My journey.

[Colin Spear]

I'd like to share a small portion of my journey in regards to computer/video gaming if I may. For context I became disabled when I was 47. I turn 57 in November (so, still a noob compared to many of you).

My relationship with games started in 1976 when my father brought home a Pong console, we soon graduated to a very basic racing game and then the Atari 2600 console. (I still have these.)

I was obsessed. I "wasted" all my paper route money on arcade games (Asteroids was a firm favourite).

Eventually got my Commodore-64 and began to learn how to program.

I couldn't believe people would actually pay you to "play" with computers and so when time came to do my degree I got 2 degrees in psychology instead.

Still loved computers, programming but especially games. At the ripe old age of 30 (in 2000) I became a real life paid computer programmer (more accurately a Java software developer).

Electronic games have been a central part of my life since I was 6 years old.

So when I was injured my first goal was to get back to gaming. I'm not going to go into detail here of the various things I tried and the successes and failures but YESTERDAY changed everything. It's been around 3 weeks since I got my Quadstick and yesterday I played my first actual immersive game of Borderlands in 10 years.

It brings (literal) tears to my eyes what the Quadstick has given back to me.

It's, quite frankly, given me back me.

Thank you Fred!

[Johnny Garcia]

Sharing back! 

I have a similar story. Gaming was a big part of my childhood. Our first console was an Atari 2600, followed by an NES, with a couple of others along the way. We also had a Tandy computer, which is where I started learning DOS back in 4th grade. Looking back, I guess I was destined to be a computer geek. 😂

I was injured at 17, and although I continued working with and learning about computers, gaming on consoles became pretty difficult. I couldn't operate a traditional controller, so most of my gaming eventually moved to the PC.

Fast-forward to 2015. A coworker sent me a YouTube video of Rockynohands using a QuadStick, and I was absolutely captivated. I had no idea something like that existed. A few months later, I bought my first QuadStick and an Xbox, and it opened up a whole new world for me.

I quickly realized the QS was useful for so much more than gaming. I've found ways to use it to make working on the computer easier and more efficient, and it's become a tool I use far beyond just playing games.

I wish I had more time to explore some of the other possibilities, RC cars, drones, boats, and all the other things people are doing with alternative interfaces. I’ve even heard they’re working on a sip-and-puff system that could be used for driving a vehicle. That would be pretty incredible.

It's amazing to see how much technology and accessibility have evolved over the years. For me, the QuadStick has been much more than a gaming controller. It has given me another way to interact with technology and do things I otherwise might not be able to do.

In short, it has been a life changer for me too. And it's pretty cool to see what everyone else in this community is doing with theirs.

Thank you Fred!

[Emigdio ObesoValdez]

I hear you guys. Honestly i think if I didn't have the quadstick i would be very depressed. I also use the quadstick for more than gaming. I had a bunch of DVDs and I decided to start a DVD collection. I use jellyfin as a server. It's really cool. It's like plex but better and it's free. The point is the quadstick allows me to do that, and more.

Thank you Fred!

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