I lived in a council flat with nine people, but video games changed my life

Falling asleep in the same bed as your parents, uncles, grandparents and siblings is not what you normally expect from life in Britain.

But it was normal growing up for Tamoor Hussain, who lived with eight other family members in a one-bedroom student flat in east London.

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In an interview with GLHF, Hussain recalled: “It was a strange upbringing.

“It was a rough town hall. Every time you went outside, there was a 90% chance that some guys would beat you up for no reason.

“I was scared most of the time. That’s where my love for video games came from: it was escapism.

“As a child without the opportunity to walk around on my own, I immersed myself in games.”

Today, Hussain is best known as creative director of GiantBomb and a full BAFTA member, as well as editor-in-chief of GameSpot, but growing up he didn’t even own a console.

While his household topped up the energy meters with pounds, Hussain was able to go to his cousin’s house to indulge in his passion.

Hussain tells us: “I remember thinking, ‘This is incredible. I can’t believe what I see’

“I couldn’t understand it. It was so weird. I was like, ‘You decide what happens on TV. I think that’s insane.’

“I really wanted to play it, but my cousins ​​said, ‘I can play two hours a day. You must be mad if you think we’re going to let you play for us.'”

This changed when fighting games became the most popular entertainment on the market and Hussain’s cousins ​​needed victims to play with.

Although Hussain was often hammered by his more experienced cousins ​​in the ring, he kept coming back for more.

Hussain shared, “It became something I desperately needed.

“It became everything in my life. It was like food to me. Every second I wasn’t playing video games, I was forced to live in the world around me.”

Hussain managed to strike a deal with a friend who worked at a second-hand gaming store and got his first console, a Sega Mega Drive.

He says: “Streets of Rage was a huge event for me. And then Columns. So many columns.

“People talk about the Tetris bleed effect, where if they close their eyes they can still see [the blocks]. That happened to me with Columns.

“I think that’s where a lot of my broad love for video games came from, because I just had to play what I could.”

As a child, he was branded as a problem because he did not like interacting with others.

Hussain was and still is an introvert and preferred the company of a controller than other people.

He tells us, “Even as a child, my teachers kept telling my parents, ‘He doesn’t talk to anyone,'”

“I got in trouble from an early age for doing this. So I learned and forced myself to do it here and there.

Hussain struggled with social anxiety and depression, which is even harder to deal with when your family is from Pakistan.

He explains: “I was severely depressed. Depression is an extremely taboo in the South Asian community.

“South Asians have a very, very poor relationship with mental health.

“I think back to people I knew when I was younger – adults in our community – and in retrospect I can say that person was depressed.

“We just didn’t talk about it.”

Hussain went to law school because he felt it was expected of him, but he always felt his calling in games.

He took a leap of faith by applying for an unpaid internship at GameSpot – the site he now runs – and the rest is history.

Tamoor Hussain is not only a games journalist, but he supports new talent and pushes for positive change within the games industry.

He hosts charity streams to raise money and awareness for global charities, showing the good video games can do.

If you want to hear more about gaming successes, check out our interview with Lucy James.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.