How Piracy got me into Coding
I have always been a sucker for origin stories. Not only of my favorite fictional characters, but stories of real life people like you and me. Stories from the journey that Albert Einstein took to come up with E=MC² to how Deadpool became the Merc with a mouth hold a special place in my heart.
In the midst of all of these epic origin stories lies a story as experienced by a younger me; the one that got me into coding (I hope the people who named the F.R.I.E.N.D.S episodes do not sue me).
Pirated CD/DVD business used to be a big thing in Nepal. However, the increased Internet speeds and torrents have since then brought down the business. Anyway, I had this brother-in-law who used to buy CDs from Kathmandu and sell them in his hometown. One fine day, he was at my home with was bunch of CDs that he was going to take back with him. At that time, I used to play a lot of games to the point that my parents used to warn me by saying ‘Dherai computer na khel tah ta!’ (Translation: Stop PLAYING with the computer).
Naturally, I started looking through all the CDs to see if I could find some games. But what I found that day changed my life for good. I found this CD that said, ‘Macromedia Flash MX 2004’. I recognized the flash part right away from all the games I used to play on miniclip.com. This is what went through my mind at the time.
Kid Bikash: ‘Could this really be?? Could this be…… what they use to create those cool ass games?’
Devil Bikash on left shoulder: ‘Who wants to make games when you can play em?’
Angel Bikash on right shoulder: ‘Shut up Devil! Bikash shall learn to make games today’
Kid Bikash: ‘And Make Games I shall!’
But then when I started using Flash, I got more attracted to the animations and logic part. There is only so much one can learn using the examples that came with the installation and a shitty slow-ass dial-up modem which racks up the telephone bills. I never did complete any games that I set out to make (like most of my projects). I have a short attention span when it comes to my solo projects. I am always moving from one thing to another. But, this experience did show me the path to find my passion; some of which I have already found and some of which I am still searching for.
Hey you! yes you! Maybe share your origin story too? It could be about anything :D
