From Lemmings to Action Replay – My Journey into the World of Computers
When I look back on when and how I first immersed myself in the world of computers, my memory takes me straight to my very first machine: an Amiga 500. A seemingly unimpressive grey box that shaped my youth and forever changed my view of technology. While other kids played outside, I spent hours in front of the monitor, not just playing games but more importantly analyzing, modifying, and optimizing.
First Steps into the Digital World
Rediscovering Classic Gaming with the Amiga 500
The Amiga was more than just a toy for me. Of course, games like Lemmings, Oil Imperium, Civilization, or Zak McKracken fascinated me. But at some point, just playing wasn’t enough – I wanted to understand how these games worked. Why did something happen in a certain way and not another? Was there a way to influence the game mechanics? My curiosity extended beyond the gaming world and into the technology behind it.
The Influence of Action Replay & System Hacks
The real eye-opener came with a little wonder module called Action Replay. This cheat device allowed players to manipulate games: infinite lives, unlimited money, level skips – suddenly, everything was possible. But for me, it was more than just a simple cheat tool. Action Replay revealed that a game was nothing more than a logical sequence of numbers and commands. And if you knew where they were stored, you could alter them at will.
This was my first lesson in reverse engineering. I was no longer just playing – I was analyzing, hacking, and testing boundaries. And that fascinated me more than the games themselves.
From Playing to Understanding
One might think that after this revelation, I naturally moved on to programming. But the opposite was true. I realized I had no real urge to write my own software. Mathematics wasn’t my strong suit, and the thought of typing endless lines of code didn’t excite me. What truly intrigued me was understanding existing systems, optimizing them, and adapting them to my needs.
I was driven by the questions: „How does this work?“ and immediately after: „Can I improve or bypass it?“ This became my world, and it’s a game I have never stopped playing.
Frustration & Fascination in the IT World
What I learned back then still accompanies me today. My mindset has always been „Nothing is impossible“ – if software didn’t work or limited my use, I would search for a solution until I found one. This approach not only led me into the IT world but also exposed me to its biggest flaw: dilettantism.
Nothing frustrates me more than poorly designed, unnecessarily complicated software. Seeing people struggle with inefficient programs simply because they were set up poorly or were needlessly complex drives me crazy. I’ve encountered this in my professional life as well, where poorly configured IT systems waste valuable time and energy.
Conclusion: What I Have Learned
Looking back, my early engagement with the Amiga 500, Action Replay, and software logic has given me an invaluable advantage: I am highly autodidactic. I teach myself whatever I need to because I learned early on that every system can be understood and adjusted. In fact, I view the human system in much the same way. It’s likely this mentality that helped me overcome my mental illness – among other things, I analyzed and optimized my Borderline system so extensively by my mid-30s that the diagnosis no longer applied. However, I hadn’t accounted for the alternative program: anxiety, which unfortunately activated itself afterward.
And although I never received the recognition I sought from my family at the time, my journey into the world of computers has gifted me with something far more valuable: the ability to navigate any digital environment instantly and never shy away from questioning existing rules.
