My Pursuit Of Happiness
I’m about to journey into a new and exciting, albeit frightening, stage of my life. Three weeks from the time I’m writing this will be my first day as a college student, and I’m not entirely optimistic about it yet. From my early years of high school I’ve been told that college defines you, which is daunting to think about when college is this close. “Where you go to college, what you study, and what your grades are will shape the rest of your life.” But these scare tactics obviously didn’t get through my thick skull, immediately anyways. It wasn’t until my Junior year of high school that I took these warnings a bit more seriously. Coincidentally, my Junior year also gave way to where I am now, writing. I had always enjoyed writing, always loved everything about video games, and I wanted a job that would allow me to preserve the two in my future. Now, two years later, and I’m writing video game related blogs and readying myself to study Mass Communications in college, hopefully leading to a career in video game journalism. I’d like to think I’m well on my way, but with my idealism also came an internal struggle. I would think to myself, “Is this really the best option for me?,” or “Would I really be able to do this?” My optimism towards this career was halted by a few people’s stern doubt. An article I read picked fun at video game journalism, declaring a few flaws in hopes of turning people away from it. Problems mentioned included low pay, PR lines (trying to incorporate “back of case” worthy quotes into your writing), and lastly, he said that it would probably suck the fun out of video games due to working around deadlines, playing games with a critical eye, and playing bad games. First of all, deadlines would suck, but they’re obviously expected. If you don’t want deadlines, make your own publication. Second of all, I love playing games with a critical eye, as a matter of fact, I do naturally. (My friend and I will often find ourselves picking fun at the ludonarrative dissonance that plagues most games today.) And as far as playing bad games.. I love tearing apart bad games. I guess that article wasn’t directed towards someone who was so intensely focused. My family wasn’t exactly overjoyed upon hearing that I was going to write for a living, let alone about video games. (They still would like to see me make serious cash by becoming a lawyer or doctor, both very, very far from anything I would enjoy.) At school my College Writing teacher was giddy upon hearing I write for recreation, but I was given warnings after telling her that I’d like to pursue a career in journalism. “Be careful about choosing the print media route, it’s not the best,” she said. Even my Student Services Advisor (formal job title for someone who is responsible for sending high school students off to college prepared) told me that I would be wise to choose an English or Creative Writing degree over Journalism. “It’s just the safest thing to do,” she said with a smile. Well, I believe that sometimes the “safest thing to do” isn’t always the best option. Despite everyone’s unwavering doubt, I think that I can find a happiness by sticking with my passion, happiness that would be unobtainable to me in the world of law or medicine, because to me, video games are much more than just mindless fun. From a very early age I found solace in all sorts of video games. For example, long stints in the hospital were brightened by a complimentary N64, my fondness of solitude was reinforced by my first console, a Gameboy Color complete with Pokemon Yellow, which allowed me to immerse myself into a new and fascinating world, and my less than stellar athleticism was balanced by my ability to destroy everyone at Super Smash Bros. Since childhood video games have been a huge part of my life, and I think it’d be crazy to axe them out in favor of something that I have absolutely no interest in, something that would bring me wads of cash but ultimately no sense of fulfillment. I hope that everyone who blogs here on GI can at least partially relate to what I’m saying. I’d like to see all of you aspiring video game journalists gunning for the top, (by that I mean Game Informer, of course.) Hopefully your friends, family, or even a prudish College Writing teacher or won’t convince you to do otherwise. I’ll leave you all with one of my favorite quotes, one that I try to remember in hopes of keeping that fiery passion burning. “It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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