Gaming and High School

note. Gaming has always been something that has cheered me up and been my passenger to support me during the bad times. I only got into online gaming on the Console back 3 years ago when I first discovered COD 4. I’m guessing that’s where majority of the Hupiteers began too. I was dazzled by the concept of online gaming and it brought a new range of dynamics to console gaming. I’m assuming we’ve all had those nights where we have partied up with a number of friends and explored into the world of creativity and immaturity on XBOX LIVE OR PSN. This is what I call the JOY OF GAMING. Now while gaming has been an important factor in my life bringing me enjoyment many times, there is a certain balance some gamers don’t understand. Now you’re probably wondering Who are you to give us advice to strike a balance between gaming and real-life, you’re only 17!. However, I have experienced the bad side of gaming myself for the past couple of years.  Gaming always consumed me during my school life, it would be the first thing that i would touch coming right after school and the last thing I would touch before going back to sleep. There were moments were I just felt trapped in this fictional world with no routes to escape from.  Gaming has always been something that affected my academic life, from the beginning of my sophomore year to my current high school year. Maybe addiction is too harsh a word to use for us gamers to explain some of the events take place within our lives. I was never really the brightest of students in my class yet I could still hold my own in terms of academics. I prepared for my GCSE’S with none effort implemented to study or perform with my most of time objected towards playing COD 4 online and raping some noob’s as we would say in the gaming world.  Yet is still came out with 5 B’s and an A. The result might still suck in terms of IGCSE standards however considering that I spent more time in front of my television than on my exam makes up for it. While this may seem like an advertisement to you younger kids who are about to give the IGCSE’S not to study and not to worry about it. It really isn’t, it emphasises the fact that if you can allocate time efficiently for gaming and studies equally, you are likely to reap greater benefits in the long run.  High school is a totally different ball game compared to other years , it requires extra hard work, dedication and focus towards to academics. In the first 6 months of my high school, these words were just juggling in the bin next to me waiting to be picked up.  It was only after my dreadful SAT result that I realised I need to pull up my try hard pants and ace this. Thankfully it wasn’t too little too late for me, and In the past 6 months I worked tremendously hard submitting all my assignment and doing fairly above average in my test and putting gaming as a secondary in my life. I pulled up my GPA to a +3.3 this year and hopefully begin sending application to various colleges. It’s funny how sometimes gaming can be a part of our real life issues. I guess the problem for us gamers isn’t that gaming is part of our lives; it is a problem when it affects our lives. Right now as I’m writing, Im supposed to right an college application easy but instead I’m writing an article for a gaming site that might or might not get published. DEJA VU all over again ? Arjun Sharma