CREDIT: FSU PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

It can be overwhelming for students only to focus on school work when they’ve just started their college journey. Although there are many other ways to take breaks from assignments or studying, video games are one way to take your mind off of school.

According to a study from Reviewlution, around 64 per cent of Canadians play video games on a regular basis. Most colleges nowadays even have places for students to play video games in between classes or have the opportunity to join Esport teams. With technology drastically changing year to year, video games have been a way to escape reality for a bit.

Students here at Fanshawe said that they enjoy having a place where they can go to game because it can help manage their school work. They have also been more intuitive to stay on a schedule to finish school work so they can go play video games. Fanshawe Ultimate Esports League (FUEL) captain from Overwatch Albert Butros, also known as their gamer tag LightNReset, said they manage their time between school with gaming.


“I create a list of all my classes and tasks I need to get done throughout the week, I don’t waste time during class so I understand the content to my full ability. It means when I get home I don’t waste any time getting to my school work, I will take five-minute breaks to refresh my memory once every 30 minutes or so. Then I can play for the rest of the night and do other training with my teammates and help them improve,” LightNReset said.

The balance can be a struggle for other college students though. Some assignments, projects and study sessions can be quite stressful. Since video games don’t require a lot of effort, it is an easy way to cling onto a certain game to distract yourself from the other stress that might be daunting to think about. Even though video games might be used to distract yourself from stressful work, Veronica Visla, also known by her gamer tag TheOddRadish, believes that gaming has helped towards her school work but it also can be tough.

“After I finish gaming, I still need to take a break afterwards before I jump into schoolwork, since I’m in the video game design program I actually critique the games I’m playing so it’s hard to jump back into school work after that,” TheOddRaddish said.

Even though video games are used to escape reality for a bit and get your mind off of other tasks at hand, it also has benefits while in school. One of those is that it teaches teamwork and this can be quite handy when students are having to work together on projects and in group settings.

“It has helped a lot with team building, I’ve noticed when I’m in class I will talk more to my classmates the next day if I was up a bit later gaming with friends online and I feel that it’s more of a safer environment for myself when I’m in class,” TheOddRadish said.

It will be interesting to see how video games will keep adapting into our day to day lives. From Valorant or even Candy Crush on your phone, games are a way to relieve some stress from our busy lives.