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She has passed on the tradition of gaming to her children. Since both she and her husband enjoy playing video games, they own all of the current gaming systems and a large number of games. Their eldest son, age 7, enjoys playing video games both on consoles and on the ipad.

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Gaming has been a part of her life since she was very young and it will continue to be a part of her life as she plays with her kids. It's a form of family bonding. While gaming took over her life after the loss of her father, she was able to use the online communities to help her work through her pain.

This gamer also used gaming as a way to cope with her shyness. The avatar she adopted in her role playing games allowed her to be herself, within a comfortable environment. She's aware that her immersion wasn't necessarily healthy, but she was able to build her self-confidence during those years. Now she uses gaming as a time to unwind or to celebrate completing all of the days tasks. She doesn't use it as an escape from the real world anymore.

She is now able to prioritize between real world duties (family, work, housework, sleep, and then, if there's time gaming). She has evolved/matured. However, her inclination to play only when she won't be interrupted indicates her desire to get lost in the fictional worlds of games. I don't think she uses it as an escape, but rather as a form of entertainment and a way to unwind.

Additionally, this gamer prefers not to be confined by games which move from step to step to step. This is evidenced by the fact that she prefers to explore on her own, which is why she prefers RPGs and Open World games.

My previous assumption of gamers is based on both my experience as a gamer and my experience with friends who are gamers. There seems to be a spectrum of gaming: people who spend all of their free-time gaming to people who game as a social activity to people who hardly ever game. After this interview I still believe this to be true. I do think, however, that this particular interview highlighted how someone can move along the spectrum throughout their life, depending on family and work issues, priorities, and preferences.

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She says gaming has helped her with everything from problem solving skills required in solving puzzles to working through social drama found within online social gatherings/guilds.

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1. How did get started playing games? How old were you?
2. Who did you learn from? What type of games/gaming systems did you start with?

3. How have your gaming habits changed over the years? Why?

4. What kind of games do you enjoy now? Why? What is their appeal?
5. When do you play games? How do you hear about new games?
6. What do you learn/have you learned from gaming?
The interview was conducted in person.

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She's married, with two sons (ages 7 and 4) so she only has time to play when everything is done and the kids are in bed or otherwise occupied. She doesn't like playing if she knows she will be interrupted.
She subscribes to Game Informer Magazine and reads it cover-to-cover every month.
http://www.gameinformer.com/mag/default.aspx
She also subscribes to/likes Facebook pages that talk about upcoming game releases.

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Her favorite games are Open World
http://www.pcgamer.com/best-open-world-games/#
and Role Playing games such as Elder Scrolls
https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/skyrim?
and Minecraft (which she plays with her son).
https://minecraft.net/en-us/
She primarily uses the PlayStation 4 platform
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/ps4/
As to the attraction of these games, she reports: "It's the discovery on my own without prompting from developers. I like to feel like I'm more in control."

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Her peak gaming years were between 19-22 years of age. Her father passed away when she was 20 and she immersed herself in online worlds.
This provided her with: "a way to escape the real world."
Around the age of 23, after years of 'camping out' with her online guild members and staying up all night to take down the next big boss, she realized that she was missing out on the real world. Real life held its own appeal and she "began to cut back on gaming time in order to spend more time in the real world."

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Her father worked with computers and was always an early adopter, trying out new technologies as they emerged.
When she was 7 her father brought home an Atari.
https://www.atari.com/history/cartridge-consoles
She remembers playing Pong and Video Olympics.
Her family continued to purchase and play new gaming systems over the years, including Nintendo consoles and desktop computer games. She has a number of memories around gaming with her family.

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Over 30 years of gaming experience