For a gamer, especially an online gamer, any kind of lag usually means instant death. Yep, anti-virus programs do protect, but they also hog major resources on your computer, causing loads of annoying slow-downs. Then you get an alert saying your latest scan is complete. They’re certainly helpful at keeping your computer from being completely overrun by some ridiculous worm, but they’re also major resource hogs.Įver notice that at various times, your computer will just suddenly freeze up for a few seconds or massively slow down? Even if you’re just trying to read email or write a document, it can happen. You know that protection you use to keep your computer safe from evil viruses and malware? Yeah, I’m talking about anti-virus type of programs. But most of the time, it’s actually your own fault. Sometimes it’s your internet provider and there’s not much you can do about that. Now, other than a complete power failure, what’s the biggest enemy for a computer gamer? No, it’s not running out of lives… it’s super duper lag. I think half the videos Ryan makes for his YouTube Channel (he’s VideoWaxy87 by the way) are of him playing Minecraft.
Ryan loves it so much, he’ll play online with one of his friends, talking to him on speaker phone as the two race through level after level. I still barely understand the game (there’s apparently a lot of building to be had and a lot of blowing stuff up and there are pigs and zombies and stuff…), but these guys have been eating and breathing Minecraft for well over a year now. They’re playing all sorts of online games, with Minecraft being at the top of the list. Yes, we have a Wii U, Xbox 360 and even an original GameCube hooked up, but Jason and Ryan still spend more time in front of their computers. I was a big PC gamer for years, and I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like had I grown up a generation later. I remember exact moments of joy from solving nigh-impossible puzzles in the original Prince of Persia, and of course fighting through hordes of Nazis to victory in Castle Wolfenstein 3D. And yeah, I spent as much time blasting baddies as I did writing papers. Email was still fairly new, if used at all.
Those many moons ago, we didn’t really have this crazy World Wide Web things the kids are all talking about today.