Gaming during college/military service.

J

JLi313

CAG Veteran
Okay I'm a Junior in highschool, and with my current schedule, I usually only play games once or twice on weekends for a few hours. So my current worries are about the SAT's which I'm taking in March, college, and the future. Anyways my questions are on gaming while on active duty in the military and during college.

I'm trying to determine when I should get my next-gen console. It seems that their is just too much to think about. I really want a Wii and a 360, but don't want to get both. It is going to be one or the other, more likely the 360. BUT there is a new CPU coming out eventually, but thats another story.

First I want to ask some questions and do some discussion later.

First Question is for anyone in college or went to college - Is their time for gaming? I don't plan on going to any Ivy or Ivey league college.. I don't even know how to spell it. I just plan on attending FSU (Florida State University), I only named that to show its nothing fancy. Basically, do you have time to play games in college, and have time enough to study and get GOOD grades in your classes? Good grades being (well I don't want to put down C's since I don't consider them BAD but...) B's or better?

Second Question is for those who know anyone who has been on or is on, or if you ARE/have been on active duty in the military. Since after college (after 4 years) I plan on enlisting in the Navy in hopes of becoming special forces. So basically, if your enlisted in any branch of the military, do you have time to play? Reason I ask, I mean I'm sure that if I actually do make it through BUD/s, I definitely WON'T have time to play. But thats assuming I DO make it through. Assuming I don't, I will be spending lots of time on a ship... or at a base or something. So do you have lots of time to play during your off time at a base or something?

Anyways I'm basically asking this because I know that games can affect people, and I don't want it to affect mine. But then again I really enjoy gaming, so I have to find a middle ground for both, although my futures more important to me. Also I don't feel like "investing" that much money on something if I won't have much time to play it.

All this is a lot of time away, but I figure it like this. My gaming future..

Assuming I get the gaming system before spring break...

I'll be playing every weekend for a couple hours (only a couple hours because I work).

Spring break '07

Summer break '07

Thanksgiving/Winter break '07/'08

Spring Break '08

Maybe only part of summer break '08 since I might be going to china when I turn 18 to visit family again before going off to college.

Then college, I don't know how much time I'll have during college which is what I'm trying to figure out.

And if I qualify to (which I plan on being able to unless my sucky eyesight screws me over) attempt becoming a Navy SEAL, how much time I'd have to play. Since I know many people don't go to BUD/s right away. Instead they find a job, so if they don't make it, they don't get screwed after dropping out of BUD/s as a deck scrubber or something.

And theirs always a chance I may not enlist in the military at all, so what kind of play time do you have after that? Well actually forget about that :p it all depends on what kind of job I get so I would get TOO many varying answers...
 
I got a 3.66 this semester and probably played as many games as I wanted, like 2-5 hours a day maybe more, of course it will probably cut into your social life, i'm just a lil lucky that just about every one of my friends plays smash, so we hang out and smash for like 20-40 minutes a bunch of times a day.
 
For at least the first two years in college, yes you got plenty of time to go to school and play games and live a social life. I can't comment on the other two years since I'm not there yet. My grades are basically all As and Bs with a C or two when I didn't care enough about the class.

And on being in the military, I knew a few people who game while in the army, some even played mmorpgs, so I'm sure if you're station on a base you can find the time, but I'm not sure about the Navy and being on a carrier or battleship though. Good luck with that.
 
There's lots of free time except during certain stretches during the semester, such as near the end when papers and finals pop up.
 
I'm almost a straight A student as a senior science major, and you'll have time to game and get good grades. A bigger school like FSU probably has a pretty good size group of people who play games. The majority of people will probably be into sports games, mainly Madden, but there are usually a few here and there into the RPG's and stuff too.

You'll probably find yourself focusing on just a couple games during college because you might not have as much time as you do during high school if you plan to have any type of social life in college

Some good advice: Girls like to play the following games: Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Time Crisis, and DDR. Own those and you have something for everyone.
 
I was in college and played the hell out of video games so yes you'll have plenty of time to play.....it really is up to you how much you devote to studying.

I'm a Sergeant in the Army now and I still play a lot of games. Just during some training times you won't be able to play. Hell i brought an Xbox to Iraq and played a crapload of games. You just can't play multiplayer online while deployed to Iraq or whatever. Either way, you'll be able to get your gaming fix in.....just during the initial training phases you'll have to give it up for a little bit.
 
3.77 GPA here and all I do is play games, eat and go to the gym. There is really nothing to do at my school, so my game time has increased 10 fold since high school.

It's all about time management though. Get your work done, and you will be golden.
 
I served in the Navy for 6 years, just got my bachelor's degree with a 3.6 gpa, and had plenty of time for gaming during both. As with anything else you just have to manage your time. In college you're definitely going to have times when you need to stay away from gaming for a week or two here and there (at least that's been my experience) to get projects done and study and such. I like to play mmo's and usually have to stay away from them for the last month of the semester in order to get everything done. You just have to prioritize and remember that gaming ain't gonna pay the bills.
 
College? It's time consuming if high school was hard for you, and even more time consuming if you care about having a "reputation" or "social life" Went to college for about a year and had 2x more free time than in high school, got the same grades [B's, C's] I did in high school

The SAT, it's all hype: I went in sick with 3 hours of sleep to the SAT [no prep, no studying, nothing] and got an 670 and a 530 for a combined 1200. You've probably faced harder tests in a video game...

So yeah, don't worry, smooth sailing ahead for the next 6 years kid.
 
Rotc people have tons of time to play.us If you're planning on serving I'd do it that way. As for deployment, my friend is in Iraq and all he does is sit around TAC. As a SEAL, though, I'd expect you'd have less time.
 
Hey guys thanks for the replies!! It's kind of relieving, and as for the first poster, I don't live in Tallahassee. I about 6 hours south of Tally... But yea I plan on moving their for college...
 
[quote name='suko_32']It depends a lot of what college you attend and especially what you are majoring in.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, seriously... majoring in Liberal Arts will give you a lot more free time than say Engineering. I hate it when some people (read: I said SOME, not all) who act like college is a joke and then you find out they're majoring in education or something. Or other people who are just smarter and understand stuff without much work. I'm one of those people who actually have to study to understand things so I naturally have less time for games.

It honestly depends on a lot of things... what school you're going to, what classes you're talking, your teachers, your comprehension of the subject, your social life, etc.

In my first semester, I was a bio major contracting on pre-med and had NO free time at all. Everybody else in my hall played Halo 2 and stuff and I just didn't have the time to play or do anything else. In fact, I gained weight my first semester since I never felt like going to work out after studying/doing homework for a few hours. Some weekends I'd go out drinking while others I was too tired to stay up past midnight. I absolutely hated it and switched to accounting and now have a bit more free time. But I want to do good so I still spend time studying and only play games when I absolutely have nothing else to do.

You just have to get your priorities straight... you're paying thousands of dollars to earn an education, not play games. So finish your homework and study first, then have fun. Sometimes you'll have a ton of work and other times you'll have more free time. One thing that threw me off is how slow each semester starts (the honeymoon week) where you have classes but almost no work. There were some weekends were I was actually doing homework all the time.
 
You should probably wait until you know what you're going to be doing for sure until you buy a new console, if you can. As for college it totally varies. Depends on your school, your major, your classes, etc.
 
I hope to God you have time for gaming in college, because your gaming time AFTER college shrinks to about a quarter of that. But money is generally a bigger issue than time.
 
[quote name='botticus']But money is generally a bigger issue than time.[/quote]

Well he's in the right place to deal with that issue. ;)
 
My cousin was in the Army. When he wasn't in the field or training. Him and the other soldiers in his platoon. Spent most of their free time drinking, and playing video games. So in the army yes you will. The Navy I don't know if you would be able to. Most of the times in the Navy your stuck on a ship. I knew a guy from High School that was in the Navy. He spent I think it was like 4 months on a ship. Plus the ships are really tight spaced.
 
I have a 3.87 GPA, and have gotten a 4.0 the past two quarters, with a full schedule and clubs, and I still have a lot of time to play videogames.
 
I wanted to do BUD/S after high school when i was a junior, but everyone close to me talked me out of the military. SEALS has always been my dream. I still think about joining the Navy or Marines every now and then.

There's still plenty of time for gaming in college, although I find that I rarely ever play them until the breaks. That's just me though.

Anyway, even as a SEAL, you'd still have time for gaming. They're not on deployment every day. And you'll be back and forth. You won't do 6 months deployments. You could be deployed halfway across the world today, and then be back in California tomorrow. You still have time for a normal life, but not really enough time for a family.
 
my advice stay out of the military.
im in the navy, your gaming time depending on your job, your chain of command and your deployment schedule.
you wont be playing any game online, but you can lan.
i probably play 20 hours of gears a week when im underway. actually its more than that, but im in the minority.
i say buy a console, youll need the release.
 
You can find time/space to game on a ship, like it's been said before it'll depend on your job/work schedule.

On my last deployment we had a PS2 and an XBox 360, and the office next to mine had a gamecube. Aside from time, the only issue is not monopolizing the only TV in the place for hours at a time. :)
 
I'm in the Air Force, and pretty much work a consistent 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. schedule. After spending time with family and working on my websites, I have about an hour a night to do some gaming.
 
i remember being in high school and binging on games after school. i once spent 20 hours on jak and daxter on two school days. then you get a full time job, and full time REAL school, and a full time girlfriend, and a part time social life (lol)... and then... you miss the days where you can throw in soul calibur for a few hours every night before bed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top