Sitting in the back of my brother’s car with my brand new Atari STE, I happily declared that I would be writing my first game soon. The Atari STE came with a selection of games that I really wanted to play, but the image of STOS the Game Creator, a programming package that came with the STE, was the center of my dreams. The idea of ​​being able to create any game I want, limited only by my imagination. Nothing in the world mattered to me at the time as I dreamed of hiding out with my copy of STOS Basic and creating my own games. Years later, I programmed countless pieces of code, a collection of popular games that are still displayed on various websites, and wrote many articles on programming that I proudly display on my website to this day.

Programming can be very addictive, as I soon found out. I would come home from work and try to be locked in with my computers as soon as possible. My mother would call downstairs to tell me family members had arrived and I would reluctantly leave my babies alone to walk to the top of the stairs to say hello. If they were lucky, they would get my attention a little more if I went downstairs for coffee. At times when I was attempting a social life, my conversation was itching to get back to computers.

I ventured into the outside world in a desperate attempt to find an interest other than computers. I joined a karate class and actually started to enjoy the first year there, until visions of my babies started to occupy my mind and I started skipping lessons. Then one night at the club my Sensei read a list of people who had the lowest attendance that month and mine was the lowest with only one visit. My Sensei looked at me with anger in his eyes and said, “If I want to go to my computer then tie me in a knot” or words like that.

I have to confess that I am a computer addict. It got to the point where I decided to quit karate class and spend more time at home hiding from the world, just me, my computers, and endless cups of coffee that I would make just so I would have a reason to come downstairs and see if my family. they are still there.

I found out I had the programming bug at school when we learned how to write simple programs on the BBC micro. Using draw commands to draw simple shapes, but it was enough to whet my appetite for programming. I bought myself a Spectrum 48K and soon learned the basic commands, enough to write a simple little adventure game.

Years later I was programming at STOS on the Atari STE and Amos on the Amiga 1200 and this became a big part of my life. My social life was minimal; I often had to push myself. I hated the idea of ​​dealing with any situation outside of the bedroom. I was in danger of becoming a true loner who would happily avoid society and live in my own private world where people are pixels.

CONCLUSION

Fortunately I have improved over the years and have a better social life. However, I have found that I am still happy to be home with my wife and PC. I don’t regret not spending more time in the outside world. But I would still like to remind others that programming is a very addictive hobby and it can lead you to become a sad idiot like me.