Hey Everyone! My name is BEN. I graduated with a Computer Science degree in 2004. I initially was in California, looking into video game development, but landed in Iowa doing Internet Development instead. This website represents my concept to blend the best of BOTH worlds!

Let me know if you have any questions, ideas, or comments on this community. If you'd like to be an Elite Squad member, let me know as well. Our goal is to develop a worldwide community of gamers, but we need you help to spread the word like fire, to all your gaming friends...

A few quick things you need to know about me....I crave Techno music and video games! I drive waaay tooo fast! My real job is boring. If you've never used www.pandora.com we can't be friends. The best band on Myspace by far is Mindrite. You might as well support them now, resistance is futile! My friends are as important to me as my family :)

Ben & I built this site with all of you fellow gamers in mind. If there's something you want.....tell us! I want all of you to be as excited as all of us! Now go and game hard my friends, game hard indeed!

Andy
myspace.com/highontechno

I work at Captain Jack Communications and recently took on the project of building this exciting community! As the lead programmer at CJC, I am proud to say we can develop some very cutting edge stuff. Let BEN know if you interested in your own Internet Development.

Let me know what you think of The GoG or if you have any questions...

I am the Systems Manager at Captain Jack Communications and I worked with BEN to engineer this concept. We are very proud of this website and the worldwide community that it will grow into.

I am mostly into Japanese games, so let me know if you're interested in Anime or Japanese comic books. You can also ask me any questions about The GoG.

I am a designer/programmer at Captain Jack Communications. This site represents a place where I can discuss one of my favorite hobbies and connect with alot of other gamers!

I'm working on some designs that we'll be incorporating into a few other avenues of this community, so that will be cool. Let me know if you have some questions about anything in The GoG!

Hey there party people...I've always loved gaming and grew up on the stuff! I'm an old school type of guy and I often get made fun of for my love for Gamecube, but I can also appreciate a good game on Xbox 360, or any of the other "newer" systems. I love the Cubs and the military too.

I'll be in charge of the MySpace front of this community, so hit me up with a friend request at www.myspace.com/thegatheringofgamers

Hey guys, my name is Nick. I am a programmer/designer at Captain Jack Communications in Iowa. I'm a big gamer and like to keep on the cutting edge of technology and information about new games.

I enjoy my Wii alot and can help you out if you have any questions!

Hey everyone, I'm one of those people that didn't really like video games until I started playing them with people I lived with. Now I'm obsessed with Halo and always enjoy the Wii party nights. Although I'm not the biggest gamer, I can still help you out around The GoG!

I'll be in charge of the Facebook front for this community, so throw me a friend request or join The Gathering of Gamers Group at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2481757820

Before all else, I would like to say that I am proud to call myself a gamer! I've been gaming since the launch of the Atari 2600 and have never looked back once. While there are those who limit their gaming to strictly video games, I am not one of those people. Board games, dice games, card games, pen & paper RPGs, and party games are all included in my gaming activities, but mostly video games (both console and PC). Some call it an obsession and some call it an addiction, but I call it a way of life!

My attention shifted slightly from console video games to computer games when I received a Commodore 64 one year for Christmas. The moment that I figured out that I could acutally *write* games via programming changed my life forever. I am now currently employed at a brokerage firm as a programmer and DBA. The programming skills I learned trying to write games growing up has served me well in my career, and my career has increased my programming knowledge to assist me in writing games. How many other people can say that their job and their hobby feed off of one another? Or that they are even passionate about both of them? I consider myself truely blessed.

Let me know if you have any questions, want to play online, or just want to chat games. I hope you enjoy The GoG!

I have been gaming since the days of Blue Max on the Commodore 64 and haven't looked back. Currently I am employed by The Venue Event Center in Boone, IA. It is where I get to host video game tournaments each week. Technically, it is "work" since I am getting paid to be there, but it is a ton of fun to watch everyone enjoying Halo 3, Guitar Hero, and Madden 08 on dual 16' projector screens. For more info, check out my posts on the tournaments section in the GoG forum!

Right now I play a liberal amount of Halo 3, Guild Wars, and Warcraft 3. My XBL name is the same as my user name, so look me up sometime and we can get our game on!

At the tender age of 5, I was introduced to the world of video games when I recieved a Commodore 64 as a present from my uncle. I have owned almost every system since and the rest is virtual history. Unfortunately, all that remains in my classic collection now is a NES.

I have also enjoyed PC games since I can remember. When I was 12, I was one of the few people to have a dedicated Internet line, even though it was only 2800 baud! I enjoy the challenge and socializing that comes from online gaming and I think The GoG is a perfect place to meet new gamers.

I like to think of myself as the "Renaissance Man" of gaming, in that I pretty much like all genres of games. I suppose this quality comes from the fact that I like a lot of variety in my gaming experience. I may not be master of many of these games, but I would say that I am a natural gamer and can help you with any questions about The GoG.

Outside of my gaming life, I am currently working towards a CS degree. I have experience in Java, Javascript, HTML, and Visual BASIC,. I'm a pretty easy going guy and love to have fun, even though I am extremely politically-minded...As Jim Morrison once said, "I see myself as an intelligent, sensitive human...with the soul of a clown which forces me to blow it at the most important moments."

My name is Jacob and I live in Iowa. I am going to Elmhurst College in the fall and will major in Computer Game and Entertainment Technology. I love to play soccer and my favorite system is the Xbox 360. I have always been an avid fan of the Halo series and I like alot of things on the Xbox Live Marketplace. I enjoy the Wii as well, even though i don't own one.

Let me know if you have any questions about The GoG or how to be Captain of the 1st Team - All State Team for Iowa high school soccer in 2007...

I've been fascinated with gaming and computers from a very young age. I got to play the original pong, enjoyed lemmings on commodore 64, and continued gaming all the way up to the current next gen consoles.

I work full time in a game store but I am working towards working in the gaming industry. I contribute to a number of gaming related websites, who I represent in the UK at events and such. Please invite me to any gaming events you have going! I'd love to attend.

Apart from that I am friendly and helpful. Feel free to send me messages for help or to just say hi.

I'm from England and have been a gamer for 30 years! Guess what, I am not going to grow up anytime soon.......
I have played most consoles but rate the PC engine and the Saturn highest. My interest in current games is virtually zero, due to my dislike of FPS, EA, and similar generic drivel! I love great video games though and relish introducing people to the pleasures of true arcade gaming, console style.
I would like to share my knowledge and experience with anyone who is interested and this community for video gamers seems like a great place for that.......a big HI to all GoG members.

Hey, this is Ben, known as Sniper king, aka Striker218. I have been a gamer since as far back as I can remember. I had the old 1993 computer models, with the nice black and white, 6 inch monitor screen. Naturally, I have upgrade over the years. These days, I have a Wii and Xbox 360. I enjoy playing basically any genre of game you can think of, but my profile has more detail.

Games are part of my life and I look forward to being an active member of this online community for video games! Send me a friend request and let's get gaming...

Hey! I'm Frank, but I'm better known as creamy99 on Xbox Live. I have been playing games since I was old enough to hold a controller. I have multiple consoles, but I stick with my Xbox 360. I play a lot of games including: Tiger Woods, Madden, NCAA Football, GRAW, and Gears of War, but I play Halo 3 the most, so that is where you can usually find me.
I play for Worlds911, a top worldwide team. I command Team Alpha. I have been with them for two seasons now. I have an awesome roster of guys that help dominate every team we go head to head against. I play at MLG events. I have made the pro brackets twice at MLG Orlando 06 and MLG New York 06. At MLG Orlando 07, my team took ninth in the 4v4 Open Championship. I myself made it to the 7th Round Loser Bracket finals. I was nominated for Amateur Player of the Year.
I compete at MLG, Gamebattles, ViolatedGaming, and Clantacular. With a few changes to my roster this year, I will only get better and more experienced. GoG is awesome, so let's get recruiting. Hit me up on MySpace or AIM at navy2012.

-Creamy99-

Hello, my name is Bryan and I'm a gameaholic. I have been playing since the Sega Master system came out and I have not slowed down yet. In fact it has gotten even worse since I've had kids. All 3 of them are in love with it. Now that I dont go out as much, what else is there to do besides play games?

A couple of months ago, I started throwing video game competitions under the name Iowa's Cyber Athletic Competitions. It has been going good so far and I'm ready to start throwing statewide competitions. I'm also lookiing forward to sponsoring a couple of teams and look forward to supporting this great video gaming community. If there is anything else you would like to know just hit me up!

My name is Cameron Hollander, but my friends call me Cam. I am 23 & currently live in Iowa. My true video game love was and still is RPGs and other Action/Adventure type games.  I also have an extreme love for music and that, combined with my passion of video games, leads us to my current addiciton of the Guitar Hero series.

Feel free to add me as a friend & shoot me a message if you want to chit chat about any video games or if you want to talk about music (Support Local Music! FACECAGE & MINDRITE Pwn j00! ). Definitely feel free to send me a message if you have any questions or need help/advice with games or this social network just for us gamers & I'll try my best to help you out for sure.  ROCK ON!!!

Hey everyone...You can call me Jay! I'm about to start my first year in Computer Software Engineering and I hope to eventually obtain some sort of job in the field of video game development. I have been a gamer all my life and have really enjoyed the Chronicle tools within this unique video gamer's community, so check out my video game reviews and let me know what you think!
 
Currently I am playing on my 360 and having lots of fun with Halo 3. I am pretty avid in doing my research on what the latest happenings are in the world of gaming, so if you have any questions about that (or The GoG), feel free to ask me any time...

My name is Kupo_Cakes. I have a lot of hobbies like painting and playing music, but the number one thing I'm into isnt a hobby, but a lifestyle; and that's gaming. I think the reason I did so bad in school was due to excessive ditching, in order to stay home and finish up a game or 2. lol.

Anyhoo im online frequently with updates about new games/software developments/new hardware/system glitchs and so forth...

I find myself constantly reading up on what's new through Internet forums and video game informer mags...so I'll do my best to update everyone on what I find...feel free to message me with requests if u wanna know about certain games and I'll see what I can do!

thankies!

My name is Chris. I am 21 years old and I'm in the Army. I leave 01-21-08 for BCT/AIT, but will be back in 4 months. I have been a die hard gamer from the first time I played Mario on the NES. I have a full time job as a thermoforming tech. "I make plastic cups". I'll do the best in my ability to bring something new to the table. I like to live in the moment so I dont know whats goin on tommorow...Just ask me then...

I would also like to thank you for making a well needed website for just US gamers...we really are a bread of our own.

Hello the name's Mark, or as the name states, The Intellectual and I currently reside in Los Angeles, California. I am a gamer and have been since before I could walk. Like most people, gaming is both a past time and an addiction for me. I started treading this oh so magical path way back when my father put an Atari 2600 controller in my hands. I moved on up from the NES, to the SNES, Playstation, etc. all the way up to today's current gen. I tend to be very judgemental with games, but will give almost any title a try.

I think the GoG community is a great place for the gamers of the world(...perhaps the universe?) to gather. We all have our opinions whether it's "This game is awesome!" or "This game SUCKS!" we all like to voice our personal opinions and simply talk gaming with others. I can talk about anything, so feel free to send me a message for any questions, a simple "hi", gamertag, news, whatever...its all good.

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A!

I'm a 17 year old guy, currently focusing on a few things...girls, games, cars, music, etc. etc.. However, I'm also very focused on school. I'll be attending THE Ohio State University in the Fall of 08' and plan to major in either Forensics, or Graphic Design. I frequently play FPS games, with my favorites being Call of Duty and Halo. You can usually find me online, playing one of those two games...hit me up at Eckho22 if you want to play...long live gamers!

My name is Looshkin. I've been gaming since I was a little kid and have grown to love RPGs, FPS's, and Action Adventure games...although the classic PS1/N64 Era is my ultimate favorite! I seem to have a wide knowledge of different video games and systems, plus I used to work in a video game store, so I may be able to help with your gaming needs. I can also help you with most of your questions about The GoG. I think this is a great community and would love too see it continue to grow and I plan to help anyway I can...I'm online alot, so hit me up and we'll put a game together soon...

I am 16 years old and live in Iowa.  I'm in high school and have been gaming since I was 8, with a Nintendo 64 and Mario64.  I am looking forward to playing with all members of this video gaming community and connecting with them at video game tournaments. My current gaming systems are Wii and an old PS2. Once I get an Xbox 360 (if my dad will agree), I will game it up with everyone I possibly can on XBL, especially us GoG members, so we'll see you soon!

I'm Eric, aka Imppy. I was introduced to gaming at a young age. I started by rocking (and still do) the NES with my all-time favorite game, Megaman! I built my first computer at the ripe age of 9 and have been enjoying PC games ever since. Halo is my baby right now...I currently play on an amateur team for Halo 3, called Team Ampd, and love playing MLG customs.
I am also into music, martial arts, and just about anything else. I live by a, "don't knock it till you've tried it" attitude, so I have a large spectrum of interests. Currently, I work part-time at a Game Stop while I go to college. If you wanna play some time, I play just about everything, so hit me up.

Hey, I'm Zach!  I'm a Junior at Iowa State University. I've been a gamer as long as I can remember. I'm currently working on a Computer Science degree and I'm hoping to break into game development after grad school. I'm also a gymnast, a martial artist, and a halfway decent guitarist.

Right now, I tend to play FPS, RPG, and rhythm games. If you ever see me on Halo, CoD4, or Guitar Hero, drop me a note and I'd be more than happy to play you. Also, if you have any questions/comments about GoG, Computer Science, or any other topic, just shoot me a PM.

My name is Curtis, and I live in Iowa. I first heard about Gathering of Gamers, weeks prior to The Inaugural GoG IMAX Tournament...which I attended! When I'm not losing at Guitar Hero, I like to spend my gaming time playing the first game I can remember, Street Fighter 2. When I'm not doing that, I'm on WoW or at the movies. You might know me from XBL, under the tags NOOB TRAIN or Evilzangief. After looking into this video game community, I thought it would be cool to get involved, so please hit me up anytime!

Despite my username, I'm actually Chris, not Bob. Back when I had a full beard and wore my ballcap backwards I'd get mistaken for Kevin Smith's character, so I still use it to this day.

You can see from my profile that I grew up in the early days of video gaming. We were a little spoiled as kids, so we had nearly every videogame console that came down the pike, starting with the Magnavox Odyssey and then a few months later the Atari 2600. We were also big into home computers before they were ubiquitous. Our first one had cassette tape drive (!) and a whopping 8K memory. I can remember in junior high only the TAG kids could use the one Apple II computer in the entire school, so my friends and I got busy programming a text version of Dungeons & Dragons in BASIC. Ah, heady times! The VIC-20, Commodore 64, and TRS-80 still hold fond memories. My high school graduation present was not a car, but a super-sexy Apple IIc (remember those beauties?).

My computer repair business helped spawn (no pun intended) our other little venture, which is a gaming center called CyberOps. We had people coming in all the time for memory upgrades, video card upgrades, and adding cooling fans in order to play computer games. Some of these people were spending good money to build machines capable of running the latest, greatest games. I used to scoff at them, saying, "I've got a machine that'll play that game and it only cost $200 compared to your $3000. It's called PlayStation or XBox." They'd say, "It's totally different. Computers are way better." That's before I knew. I'd been out of the gaming arena long enough while trying to build my business that I felt like a n00b. So I played Wow, CounterStrike, DOOM, and even Tomb Raider. They were right!

A sense of community is the goal. We're all gamers. Some of us like different things. Some of us are really good at shooters, others prefer the studied patience it takes to play something like Command and Conquer. That's why I think a site like GoG is so important!  It gives a place for gamers to meet with other like-minded individuals and talk about the things we actually care about. That's the mission of our game center too. We want to make gaming a SOCIAL experience and not something you do by yourself in a dark room (not that there's a thing wrong with that). What amazes me is that the people who come to the gaming center already have an unspoken bond and comraderie with everybody else. The social stratas we see in the schools all but dissolve when they walk through the door. We get cheerleaders mixing with "A/V geeks", emo kids mixing with jocks, younger kids pwning teenagers, and young adults. Everybody is stripped down to the lowest common denominator - love of gaming...

My name is Braden and I'm excited to be here!  I'm a huge gamer, have been so for over 10 years, and don't see any end in sight.  I like most video games that come out, so I wouldn't consider myself picky.  I enjoy rocking out with the Xbox and the Xbox 360, but I also have a Playstation 2.  I have owned many gaming systems and I end up breaking them from over use, so hit me up if you have any questions and I hope you're enjoying this worldwide video gaming community as much as I am!

Hello, everyone! My name is Brandon and I have been playing video games since I was a youngun. I'm 23 and currently reside in Iowa. I have a 2 year degree in Accounting, but have been unsuccessful in finding a job in that field. (It's okay though, I'm not sure if I could do that for the next 40 years anyway!) I mostly rock the plastic guitar these days, but also play Call of Duty 4, Oblivion, and any of my other 100 or so games on occasion. If anyone is up for a game, feel free to drop me a FR - my GT is DynafireSH on Xbox Live. I look forward to gaming with you!
I don't have any specific skills or talents, but I look forward to helping out this awesome community for gamers, to the best of my ability!

What's up, it's me, PhillyBBall. As you may have guessed, I'm from Philly.  I'm 15 years old and I'm a student, but more importantly a gamer. When I'm not gaming, I chill with my friends, enjoy hockey, and play sports as much as possible.  My AIM username is Ph1llybball if you want to know more about me or connect for a chat.  You can also find me here on GoG and over at my own project, G4me Over.
I'm a big clan player and have recently taken on the opportunity to be one of GoG's first "Community Evangelists", so hit me up and maybe we can put a game together soon...

I am soon to be 28 years old - professional female video gamer, who is married to the most wonderful man in the whole world. At the moment both my husband and I are full time students working to finish our degree “Bachelors of Innovation in Game Design and Development.” I am also the Editor n’ Chief at CG Magazine which is an all digital video gaming publication that started in January 2007.
Why I became a member of the Elite Squad here at Gathering of Gamers is simple! I am a firm believer in supporting and working with great organizations like “GoG”! Here at GoG you have great resources (along with a unique video game community) that will help you on your way to finding your own nitch in the industry. If you would like to know more about me or if you have any questions, jump over to my GoG profile and let's put a game together soon!