Growing Up Geek: Richard Lawler

This picture was taken in 1985 and despite the time that's passed, the excitement I felt then holding that Atari joystick returns each and every time I plug in, boot up, or log on to find something new. Like so many other geeks of the era, the world of videogames found in reams of bootlegged games contained on Verbatim 5.25-inch floppies were early training in the value of knowing my way around computers. The initial desire to play The Last Starfighter / Solaris without needing anyone to set it up for me would years later lead to long sessions of editing .bat and .ini files to hear sound effects in Wolfenstein 3D and after that, easy work setting up and fixing computers. Still, as great as using technology is, it's nothing without spirited discussions amongst like-minded individuals and after the schoolyard debates over 8-, 16- and 32-bit console wars ended (fortunately, Sega is out of the hardware game now or I would have to recuse myself from any news or reviews) I headed online to make myself heard.