We love shining our spotlight on outstanding members of the community. We’ve featured popular streamers, YouTubers, or players who have created cool websites and utilities to help serve the community. Today, we wanted to do something a little different and highlight an average Joe - someone who doesn’t have a project to talk about, but still has a story to share.
Please meet Galford72043.
Ever since the community on Bungie.net learned that you were a 73 year old Destiny player, you have been one of the most requested players for a Community Focus. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about yourself?
Galford: I'll actually be 73 on Wednesday, the 20th, and will celebrate at a Chinese restaurant with my family. I have a wonderful, supportive wife (40 years 11/12/2016), two daughters, both teachers, and four grandchildren. I operated a small video production company for almost thirty years which I closed when I retired in 2008. After retirement, I worked part-time as a chauffeur until I needed a knee replacement in October of 2014. I've been sitting a lot over the past couple of years due to several surgeries on my right foot which have been slow to heal. Thankfully, I had Destiny to fill the hours.
Well Happy Birthday! Sounds like you have a good life and a great family. What first got you into playing Destiny?
Galford: The knee replacement got me thinking about gaming to fill my hours as I stopped working altogether. Since both my sons in law and my grandsons play video games I started looking at used and refurbished consoles but was leery about not buying new. My wife convinced me to wait and then bought me a PS3 for Christmas 2014. The console came bundled with either Fallout 4 or Destiny. After my wife told the sales clerk I am a huge science fiction fan he suggested the Destiny bundle, for which I am extremely thankful. I upgraded to the PS4 in July after I saw an online comparison of the graphics between the 3 and the 4. Recently I purchased an Xbox One with the Elite controller bundled with Halo 5 and I also bought the Master Chief series. I want to see the progression of Halo 1- 4 and on to Destiny.
It’s never too late to become a Bungie fan. You’re living proof there are gamers of all ages. What is your favorite Subclass and weapons?
Galford: I enjoy the Sunbreaker most of all. Hammers of Sol are a lot of fun, but all the Subclasses have their strong and weak points. If I'm a Warlock, I use Sunsinger and I don't play my Hunter as much as the other characters, although he is the one I started with and played almost exclusively for a long time.
I'm a Scout Rifle player. They remind me of firing my M-14 back in my service days. The Hung Jury is my favorite. I have one with what I think is a pretty good roll, with Firefly, Underdog, Extended Mag., Hand Laid Stock, and Triple Tap with a signal MS5 sight. I also like Colovance's Duty and I have a ToM. As a secondary, I started with Shotguns but after I met my mentor, he switched me to Fusion rifles and I like the Split Shifter Pro. I know many Guardians are using Sniper Rifles, but I've just never learned to use them. I know it's a weakness in my game play and I've got to learn to use them if I want to progress. As for Heavy Weapons, yes, I'm looking forward to getting my Gjallarhorn back soon. The Exotic Swords are awesome and really help a player like me whose aiming skills are not the best.
You’ve got a great taste in weaponry. What are your favorite Activities to do in Destiny?
Galford: I've always enjoyed PvE more than PvP and I know I'm probably in the minority. I didn't play much Crucible until you implemented skill-based matchmaking in Year 2. It was a real help to me, as it made me fairly competitive. I could finish near the middle instead of always on the bottom. I'm sorry to see it being slowly replaced by connection based matchmaking and I understand the elite player’s problems with red bar connections and "sweaty" matches, but for me, every foray into the Crucible is sweaty. After a week of playing Iron Banner, I'm exhausted. I'm sure many of the mature players feel as I do. As for PvE, I think my favorite is Paradox. I've tried to do it alone several times, but another Guardian has always jumped in near the end. In retrospect, I should be glad because there are so many ads after the last jumping puzzle. I'd really like to do Kingsfall as I've never done it from start to finish.
Perhaps we can find some people to lead you there. The community was very impressed when you posted about finishing with the high score in an Iron Banner match. Was that a long time goal? How did the match go, did everything just click for you?
Galford: I didn't play Iron Banner for a long time. When I was first playing on my PS3, I would play PvE several times a week with my son in law. When Iron Banner came along, he would go play and I would continue with PvE. I don't recall when I started going there, but when I did, I could always get all the bounties except the one which included getting the highest score. I really thought I would never get it because I rarely finish above third place.When I got the high score in Iron Banner, I was so excited I wanted to share with the community and encourage players not to quit when they fail. As I told one player who asked my secret, I replied. "Persistence, never quit."Everything did click perfectly for me. We were in Frontier and I went straight down the tracks and got 6 or 7 head shot kills immediately. I managed to maintain that lead until near the end when the Guardian I was playing with took the lead and we traded it back and forth a couple of times until with only a couple of seconds left I scored a head shot kill to take the lead and the match ended.
Sounds like an exciting finish. Congrats on finishing on top. You have been on this rock for a long time. Any words of wisdom you can pass on to the younger players reading this?
Galford: Appreciate every day. They are all gifts.Put your family above everything else.Treat others as you would like to be treated.Honor is a gift a person gives themselves.
Thanks for sharing. Those are great ideals to live by. What would you like to change or add to Destiny?
Galford: More PvE content would make me happy. Maybe more levels of mission set challenges and some rewards for the higher levels. All of the older content has two levels of difficulty. The original one and 240. I think many players would be happy to go back and play that content at a more difficult level. Same for the Raids. Otherwise, I'm good.
Anything else you would like to say in closing?
Galford: Destiny has opened up a new world for me, a fascinating world I thoroughly enjoy. I hope I can stay healthy enough to see the end of Destiny and play alongside my grandsons who are now ten and six. I vacillate between being sorry I didn't discover video games earlier in my life and being glad I didn't as I realize how much time I would have spent playing and not working. The post going viral was really fun and I was amazed at all the comments from other mature gamers. The post was originally about me but it quickly morphed into a post about all the Guardians like me. They are older or have physical disabilities or other handicaps. They struggle to achieve their goals in the game or get their light level and KTD to a respectable level. It was a humbling experience and I am honored to somehow represent all those Guardians.
Last of all, I'd like to thank all the guardians who have helped me get where I am. They have been kind and generous with their time and knowledge. Most of all I'd like to acknowledge Gameguy1973 who has been the most influential Guardian on my journey.
It’s hard to follow that. It was a real pleasure getting to speak with Galford72043 and hear his inspiring story. We love that Destiny can be enjoyed by such a wide range of players from all walks of life. Sometimes it’s easy to forget there are real people behind every name on the Internet. It’s good to be reminded of that fact from time to time.
This Community Focus was brought to you by… well, you. We found this request trending on the Community forum. If you know someone you would like to see featured in the future, please share them with us using the #Community Focus tag.