Hello, my name is Emmanuel Casseus, I am eighteen years old and my major is Computer Engineering. I am currently a student at New York City College of Technology. If there was anything that I would like you to know about me from the get go, it would have to be that I have a great fascination with computers. Although I am very intrigued with computers, there is also something that I equally enjoy in comparison to computers which would be video games. You see, computers and video games have been the two things that have entertained me the most since I was a little child. I gained a strong passion for video games first, but over time I started to become interested in technology and eventually I came to fall in love with computers. If there is anything I would want you to understand, it is something that I have always thought of in my life and that is: “Computers are one of the many important aspects in my life that helps me learn new things” and I stick by this quote. From here I shall discuss my history with computers, my history with video games and how both of these subjects coincide with each other to help you better understand me and further information to help prove my earlier quoted statements of why computers are so important to me.

I have been very interested in computers since I was rather young, and that would be at the age of seven. Although, I never had the chance to use one personally outside of my computer class in middle school until the age of eleven. When I started to use computers it was one of those interesting experiences of my life, one of those feelings you get when you try something completely new and within only a few minutes of using it, you end up falling in love with it. Of course I was still only a small child so my knowledge and use of the computer was very limited. However, at the age of 14, I started to become more acquainted with computers and began to use them more frequently. No one in my house used computers as much as I did so I couldn’t exactly ask for help when I got stuck on an activity. I mean, at the time my dad was the only one who currently had the most knowledge on the subject but he was far too busy for me to ever bother asking him to help me. So instead of having someone to help me better understand this electronic device, I chose to teach myself how to use computers over the past few years. Each and every day, I would take two to five hours out of my day to learn about the ins and outs of the computer. I learned how type quicker, download things, use various browsers, understand the differences in image file extensions such as .PNG (Portable Network Graphics), .JPG (Also known as .JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group), .GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) and understand how programs work like .exe (execution) files, etc. Now here I am today with a lot more knowledge in regards to computers and I am now pursuing the field in which I shall manufacture and build computers, that being my major of being a Computer Engineer. In addition to computers, I very much enjoy video games. In fact, I’d say out of all the inanimate objects in my life, I honestly prefer to enjoy computers and video games equally. Most people just use their computers for their basic needs like searching up information, writing papers, talking to friends, social media and etc. I on the other hand went beyond these activities, and went more in depth into the field and learning the basic concepts of how a computer works. I taught myself how to remove a motherboard from a desktop, how to replace broken wires, troubleshoot computers for problems, learned something on how computer registries work and various other concepts regarding the machine. I’m not saying I’m an avid computer genius but what I am saying is that I like to do my research on subjects that interest me the most.

As I’ve said, before I started to use computers I was an avid gamer and I still am an avid gamer. Video games honestly have done a lot for me, like teach me lessons from various subjects that I wouldn’t know naturally. For example, a popular and well received video game titled “Persona 4: The Golden” has taught me quite a few things that I had not learned about yet in school. You see, Persona 4 is an RPG (Role-Playing Game) where you take the role of a young teenage male in high school who has recently moved from the big city into a rural country town named “Inaba” where you live with your uncle and his daughter. The game itself fuses elements of real life situations as well as the elements of a turn based game. A turn based game is, as you can imagine a game whose combat is structured around how many actions you can perform in one sitting. So for example, if I casted a lightning spell on an enemy and they lived, I would not be able to attack again until the enemy has finished its action. So as you can already tell, a turn based game is when you and the enemies take turns attacking each other. Back to the actual game, the way it uses real life elements is your experience of going through school. Like everyone in the real world does, the main character also has to go through his high school life. As the story progresses, you will start to meet various important characters who will become your best friends and allies in the video game. It is the high school aspect of the game that has taught me some new things for a while now. This is due to the fact that on various different days, you will find the main character of the video game inside of a classroom listening to a lecture of various different topics and subjects. Sometimes however, the teacher will ask you a question and you will be given a choice with a few different answers and you have to choose which answer you believe is correct. It is some of these questions that I haven’t learned in high school yet so I would have to guess which one is correct. Whether I was able to answer the question correctly or not the teacher would give a more detailed explanation of why the answer is correct or why the actual answer is correct.

Computer and Video Games as a whole are very important aspects in my life as you may have already figured out from reading the previous statements. The reason these two are so important is because they blend well together. Video Games are able to teach me different new things whether it be through a sci-fi action game, a fun and adventurous journey through a fictional land or in a school setting where you bond with other individuals and learn new things from talking to NPC’s (non-player characters) or reading notes form other players who may have been ahead of you in the game itself through online features. Just like Video Games, Computers are able to not only teach many various things and aspects but it is also able to allow me to enjoy my two favorite things all in one package. Computers are able to teach me various new things like history, how to do something I am unfamiliar with, research, as well as play video games on my monitor screen. As time has progressed and improved, technology has not only improved video games and output quality but it has given personal computers the ability to play certain games on the computer itself which effectively allows me to enjoy two of my favorite things in life perfectly in one sitting and one screen.

I’m running out of space so I will keep this simple. Although I did talk about how much I enjoyed computer and video games equally, I would like to say that if I had to choose between either, I would have to choose computers first and foremost because it would benefit me the most. Knowledge on computers are mandatory and needed for my field of work for my major so it is only natural that I would vastly prefer computers over video games, but the thing is, by being able to build computers, I’ll not only learn how to build and create one of the things I enjoy most but with the knowledge and expertise I’ll even be able to manufacture electronics which in return can very easily be useful and influence the creation and performance of video games.