"Nintendo Thumb"

Let me first say that I will be eternally indebted to my parents who bought me my first NES when I was 8 years old. I still have the 3 1/2" x 5" picture of me clutching the new box under the Christmas tree with the biggest, most electrifying grin on my face. It sufficeth me to say, I played a lot of video games from then on.

Despite my elation, there were negative consequences from playing video games--for too long. I'm not talking about the regret associated with wasting hundreds-to-thousands of hours staring at an inanimate box; I'm talking about the real physical pain derived from dermal irritation of the pulgate against the NES control buttons.

The following is a true account of one NES player and his brother who also experience the sweet pain of hardcore video gaming:

I developed thumb blisters several times from NES when I was a kid, but the most impressive example of this was my brother. He had been playing some game that required an NEW joystick. He moved his palm faster and faster in a circular motion, and eventually, he wore a hole through his palm. It started bleeding all over, so he wrapped it in a Kleenex and kept playing.

Ahhh, the story of a true addict. Some games are definitely more conducive to "Nintendo Thumb" than others. Street Fighter and Mike Tyson's Punch out are both clear examples of this with the constant rolling motion to perform special moves. But even Mario Brothers may induce "NT" if playing long or frequently enough. I still remember the FIRST time I experienced "NT". I was further along than I ever had been on Punch Out; IT WAS INTENSE! I was sweating. My thumbs were red and sore, but it was still too soon for blisters to be visible. I knew I ought to throw in the towel but I couldn't. I just couldn't give up on Mac (the main character in the game.) I justified my pain through virtual empathy. I convinced myself that if Mac could fight through the pain, I sure could. It turned out that I lost my final bout only a few minutes later, but that was long enough to aggravate my thumb blisters to the point of bubblage. I literally couldn't play for at least a week.




**I'd like to take the opportunity now to apologize to Noelle and Heather for not letting them play when they wanted to and later of not playing with them once they had grown out of it and I was still coming into full-swing of my addiction. ...I'm better now.

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Listening to: Michael Bublé - You Belong To Me