More than 150 million U.S. citizens play at least three hours of video games per week. In addition to this not-so-shocking statistic, two thirds of teens 13 years and older consider themselves to be gamers.
“I spend about two hours per day playing video games,” Samantha Moore ‘26 said.
Although the games looked very different, video games became popular earlier than some people think. They gained popularity around the 70’s and 80’s. These included a lot of arcade games, as well as a more well known one, The Oregon Trail. Technology has advanced tremendously in the past few decades, and will only continue to do so. Video games will advance right along with it.
There are a variety of different consoles that can be used for gaming such as Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, PC, or Wii. Around most high schools, like ours, Xbox, Playstation, and PC tend to be the most popular amongst teens.
Kate Cole, a GHS sophomore, has been playing video games for years. A lot of teens that play video games now, started at an early age.
“I started playing Minecraft at six or seven years old with my older brother,” Cole said.
Not only are there action games like a crowd favorite, Fortnite, there are story mode games such as, The Walking Dead, Red Dead Redemption, or Life is Strange.
“I like playing Red Dead Redemption Two and God of War,” Cooper Spoerndle ‘27 said.
Some of the most well known and frequently played games overall, however, are Fortnite, of course, Roblox, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), and, as previously mentioned, Minecraft, which
seems to be more popular amongst younger kids.
“Recently I’ve liked playing Fortnite on my PS5,” Ben Croston ‘26 said.
Another sophomore here at GHS, Ethan Owens also enjoys playing video games in his spare time. In addition to action and story mode games are sports games.
“I like playing games like Madden and 2K on an Xbox series S,” Owens said.
Sports games, like these, have gotten very popular over the last couple of years, particularly for teenage boys.
Walking around a high school, someone is sure to find many people who will spend their spare time after school on their gaming console. As tech advances and new games emerge, everyone is sure to have a video game that may spark their interests.
