I spoke in Salinas on Thursday and Friday of last week, allowing me to fly into San Jose on Wednesday night. When I lived in northern California, I used to have a group of guys I’d get together with on Wednesday nights for “guys nights.” It worked well as it didn’t conflict with any of the date nights guys had with their respective girlfriends or wives on the weekends and it was a nice mid-workweek break. Most of my guys night friends work for technology companies. They are all incredibly brilliant and some of the nicest guys I know.
They are also huge fans of the videogame, Halo.
When I told them I’d be in town, they informed me that the agenda for this guys night included dinner and a mega-game of the newest version of Halo. Two of the guys lived in the same apartment complex, literally one floor apart from each other. During the day they had set up an elaborate home network, updated firmware, and a bunch of other technology stuff that I just don’t understand. Basically, we had eight people playing Halo, in two separate apartments, both with HD widescreen televisions and surround sound.
It was awesome.
For them at least, I personally stink at the game. I peaked with videogames around 8th grade with Super Mario World having beat that game in every way possible and achieving the “*96” next to my player. After that I just didn’t get the new system. My college roommate purchased the Nintendo 64 and mastered the 007 game on it, but again, I barely beat level one. After that, people got good. I didn’t. I’m so bad that people actually cheer if I’m able to take out a fellow player in Halo.
Still, the conversation and taunting is always a bit fun, so even thought I spend most of the time waiting for my character to come back to life, I enjoy the experience.
On Wednesday night, we wanted to try one of the new maps. Someone recommended we played “Crazy King.” In it, players battle for control of the “hill” a small zone on the map the moves after a designated period of time. Teams must control an uncontested hill for a certain period of time (in our case 150 seconds).
While we played, our conversations amused me. Guys complained about not knowing how to navigate the new board. Guys got lost. Guys would shout out “take them out of the hill.” I got dead quite a bit. Overall, we laughed and had a good time.
I had to drive to my speaking site, so I left a bit early. After saying goodbye, I hopped in my car, turned on some music, and began the trip to my hotel. On the way, I started thinking about the game and some of the conversations I’ve had with some students recently.
Sadly, it seems like we have our own Crazy Kings games going on in our schools. Many of us are still navigating new classes and new campuses and while most things at this point are beginning to seem familiar, we still get “lost” from time to time.
The “hill” continues to move in terms of trends and what is considered “cool.” We struggle to get inside, but often times it feels like others are pushing us out. In response, we try to push others out–claiming the hill as our own.
Kindergartens regularly say, “you can’t play here.”
The whole thing is “crazy.”