Hi guys, My name is Hysteralite, and recently, I had some sort of realization.
I have been playing minecraft since late 2011, and let me just say, it has become
a big part of my life. I know every crafting recipe, I know how to mod it, create
plugins for it, and I can do tons of random junk with redstone. I am a huge geek
about minecraft, and it has actually brought a bunch of good into my life. I have
a "job" as a youtube video creator with a partnered youtube channel, a server
that collects a fair bit of money, and I even met my girlfriend through minecraft
(that story is for another day :D).

However, minecraft has become, for me and a lot of other people, a big obsession.
I feel like minecraft is my nicoteen (the addictive stuff that they put in cigarettes).
And recently, while doing some reading for college, I was like "WHAT AM I DOING
WITH MY LIFE?!" I've made websites about it, spent hours making art for it and
modding it, and I've put a LOT of money into it. I have about 4 minecraft accounts,
and have donated to approx. 100 servers. As much as I hate to admit this, I suck
at being mature. Sure I have my own apartment, sure I have a girlfriend, but I
still play Pokemon and watch Spongebob and I'm 18. And all my friends are like
"OHHH COD IS BAU5" and I don't really find Call of Duty interesting. My parents
are like "get a REAL job" and I just don't want to. I want to play minecraft all day :)

Here's the uplifting part. There's always an uplifting part. That's how it works.
I just want to say that I am not quitting
my career, and minecraft, and don't plan to for a long time. Now I actually feel
accomplished that I managed to get this far in the minecraft world. I'm well known
on youtube, I know a lot of great servers that appreciate my support. How many
other people can say that they have over 1000 friends (no one except my mom
on facebook, but thats not the point) who all appreciate my obsession. Believe me,
if you are one of those people who "screwed up" their life playing video games,
you're awesome, and you're also not alone.

There are a lot of benefits about playing video games, even call of duty. Commence
NERD TALK! Playing games like Call of Duty can help improve strategization skills
and also can help with aim and trajectory abilities. Playing games like minecraft
help induce creativity, and show survival skills. Games like pokemon can help people
learn adventuring skills, and elemental matchups which may be important in the
real world. People who play video games tend to be a lot more creative than kids who
don't. People who play video games also tend to be more alert, or aware, so they can
get out of tough situations before it happens. People who play games like Mario
Kart competitively like me grow up to be VERY good at driving.

So, video games aren't all that bad. And you can get a career out of it, and a girlfriend
out of it. SO GO PLAY YOUR HEART OUT!