Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Summer Game Fest
  • New games for 2025
  • Upcoming Switch 2 games
  • Switch 2 stock

Recommended reading

A screenshot from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 showing Maelle fighting an enemy.
JRPGs With the caveat he got "really, really, really lucky," Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director shares classic advice: "You have to make a game that you will like"
Mixtape reveal trailer
Adventure Games Nostalgic new Mixtape trailer demonstrates the impossible power of a Life is Strange-like: I now want to attend my high school reunion
Hiruko Shizuhara uses her axe to launch an ultimate attack in The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
RPGs The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy isn't quite Persona XCOM, but it's absolutely perfect for savoring via Steam Deck
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
RPGs Fantasy Life i, the sequel to a life sim RPG that boldly asked 'What if Animal Crossing was a Zelda game?,' was more than worth the 11-year wait – it might be my GOTY
Helldivers 2
Games "We cough up a chunk of our soul": 32 game devs, from Doom's John Romero to Helldivers 2 and Palworld leads, explain what people get wrong about games
God of War
Action Games God of War dev remembers getting "so angry" during play tests before admitting players were right: "Why can't you just get on this climb wall here?"
Mixtape protagonists lounge in a sunlit bedroom with purple walls and fairy lights
Adventure Games Nostalgic indie game from publisher Annapurna is a "respite from the current cursed reality" inspired by real-life, dev says: "Ended about as well as you can expect, including a nice scar, and cow s***"
  1. Games
  2. Action

Student life lessons you already know thanks to video games

Features
By Ben_Tyrer published 30 August 2013

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Oh, the places you'll go

Oh, the places you'll go

For many young adults, this will be the last summer before they embark on their own quest of higher education. Whether you call it college or university (depending on your geographic region), its a huge step in life as you start to learn more about yourself and how many classes you can miss in a semester. Youll join clubs and societies youll forget about in a month, and live in houses that wouldnt be fit for Fallouts wasteland, all for a degree that will say youre really smart.

But if youre anything like us, a lot of your worldview will have already been molded by constant video game binges and as you can guess, thats a very good thing indeed. They've been teaching you the sort of skills and tips for how to survive when making that first decisive step into the mysterious world of being a full-time student. You might not know it, but with these tricks under your belt, youll be ready to get through college as if it were nothing more than a tutorial.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
How to organize a dorm room

How to organize a dorm room

Depending on your circumstance, youll either be in a room that's half the size of most cupboards or you'll be sharing with someone else. Usually, its both. Its time to get used to a severely diminutive amount of space that will make you miss the tiny briefcases in Resident Evil 4. Now obviously youll need one or more consoles, the TV, and the stack of games youve been promising yourself youll finish at some point. But what if the worst happens and your roommate doesnt understand?

What you need is some organization. Like us, youve probably spent countless hours of time fiddling around with cramming those impossibly large guns into the briefcase in Deus Ex. So when you finally take that first step into your living space, itll doubtlessly be just like a game of real-world Tetris, your brain all ready to organize stuff. However, unlike Tetris, once everythings been organized, it wont disappear before your eyes! Or at least it shouldnt Once its all over, youll have enough space to navigate from your bed to the door, which is really all you use anyway.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
How to socialize like crazy

How to socialize like crazy

Everythings unpacked and your furniture isn't threatening to collapse and crush you anytime soon. Its time to venture out and meet the people who will be your new best friends or the people you wont ever see again after the first two weeks. Lets pretend its the first one, because these folks will be the ones who will end up staying up all hours with you, indulging you in just one more game of Battlefield, because youll finally win this time! (They will then beat you 5-0 and crush your dreams.)

Before all of that though, you need to get your chat on. Mass Effects Shepard spent most of his/her time running up to strangers and having a natter with them about their life or the fate of the galaxy without the least bit of social anxiety. And if youve played Skyrim, youll have spent hours running about in search of someone or something to natter with. Now were guessing your college wont be Winterfell, so, alas, that means the only quest youll be given is to get the beers.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
How to not drink too much

How to not drink too much

Alcohol is a constant for most students during their time at university. Just trying to escape it is actually pretty much impossible. From the student bars to the casual meet-ups and everything that lies between, there will be plenty of booze and moderation--for everything in life, except game difficulty--is crucial. No one wants to be the person who's trundled home at midnight because theyve had one too many Jagerbombs.

Rockstar games in particular have been preaching this for years. GTA IV helped you see what its like being really hammered without raining destruction on your liver, with the hilariously uncontrollable Niko stumbling around aimlessly as if the pavement was coated in butter. But thats nothing compared to poor old Max Payne. His alcoholism may have paved the way for some cool sounding noir narrations, but it also meant he couldnt walk into bar without getting shot at. Obviously thats a subtle meta-textual hint that alcohol equals bad. It cant be because bars are an awfully cool place to shower goons in lead-based death, surely?

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
How to get the most from your surroundings

How to get the most from your surroundings

Money is the one word that can reduce most students to shivering wrecks. The mere thought of student loans no, lets not even talk about them. Lets think about all the essentials youll need to buy, like food, textbooks, and Steam sales that are always on. Within months, youll be scavenging for anything that looks like it could be of use and comes at the lower than low price of free.

That's where Borderlands 2 comes in. The shoot and loot gem will have hopefully taught you well, as just like that crack squad of vault hunters, youre going to be scouring every corner and inch of the dorm halls to find something of value, although unlike Borderlands 2, you wont ever ignore something just because it isnt rare enough. Still, if you grab a list of shooters, close your eyes and point to one, youll get a game that will have taught the same lesson. Call of Duty? Far Cry 3? Dead Island? Doesnt matter, its definitely skilled you in the art of grabbing items that may be useful. Eventually.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
How to (almost) eat healthy

How to (almost) eat healthy

Cooking is something youre going to have to do at some point. Sure, surviving purely on chicken-flavored noodles and delivery pizza for a year might sound like a childhood dream come true, but that childhood dream straight up lied to you. A bit of variety is essential and that includes making a token attempt at incorporating fruit and vegetables into your diet, just like when you force yourself to do a story mission in GTA because you know youre supposed to.

Anyway, there are plenty of games that have hinted at the idea of a healthy diet. San Andreas had CJ go a bit round around the edges after a few too many visits to Burger Shot and closet survival dieting simulator/stealth classic Metal Gear Solid 3 had Snake having to source his own, usually very aggressive, food in the jungle. In one of those rare occasions where real-life has the edge over games, unlike Big Boss, you wont ever have to worry about your food trying to kill you, so venture into the kitchen.

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
How to repair items of worth

How to repair items of worth

As your savings start to trickle away, the pressure is on to make things last. Maybe its that ripped shirt or the laptop has developed a battery lifespan of approximately 45 seconds, but get ready for everything to break, all the time. Heres where a can-do attitude is required to stay on top of it, lest youre facing a dorm room with a mountain of scrap and a hefty bill to sort it all out.

If youve managed to avoid The Last Of Us, then its time to dig it out, be blown away, and then learn about resourcefulness. Joel and Ellie might be scraping themselves across Clicker country--officially the worst kind of country--but every item they find counts, even if its just so Ellie can keep up on the storyline of the comic Savage Starlight. Its not just The Last Of Us though--Burnout Paradise scattered auto-repair shops across its city like repair-y confetti. You drove your battered car through them and bam; beautiful again, slyly making you become obsessed with keeping all your items in tip-top condition.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
How to pay attention

How to pay attention

None of the professors are expecting perfection, but they hope people will pay attention and read around the subject. Downloading a few PowerPoint slides and doing a quick Wikipedia scan isnt going to be enough--you need to hit the books hard, and not in a Street Fighter kind of way. Youll find yourself braving trips to the library, only for it to turn into procrastination oclock, spent reading your favorite site GamesRadar (right?) and forgetting why you went in the first place.

Gaming has been teaching you to read around the subject for a while now. Remember hunting for audio dairies in the original Bioshock? Trying to find all the intel items in Spec Ops: The Line? Pretty much the same as studying for a dissertation. You spend ages hunting for scraps of info as you want to know as much as possible about the doomed-filled hellholes the games created. The only major difference is that at the end of the dissertation, the Achievement you get will give you more of a chance of getting a job.

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Class dismissed

Class dismissed

With all the advice gaming has been providing, when the time for moving to college or university comes, there wont be any problems to deal with whatsoever apart from remembering to do all the boring stuff that gaming hasnt taught us about. With those lessons over, why not tell us how youll be implementing them in the comments below?

If you found this article useful, you should see what your life as a gamer from cradle to grave is going to be like video game characters we'd hate to befriend in real life.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
CATEGORIES
Android iPad iPhone PC Gaming Wii-u Nintendo PlayStation PS4 Xbox Xbox One Platforms Mobile Gaming
PRODUCTS
Grand Theft Auto V FIFA 14 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Tetris Mass Effect 3 Battlefield 4 Super Mario 3D World
Ben_Tyrer
See more PC Gaming Features
Read more
A screenshot from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 showing Maelle fighting an enemy.
With the caveat he got "really, really, really lucky," Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director shares classic advice: "You have to make a game that you will like"
Mixtape reveal trailer
Nostalgic new Mixtape trailer demonstrates the impossible power of a Life is Strange-like: I now want to attend my high school reunion
Hiruko Shizuhara uses her axe to launch an ultimate attack in The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy isn't quite Persona XCOM, but it's absolutely perfect for savoring via Steam Deck
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
Fantasy Life i, the sequel to a life sim RPG that boldly asked 'What if Animal Crossing was a Zelda game?,' was more than worth the 11-year wait – it might be my GOTY
Helldivers 2
"We cough up a chunk of our soul": 32 game devs, from Doom's John Romero to Helldivers 2 and Palworld leads, explain what people get wrong about games
God of War
God of War dev remembers getting "so angry" during play tests before admitting players were right: "Why can't you just get on this climb wall here?"
Latest in Action
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Link wanted for counterfeit as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Switch 2 edition adds a new item duplication glitch for infinite rare materials
Death Stranding 2 Sam touching Lou and Fragile
Full Death Stranding 2 cast and cameos list
A living puppet sits on Fragile's shoulder in a Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
Death Stranding 2 players discover that they're being penalized for efficiency, as bulk-delivering items rewards you less than handing them in one at a time
Death Stranding 2
Do you need to play Death Stranding 1 before Death Stranding 2: On the Beach?
GTA Online Safeguard deliveries
How to complete GTA Online Safeguard deliveries
Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
If you play Death Stranding 2 on your birthday you're treated to a 90-second cutscene that's unbelievably ridiculous even by Hideo Kojima's standards
Latest in Features
One-Punch Man season 3: Saitama punching while in mid-air during the anime One-Punch Man.
Anime Expo 2025: dates, announcements, and why One-Punch Man fans should be excited
The Shrouds
It may feature corpses, missing limbs, and AI, but with The Shrouds, legendary director David Cronenberg has made the ultimate meditation on grief: "To me, there is no afterlife"
A full setup for Fate of the Fellowship with cards, tokens, and pieces all laid out
Legendary board game designer says his upcoming Lord of the Rings project is "definitely the most thematically and mechanically rich game I’ve worked on"
Promotional artwork for the Steam Summer Sale 2025 which runs from June 26th - July 10th at 10am PT
I've spent six hours exploring the Steam Summer Sale with our Games Editor, and these are the 10 best games on discount I'd recommend so far
The Outer Worlds 2 screenshot of Aza, a cultist companion with short pink hair who holds a dagger
The Outer Worlds 2 is "going deeper and more complex" with its companions, and I'm already making grabby hands at this RPG
Ruffy runs across the ocean on wooden crates in Ruffy and the Riverside, with the GamesRadar+ Indie Spotlight logo
Banjo-Kazooie and Paper Mario mix together in this delightful puzzle platformer that has me swapping textures to solve puzzles by changing the world
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. M3GAN doll in M3GAN 2.0
    1
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  2. 2
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  3. 3
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  4. 4
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  5. 5
    Karate Kid: Legends review: "Better than Karate Kid (2010), nothing on Karate Kid (1984)"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...