Season's Gamings

The Littlest, Biggest Gift of All

Finally, she opened the door to the centerpiece of the stage: a complicated contraption made of switches and levers culled from dozens of my unfinished levels, a device that never had a purpose - until now. On the floor of the in-game living room sat four gifts, which Sackboy had to grab and drop onto an X-ray machine for examination.

Up to this moment, it could have been anybody else's level - just holiday decorations and wintery scenes, nothing special or personal. But as my mother dropped the first present onto the X-ray machine and the image slowly flickered into view, she beamed with delight: It was her favorite antique teddy bear, which I had snapped in my impromptu photography studio using the PlayStation's camera peripheral.

From that point forward, it was one surprise after another. Each present contained a different personal object, and each stocking hanging above the fireplace was ornamented with a different family member's photo. I even added pictures of the pets my family had loved and lost over the years above the fireplace's mantle.

As my mother made her way through the level, she lingered over every personalized tooltip and looked around to make sure everyone else was smiling as much as she was. She accidently broke the makeshift crane intended to drop a Christmas turkey into an oven, but we all laughed as she nudged it in with the broken claw. Finally, she guided Sackboy up the fireplace to escape before Christmas morning. As soon as she finished, she passed the controller to my dad and had him play it all over again. When my brother stopped by around noon, she gushed to him about her "new computer game." I knew my gift was a success.

Christmas has always been about one thing for me. The decorations come and go, the food is forgotten by New Year's Day and, at least for us secular folks, the concept of Jesus' birthday is deemed irrelevant by age 12. But the holiday has always included my favorite hobby: gaming. Whether it's playing Pokemon at Grandma's house, challenging my brother to Super Mario Kart races or even roping my father into a cooperative match of Call of Duty: World at War, I can't remember a single Christmas where videogames didn't play a prominent role.

But there's always been one person missing, sitting in the backseat and turning down offers to have a go: my incredible mum. That year, however, she was the first person to hold the controller on Christmas morning.

Mark Brown is a freelance writer living in the U.K. and can be contacted at mcbacon[at]gmail[dot]com. He wishes all readers of The Escapist (and his mum) Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas.