Ready, Gamer?

By Kevin Nguyen

Last year the video game industry made $116 billion dollars in revenue, making gaming the most popular form of entertainment, with people spending trillions of combined hours in front of a screen. In the early 70’s, hobbyists would get together, playing video games and creating magazines, forming the gaming community.

People play video games for a variety of reasons, such as killing time or reducing stress. Shawn Tran, a freshman at Yerba Buena High School, plays video games because it gives him something new to do everyday.

“It’s never the same, everyday there’s something else to experience. The thing about video games is that they allow you to experience things you can’t experience in the real world,” Shawn says, “that’s why I come back to them everyday.

Shawn found an interest in video games when he was 8 years old. “An older friend had introduced me into a game called Minecraft, at the time, it was a very small game, and now it’s grown into an empire. As soon as I started playing it here and there, I was hooked.”

Over the years, Shawn has spent around 25,000 hours playing video games, moving onto the future, he does not plan to stop.

“I don’t really know if I’m going to want to end my gaming career,” says Spencer Reyes, a junior at Yerba Buena High School, “I’ve met so many people in this community, and there are is a handful that I really connect to and would stick with me through it all.”

“Some people label the gaming community as “toxic”, but you could meet some of the best people online,” said Spencer. “Sure you can meet some pretty horrible people online, but there are more good than bad. My whole life is honestly right here in this community.”

Video games rotting your brain is a common misconception, but it’s quite the opposite. Gaming can have multiple health benefits. According to an article from Storypick, these health benefits would include improved hand eye coordination, problem solving skills, and reduces stress.

“I would say that my problem solving skills have definitely improved because of games over the years,” says Kenny Dang, also a freshman at Yerba Buena High School, while reflecting on how games have changed him over the years. “I feel that the only negative thing is occasionally distracting me from doing work. I’ve never cancelled plans or anything just for games.”

Games are seen as a distraction or a waste of time, but it is so much more. It has formed a community and a bond, between millions of people world wide. People may not not get along, but all have the same goal of enjoying their time in the virtual world. At the end of the day, everyone comes together to go online one last time.