Here’s a not-so secret fact about me:
I enjoy playing video games. Ever since I played my first video game at the age of 4, I was hooked (= very interested/absorbed) to them. In fact, I play more video games than I watch TV or movies. But I can’t just play any game.
For starters, I can’t stand sports or racing games. I just find them boring. Another type of game I won’t play is the FPS genre. FPS means first person shooter, and it’s where you walk around with a gun shooting enemies. I don’t play them because I think they’re boring.
The video games I play need two things:
- An engaging and immersive story.
- Challenging and difficult game play
Basically, I like to experience an interesting story, and I like the game to require strategy and thinking.
Recently I played a game that fit both of my criteria. It’s called ‘Salt and Sanctuary’. The story is clouded with mystery:
You’re on a strange island looking for a princess, but you don’t know why and you don’t know where you are. AND for some reason, the creatures living on the island hate you, so you need to defeat them to continue with the story.
However, the creatures that live on the island are dangerous. Very dangerous. Just one of them can stop your game, making it difficult to continue.
So, as you can guess, I ‘died’ (in the game, not real life) many times while playing this game. When you day, you have to go back to the last time you saved your game and try again.
One boss was especially hard. He had an attack that ‘killed’ (again this is in the game) me in one hit…
So I tried again and again and again and again…
And finally, I defeated him.
The feeling of defeating an impossible boss is awesome!
Do you know what I mean?
I’m talking about the feeling of overcoming a barrier in the way progress. Or, defeating the one thing that is stopping your from continuing your story.
I guess it’s much like English.
Many people quit or lose interest in English when learning English gets ‘too hard’ or they ‘stop improving’.
The frustration makes them quit. Just like some video game bosses make people stop playing games.
But other people keep trying until they finally ‘get it’.
If you’re someone who, like me, keeps trying until you finally ‘get it’, then I have a surprise for you.
Next week, I’m giving a free online training about self studying.
If you don’t know being able to self study is one of the most important skills you can develop if you really want to make big improvements to your English.
It’s free to sign up, but you must sign up to be able to join the event (and watch the recording).
I’m really excited about this event because I know that learning how to self study can change how a lot of people learn English.
You can learn more about the event and reserve your space here:
https://englishforstudy.com/
Sam
English For Study
Ps. If you have any questions you’d like me to answer ‘live on air’, just send me an email.