Photo credit: Emery Gehr
By Emery Gehr ‘27
One Conestoga Valley High School student in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Junior Justin Ashby, has never forgotten the first video game he ever played and how he felt playing it.
Ashby’s earliest memory of the first video game he ever played was when he was five years old. The video game was “Minecraft,” played on his father’s Xbox. He described what he felt while playing by saying, “I was really confused and didn’t know what to do, but I felt like it was really, really fun.” He still plays “Minecraft” to this day, and it has inspired him to play other video games and dive deeper into the world of gaming.
Ashby found the other video games, but said, “Nothing’s ever compared to what it felt like my first time playing, but yeah, they were really fun.” He elaborated that his knowledge of video games now is a lot higher,so that nothing now could compare to his first time playing a video game.
Ashby still plays video games now, like “Gorilla Tag” on his VR headset, “Among Us” on his laptop, “Roblox” on his laptop, and “Geometry Dash” on both his phone and laptop. Some of these video games differ from “Minecraft” due to not being sandbox games, which emphasize open-ended gameplay, creative interaction, emergent gameplay, and freedom of choice while playing video games. When asked about the top three from the video games he plays now he answered, “Top three, definitely ‘Minecraft,’ definitely ‘Gorilla Tag.’ Number three, though, it just all depends on what I feel like playing at that time.” He answered this way by further elaborating that these games bring the most fun to him and have really good replayability.
Ashby also discussed that his least favorite video games were ones that were story based, due to them not being at his own pace. When asked what video games he would recommend for people just starting out, he said, “I’d recommend, probably a sandbox game or a game with a fleshed-out story.” He explained that these video games help people learn and get into video games. For people who are more experienced, he would recommend “maybe shooter games or VR games.” He explained that these video games are more fleshed out and there is not a set path to go on, allowing for creativity and to make it your own.
Ashby currently has one dream video game that he personally would like to own and play. The video game is called “Pragmata.” It is a shooter and action game that is set on a lunar space station. Spacefarer Hugh Williams and android Diana work together to fight a hostile AI known as IDUS that is controlling the station and return to Earth. He said,“It just looks really cool and adorable.”
Justin Ashby’s earliest memory of the first video game he ever played has allowed him to find something he deeply enjoys doing, forming a passion for playing video games that has carried on for many years and even more to come.