The struggle of being both a student and a gamer.

Shuffling the priorities in my life which result from the two separate identities I consider myself as (a student and a gamer), eventually becomes tiresome as I forget one side of my life and focus on the other. I’m a gamer, born and bred; my passion towards gaming started of a young age, I wouldn’t have been surprised had my first word been spoken whilst playing Super Mario 64! Despite my undying love for the video game industry and experimenting with brand new franchises whilst exploring wondrous virtual worlds, lately I’ve been unable to keep up with the constant stream of content being released for gamers to play with – instead my student identity has more-or-less taken over my life.

It’s an important year for me, this is the year where I can maximise my efforts to earn the highest grade which will help guarantee my placement in University, or it’s the year where I can lazily stroll through with other priorities and watch all my peers graduate to University whilst I remain hopeless – of course you can understand why gaming is therefore not a big deal for me as it used to be.

The key is mastering the arts to juggle when to fit in video gaming. Stereotypically, a student’s life would revolve around studying and socialising – perhaps also working in a part-time job and then wanting to keep up with your hobbies which could include video gaming.  To do so it’s all about prioritising. The past me would have less care for other factors and could seclude other parts of my life so that I can blast my way through my extensive library of video games  to play; now it’s different. Now there’s a primary focus in earning the best possible grade I can, whilst maintaining a social reputation, there’s no longer the accessibility to owning multiple consoles and purchasing practically any game that interests me. The struggle which I refer to in the headline is the need to be selective with your gaming life.

Despite me having this education prioritisation, since I still consider myself a ‘gamer’, it’s difficult to just disregard my gaming identity and save my self from this predicament of choosing selective games to play. I’ve narrowed my list to only the generally highly rated new releases – particularly focusing on these games being released so that I can play on my Wii U or PS4. What’s convenient about this is the lack of a range of games being released on the two consoles which makes my selectivity easier.  I’m bound to purchase ‘Super Smash Bros’ on my Wii U or ‘Far Cry 4’ on my PS4, only because I have an existing passionate interest in the two. There’s a lot more I’d like to explore, ranging from Indie games to mediocre games and even to high blockbuster games – but I’ve conformed to this selective lifestyle now. Then there’s the other platforms which I’m practically neglecting now; most notably my 3DS and PC which I’ll miss the most. But one must make sacrifices when trying to focus. In the long-run, gaming is most likely not going to aid me as much as I’d like it to.

I have to thank my decision and admiration to become a journalist. Perhaps without it, I’d have no legitimate reasoning to justify me purchasing these new games. Thankfully running ‘yBaX Start’ has allowed me to use this website as a catalyst to not disregard gaming completely for this year, it encourages me to push on both my gaming ambition and my aim to be a journalist.

So this weeks ‘Talking Point‘ is simple, have you ever encountered conflicting life styles in which you have to extensively sacrifice your gaming time for something else? What tips do you have to juggle between the two lifestyles? Share your thoughts in the comments below!