Site Description: The Sci-fi Gaming & Animation club is one of the many clubs that the Gaming City College of New York counts with. This club promotes gaming as a common form of entertainment within the college environment that induce students to play, explore, and take advantage of the many benefits that gamers often develop through gaming. Such as the improvement of problem-solving skills, the enrichment of your memory, and many skills that help you exercise your brain. This club usually meets in one of the conference rooms of the NAC building, specifically in room 1/207. Though, sometimes, the club also gathers in the rotunda, depending on the availability of the room. Since it serves multiple purposes, it is not always available for the Sci-fi Gaming Club. Since the club activities take place in the conference room, you would imagine a large table surrounded by many chairs. However, this conference room counts with multiple tables that all together create one big table. This table fulfills the purpose of a typical conference table for the gaming hours, usually Thursdays, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The conference room gets arranged for gaming equipment and activities. When I visited the site, there were four tables located vertically approximated to one of the doors; this table had computers, screens, consoles, controllers, and wires. Due to several interferences with my schedule and the club’s scheduled meeting, my visit happened to occur before the club gathering hour. Although my visit was earlier than the club meeting, I had enough time to interview the expert and appreciate the structure of the site. As well as the arrangement of the tables and tools of the club. The room is pretty spacious, which allows them to accommodate the computers and screens on top of the tables they placed on the other side of the room. The environment of the gaming club was very pleasant; every person who got to the room at the time I was there was friendly and was even wondering if I was going to be joining them during the club session. 

Expert Description: The expert that I am interviewing is Melido Bello. He is a sophomore at the City College of New York. He decided to join the Sci-Fi Gaming and Animation club this fall 2019. What makes Melido proficient in this subculture is the fact that he has been a gamer since the age of ten years. He considers himself a “pro” in games like NBA 2K, Call of Duty (I, II, III, V, Black Ops…), Mortal Kombat, and many other famous games that many insiders within this subculture would familiarize themselves pretty well with. Melido does not play a major role in the club, aside from being just a participant. However, his knowledge in terms of video games is pretty expanded due to its extended time dedicated to this subculture. He is devoted to gaming, but he does not consider himself addicted to it since he claims to be aware of the psychological impacts gaming addiction can conduct. Also, he is a full-time student, which only leaves him space to play during the club hours and sometimes his free time. Melido Bello helped me have a more prominent approach to the gaming subculture through his knowledge and time dedicated to gaming. 

   

R: How many hours a day do you consider you should play video games?  

M: Normally, I would say 4 hours a day. 

R: What emotions do you feel while playing video games?

M: Honestly, this is hard to explain, but playing video games makes you forget about the outside world. It is like a pleasant sensation. You get yourself so much into it that you forget about what is around. This is why we often yell while playing; our reactions to what is going on inside the screen are often transmitted to the outside world, and that is when you realize you are not in the game. But it is good because It makes you distract your mind, and think and analyze a lot about your next movements. It is like exercising your brain. 

R: Do you feel addicted to playing video games?

M: No, I don’t.

R: How do you know you are not addicted to it? 

M: I feel like I could go a day without playing video games, and I would feel completely normal. In my case, it is not like I need it in order to feel good. It is just something I do as a hobby during my free time. 

R: How would you explain the contributions that video games have added to your life to someone who thinks video games are a total waste of time?

M: I am aware of the fact that people have different opinions about gaming, and I respect that. But, I also believe that if they haven’t experienced the sensations and skills that you would develop from gaming because of the different scenarios you are exposed to, you should definitely give it a try before simply judging it.

R: Can you mention what skills are those?

M: I mean, I am able to solve problems faster than my other classmates who are not gamers, and that is something I proved in math class. 

R: There is research and studies that are trying to link gaming addiction to mental disorders. Do you think that gaming addiction can ever get to be considered a mental disorder?

M: I do not think it should be considered a mental disorder. There has to be more than a simple video game addiction in order for it to affect somebody so brutally that it leaves them with a mental disorder. — I mean many people are addicted to their phones and social media and stuff, and I haven’t seen a case where being addicted to your phone would leave you with a mental disorder. And going back to gaming, I would not say it can not contribute to it, because there are many factors that lead to a mental disorder, but gaming addiction should not be the main factor. 

R: I read an article that establishes that video games are specifically designed for boys; what are your thoughts on that? Who has access to the gaming subculture? What are the requirements to be part of it?

M: I wouldn’t say that video games are specifically designed for boys. Everyone who has some sort of interest in playing video games can definitely do it. I personally feel that there are no gender, no race, no barriers in order to be part of the gaming subculture. But I do have to admit that boys are the ones who mostly play, but I guess it is our preference. –The female number of participants in the subculture is growing, though. It is getting expanded. And in terms of race, it is definitely not a factor, I have online friends from all over the world who play video games, so I wouldn’t say that just a certain race play video games. 

R: What do you think is the tool that the gaming subculture identifies itself for? 

M: I think is the game controller. 

R: How would you spread awareness to those gamers that don’t know anything about the psychological impacts of excessive gaming? 

M: Social media would play an important role when it comes to providing awareness. Also, the same way our club promotes the games that will happen in our club hours, in that same way, we could inform about the risk of excessive gaming.