Welcome to another YvoCaro Plays!
Normally, these blurbs are mostly about the video games I’m currently playing. This time though, I want to tell you about a wee outing I had! To the city of Belfast, and to my dear friend Paula!
If you like these bits of (usually) gaming thoughts, you can find the previous ones here
Finding My Gaming Addiction
I must have surely told you before how I met Paula online. Back in 2006, I was 42 years old and had a little girl 7 years old. We had gotten her a Nintendo DS, at first with Nintendogs, the Spring before. But now it was the Summer holiday and she was free from school. As there was only so much time she could spend with her virtual dogs, I promised her a new game.Â
Knowing nothing about games we picked her new game purely based on the cover: Animal Crossing Wild World. As we are Dutch, English isn’t our first language, and my daughter couldn’t read it. This made for some lovely mother-daughter time, sitting on the couch and playing together. We started the town, met Tom Nook and got all kinds of chores. After a while, she got a bit bored with picking up shells and planting flowers, as there’s only so much you can do in the first days. So, she went off to go do something else and I did what so many mothers do: I decided to work on it, for her.Â
Meeting Gaming Friends Online
Animal Crossing ended up ensnaring me, and before long I had my own DS and a town called Bearpath. There was such a lot to know about this new world, so I found my info online in the Animal Crossing Community. It was there that I found a group of adult gamers in a sea of teenagers enjoying the game. We formed a tight group for more than a year and spent many evenings visiting each other in our towns. In fact, I think it’s one of the things that make the Animal Crossing series so special. But I digress. One of the ladies whom I visited with was Chamzen, she stood out to me as she was often joined by her daughter.
Over the years we kept in touch over games and I learned her real name was Paula. Eventually, our chats covered other things as well, like our everyday lives. Eventually losing one of our mutual gaming friends brought us closer together.
When Gaming Friends Turn Into Friends
Over four years ago I asked Paula to review games for LadiesGamers. Soon though she offered to help me out with managing the site, and I agreed. LadiesGamers is our baby, but it is also quite the undertaking! On top of that, it’s so much more fun to work together on keeping it going!
Fast forward a couple of years, and we have the management of the site flowing nicely. We have our work divided and chat during the day through iMessages. Occasionally, a FaceTime meetup is thrown in as well. And all those years, we had never met face to face. Deciding it was long overdue, I booked myself a wee outing to Belfast.
Paula met me at the gate upon arrival of my plane, and the funny thing was that it wasn’t strange at all! Of course, seeing someone’s face on the computer screen is different from seeing them entirely in 3D. I had that happen after two years’ worth of MS Teams meetings at work too: people are taller or shorter, or thinner or more rounded than you expect. Still, I instantly recognised her.
The Sights in Belfast and Walking Zen
As I stayed at Paula’s house, we had the entire day to talk about the site, about games and life in general. And ample time to play games, work on the site and just relax. We made sure however that I also saw some of the sights in Belfast.
Belfast City Hall is a beautiful stately building in the town centre. The docks where the Titanic was built and ceremoniously left for her voyage. St. Georges Market, which sadly was closed on the days that I was there.
And of course, I saw telltale signs of The Troubles. Like Shankill Road Memorial Garden and one of the Peace Walls that formed a barrier between neighbourhoods of different religions and political views. And Samson and Goliath, the twin shipbuilding gantry cranes situated at Queen’s Island. They dominate the skyline, and you can see them pretty much from everywhere in town!
We made time to do some shopping too, as I had a suitcase to fill with souvenirs and sweets. And close to Paula’s home, we were able to visit CS Lewis Square and watch the statues of Aslan, the White Witch and even the Wardrobe.
Our daily walks with Zen at Bloomfield Walkway and the Comber Greenway were spent chatting about anything and everything. And food and places to eat formed a bonding experience as well! After all, I simply had to try an Ulster Fry!
Despite knowing each other online only, it was never strange. And after I had to go home again, we simply picked up again where we had left off, managing LadiesGamers.com together!
Well this was just absolutely delightful to read. I’m so glad you two were able to meet in person after all your good hard work together. And how I envy your jaunt through Belfast. Lamppost Cafe looks as though it was conjured from one of my dreams.
As an American bookseller who’s only ever visited Northern Ireland on the page, I’d love to recommend a series of crime novels called the Detective Sean Duffy series, written by Adrian McKinty. They’re formally, almost classically constructed mystery novels set in 1980s Northern Ireland. Their protagonist is a Catholic cop on a Protestant force. He cracks wise and may have a substance abuse problem. Each entry in the series is named with a Tom Waits lyric and The Cold Cold Ground comes first. They are noir and can at times be hard-boiled, but they are also very funny and warm and feature compelling character development across the series. And there is always the ingeniously assembled mystery at their core. (A couple are locked room mysteries, my favorite sub-genre).
Anywho, thanks for sharing this lovely story. LadiesGamers is a fantastic refuge from what games journalism has become. Thank you both for all your wonderful work.
Hi Davi, thank you so much for reading it. Your comment was lovely, and Paula actually knows the book, from a long time ago! It’s so funny the memories my article brought for you.
As to the site, we do try to be a positive, colorful and at the same time calming refuge for gamers, so your remark really struck a core!