To videogame, or not to videogame? That is the question …

By Alex Carr

Nov. 25, 2009

With a long Christmas break just around the corner and a ton of addictive new videogames vying for our attention, I’ve been wondering lately: How much time can a high school student spend playing games and still get good grades?

To get the answer, I talked with VCHS students who play a lot of videogames AND get high grades ... and guess what? It turns out, with rare exception, there really is no such person. According to the high grade kids, playing a lot of videogames can definitely be hazardous to your GPA. Let’s hear what they have to say.

Pedro Maldonado, a sophomore with solid A’s and B’s, told me, “I love playing videogames, I play almost any chance I get. But I know school comes first. I wouldn’t ditch studying for a test to play Xbox, not even for a little bit.”

Ben Everett, a straight A junior, says he hasn’t touched his Wii gaming system for several months or, put another way, since school began. “For me, school comes first and that pretty much means no videogames during the week unless I’m totally caught up. Which is pretty much never, because you can always spend more time studying and doing a better job on homework.”

Daniel Henderson is a sophomore and an A student. He has a full schedule of very tough pre-AP and AP classes and told me he hardly plays at all. “School is absolutely number one in my book. The homework is always the first thing to be done. After that, I might play a little on my game console, but there are lots of other things like sports I actually prefer to do first.”

Since he’s on currently track for a 4.2 or 4.3 GPA, I also interviewed another VCHS sophomore -- myself -- for this article.

Question: Alex, do you have an interesting junk food metaphor about videogames you could offer our readers (they tend to see the world in those terms!)?

Alex: Thanks for asking, Alex (if that IS your real name). Videogames are like Cheetos. You have one, then another one. You don’t think you’re eating a lot ... and then you realize you’ve eaten the whole bag which, in videogame terms, means playing for five hours straight and the only thing redder than the sun coming up over the horizon are your eyeballs.

Question: What helps keep you on the straight and narrow?

Alex: Two main things help me stay on track: 1) my mom and 2) my dad. They keep my craving for videogaming (and Cheetos!) in check and my mind focused on school.

Question: Are there any tips and tricks you can give to students and parents?

Alex: Well, it’s definitely a partnership between kids and their parents. For example, I hardly ever wake up without seeing a Post-It note on my TV from my dad reminding me to do this or that before I can play that day. Also, a few years ago my parents started a system where I had to ‘‘buy’’ game time by reading, or playing sax, or doing other character-building/mind-expanding/physical activities to earn playtime. I also generally NEVER play during the week, which is OK by me ... just get out of my way when I get home from school Friday!

Wow, apparently playing too many videogames can also cause ... schizophrenia!

Sure, there are a few students who are so smart they can play with minimum “Fallout” and still get A’s. But most kids are in a sort of academic “Borderland” where playing games pushes them into “Oblivion” leaving them scholastically “Left 4 Dead." So if you kids don’t buckle down and heed the “Call of Duty” it could have a “Mass Effect” leading to a “Dead Space” at the dinner table every time the topic of your GPA comes up!