Gaming is certainly a very popular hobby across many age groups, and with online games having taken a more central space in the gaming industry recently, gaming itself has become more social too. Over time, the typical board and card games have transformed into video games that you can play with countless friends in real time, even when miles from each other. It’s not just the act of gaming together that encapsulates the social benefits of the hobby, but the communities that it creates – think of conventions, societies, and the fan support that allows video games to be adapted into shows and movies.
So why does there seem to be a drop in university students who game? Many teenagers play video games, whether solitary or co-operative ones, yet many people seem to turn away from the habit when they come to university. Obviously, the transition to university is a challenging one, being thrown into a new environment with few familiar faces. The big leap of adapting to university life and the hours that go into the endless socialising means that there is a lot of lost personal time, and the dedication to old hobbies begins to slip. It’s understandable why many students fall out of the habit of gaming, as the newfound ‘adult’ life of living alone at university snatches away any free time you find yourself having.
It wasn’t until late in the third term that I even remembered I could play video games if I wanted to
Yet, even when students have settled into their rhythms of lectures, socials, and adulting, the hobby seems to have vanished from the drawing board completely. Personally, I hardly touched any form of gaming in my first year; my free time was so consumed by the constant stream of studying and trying to keep up with every social event to avoid the horrible feeling of having missed out on some epic night. It wasn’t until late in the third term that I even remembered I could play video games if I wanted to, and that revelation was only after I had submitted all of my coursework for the year. This begs the question, is it the university life that is killing the hobby?
Each academic course demands hours upon hours of individual work outside of the many contact hours they provide, and balancing this can seem impossible at times. The pressure, time, and stress that university work can bring upon students could perhaps be the reason for the sacrifice of the hobby – gaming can easily be a time-consuming hobby, especially with games that require hours of grinding to achieve mastery and progress through the storyline.
Increased emotional and mental labour that academic work demands has resulted in a drop in student gamers
However, the drop in gaming whilst at university may not just be a result of the demands of a degree, but it could also be the social implications of gaming and the maligned position it is often held in. Despite the massive successes and advancements in the gaming industry recently, gaming itself is still massively looked down upon by many people. It can become ingrained in people’s minds from a young age that it is wrong for them to spend time on fruitless virtual ventures, when they should be focusing on their studies or progressing towards a career. This criticised position of gaming as a ‘distraction’ and ‘waste of time’ could be the reason why many students are less willing to engage with gaming as they grow older.
At the heart of it, I would prefer to (and do) believe that it is mostly the increased emotional and mental labour that academic work demands which has resulted in a drop in student gamers, rather than an outdated view of the maligned position of the gaming industry within society. Though fear not, because there are many ways to overcome this loss, should you be willing to find a healthy balance between university life and hobbies. Balance comes through trial and error mostly, and oftentimes, as a student, many of the things that you plan to do (including specifically set-aside time for hobbies) will inevitably fall through due to the fast-paced nature of the student lifestyle. And for those who worry about the distraction the hobby can pose, screen time limits and locks are immensely helpful for having strict rules to follow about how much time you can dedicate to it. You can even go to the extreme of unplugging and putting away any consoles you may be tempted to procrastinate with during the throes of deadline and exam season!
