Jose Lopez

2/16/2023

English 110

Final Draft Success

         A huge success I’ve had in my life is just my skill in gaming. It sounds very strange but to me I take pride in the games I’m good at. When I was younger, I used to be very bad, obviously, as I had just started playing them. My uncle had introduced me to them because he would play with me all the time. It started with easy kids’ games that I could learn quickly and there wasn’t really a sense of competitiveness because it was just a casual game. But it started picking up and eventually I managed to gain the skills I have today, and I am proud because it is not only a hobby but a passion to me. It was one of my many escapes from the cruel grasps of real life.

         When I was younger my uncle used to play a lot of video games and I would watch him play a variety of games. I’d see him play violent games, horror games, or casual colorful games. The variety of it always struck me and it made me want to try it. So, one day I asked him to teach me how to play and that’s when I took off. My little brain was not ready for the amount of creativity that I was going to gain just by playing these games. It was such an experience being able to run around playing Lego Batman and seeing how I can stop the Joker. Or maybe what I could build in Minecraft especially with creative mode where I had access to so many different blocks and tools. Not to mention the survival mode alone was amazing, being able to build a house on my own and do my best with limited resources. This was just scratching the surface; with all the offline games I was playing at the time I couldn’t wait to start trying the online games and playing with real people. I had been playing games like Mario for my DS and I had Mario Party which you could play with people next to you, but it was never as fun as my idea of competing with people online.

         One day my uncle finally introduced me to three new game franchises. It was 3 of the biggest franchises at the time; Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War. With just these three games my life was changed in another sense. I started learning from him because I was new, and these games were much harder and less forgiving than the games I was so used to playing now. First person shooters were something that immediately made me happy because I felt like the person in the game. I was looking through their eyes, so I felt like I was one with the game. It was another level of immersion that I could almost feel myself in these situations. The emotions I felt when my character lost a loved one or when sacrifices had to be made in order to complete the mission. But the joy of being able to celebrate a job well done and seeing my skills improve with each level, match, or game I played. I finished the entirety of each game’s story mode in co-op mode with my uncle and once we finished that he let me play online because I was ready. And that was an understatement because I started to realize that these people were not as predictable as the A.I I had been fighting up till that point. It was a game changer and I discovered that real people had way more skill and technique than I had at the time. I was a kid playing games not yet at my age rating, yet I felt like I had to get better. I kept playing every day I could, and I started seeing progress. I started getting more eliminations in each game and I was feeling proud of myself. This was finally something I was getting the gang of.

Fast forward to now and I can assure you that the skills I have now are nothing compared to what I had when I was younger. I play new and different games that fit my age rating and I have surpassed my younger expectations. Some of the games I play now are Smash Bros., Dead by Daylight, and Rainbow Six Siege. I continue to play the same franchises as before but now they have changed and grown just as I have. I play them knowing the entire story of the past games and while they are new people, I still remember the past. In my high school I’m still known as one of the best Super Smash Brothers players, among the top 3 at least. And in Dead by Daylight, I give players there a run for their money as I am pretty good at running away from the Killers I the game but I’m just as good at chasing the survivors down. Overall, my childhood was filled with fun worlds and creativity for years. I’m proud to say that I still carry that imagination and to this day I am proud of the skills I’ve learned. Every game built my success that I have today and it will continue to grow.

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