My name is Neil Marchan and I’m an electronic games store clerk. People say “Marchan” is a part-French name but I really don’t see the French relation to it. I’m from San Juan. I always pronounce “San Juan” properly. I never say, “Sah Woh.” Well, I travel to work so I might ask the driver, “Sah Woh?” The Croisee, is always the “Kway-Zay” though. Being the tallest in any crowd has its advantages. People assume you know more than people of smaller stature. They figure, bigger in size, bigger in thinking.
My younger brother is almost as tall as me. But both my parents are considerably shorter. I’m in a relationship right now. No children, but I want children. Her name is Ayanna Pereira. I hope my sons, when they come of age, will tell me, “Daddy, this is the newest thing in games!” I’m very frightened to start an on-line game like World of Warcraft. If I get too immersed in it, that’s where trouble can start.
I was never a bully in primary school. I was more of a quiet person and, at that age, the quiet ones usually get picked on. So, being picked on was kind of a norm for me. But, because of my size, they kinda thought twice before doing anything more. I remained a fairly quiet person basically throughout all school days, but I mingled a lot more in secondary school. I wasn’t climbing trees as a boy. I was playing video games.
The very first game I played was New Mario Bros for the first-first-first Nintendo system. That blew my mind away, simple as it was back then. I spent way too much time playing that game. I guess that’s what pushed me to say I could do more with playing games than just sit down and play games. I wouldn’t say the PS3 is better than the Xbox. I would say it’s an alternative. It depends on what type of game you want to play on the system. All my friends have PlayStation 3s. They used to have Xbox, but changed. I’m the only one who hasn’t gone PS3. As yet, I cannot play against my friends on-line on an Xbox.
The average gamer is going to be a bit of a nerd. I have a little bit of a talent for spotting a video gamer when I see one. It’s something like a brotherhood, but more of an unseen sort of communication. Most gamers have the same mentality and the outward appearance follows that mentality: how they dress; how they act; how they communicate. There’s a concept of “gaydar,” where gay people recognise one another, and I’d say that, to some extent, there’s a concept of “gamer-dar.” If there were two gamers in a crowd of 30 and I was given a chance to interact with all 30, I’d probably pick out the two gamers.
I don’t think there’s a “gaming community” in Trinidad.
Most gamers are guys. But gaming is not really a guy thing. I have turned my significant other into a gamer. I loaned her my PSP (PlayStation Portable) and she’s addicted now. She asking, “So when am I getting the PS3?” Most gamers tend to listen to the same type of music. Which is a little bit of everything. Music and gaming are very much intertwined. Listening to the right sort of music mentally gears up your mind and adds to the experience. Racing games tend to have fast, upbeat music. Is not really to say video games are for nerds. Most of the so-called nerds are people like me: they quiet; they don’t interfere with others or look for fights. They’re peace-going. So they tend to look for things along those lines.
I read books relating to gaming or comics. And the occasional newspaper. I’ll watch movies based on electronic games but with a very heavy heart. Most of the time, they get details and facts wrong. To a diehard gamer or comic reader, it’s very annoying. There are many types of games: adventure games; shooting games; role-playing games. I don’t really play RPGs. I’ll play a couple of shooters—Halo is one of my all-time favourites—but it’s mostly adventure, platform or hack-and-slash games. Mini-quest games. Bottom line of my job: I’m there to sell. Games. Systems.
Very few people come in and say, “I want this game.” Normally, people don’t know what they want to buy. The first thing I ask is, what type of game you like to play? Based on their answers, I deduce the most appropriate game for them to buy. Games aren’t cheap so it’s important to recommend the best-suited game. Last thing I want is someone complaining, “You sell me this game and I don’t like it!” The oldest gamer I sold to is around 60. The youngest will be six or younger. Most are teens or in their early 20s.
The best part of the job is selling to the young-young kids. Just to see their face light up when they get their game!
The down side is people might have second thoughts about games and ask a million and one questions. But, again, too, you expect that so it’s not really a down side. It’s more of an up side, actually.
A Trini is a survivor. No matter what happens around us, we manage to provide for our loved ones. And we have a knack for getting along. Trinidad and Tobago is a place where I am happy living. We don’t have major riots or anything extremely bad happening to the country. It’s hard raising up a family anywhere in the world nowadays but, as compared with outside, it’s much easier here.
Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com