Some gamers want their own big streaming channels for money or because they want cool opportunities like testing video games before they’re available to the public But if I’m being honest what I want more than anything is to have gamer friends The only person I regularly play with is someone named Spyder_0wns and I don’t even like playing with them because they beat me so much Don’t get me wrong I have great IRL friends that means in real life In fact they’re the best But they’re not interested in gaming and they probably have no idea what streaming is let alone that I want to do it Streaming is playing a video game live So when the streamer is gaming they have a network of people to cheer them on in theory anyway I tried to tell my best friends Celia and Jess that I was a gamer once I really did I had it all planned out We were eating pizza at Marino’s a local Italian restaurant near the Hudson River with a bunch of fun old-school arcade games My plan was this casually ask if they wanted to play then let them know that it was well kind of my thing I’d even saved up enough pizza tokens to get four 4 ANDREA TOWERS
games for us each That was a lot of tokens and a lot of babysitting allowance that I’d collected from our across-the-street neighbors But it would be worth it when Celia and Jess learned just how cool gaming is I couldn’t wait We sat down at a big booth our plates dripping with goopy pieces of dough and cheese laughing without a care in the world Everything was going according to plan until PLURP Celia accidentally dropped her slice of pizza She got up to get some napkins and noticed the arcade games in the corner Five tokens to play an arcade game Celia scoffed Wouldn’t people rather spend their pizza tokens on something else Like I dunno on pizza She giggled clearly amused by her own joke Ouch Celia didn’t mean to hurt my feelings how could she have known but my heart sank I concentrated on my pizza the way the cheese was congealing against the red sauce and tried to shrug her words off like they didn’t hurt Maybe they’re fun I said I don’t understand how anyone can have fun if they’re just standing in front of a screen Jess 5 GNAT VS SPYDER
interjected She eyed the bowling game Wouldn’t you just go bowling Exactly Celia said making a face Womp I felt like this GAME OVER But what I said was Hmm Eloquent right I know I bet you’re really impressed The rest of the night we ate pizza swapped stories about our weekends and Celia even braided my hair But as the night went on the unused pizza tokens in my pocket felt heavier and heavier I had to make peace with the fact that all Celia wants to do is a ton of art projects and Jess doesn’t bother to look at anything unless there’s some kind of sporty ball involved So I continued gaming in secret And that’s kind of how Gnat112 was born 6 ANDREA TOWERS
Owns GNAT US SPYDER Gnat112 is my gamer tag meaning it's the name that people see on screen like Spyder As Gnat112 I'm cool Collected Outgoing I can bust aliens with the best of them and just let down my guard I have no real anxieties when I'm gaming other than where the next alien is coming from or if my arsenal of potions will replenish itself before I must make another attack INVENTORY YUM POTION MAKES SCHOOL LUNCH TASTE BETTER QUIET POTION MAKES MEL WHITE MIND HER BUSINESS BOOKWORM POTION ADDS +13 INTELLIGENCE UPON RETURNING A LIBRARY BOOK MATH WHIZ POTION GIVES +50 SPEED WHILE SOLVING MATH HOMEWORK But as Nat Natalie Schwartz I'm kind of the total opposite I read lots of books and daydream way too much I discovered Alienlord last year on a whim while browsing discounted games There are a few different modes of gameplay on it but in my favorite you team up with another player where one of you is an alien and 7
