I'm a full-time (and then some) graphic designer who also co-hosts a low-key weekly gaming podcast. I stress about how little time I have for friends, and I read whenever I have the chance. I think stories are an important part of games, but not at the expense of well-designed interactivity. I've come to love how gaming has its own "vocabulary" stemming from the technological history behind it all, and the nature of game visuals tending to be at the forefront of real-time computer graphics makes it easy to piggyback with other technology hobbies.
I tend to avoid the more heated "team" exchanges you see between fans of various platforms, even if I can't help but look sometimes. I would say it's the worst part of the hobby, but I think that rivalry is an important part of the social aspect of games, the same way teams are so important in organized sports. It can't be a social experience if it doesn't draw a crowd, for better or worse.
I used to have my own game store for almost a decade, but slowly worked my way out of it and got more involved with my design work. Having the store was a great excuse to always keep up to date on games and hardware, much to the detriment of my living-space. I was one of the artists whose graphic was chosen for the default set of profile pics on the Xbox One Dashboard, which aside from from indie work and being an artist on "Meet Blue's Baby Brother" and "Wedding Dash," is pretty much my work-related claim to fame. I still keep up with the new consoles, even though it means I have several times over more games to play than I have time to actually play them in. I always "joke" about how the balance of time vs. money for gaming is always inverted, no matter your age.
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