An interview of a gamer by a gamer

“I love this drink man.” As Bryan took another sip from his Red Bull energy drink, I saw he already presented some video gamer qualities before my interview with him even started. I flashed back to mornings when I drank bottled Starbucks coffee to feel less fatigued from my own gaming hours. I asked Bryan if his online friends make him lose track of time and as he lifted to take another sip, he nodded his head. Friend groups that meet online often create this routine and the daytime hours Bryan cannot spend playing with his online friends are made up for at night. I have been playing video games since I was young and therefore, I consider myself an insider in Bryan’s subculture. I can measure his playstyle, online friend group, and whether he felt intent on achieving a “gamer status” (meaning you have a fan base of people who watch how you play when you livestream your game or post about it). In my first round of questions, I wanted to find out Bryan’s reasons for playing video games. Is Bryan playing to achieve a specific goal? Is part of his social life happening online? I asked if Bryan has seen his online friends’ faces or if he has met any of them in person, and if they spoke outside of their discord group chat (Discord is an online software used by gamers to create private chatrooms with friends, some may say it is similar to skype). Bryan answered that his friend group knows each other’s faces and the only time he met up with an online friend was when Bryan learned one of them was in Brooklyn. I was not surprised when Bryan went on to say that even though his online friends do not talk much to each other outside of discord, meeting one of his online friends in person strengthened the entire group’s relationship. Gaming for Bryan is about making connections with other players. I discovered that Bryan played video games out of pure enjoyment and entertainment, something he would later elaborate on in my second round of questions. My next question was if Bryan ever considered streaming or playing video games professionally. Streaming is a huge activity in the gaming community where content creators record videos of their gameplay to a live audience. There is a huge monetary value to streaming. In livestreams, a streamer with a large fan base can receive thousands of dollars from viewers who donate as much as they want to support the player who streams. However, after streaming his gameplay during the second half of 2021, Bryan stopped streaming because he realized that his gaming setup should be upgraded, and besides, he had to focus on work. Bryan is a hardworking guy. In addition to being a college student, he has three jobs: he works in a pizza shop, smoke shop, and cleans offices after hours. Since March 2020, Bryan took breaks throughout the year because of his work hours; and so, he would play casually with his online friends.

In this kind of schedule, he alternated with month long video game phases to quarter yearlong breaks. Recently, however, Bryan has been gaming with his friends a lot during the week. Bryan told me he likes to play Minecraft, Rocket-League, and Garry’s Mod, all video games with a large fan base. Bryan does not play new games releases. He likes to play games that are considered more of classics in the gaming community. Classics are pure fun and simple. New game releases are usually more fast-paced and intricate. Bryan added that in the God of war game series, he liked to play as Kratos, a warrior from ancient Sparta, whose mission is to kill of Greek gods. Bryan called Kratos a “beast”, a slang word for characterizing someone as amazing.I asked Bryan what gaming moment he can always remember, and it turns out that I also share a moment like this in my own gaming experience. “My first trick shot in a public match playing Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2.” He can always remember how he felt at that moment, even six-seven years after it happened. A trick shot is a move where a player jumps off a high surface and does multiple spins with maneuvers through the air, shooting his weapon (usually a sniper rifle) and killing an enemy player before hitting the ground. As a gamer, I know this is very hard to accomplish. Despite being able to trick shot, Bryan joked that he is not good enough of a gamer to even think about playing professionally. The most successful team of players who could trick shot as a profession in Call of Duty, a group called FaZe Clan, now run a company worth around one billion dollars! Bryan is a reliable insider to discuss the subculture of video games because he has been playing before “he could walk or talk.” I too started to play video games at an early age and although I do not play much anymore now, I still will recall how much fun I had playing. I enjoyed hearing Bryan describe the fun he has playing. As a gamer myself, I share his enthusiasm and like him, wish I could do it more.