I have never been a person who has been known for having a certain skill, or always doing something amazing. I've never been known for being that athlete who could get all the girls or the person who could paint masterpieces with their eyes closed. I've also never been the one to succeed greatly in academics, I was a 3.0 student at best in high school. Being a "loner" in middle school all the way to the end of high school I turned to the only thing that I could be good at, video games.

I started my video game career when my parents bought me a PlayStation for Christmas with several Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon games. My parents soon realized this was a mistake due to I stopped playing with my sister all the time and focused on video games more. This soon transited into having a GameCube, to an Xbox360, and finally to being a hybrid between a PC gamer /PS4 user.

The impact that video games had upon me throughout my life was astounding, due to my social status within school at the time. I was the kid that didn't talk to others much, or when I did I messed up 60% of what I said because of a speech impediment. Making friends was a struggle for me at school, but I found comfort in online friends where I only had to communicate to them via in-game chat. Some of my friends that I have today are continued friendships I've made from video games in the past.

For example, the game Runescape provided me many life lessons, and friendships that I still have today. Runescape taught me how to time manage, and use the resources that I have to my advantage. Another lesson learned that everyone has learned if they've played this game is that patience is key. This game requires a lot of patience and if you can't accept that, well Runescape isn't the best choice for you. I also have two friends to this day that I talked to everyday because of Runescape. Who would of known pretending to play Star Wars when I was 12 on this game would lead to an amazing friendship eight years later.

My favorite video game of all time had the greatest impact on my life (obviously), and that game is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This game broke new boundaries for me, it put me in the role of a hero, someone that everyone looks up to. Obviously being the scrawny kid I was, I wasn't anyone's hero at the time and it felt pretty nice to be the person everyone looked up to. Skyrim put me on what seemed to be a never ending adventure that I played over and over again. Skyrim took up easily 500 hours of my life, and in all honesty I don't regret it one bit. At the time, I would rather play a game similar to Skyrim than go out and party or be involved with any social outgoings. Now it's a similar story, but I'd rather be playing video games with my friends than alone.

Fast forward to today and I tend to throw it back to old games I used to play such as Crash Bandicoot, but I mostly play League of Legends if I even have time to play. I unfortunately don't get the sense of being the hero that everyone needs when I play games similar to Skyrim, but to me that's a good thing. Video games have boosted my confidence in the real world and have formed me into the still-somewhat awkward guy I am today. I will always be thankful for the video games I've played and the friendships that have formed as a result from playing said games.