What level of education did you spend the most time on gaming?

[GPX | 1,371]

Revising the good old days, at what period of education did you spend the most amount of time gaming? (See poll)

What did you own or play around that particular period? Have your gaming tastes changed since then? Were you the gaming geek that turned out to be a success in your education? Or were you just the gaming geek who totally forgot to do the homework and skipped school a lot of the time? Any other gaming/education memories?

[RH | 4,936]

When I finally got a job in High School is when I went deeeeep into RPGs

[Tanooki | 4,943]

I think it was the NES, but SNES was the years of HS and into early college and I'm really not quite sure which got pushed harder on daily use.  It could be close, would have voted both if I could to be fair.

[GPX | 1,371]

6 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I think it was the NES, but SNES was the years of HS and into early college and I'm really not quite sure which got pushed harder on daily use.  It could be close, would have voted both if I could to be fair.

I’m somewhat similar to you in regards to the number of years spent in primary school and high school being roughly the same ~4 years. Though looking back, I definitely spent a lot of time daydreaming about games and ruminating on them more than anything else. Obviously in high school, there’s extra books to read, girls to think about, career choices and whatnot. So I guess overall, the gaming daydreams weren’t nearly as frequent. 

For me, primary school was the C64 and Master System. High school was the Megadrive then the SNES. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I think I probably logged the most hours in middle school. That's when I got really into RPGs and wore out my PS1. I actually spent quite a lot of time gaming during medical school and residency as well because it's hard to find time for outside activities when you're that busy. But overall, I think ages 10-15 were my golden age. No car, no internet, no dvd player, just me and my SNES and PS1.

[The Count | 529]

Definitely elementary and middle school. I played maybe every day.

[wongojack | 220]

I played a lot in Jr High (aka Middle School or probably like "Years 7 and 8" in the UK)

But I put waaay more time into gaming now than I ever did as a kid.

[Jfreakofkorn | 282]

Middle school on up 

Just varies game type(s) ; scroller(s) , rpg(s) , shooter(s) , etc . . . 

Could nt make up my mind at i wanted to get into w so may option platform(s) available , ie ;  nes , snes , genesis , etc . . . Back in the day 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

I don't see a correlation between my education experience and video game experience. I started playing video games when my cousin got an NES when I was 5, and haven't stopped since. 

[theirontoupee | 44]

Always played games since I was 6, but ramped up in high school when Xbox live came out...so many hours per week playing Halo 2. Then in college I played less to focus on studies. In my Masters program was when I started my first collection and that took up more time than the hours I played in high school.

[Hammerfestus | 3,874]

I’d say my level of gaming was pretty steady all through school and then maybe saw a slight uptick in high school when I was PSX gaming.  Any new gaming stopped in college though.  I did still play some NES/SNES/N64 while in school.  

[Webhead123 | 687]

In terms of school-age gaming, I think it's likely that the years from being a junior in high school until I graduated college. I was still playing quite a bit on my consoles but I also had the luxury of a home computer by that time, plus access to the school computer labs and the result was a big boom in terms of exposure to new games.

But like Wongojack, I'm certain that I've gotten way more time to play games on average once I was out of school, had a steady job and the freedom to do whatever I wanted with my time (for the most part).

[AstralSoul | 502]

Definitely high school. N64/PS1 and the beginning of GameCube/PS2 was the height of my gaming interests. From 2005ish onward I definitely felt a wane in interest, only felt somewhat of a resurgence 5-7 years ago but I'm in the downward portion again, not due to lack of pure interest, I still love gaming but I have practically no time to play and no money to spend on it these days. 

[a3quit4s | 4,121]

I mean I’ve played way more games as an adult than I ever did as a kid mostly because I’ve got a lot more funds to spend on games than my parents did lol

Id say peak gaming for me was N64 and that was middle school. Although when I was younger I definitely spent a lot of time with NES and SNES and especially Super Mario World

[FireHazard51 | 2,047]

Given that I spent 9 year in college... I put my vote in "post-grad" given that I was given the title of "Professional Student" for all my credit hours I earned without a degree.  If a college thinks I was beyond "undergrad" then I think that should apply hear.  I didn't have a ton of systems as a kid growing up (atari 2600, NES, & Game Gear).  I don't know why I didn't pressure my parents for a newer system.  I had my brother's hammy down Genesis and bough games for cheap on it (PSOne was out) and then my brother sold it for I can only assume was like $20 (real dick of a move thinking about it now).  So yeah, when I had consoles I also spent a ton of time outdoors and playing school sports.  As an adult in college I started to get into gaming again.  5th year of college I bought a PS3.  Around 6th year is when I played the most.  I got my orders that I was getting deployed to Iraq so I spent 2.5 months living it up after Fall quarter was over.  

I still wouldn't say I spent a TON of time playing video games.  Mostly because I didn't have any friends with a PS3.  If they had a console it was a Wii or Xbox 360 or no system at all.  Hell, I'd say during the peak time of gaming I spent an equal amount time at a bar or friends house drinking beer and shooting the shit.  Video games are a FAR cheaper hobby then beer drinking, FYI.

[G-type | 2,499]

what is Tertiary? I did the most gaming after college when I bought a ps2 and a ds

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

On 7/2/2023 at 6:02 PM, RH said:

When I finally got a job in High School is when I went deeeeep into RPGs

This is the same for me. I went hard on playstation and PS2 once I could afford them with my own money.

[T-Pac | 7,577]

I spent the most time gaming in middle school by a wide margin, and it's entirely because of Animal Crossing: City Folk [Wii]. I'd attend to my village every single day for months, even squeezing in quick Animal Crossing sessions before school each morning.

[T-Pac]

[fcgamer | 4,738]

Started playing when I was three years old with NES, never stopped. Uni it took a back seat, but from all other periods it was hot and heavy.

[AirVillain | 490]

Post post secondary. 

Played all throughout my life since getting a Commodore 64, then NES, but probably played more after actively choosing to do it in leisure time as an adult. 

Also, there's been times where I've tried to marathon games so playing for like 3 hours at a time multiple times, or one 15.5 hour run.... those I never did as a kid. 

Edited July 6, 2023 by AirVillain

[Optomon | 65]

High School years, for me, the age of abandonment at its pinnacle, and the age of discovering and getting access to many games

[RH | 4,936]

Well, to be clear, my family got an Atari 2600 probably around 1986 and I played it a fair amount until the NES showed up around 1988.  After that, I played a good bit of Nintendo and whatever came after that.

However, it was most of those games were platform titles a few other types but I didn't get an RPG/Adventure game until maybe 1993 or 94.  After that, it was just a couple more years until I got a job and I've never been as "rich" as I was when I was when I was a kid making $6-7.50/hour but I had absolutely nothing to spend that money on but PS1 RPGs, so N64 titles and a bunch of Decipher Star Wars cards.  The latter getting the least of my money but I still bought a lot.

RPGs take a lot of time to play and since I was allowed to manage my time more often since I had exceptional grades and was the "good kid" in the house, nearly all my free time was spent on RPGs.

Edited July 6, 2023 by RH

[nrslam | 477]

Most games didn't exist until after I graduated, so this was an easy pick.