At times like a free period and during class, students can be seen playing video games from something as simple as Poptropica to Halo. To those who are unfamiliar with the massive enjoyment of video games, many wonder how these students have the time to play and still be able to balance school work? Some do not, and their grades can reflect that. Some can.

How does one person remain stationary for hours, non-stop, on a single video game?

Junior Jonathan Yim started playing video games in third grade when he was intrigued by the enjoyment he got out of the graphics. His first online game was Club Penguin but then shifted to a favorite 2D Korean multiplayer online game, Maplestory. Since then, he admits that not a day has gone by where Yim has not played video games. He confesses that he is indeed addicted to the fun.

If you ever see Yim at school, there is a very high chance he is rapidly making combos and scratching his tablet screen whether it is during lunch or class.

Yim owns a Wii and a DS, but a majority of the time he plays on his PC. In fact, off the top of his head, he knows that he has played exactly 87 different games, including Team Fortress 2, League of Legends and Minecraft.

If it is not his tablet, he plays games on his school laptop much like many other students.

A significant amount of his dedication, skill and time is invested into Maplestory. At one point, Yim was ranked the third best Maplestory player in the world.

His advanced gaming skills cannot be questioned due to this immense training and practice he performs. Every single day Yim plays at the least five hours after school. On the weekends, he plays about 8 hours. Yim averages about 30 hours a week playing.

“Once I get home I finish my homework as fast as I can, and then after I finish I either eat something and play games or play games than eat,” Yim said.

However, to make room for games in his school schedule, Yim sacrifices his sleep. He regularly stays up past one in the morning to play with his online friends. If he has a test the next day, he will quickly study right before he falls asleep.Every month, Yim spends an average of $100 to buy new games. Yim will spend $50 on a game if he deems it worthy.

One of Yim’s proudest moments is receiving profit out of his hobby. In two years, Yim has made a total of $2,100 off of CSGO, an online shooter game that is also played for its trading.

“You put your items on a list, and it starts growing. Whoever has a high priced item has a chance of winning the gamble. One knife could cost $200 and two can make $400, then you could have a 60% to 70% chance of winning it. After that, the more you add, the higher the chances,” Yim said. “I was opening cases, and out of luck I got some high prices, and my friends encouraged me to continue playing.”

Yim has gained other benefits from playing video games but they have caused concern from his parents.

“My reaction is very good because of video games,” Yim said, “but my parents want to disown me for the amount of time I dedicate to video gaming.”

Yim plans to play video games for the rest of his life because of the happiness and connections they give him. It is an escape from worries and puts his mind in a different place.

“I recommend others playing video games because it ruins their lives in the best way by killing a large amount of time and bringing happiness of satisfaction,” Yim said.

Even with a job in the future, Yim will find the time to play after hours with on and off days depending on his schedule. However, Yim wouldn’t make a career out of video games because it would ruin other people’s lives by dragging them into this void of addiction with undying storylines and graphics.