A while back, I mentioned about being on Animal Crossing
Community and stayed on it even after retiring from Animal Crossing Wild World.
Allow me to continue the story by talking about another series: Mario Kart.
While it's not a top favourite series, its accessibility and
brand allows it to stand out from other racing games. I would like to say that
I'm good at Mario Kart but let's just say that there has been many rageful
moments...
I could go on talking about the series as a whole but this
story focuses on Mario Kart Wii released in April 2008.
As with nearly all Wii
games, motion control was the main selling point. The Wii Remote was held on
its side and can be placed in a steering wheel. The controls weren't always precise
but it did feel good flicking it to perform tricks in the air, rewarding you
with a speed boost.
It was also the second Mario Kart to have online play (the
first being Mario Kart DS). Prior to Mario Kart Wii, I'd never played a game online but it was around this time
where I'd made a couple friends on Animal Crossing Community, including one whom
I shall refer to his username lattywatty. I can't remember how I became friends
with him but me and lattywatty decided to exchange our Mario Kart Wii Friend Codes
on a private thread (Friend Codes are unique codes that can be shared in order
to find your friends easily).
A few days later, I found myself being bored so randomly
decided to check Mario Kart Wii to see if lattywatty was online. I immediately
saw him playing with random people so decided to join him...
Even though. I didn't win any races, it was an incredible
experience. The thrill of racing with people around the world was something I
never felt before. Me and lattywatty both agreed they were fun races and we decided to invite more people to play with.
I began by asking my other Animal Crossing Community friends if they would like
to join our private thread and play with us. But I also went into the Mario
Kart Wii thread and asked random people there.
Normally, making new friends is hard, especially for an
autistic person and talking to unfamiliar people would be something I would
normally be hesitant with, especially in the real world. Non autistic people
make this look easy but since our social skills are not up to scratch, we're
unsure on how to approach people and may fear making a fool of ourselves (like what if we
say the wrong thing...or can't think of what to say at all. What would they
think of us then?). Being online makes the process easier since we don't have
to face the person directly and have more time to think about our words.
Eventually, we had a good bunch of people assembled. We
would talk to each other on the private thread and arrange when to play. Every
Sunday evening was when we all get together for some big races (Saturday was
reserved for Doctor Who). This went on for a solid two months when an even
bigger game arrived on the scene.
You will find out what game this is another time...
