Hobbies and Skills that are Related to Gaming and the Industry

Hello and welcome to this blog post. Today I'll be talking about hobbies that would be good for gamers and also skills that would be good to learn if you want to get into the industry. I hope that you would be inspired to try out some of these skills or hobbies if you need any ideas of what to do next.

Hobbies

D+D or Card Games

D+D, otherwise known as Dungeons and Dragons, and card games are a table-top games where you can battle or role play in a fictional world without the need for technology. I'm suggesting these hobbies as you'll learn the rules for each and play by the rules like you would for video games and be able to play games. By doing these hobbies you can play these games with your friends who don't play video games as well so you can bond with them some more too. I would suggest this hobby for anyone who loves just playing games and would like a fun time with friends and without a controller.

Sports

Sports to me are basically the real world equivalent of substitute gaming without feeling like you're gaming at all. This is because there are rules and restrictions that makes each sport unique to themselves which is like games. For example, you can't pick up the football ball in football like you can't shoot a gun in Minecraft which are restrictions in the games. A bonus is that unlike D+D or Card Games, you can improve your physical body whilst playing the sport that you have chosen to play for a hobby. I would recommend this to gamers who loves sports games and would like to play them in real life.

Acting

What RPG's actually are is you, the player, role playing as someone else in a gaming world. By role playing as this character you are acting as that specific character and having acting as a hobby isn't that much different. Okay so I get that you might not be able to act as a Khajiit from Skyrim in every musical/play, but hey at least you're acting as someone else! I feel like this hobby really does link into gaming as you use your imagination to be a character which is really what playing games are if you boil everything down. Plus social interaction with actual human beings is always fun (apparently). This would be a good hobby for people who love RPG type games.

Reading

Reading, like games, opens up doors to new worlds and characters of all kinds. It also helps you to expand your vocabulary and writing skills by reading other peoples work. To be honest though, reading can be a slower pace and very different to games but that's A-Okay for some people and not for others. Just keep that in your brains if/when you try it out. Having said these though, there are books and magazines that are either about or similar to games that can be of interest to people out there. If your looking for inspiration for books to read I'll be writing a blog about gamey books in the near future so check back in a week or two for the suggestions. I would definitely recommend this skill to gamers who like text based games or even puzzle games as it takes a lot of brain power to read books.

Watching Cartoons/Anime

One definite similarity between cartoons/anime and games is the potential for some wacky stories and side stories to uncover in some wacky worlds. I mean have you seen Beastars or Agretsuko and then played Zelda or Mario? Wacky worlds = wacky stories, just saying. Other then the similarities in them there is obviously the differences of not interacting in the cartoon world like you would in a game so there certainly not that interactivity there. If you like gaming then I would definitely suggest finding a good cartoon or anime to watch.

Making YouTube Content

YouTube is a very flexible video sharing platform where if you got (nearly) any video to upload, you can just upload it. This could be anything from cat videos to even gaming videos (surprise, surprise) so if you have a newer console you can screen record and voila upload your video to YouTube. If you don't have the privilege of being able to do that then a good idea is game reviews, game/console collection videos, or even impressions of your favourite game characters. Not every one who does YouTube content like this will be successful, but it would leave you to have fun and potentially a new skill set to exploit. Now that's definitely like a game!

Skills

Games Design

Being able to play games is way different to being able to design games. For example if you are good at playing Skyrim or Witcher 3, it doesn't mean you can create the next big RPG. By games design here I mean being able to design the flow of the game, characters, and making the music fit to just name a few examples. Learning the different parts of what makes a good game and actually making a game would allow you to appreciate games whilst potentially leading you to make the next big indie game. Recommended to all those hardcore gamers out there.

Games Engines

I would suggest learning to use at least one game engine if you serious about learning to make games without really needing to learn overall games design. For example right now in college we're learning to use Unity where we're learning create micro games using tutorials supplied in Unity. By doing this we learn about games design without needing to worry about overall designs as it holds our hands with that. As I'm no expert I have no clue how it works if you get deeper into Unity but that's some solid experience for you. Unity, Unreal, and Godot are all game engines that are free to download, use and learn but research what would be best for you first. I would suggest this skill to gamers who wants to get into games design without much of a prior knowledge of designing games.

Coding

Coding in itself is a game where you have to be creative to solve puzzles to get to the end. This skill can also link to games as there's always a programmer on a games project and you can always code your own games in it too. I would recommend this skill above the above two skills if you would like to have a wider range of jobs available to you or don't really want to be trapped to one industry. This is because you can get into web development, data science, and much more if you learn the right coding languages. If you would like to be a games programmer then learn C++ or C# depending on what engine or games company that you would like to apply for in the future. I would recommend coding in general to people who love puzzles or would love a career change in general.

3D Modelling

Every single 3D game out there has to have 3D modellers to create the characters and assets to be able to be 3D. By learning this skill you can also pick what niche in 3D modelling that you want to do then learn that niche, like asset creation or character modelling. This would be good for gamers as if learn the skills first in Blender then pay for Maya or similar engines that you want to move to then you can get into the industry. I would recommend this to gamers who love 3D games and have a bit of an artist flair.

Drawing

Drawing can be a way of showing your love of a character or game series as well as designing your own character in a game world of your own. This skill can also lead to many artistic jobs in the industry like concept art or initial character/asset designs for the game. By being able to draw artistically you can also have a lot of freedom to let out imagination to create buildings/levels in games like Minecraft and Mario Maker which helps creativity in those games. I would suggest this skill to anyone who love designing and creating things in games and would like a quick way to make it in real life.

Animation

Except for very few video games/ niches then most games would need to have animations of some kind whether it would be 2D or 3D animation. This links to the above two skills as 2D animation would need some form of good drawing skills and 3D animation would need to have some 3D skills to be able to animate well. By expanding on either drawing or 3D modelling with animation skills on the side then most artsy jobs in games would be open to you if you have enough experience or a great portfolio to show for it. Animation would be good for those gamers who have a good eye for detail and likes everything to be perfection.

Writing/ Storytelling

Every great RPG has a great storyline and/or side quests to go on a rabbit hole down. Learning how to tell a good story means that you can learn to write one for an awesome RPG or similar game. If you're not interested then writing skills can help you to write about games or be an in game writer for the in game books as examples of careers. As a non industry career example writing fan fiction can be quite fun to do if you have a pen and paper (or keyboard and mouse these days).

Thank you for reading my blog post. If you get any Inspiration for skills or hobbies then definitely go through with it and have fun! See you in the next post xx