alunmillard dot com / gaming

I enjoy gaming. Being 40something years old, I grew up with computers. My first system was the good ol' Acorn Electron. It came with a tape deck, and you had to type commands to play games. If you knew BASIC, you could make your own games and things. I used to have an old book, and tried a few of the programmes in it. It was fun, in it's way. 

After the Acorn Electron, we had an A5000, which was another Acorn system. I loved that computer. It had some great games such as Chocks Away and The Olympics, and many more. I spent a lot of time playing on that one. This was eventually replaced by the RISC PC. It wasn't technically a PC. It was another Acorn computer, except this one could be fitted with a special card inside that would let you emulate a PC. Sadly, that PC card never actually worked, so my only exposure to PC gaming was elsewhere. I didn't mind - I loved the games that I'd play on the Acorn systems, even if it didn't have that new-fangled DOOM game that looked great. I was able to play a bit of the Shareware version of Doom, just not on the Acorn. That said, one of my favourite games of all time was available on the Acorn, and to make it even better, it came on a CD. That was the mighty RTS game, Dune II. 

Eventually, it was time to get on the PC bandwagon, and I got my first one - a Tiny Computers system (if you remember them, UK folks). It was a Pentium 2 166MMX, and at some point it rocked a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP graphics card, that came with a free copy of Unreal. Back then, I spent a lot of time playing Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Diablo, Diablo 2, and so on. I've always played a fairly mixed style of games. I don't tend to stick to anything in particular.

Fast forward to now - I still play a variety of games. I'll always be a gamer. Minecraft is one of my "modern" favourites. I say "modern", being how it's technically an old game, albeit one that gets updated fairly regularly. Currently, I'm found playing Snowrunner and Phasmophobia quite regularly. Minecraft, when the fancy takes me. I play other things as and when I feel like it. Sometimes it'll be another playthrough of an old game, like Left 4 Dead 2, Dead Island, or even older like Star Trek: Elite Force.

I've occasionally streamed on Twitch, but not regularly over the years. I have sometimes appeared on a friend's stream, but that was quite some time ago. Inspired by a different friend talking about wanting to stream, I finally got myself in gear (literally, with Snowrunner) and made a bit of a set-up that looks nice. I stream when I feel like it, usually at least once a week, and it'll be whatever I fancy streaming. 

As you'll have noticed above, I use an avatar. I prefer doing it this way. I use microphone or text on screen, depending on how I feel. I like foxes, and I have a beard, hence the beardy foxy avatar.