By Nick Stern, Senior Reporter | Photo by Nick Stern
A Computer Information Systems major with a focus in Digital Media, James Lucido is definitely a gamer that works to go above and beyond sitting on a couch and playing his favorite video games, he said.
Lucido said he tries to take it beyond typical hardcore gaming by actually discovering the science behind the games that he plays, also by researching and learning the mathematics, concepts, play styles, and everything that goes in to the content of the ever-growing industry.
“I certainly like to say that I do (play video games) so I try to take it beyond having an addiction by exploring the science behind it,” he said.
Lucido plans on using his major in order to go into a career making websites, 3-D modeling, concept design, and pretty much anything having to do with animation in general, he said.
Lucido spent many years with an unhealthy addiction to gaming, spending all his time playing for entertainment, until he met a group of people who took it to the scientific level that he now appreciates games for, he said.
Meeting those people, Lucido learned a lot about what goes into video games and ever since then he has taken video gaming to a whole new level, he said.
Lucido now endorses video games in people’s lives as opposed to passive engagement that watching television and movies provides, because gaming provides active engagement which involves making choices in real-time, he said.
This active engagement has been proven to help prevent Alzheimer’s, and keep brain synapses firing which in turn helps make one’s brain more responsive, Lucido said.
“It’s just generally good behavioral training if taken in moderation and depending on what you play as well,” he said.
Even with a productive mindset towards video gaming, Lucido still believes they can interfere with his education, but has different advice for other students with diverse levels of self-control, he said.
His method for getting both his homework and his gaming in is to switch between the two giving an hour at a time for each activity, he said.
This, he knows, may not work for everybody because many gamers can easily spend hours playing a game while forgetting about their own basic human needs, he said.
“This may not work for everybody because of the fact that some people go five to six hours straight and then say ‘oh boy, I’m hungry and I really need to pee. Where did the time go?’ It is really about a level of self-control,” he said.
He advises those with a lack of self-control to pick a game they like, but absolutely frustrates and aggravates them, so once the aggravation sets in they can use that as the reason to stop playing and start studying, he said.
When all else fails, people should try to not even touch that controller until their homework is done, thus succeeding in using games as medium of rewarding oneself, he said.
Lucido is also aware of the explosion of interest in independent game developers which is now the big mark of the turn of the gaming generation, he said.
There is a new focus towards community driven, independent organ i z a t i o n s that feature new content for video games which large gaming c omp a n i e s lack, he said.
Marcus Preston , who created Minecraft , represent s one of the big turning points for independent gaming companies, because Minecraft is a prime example of how independent games can become a huge success, Lucido said.
New companies practically have to rely on input from the community in order to create a success fan base, while the big companies stick to the same engine and same game model but with a few tweaks, he said.
“Community based gaming is out there, it’s what’s happening, and they are changing how games are being played,” Lucido said.
