According to tj_han’s post on defining the otaku, I came to a sudden realization that I have actually been an otaku for slightly lesser than half my life. According to the post, an Otaku is not only one who places great emphasis on anime, but one who places great emphasis on one’s own fantastic media world.
It all started around 7 years ago. At that time, I did not even know what anime was, despite some random viewings of various series screened on television. In fact, it was only a year ago when I begun on the route of anime. Before that however, if my memory serves me right, I was quite an otaku. Not an anime one, but a gaming one.
I never really played many games, but for those games that I played, I spent a whole load of time and effort on it. And when I say a whole load, it means a minimum of 16 hours a day on a non-school day, and at least 8 hours on a normal school day.
The whole gaming thing in me started when my friends and I began playing Diablo. Yes, Diablo by Blizzard. I am 17 now, so when I was playing it, I was around 10. 7 years ago, Diablo was had the status of what World of Warcraft currently has in the MMORPG realm. However, one could cheat due to the gaping loopholes of Battlenet. At that time, I would minimize the time spent outside of my room and maximize my time in front of the computer. It seems like my habit has been cultivated since then.
Anyway, after Diablo came Diablo II, which was a million times more exciting and fun-filled. Diablo II was like crack, crack which I was totally addicted to. I would come back home everyday after school just to play all the way till bedtime, and the cycle would go on and on. That is, until my account got hacked. I gave up on Diablo II, since losing my characters which I had been training with all my heart and soul was rather depressing.
Now, you think that I must have stopped after that right?
Actually, I did stop Diablo II. I moved on to Yugioh Trading Cards. Thinking back, I feel extremely ashamed of my stupidity. It was money being thrown away. I cannot imagine what the hell my state of mind was in as I bought booster pack after booster pack just to try my luck getting a certain rare foil card. As you might have guessed, my luck was never good, and I often ended up with crap cards which no one would want even if I gave them away for free.
Of course, with such a hobby that endlessly sucks away my cash, I had to stop when I totally ran out of it. Also, I swore I would never ever return to collecting trading cards. From the time I stopped my hobby, there was a short period of time when there was almost no trace of geekish activities.
Then came Autumn( screw autumn, it’s summer 24/7 over here) 2005. A classmate of mine just had to introduce me to Blizzard’s new money spinner. Apparently, I was not strong enough to resist and succumbed to the temptation of World of Warcraft.
During the holidays, I sat in front of my desktop and played 18-20 hours daily. Of course, this got my parents rather pissed off, and they often threatened me with bans and whatnot.
On a normal school day, I would start gaming immediately after I came back from school, and stopped at 12 midnight for bedtime. I would then take a short nap of 4 hours, before waking up at 4am to play all the way till it was time to leave for school. Lesson time was meant for naps to recharge my energy for another night and morning of WoW. Of course, my parents did not know of my gaming cycle, until I was unfortunately caught one fine morning. That was probably the last straw, and my parents removed my computer from my room. It came back after a few weeks though, but I was forced to quit WoW.
After my O levels, I could go back to gaming. However, as I had already picked up anime, I found myself spending lesser time on WoW. This changed for a short while, when The Burning Crusade was released. I was focused on getting to level 70 as soon as I could, so I neglected anime for a week or two. I then sold my WoW account, quited WoW, and went full time into anime. That decision made me what I am now.
As you can see, I was never an anime otaku to start with. Over the years, I have gradually shifted from the path of gaming to anime.
Man… being an otaku sure is cash and time consuming. Maybe I should stop the flow of the otaku blood that has unknowingly sprung up since 7 years ago. Then again, it might just be better to let it flow on naturally…
haha. well I think u love your otaku ways don’t you? XD
Yar it’s rough. I’m 20 and I’ve been into anime since 96, and before that it was RPGs like FF. Haven’t really been able to buy much merchandise until 2005, but my room now looks real nerdy and otaku esque now.
Came to terms with being an anime fan in 2004 after I watched Genshiken, and I’m like, “Yeah, this is who I am.” It’s been pretty fun since then, being an anime fan.
Heh. I can understand the Diablo addiction as I played that little game into the veritable ground.
I was on-and-off with anime till I was 13 (around 1993) when more of it started coming stateside. It wasn’t till I could hold a paying job at 16 that I was able to submerge myself in the essence of gaming and anime. Ah, those were golden years.
Oddly enough, I’ve bought more import anime/game figures this year than any other. My obsession has yet to be sated to this day and I don’t see an end in sight. Nor do I ever want to.
No worries.
According to tjhan’s definition, I dare say at least 30% of the guys in sg are otakus.
LOL. I guess that we’ve been otakus most of our lives, just that we shift from one kind to another. :D()