Despite video games being the most popular form of entertainment in today’s world, parents still won’t let their kids play. Mainly this is because of the perceived waste of time. If you’re from a old-school household this perception is common.
It wasn’t too long ago that kids went outside to play games. Now we just login and press start. I remember growing up that my mother thought I had depression because of this. I’d rather do all my hanging out at school, and then come home and crack out on PS2. This carried on through high school as well. It’s only now that I’m more outdoorsy. But I still can’t fight the button mashing itch…There was also a time when I wasn’t allowed to play games till the weekend.
This was a decision made by my mom’s boyfriend then. His house, his rules. These are situations you can’t really get out of as kid, or teen. At one point I just gamed at my grandmother’s house, and my mom was non the wiser. Eventually she caught on, and boom! No video games at grandma’s.
This was during the Xbox 360 golden era. Halo 3 was out and everything! I definitely had a video game addiction, but I couldn’t see it at that time.
Eventually I hit 17 and you couldn’t stop me from playing. I was at that “idowhatiwant†phase. It was at that time I started writing about video games. All I did was review them. This actually helped tremendously with my situation. I got free games from companies, and I got a bit of casheesh on the side. A win win.
I also started competing, and going to conventions. I’ve even been accepted to E3 several times. It was that I took it seriously that helped my situation. Which is my advice to young video gamers. If you love video games, find a way to make it a career. If you can show your parents or whoever, that video games are a career for you, it changes how they look at it.
And it can be anything really!
You can be video game designer, video game blogger, tester, competitive gamer, community manager, so much more. Really the choice is yours. And the gaming community really opens up to serious gamers. And it’s so easy to get your foot in the door nowadays.
I would say the easiest step to begin with, is to write reviews. If you can record some video reviews, that helps tremendously. But just start a blog, and put your opinions on a game to letter. Buy your domain name on godaddy, and start it on tumblr!
If you really want to make it simple, write on medium. Then just share your works with anyone who’d care. And through consistent effort, something amazing will happen. You could get a job at IGN, maybe work at Kotaku, or be a YouTube sensation.
Just press start!
Share this around with any gamer who needs a 1UP.
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