The short answer: Make time…
… And here’s how:
If you find yourself asking this question, you’re probably at the end of high school or very new to college this semester. Well I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to give up your hobby in college, and you don’t have to risk your grades to play either. Here’s a couple of tips that may relate to you directly:
Time Management:
In college you can’t do everything, so you’ll have to pick what’s most important to you.
Don’t be concerned that you won’t have time to pursue your favorite pastime, but by no means let it jeopardize your grades. Sometimes you’ll have to do the responsible thing and simply say no, but that’s ok, you’re in college and spending a lot of money to get an education.
The hardest thing to do is to learn to let go. If you’re constantly on your phone checking Facebook, Twitter, iFunny, Snapchat, etc., than you might find that you don’t have as much time that you once thought you did. Letting go of all or most of these is crucial, and learning to only sparsely check the ones you do keep is key. Instead, use that time in between classes to do some homework, even for 15 minutes, because that will go a long way to giving you free time in the evening.
The other hard thing, is learning to prioritize your favorite hobbies. In high school you may be used to watching Netflix consistently, following all your favorite shows, hanging out with your friends (if we gamers truly have any), and spending hours on end playing games. The horrible truth is you’re gonna have to learn to give up most of these if you want to play games (unless you don’t care about your grades). Follow only your absolute favorite TV shows, don’t binge-watch Netflix unless you’re off this semester, and give up some things all together.
Money:
If you’re tight on money, the best thing you can do is find the cheapest options available.
You may be used to getting every game the day it launches and waiting til midnight for it to unlock or standing outside at Gamestop til late, but that won’t happen in college unless it’s important to you. I understand not everyone is scrounging around when it comes to money in college, but if you are than this is for you.
If you don’t have cash for all the big games this year or next, than learn to let go of the games that you wouldn’t choose first and only pick your favorites. If you get Call of Duty just to have it, than stop picking that up and just get the Battlefield or Halo game that you really love and play so much more. If you really must have it, than at least teach yourself to wait til the big holiday sale comes around. Wait 4 months for that game to drop $20 and then pick it up when there’s some special going on. If you go this route also make sure you can stop yourself from buying all the games just because their on sale (trust me, I learned the hard way).
If your budget doesn’t even permit buying a few games, than start to think about the free options you have or the cheaper ones. There’s nothing wrong with getting a GameFly or an EA Access subscription for a year and playing the games you have access too. If you’re taking your Xbox with you or commuting to campus, get your Games with Gold for the month and don’t even bother with the new big releases. In the end, a game is a game, and there are plenty of addicting free games across all platforms. Who knows? You could even become that annoying League of Legends guy that plays nothing else.
Best steps:
The real key here is let go, but if you definitely wanna play video games in college, take these steps:
- Pick the games you absolutely must play
- Manage your time and give up the things that aren’t important
- Train yourself to wait for sales and deals
- DO NOT put gaming before grades
-MarbleTyler
Skill Tree Gaming 