As the end of September is upon us and as we pass through the Autumnal equinox I have realised something within my gaming pattern this year. I seem to play games way less in the summer, almost non-existent compared to the colder winter months when gaming gets part of the daily routine.
As part of my birthday treat I purchased a new laptop by combining my money together I managed to buy a Gigabyte P35 in June but hardly used it. Now I know it’s not a laptop that will take the gaming scene by storm, but I figured it would play a couple of games I like to play such as Rome Total War, StarCraft, and CS:GO. This laptop is already proving to be a very sturdy purchase; with the SSD, GTX 980 and i7-5700 making my old Lenovo L440 feel like a 3 wheeler trying to tackle an F1 race! Also, this laptop has been partly brought with money given to me by my Dad, who in December 2018 was diagnosed with cancer, thus making the machine even more valuable to me as he is invested in it.
Anyway, now I try to portray a positive message to the young people I work with (Youth Worker) and have pushed playing outside in the sun during the summer and gaming in the winter as a generic rule to them, and I seem to have embedded that ethos myself. I figured that most of the kids would go home and play videogames all evening anyway in the summer, so it’s a shame to be indoors during the nice weather, which is also a time that I like to be in the work and community allotment growing organic food and spreading that message to young people (top gardener is my superpower!).
My question to you all is, do you notice that you play less during the summer compared to winter? In short, I do. The winter is cold, wet and dark. I can cope with the winter, but those weather conditions don’t excite me like the summer months do; I’m not compelled to venture outside unless it’s a weekend hike or for fitness, if I’m honest. I think this is a healthy balance which works well for me, my kids and the young people I work with; ramping up some extra gaming time over the winter feels good – I’m able to get stuck into some serious campaigns along with my son, but then switching it up in the summer and gaming for less than an hour a day also feels right; and instead enjoying the sun, walks, BBQ’s, water fights and gardening.
Leave a Reply