Very good idea for a topic, and I'm glad to be here to lend a hand. Has gaming had a lot of benefits in my life? Yes! Both good and bad (I rather regret having to say the latter). I understand that not all of this may relate directly to your questions, but it does show how gaming has benefited me.
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A Bit of HistoryI've been gaming for most of my life, as far back as I can remember (since I was 4, maybe 5 years old). I was born with ADHD among other things, and I had trouble concentrating on one thing for very long. I've been in school to help with that (and other things) since I was 13 months old, and I can say that I stopped suffering from ADHD a long time ago. Did gaming help with that? I believe so, but you be the judge.
My mother was a bit of a gamer herself, having owned an NES system since before I was born. She used to play Tetris and Pac-man and Super Mario Bros, and when I came along and it was discovered that I had ADHD, she decided to get me into gaming to help with my concentration. If I could learn to focus on something on the screen and get the character from Point A to Point B without drifting away from it, she thought it would help improve my focus in all other areas of my life as well, particularly schoolwork (at the time). Did it work? Maybe a tad too well.
Thus my gaming career was born. I'd come home from school and unwind by playing a little bit of Mario or Castlevania, then get on with my homework. My ability to concentrate on things was greatly strengthened, and shortly after that I pretty much stopped exhibiting any of the symptoms of ADHD. These days it's safe to say I'm pretty much cured of that (I've played Trem for 12 hours in a row if you need proof
).
As I mentioned earlier, gaming has also had it's bad effects. In 2002 I received an Xbox for Christmas, and I entered the "modern" era of gaming. No more 2D for me! I'd say that it was then that I pretty much became a full fledged gamer. I started checking in with what was good and popular, instead of just buying whatever caught my eye. I joined up with an online school that I worked in from home. While this was a great feature to have for someone like me, who suffers from muscle problems and deafness as well, it also allowed me to focus MORE time into my gaming hobby. As the years went on, this proved to not be the best thing in the world as I began to play more and neglect my studies. Not that I had trouble with the work; I never have. It was just a matter of making myself do the work.
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Here and NowLater on in 2006, I came across a beautiful gem known as Tremulous. I played it for a few years, not bothering to ever look into the "meat" of the game. I never had cared exactly how a game was put together.
A couple of years ago I picked up Blender, a 3D modeling program. I messed around with it for a bit and followed tutorials, then realized that I could use such a program to make models for games! Intrigued by this, I decided to look into the other aspects of what made a game... well, a game! Code, art, music, level design... it was all so new and interesting. And then I hit the jackpot, at least for me: writing.
I've always been a huge reader and I've toyed with writing over the years. After some thinking, I decided to give it another try almost this time last year. I'd been in a few forum RPs since 2006, and that had helped my enthusiasm and writing skills somewhat. I turned my eyes to a game that really had no back story at all, something that would give me a lot of "leg room", so to speak. And that game was Tremulous!
I'm sure several of the people here have read my novella, The Harder They Fall. It was my first serious attempt at writing a story and there was mostly positive feedback from the community (for that I'm very glad
). I've written up a few short stories since, all met with positive feedback as well. Due to these events, I've pretty much decided to forge my career with a pen and a large notebook (or in my case, a keyboard and OpenOffice
). I certainly have not forgotten my roots, however, and I am still as much of a gamer now as I ever was. I'd love to write for a few games in my time!
So has gaming affected my life to a great degree? Without a doubt! Pretty much my entire life, up to this point, has been paved by me with a controller in one hand, a keyboard in the other, pixels dancing in front of my eyes, and my wild imagination. I wouldn't be where I am today without the aid of God, my parents, the digital academy I go to, or that old NES (hey, I think that thing is STILL running flawlessly).
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AfterwordsI've pretty much covered your first three questions with what I wrote above, so I'll take care of #4 now.
"Do you think that the school system can help you with this kind of interest, or if it could, would you need it?"
Well, maybe not directly. I think it would be helpful if, for those who are interested in a career in gaming, have some sort of "side classes". For example: if someone were interested in level design/mapping (another area that I rather enjoy) it might be helpful to offer a type of class that helped with gameplay and design ideas. Not actually building the levels, per se, but maybe getting people together to discuss ideas and whatnot and putting it down on paper to see if it'd work.
I hope this was something of a helpful post! I tried to cover everything that you might find interesting, and with luck you'll find something of use. Best of luck on the essay, good sir!
-Death
