It was about 10 years ago when I first had the thought.
I was bored with the daily grind of my life and how I was spending my free time. I was in a rut and I knew I wanted to do something to get out of that rut. It was time to do something for myself to enrich my life and feed the inner creativity that had been buried deep inside me.
The problem was that I didn't have a clue where to start or what to do.
I started to question myself about what I was passionate about and how I could turn the passion into something that I would commit to doing in my spare time.
My thoughts turned to sport initially and my love of football but I love playing football and that is something I already do and have continued to do since I was 5 years old (and I continue to do at the age of 42) but I didn't necessarily want to do anything else other than play football.
Then I thought about my video games passion. I owned an XBOX 360 and a PS3 at the time and I had fallen back in love with video games after a few years of hiatus. I loved playing games like Fallout 3, Gears Of War 2 and Bioshock and those games had re-configured my brain to highlight just how emotionally involving video games could be.
I felt like I wanted to write about video games and how positive they could be in your life.
I wanted to create my own website to share my views!
But I had no clue how to go about it. Off to Google, I went.
Research
It was during this time of research and discovery that I realised that it wasn't just a website that I wanted to create, it was a community of like-minded nice people to share my video games passion with.
At this point, I knew I needed not only a website but also to get involved with the communities that shared the video games passion that I had.
I set about creating a Twitter account to get involved and put myself out there. That was where it all changed for me as I discovered that it wasn't just video games I wanted to talk about it was actually my love of the retro gaming classics that underpinned my deep love of the medium of video games. I set up @gamesfreezer on Twitter as my ode to retro games of my childhood and I found the most amazing retro gaming community that welcomed me with open arms and allowed me to share my thoughts within the communities online. It was truly a eureka moment as I interacted with retro gamers from all over the world and slowly grew my Twitter following week on week as I grew more active.
It was this Twitter account that was the catalyst for me to create the www.gamesfreezer.co.uk website which gave me a new purpose in my life to create something good for everyone that could be used to share my views and my love for video games and especially for retro games.
Website
In the beginning, it was a retro games ONLY video games website where I shared my retrogaming memories and thoughts. I managed to learn so many new skills whilst building the site and tinkering with its layout and looks. It was my own personal project and I loved spending time working on the site and sharing my views on old video games from my youth.
The site grew and grew and so did the Twitter followers. It was a great time for me. Then as time passed the site morphed into a website that was not only a retro gaming love letter but it was also a place to learn about new Indie Games that I was being sent to take a look at.
We were now being recognised as a bonafide website that people were willing to send video games to in order for them to be reviewed and shared with our audience. It was at this point that Britt came aboard the good ship GF and things truly changed for the better.
This website has been going for nearly ten years now and it has created a sense of purpose that I didn't know I was missing. My love of video games has underpinned the whole experience and was the driving factor in creating something that we can all be proud of.
I look forward to my daily website tasks and the bulging email box full of video games to take a look at each and every day and I am proud of what we have achieved so far on pretty much zero money spent.
This website has enriched my life on a mental level by providing me with something that I never thought was possible. A recognised website was what other people created not me. But now I can truly say THANK YOU VIDEO GAMES for turning my passion into something that I can be truly proud of (it also saved me from watching sh1t TV in the evenings!)
The Future
The website continues to grow and astounds me on a daily basis and I really want to try and help others to create something of their own in the video games world. This is why I agreed to write this short article for #SafeMentaliTEE in conjunction with @SquaredSeven.
I think the more we talk about what is possible for us as individuals then the more we can achieve together. There are great communities out there and there are some awesome people in those communities that will help you achieve what you want to.
I'm so glad I made that decision to do something and to make a change and now GF will be making sure that we support as many people as we can through these initiatives and many others in the future months and years.
Take a look at the SafeMentaliTEE 2022 Safe In Our World fundraiser page below:
https://tiltify.com/+safementalitee/safementalitee-2022
No comments:
Post a Comment
Like what you see in the Games Freezer?
Why not tell us what you think with a few well-chosen comments? :)
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.