Fiji: The island with no vidya

I recently went on a trip back to the country I was born in, Fiji, for two weeks… which is why I haven’t been posting up any entries lately. But, now that I’m back I can post some stuff about my thoughts on Fiji. There is this blog entry as well as some stuff I will be posting in the forum as well.

Many, many years ago (in December it’ll actually be TWENTY years ago) I moved from Fiji to Australia. Before that time, I don’t remember playing any video games, at least that I can remember. I look back at those times and wonder, “what the hell did I have to do back then?” I think really hard about it and come to the conclusion that I really didn’t have much to do as a child in Fiji… it was pretty boring for me actually… I’m so glad that we moved to Australia when I was 5.

I went back to Fiji for a holiday in 1992 after my family officially became Australian Citizens. I remember that I did get to play a lot of Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt on my cousin’s NES which made quite an impact on me. In fact, it made quite an impact that I didn’t rest until I got one of my own. Luckily for me, in Christmas 1992, my parents bought me a SNES and off I went…

It’s been quite a long time since then and while I remember some people there had a NES or the occasional Sega Master System (that most likely came from New Zealand), but nothing more. While I was in Australia enjoying all of the gaming I could handle, in Fiji, not many people can really afford to buy video games in the first place. I noticed when I went back a couple of weeks ago, that the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable has quite a presence in Fiji… though you can only find them in “Prouds” which is one of those ultra-premium department stores that no local who isn’t a white guy who owns a hotel/resort or a foreigner can afford.

I suspect that over the years the amount of people who own a video game console in Fiji has dropped quite a lot. In a country like Fiji, I could only see children being interesting in gaming in the first place, however any family with children wouldn’t be able to afford to buy one in the first place. Of course there are a lot more pressing issues in Fiji that are a lot more important than whether they have video games or not, but what did you expect from a blog based around video games? I for one am very glad that I don’t live in Fiji, because of the lack of vidya, as well as the many other reasons you’d come to realise if you ever went there and don’t hide away at one of the resorts that have no contact with the reality of the place… so very glad I don’t live there.

Oh yeah, and if you’re wondering, the island pictured in this entry is called “South Sea Island.” I happened to spend an entire day there swimming, snorkelling, taking in the sun, perving on the chicks in bikinis from behind my sunnies (lol)… great day, definitely the best day out of the 13 days I spent over there.