of that is worth the ink its written with. All that matters now is what game we are playing; and what will be the next one.
The 9 players mentioned above represent 3 Continents, 4 countries, 5 Time zones and countless miles between each of us. For those hours on that Friday night though, its as if there is all of us sitting a room, huddled around a television and passing the controller around to the next player. For those hours we aren’t all over the world, we aren't looking at the time of day. We are all together and all our clocks say it’s game-time. Thanks to those truths a bond is formed, whether any of us acknowledge it or not. That bond is Friendship. We have all grown to become friends despite ever actually meeting each other. We look to each other for advice, tell each other stories and are a listening ear when one of us has had a shitty week. As much as we can be, we are there for each other.
I have seen people in my life come and go, some close and some not so much but as i write this today, regardless of what happens next I will say i made at least 8 close friends during my time on the PSN. We won’t be there to visit each other in the hospital. We won’t be there on each others wedding day(s) nor be there for support on the day one of our loved ones have passed. In all honesty, we may not ever see each other at all, ever. We will however, all be here Next Friday night playing the whatever game is on the agenda for that night. For me, i can live with that.
