Can you think of one person in your life who’s into gaming? Why do you think they’re into it? What makes gaming so interesting? Does it catch their attention? Many young teens in the world are infatuated with gaming. According to research, 1.2 billion people play games worldwide, 700 million of them online. In fact, many people consider this to either be a good or bad thing because it can turn into something isolating and addictive. So, what is it that draws a large percent of the population to be interested in games?

Anthony Capala, a junior and fellow gamer at West High School, explains his thoughts and experiences on gaming as well as what kind of games drew him into being a frequent gamer.

“I’m aware that Life is Strange 2 is popular as well as Deltarune,” Capala said. He explains how games like those are something that get him excited or intrigued as it mainly appeals to his interests of simple simulations capable of passing by some time and story-based games with a deep plot. Although these games seem to be well recommended and popular, Capala mentions how they’re not technically something you would play for free or consider “affordable”. “For every game, there’s so many developers that work their tails off,” Capala said.

He admits that he isn’t the type of person to be addicted to gaming. His reason is because usually when playing these games, he would consider it “addicting” but if played too much, he gets “sick of it” and no longer will be able to play them with the same passion. Many people have that same mindset whereas if you do the same thing over and over again, you tend to get used to the feeling and end up losing interest. Although, not everyone is the same and agrees with these thoughts.

Vincent Mercado, a freshman at West, explains how there was a point in his life where he was addicted to playing games 24/7 and how it affected him daily. “For a while, certain parts of my life, I have been addicted to just playing games and not doing anything, but around last year, I started to slow down with it due to the time that I don’t have to play games,” Mercado said. When asked if he regretted ever getting addicted at one point, he responds with “Of course not” and proceeds to explain how he had a lot of fun playing those games and making memories with his friends.

He does confess that gaming distracts him because he can never get his school work done at the time he wants it to be finished and how he doesn’t get the chance to text people back. It causes him to fail remembering to simply check what his schedule is for the day and ends up trying to do everything last minute. A game he describes to be considered “distracting” and something that he and many people are currently into is Fortnite. “To be honest, it’s a great game and although many people hate on it, it has gone through many changes to adapt with everywhere else and includes other people.” Mercado said. He believes that the game, Fortnite, is a game worth playing due to its incredible adjustments and updates, making the game more enjoyable to play. “Such as how it first started on the PC, adding to consoles, and even moving onto phones. It’s been going very well to the point they started making tournaments for competitive players to make money off of and events had been made as well as Halloween costumes being sold statewide” Mercado explains.

Gaming is something that not everyone understands but it’s something that is fun and is capable of tying people together, whether they are strangers or friends.