Since their introduction, online video games have experienced a consistent rise in popularity. From hardware-intensive titles like Cyberpunk to more accessible franchises such as Angry Birds, video games have amassed over three billion active players worldwide in 2025, a 75% increase from 2015, according to the International Trade Administration. While gaming may not be traditionally viewed as a personality-defining hobby, a distinct video game culture continues to grow with its player base.
Senior Jayden Chow (he/him) takes a relaxed approach to Valorant, a first-person shooter game. Whether it be school or his social life, Chow said that gaming has impacted how he manages these daily tasks.
“I get stressed when playing video games, but it can be fun sometimes,” Chow said.
As a full-IB Diploma student, Chow often finds himself juggling gaming and schoolwork. Chow said he struggles with family pressure regarding how he spends his time. Because he plays for an average of three hours every day, he often faces concerns from his parents about the potential negative effects of video games, such as not having time to pursue a career. While he admits that it can be tempting to procrastinate schoolwork, he emphasizes that it remains his priority.
“I’m focusing on work first before being able to play,” Chow said. “There’s other things to life.”
Chow values many aspects of gaming that prioritize fun, including bonding and connecting with friends — rather than having video games be a part of his identity. Sophomore Charlie Song (he/him), on the other hand, offers a different perspective on gaming and views it as both a hobby and a passion. At a young age, Song first found himself drawn to mobile games.
“I started playing video games because I really liked playing Angry Birds as a young child,” Song Said, “I thought it was really interesting.”
Since then, Song has progressed to a diverse number of games, having racked up over 800 hours on the game Valorant. He has achieved, “Ascendant one,” the third-highest rank in the game, which encompasses the top 0.026% of players.
“I became really well versed within aiming and just having a feel of where the enemies could be and what they’re doing,” Song said.
Gaming has remained a key part of senior Sam Sekora’s (he/him) life since he was introduced to it at age 7. Sekora said the first console he ever played on was the Xbox 360 at his friend’s house.
“The first game I ever played was a game called Skylanders. My parents weren’t really into video games, but my friend’s dad was a game developer,” Sekora said. “I usually went to his house and played video games.”
After convincing his parents to buy him an Xbox 360 at 7 years old, Sekora continued to play video games, exploring new ones in the process. These included Naruto Storm 4, Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare and Minecraft, all of which helped build Sekora’s love for video games.
“I started playing Titanfall 2 and Rocket League and Overwatch,” Sekora said. “Those are the big three games that got me into it.”
With versatility across several platforms, and an offline or online way to play, video games can appeal to a wide-variety of people. While others might enjoy the playstyles of interactive role-play games or first-person shooters, Sekora acknowledges his interest towards multiplayer online battle arena games such as League of Legends.
With its wide selection of champions — playable characters with unique abilities, appearances, and play styles- Sekora said that League of Legends remains his favorite game. After over 3,000 hours on LoL, Sekora achieved the rank of Grandmaster, the second-highest rank, which makes up the top 0.04% of LoL players. However, Sekora said that balancing video games with school work has become more challenging because of his commitment as a full-IB Diploma student.
“It’s kind of difficult. It depends how bad I want to play the video game because sometimes I can just not play anything,” Sekora said. “ I’ll just focus on studying for the day.”
Despite spending less time on video games to focus on school, Sekora said that video games enable him to connect with peers across multiple gaming communities and bond through their shared interests. Currently, Sekora is involved in multiple gaming communities, including UW’s LoL club and he considers himself an active participant in tournaments as well as various watch parties such as the LOL World Finals. Over his years of experience playing video games, Sekora states the importance of openly expressing his interest through upholding a long-standing dogma of authenticity.
“If you end up hiding who you are when you’re making friends with someone, you’re just gonna end up in a bad relationship,” Sekora said. “So if you don’t love me when I’m playing League of Legends, you don’t love me at all.”
