How many of us love the allure of gaming and the escape from reality that each genre of digital bliss brings with it? I for one grew up on having the sweet love of World of Warcraft beckoning me home after school each and every day. The deep dive into the perfectly crafted world of Azeroth on weekday afternoons took me to another reality; to another version of myself that I could not be in my life as Garrett, the 13 year old middle school student. It isn't just the large scale fantasy games that allow people to feel alive: sports games allowing those of us who could not compete at a professional level to experience the roar of the crowd, shooting games that put you in the shoes of a soldier feeling the adrenaline rush as bullets go whizzing by. The list goes on and on. Loving gaming is easy, but for the majority of video game players, having real world responsibilities comes first. Knowing when and what to play is a hard task to accomplish as the years go on and the list of what all you have to do in a day continues to grow.

I work as a restaurant manager at a local "mom and pop" hole in the wall bar and grille, putting in somewhere between 50 and 60 hours of work a week. On top of that, I am a full time student taking 5 classes working to achieve my Bachelor's Degree in Marketing. Needless to say, I have quite the busy schedule (I am actually writing this blog as a project for my social media marketing class, so stay tuned weekly to continue to read more amateur blogging attempts). It is hard to maintain my passion for gaming with such a full list of responsibilities. So, with that being said, I have come up with a few tips and tricks to help satiate my hunger for digital escape. I have found that narrowing your list of games to play down to a small handful is a major key. Having 1 main game, with no more than 2, is paramount to not getting too far in over your head. For me, playing World of Warcraft was enough to keep me satisfied and let me experience my "fix." For others however, online gaming is not their cup of tea, so I suggest finding a narrative game they enjoy and completing it before moving on to their next conquest. Another piece of advice is knowing when to turn it off. Staying up too late or putting in too many hours at once can over encumber your schedule and push out more important tasks you have to accomplish like homework. Just know, that quest will be there tomorrow. Just breathe.

With that being said, never let something you are doing take away your passion: gaming or anything else. In the coming weeks I will talk about other passions or hobbies that I tackle while balancing my hectic life. Stick around if you're interested.

xoxo Nerds

- G