Hello, my name is Paul Pham. I am a senior pursuing a B.S. in computer science with a minor in IST at Penn State. Right now, my area of focus is software development for financial companies and banks. As a gamer, my interest in games has change as I got older but not by much. Growing up as a kid, online and multiplayer games were pretty much not non-exist unless you gamed on a PC. So most of the time if you wanted to play with your friend you would have to physically be on the couch right next to them. As a result of this, I played a lot of RPGs, Action, Strategy and “couch multiplayer” games that did not require online play and I was able to play them on my own or with a friend if they were next to me.
I found myself spending most of my time playing the Pokémon series on my Gameboy Color. It was one of the first video games that I have ever owned and till this day I still play games from the Pokémon series. The reason I liked the Pokémon games as a kid was probably because I used to watch the TV series and collected the cards as well. Even though the Pokémon games at the time were very simple Turn-Based RPG game with little substance besides catching and training Pokémon and battle other trainers, it somehow kept me entertained for hours on end. Another RPG games I played would have to be Kingdom Hearts. I the reason I was attracted to these types of games when I was younger was because I did not make my own money and most of the games I own were gifts from holidays or my birthday. With RPG games you could spend hours on the game and still never be technically be done with the game; kind of like more bang for your buck. Also, I like the idea of creating a personal character, taking him on adventures and unlocking new abilities and items.
As I got a little older, I found myself getting into more strategy games such as Age of Empires and Rome Total War on the PC and Kessen 2 on the PlayStation 2. I liked the whole idea of creating a civilization: building and improving the city as time went on. For example in Age of Empire, the game would progress through different time periods and with a new time period came new technology and buildings. Not only did you build a city but also you had to be able to conquer more land and resources accommodate for your growing city. So there was a need to build an army as well to defend and attack other civilizations. Lastly, “couch multiplayer” games were probably one of my favorites while growing up. I liked the idea of playing and competing against your friends just made the games more entertaining, also gave something to do on the weekends if nothing else was going on. Games such as, Super Smash Bros, Halo, or Mario strikers were just a few of the games we played together. These games provided a social aspect as well as a competitive of aspect against your friends to see who was better always made the game more engaging. Similar to how playing online with your friends are now.