Can you be a serious gamer and also be a serious professional ? Lets take my profession for example, programming.

This is a habit or lifestyle which could most likely lower the efficiency level of being a coder. After all, don’t you need all of that time to perfect that software? Anyways this should not be limited to programming alone but also to all pastimes of an individual that have the tendency to draw him away from the project at hand. This includes your addictions to other things, like too much outing, watching movies, partying and most especially procrastination.

Interestingly enough, this does not affect all programmers, there are a few I know who can spend hours gaming and yet still have enough time to do that application or do that job.

Gaming for coders does have its upsides. For one, it gives you some interesting UI concepts. Games being released now come with some interesting appearances and themes that web designers can look at and re-tool to the benefit of the project they are working on. For movie makers, this is really evident in the movie Scot Pilgrim VS the world. In the movie, they combine the elements found in video games to tell the plot, and they do it really nicely too.

In the end I would conclude that being a gamer whiles also being a programmer translates into a balance of proper time management and putting your priorities right. There are some who do not put these elements right, and in the end they let their addiction to the game overcome their desire to see the completion of their application.

So, what’s your take on this? Can a programmer still be a serious life time gamer or does this generally lower the efficiency of the programmer.