I am Prince Miller, an Electrical Engineering student at City Tech. I was drawn to this major because I have always had an affinity for electronics, and I think that stems from my video games as a child. All my life, I have been extremely interested in video games. According to my mother, I even learned to read using a toy that would announce and pronounce a letter upon my pressing the correspondent button. I’ve been pushing buttons on video game consoles ever since, from Super Nintendo to PlayStation 4. Video games were a huge part of my childhood, and many people who know me personally believe that my infatuation with video games is what inspires my childlike and playful nature, but I think that stems from having playing video games as a means of bonding with my family. Having these people to play with, and against, has made me extremely competitive. I even started outdoor sports because I liked the video games about them.  Honestly, I don’t think I would be the person I am today had I never played video games.

My first introduction to video games happened when I was a baby. I have a brother who is fifteen months older than I am, and when I arrived home from the hospital after being born, our family already had a Super Nintendo, and from what I remember, he was pretty good at video games without needing much help. Strangely enough, I was told that I initially hated video games because I thought they were too scary. My brother constantly used to tease me for crying whenever I saw a bad guy or monster. I did, however, really enjoy playing with my alphabet toy, which helped me learn to read fluently at just two years old. That was my first positive encounter with a game-like device, and since then it has been off to the races for me. In no time at all, I grew to have an affinity for video games over the years, since I beat my first game, Pokémon Red, at just three years old. Ever since then, I have been playing some game or another. Nowadays, I enjoy my Playstation 4 games the most.

As I grew older, I found that playing video games with my family and friends also served as a bonding mechanism.  This bonding made me like video games all the more, because family has always been one of the most important things for me. Whether we had to work together to defeat a level in Army of Two, battle one another to settle a dispute in Mario Party, or simply see who was best in NBA 2k, video games have always been an integral part of my relationships with my brother, sisters, and even my parents. For example, video games taught me a lot about sharing, taking turns, and playing fair. I found that simply the act of sitting beside someone while you play the game together, whether you are playing as their teammate or as their opponent, can silently bring two people closer together. Put another way, I believe that video games go a long way in bringing people together, because their difficulty (to solve a puzzle or beat a level) and competitive edge (having someone push you to become a better player) requires you to reach out to others. For this reason, video games have the power to end arguments and repair relations. The camaraderie that results, among other things, is one of the most enjoyable parts of gaming for me.

I also always liked that my favorite video games usually became cartoons, and vice versa. Especially as a child, that was a big way of connecting two of my passions, and being able to play as my favorite characters from television definitely made my Saturday morning cartoons all the sweeter. Even today, the nostalgic value of these games has not been lost on me, and I am still able to have fun playing as Goku from Dragonball Z or Batman from the comics and Batman cartoons. Getting to play as my favorite action heroes in an amazing action game is a feeling that is extremely rewarding.

Generally speaking, I think life is fun, or at least the pursuit of fun and happiness, though my line of thinking may be due in part to my generally cheery nature. I am always in a playful or happy-go-lucky mood, laughing and joking day in and day out. I personally believe this is in part because of my lifetime of playing video games. When I play video games, the entire world is almost shut out at times. I can lose myself in the vast open world of a role-playing game, be thrust into the excitement and adrenaline of a sports game, or simply be too focused on the fast paced combat of an action game. The satisfaction and enjoyment of playing well is euphoric, and often lifts my mood, which does not change very often. Because of this, I am usually very cheery and laid back about most things in life, because my mind is not stressed easily. My parents agree, and are always complaining that I do not take things seriously enough, but I cannot help it. Since I have been playing these games for so long, any other activity or task I am ever involved in, I have to find the fun in it or a way to make it fun for myself, or I will not be likely to be productive in it.

One of the ways I have the absolute most fun is competition. Whether it is in sports, video games, board games, academically, or even socially, having someone to jostle against for bragging rights always pushes me to excel to or past my absolute best. When I have someone who I personally have a vendetta against, I don’t view tasks as tasks or work as work, only as competition. I bring this mindset to everything I do and apply it nearly every day, but I think it stems from playing video games as a child. All my life, my brother and I have been fervently competing with each other to beat games first, or beat games on the highest difficulty, or die a fewer amount of times, or to master the best moves. When we got Madden 08, we tried tirelessly to make the better character and score the most touchdowns. When we got our own separate Game Boy Advances, that was the first time we each had our own separate game consoles, and we played Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire that entire day until the next morning, each of us trying to be the first one to catch the legendary Pokémon. These personal battles, I think, have shaped my mentality in life, and even drove me to compete in other ways, such as in real life sports.

Video games have also shaped me as an athlete . I began to play sports because of some of the video games I liked to play. When I was younger, playing the Madden and Fight Night franchises made me want to go out and actually become a defensive back, or a heavyweight boxer, respectively. I still remember the interception my created cornerback caught that made me ask my parents to put me on the local Little League football team, and eventually my high school football team. Later, when my father left home, I began to box as a means of connecting with him, because I remembered playing against him in Fight Night, and he had always told me I could beat Muhammad Ali if I set my mind on it.

In retrospect, having had video games as a constant throughout my lifetime has done me a lot of good. In addition to shaping me as a person, both mentally and physically, video games have helped my family chemistry by adding a dynamic that requires us to cooperate and have some level of sportsmanship with each other. For a family with five children, this was monumental in forming some of the bonds we have today. Also, they have been a safe and constructive method of having fun over the years. Playing video games has extended my vocabulary, kept me young and dexterous, and helped sharpen some of my math skills, since most games require some level of computation. I still play video games, though I have upgraded over the years, from my old Super Nintendo to my current PlayStation 4. Instead of playing those intense battles in Super Smash Bros. 64 or Pokemon Puzzle, I now play Rocket League and NBA 2K16. I don’t know if I will ever stop playing video games, but I do know it won’t be anytime soon. In fact, I plan to play with my children, because I know that it will help to bring us together and inspire their creativity and competitive drive. I am sure they will learn toappreciate video games as I have.