My name is Alex Albrecht.
I used to host a television show called "The Screen
Savers" on G4 Tech TV.
And I started a internet television show called
"Diggnation" about 6 and 1/2 years ago.
And then I've created a bunch of different internet
television properties and started moving into directing.
I just recently wrote and directed a
live-action Voltron short.
I've been a video gamer pretty much all my life since my dad
brought home our first Apple IIe and was like,
what does this do?
And we started playing "Frogger." My family is very
much into card games and board games and stuff like that.
If we'd lose power or something, we would all play
Hearts, or Cribbage, or Tiddly Winks, or something like that.
And yes, I did say Tiddly Winks.
And it's awesome.
Don't laugh.
I would consider myself an advanced gamer.
I would definitely shy away from the expert gamer.
There are probably some games that I would be
considered an expert in.
But I always feel like the whole nature of games is
nobody ever is really the expert,
unless you're Wil Wheaton.
I went to college for computer science and got a degree in
computer programming.
I worked at the Rand Corporation, which is a
nonprofit think-tank, and the whole time really didn't want
to do any of that stuff.
I sort of felt like the emperor's new clothes kind of
thing, where I was like why am I-- at some point somebody's
going to wake up and go, you really suck
at this, don't you?
And I'd be like, oh, thank you.
I've been waiting.
I'll just to take my stuff and leave.
But I did improv comedy all through college.
And I've been always a ham since I was a kid.
So, I knew I wanted to do something in
the arts, as it were.
And I've been a huge fan of sci-fi, and fantasy, and
games, and gaming, and all that stuff.
I literally ended up getting my start on a television show
that was an hour live
television show about computers.
It was rare that you would find a person who had improv
experience and could do an hour of live television every
day and also had a computer science degree that could back
up all the computer info with some knowledge from there.
So, I sort of fell into the perfect job for me that I had
for two months.
I think for a while sci-fi was relegated to a very niche
population for a very long time.
And I think it's now OK for people to love sci-fi, and
fantasy, and stuff like that.
And I think gaming is coming up with that.
The funny thing is that I think people are now coming to
realize that gaming can be a storytelling mechanism and
that the games actually weave in a fun story element.
It's not just, do you have fours, you know what I mean?
Go fish.
That's also a game but less captivating.
I'd never put myself in a box of what I do for a living is
all I can do for a living.
So, I've launched websites, and done iPhone apps, and
directed, and written, and hosted, and acted.
For me, I think, there's always a next frontier of
something I haven't tried.
For me, it's gaming.
I'd come up with an idea for a board game.
And at some point I'm going to have the time and/or money to
be able to just go, you know what, screw it.
I'm just making that board game.
I don't care what anybody says.
I'm just going to make it.
Gaming is good for your health.
And two, gaming is a state of mind.
