I can still remember when I was 6 years old, the hottest gaming console was the family computer; I could can hear my then-little friend screaming at me for taking the "spread" ammunition in Contra. Aside from the hundreds of hours spent in front of our then-black and white coloured TV, we formulated many strategies on how to beat the different stages as well as learned from some of our friends the "thirty lives" cheat on Contra.

Later on, I found out that it was called the Konami Code (up up down down left right left right B A B A select start). Aside from Contra, the forever-classic Super Mario Brothers was our favourite. If I can't have Mario, I won't let my friend play (enough said). After which the Super NES and many others followed the claim to be the ultimate gaming console. The last gaming console I had was the Playstation 1. Armed with my Final Fantasy 7, it made most of my childhood a happy (and geeky) one.

At throughout my college years, I was thinking of buying a Playstation again. Just as I was about to spend my hard-earned money, I saw some guys playing at a computer shop a computer game that was quite funny, some little animated characters hacking and slashing monsters that look like jelly droplets.

The game was Ragnarok, an MMORPG (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game). After a few hours trying to figure out what I was seeing, I didn't realise I was already hooked.

Without going over-technical, MMORPGs work in conjunction with the internet. People all over the world that are connected to the internet can install the game, log on to a server and that server would allow you to play against other people logged on at the same time that you're on. Definitely, more challenging than a console, plus it takes up a lot more time (since it has no end... EVER).

Ever since, I've never seen another kid play a gaming console as seriously as we did way back in the day. Today, in the world of 1s and 0s, MMORPG is king, and the gaming console seems to be a "retro" way of enjoying and passing your time.

The gaming console industry is trying it's best to fight the threat of current web-based gaming technologies. But I fear they're not succeeding. MMORPGs play on the ego of individuals, giving them a sense of power over other people, where kids can call grownups "noobs (newbies)". How many Marios can give that sense of power to a person?

Although I do play MMOs, I just play it as my pastime. But, I still want the good old days of consoles being the pastime of choice. But as of now, MMORPGs are killing my console dreams.