How I became the Digital Librarian

Starting out in my youth or younger than now I should say. All I had was  a CRT monitor with a desktop that  had Windows XP installed that later  in its life cycle shut itself off randomly at times. All I had where 10 hours of internet access from Netzero that I consumed like it was potato chips. I did the thing most do at this relatively young age search for games to play on the internet. I searched for things I could download and Stumbled Upon (Unintentional Internet pun)  various Abandonware sites. I downloaded a variety of games downloading as many as I could at a time to try out and play with. Most of these I can’t really recall. 

Abandonware Logo By Frédéric DE GOMBERT

( Abandonware is a product that is  no longer supported by its owner/manufacture but is still under copyright law. By this definition Windows XP will be Abandonware in   February 2016

since support for it will end in January of that year)

The two that stick out the most are the original DOS version of Sid Meiers Pirates as well as his lesser known game Covert Action. What gravitated me towards them I couldn’t really explain at the time. Now in my wise age of 21 years-old I can now know what gravitated me to those games  that even at the time I played them were fairly old having been produced in 1987 and 1990 respectively. These two games just had endless re-playability and were not linear in any sense of the word.

Box Art for Sid Meier's Pirates released in 1987 (There are other versions of this game in existence such as Pirates   Gold in 1993 and modernized version in 2004. I haven't experienced those versions of the game I do plan to play the 2004 release but I don't think it will top the initial first encounters with the game. Original Image by David  Broadman

 

In Pirates I could wander the caribbean for ships to plunder then after I was satisfied with that I could marry the governers daughter  and retire happy. Alternatively I could try and live a life within the law trading at ports and only attacking ships my country was at war with as a privateer. 
 
 
While in  Covert Action I was an agent of the CIA designated to track down and dismantle terrorist organizations and nefarious individuals. I could go on high speed chases  or patiently surveillance my targets apprehending them when the moment was right.  I recall never being the best super sleuth spy or even as successful as Blackbeard in my privateer career but that didn’t matter and still does not.

  

When reflecting on the past these two silly little games shaped a lot of my habits and use of technology and media.  After a while my trusty desktop withered away  in the corner as a relic of an era gone by. Looking at a lot of the content I use now a lot of it is open-source or copyright free while some fall into a grey line of fair use since I don't intend to make a profit but to share and mostly just for personal use. I prefer my software and hardware to be able to be customizable and not locked into propriety  form factors.  It just like the games of my youth in which I can do anything I wish in the context and limitation of what the tools can do.

To Be Continued