Cameron Johnson, sale a senior at Richmond Community High School, find was about 5 years old when he was first introduced to video games. His older brother, Corey Johnson, was playing a wrestling game on his Nintendo 64. That one experience, along with constantly playing Super Smash Bros., was what drove Cameron to become passionate about video games. “It was just amazing. All the colors, all the sounds, all the funky-looking characters that you could play as … it was just amazing when I was a kid,” he said.
Cameron hopes to someday become a video game developer who designs the levels so that he can add more players to do more in the game. He wants to be an innovator in the gaming world as games and their systems become more advanced, possibly moving into the virtual reality realm. “I want to make it less gimmicky, and more reality,” he said.
Games have also introduced Cameron to another passion of his: mixed martial arts. After playing UFC: Undisputed on his Xbox 360 five years ago, he said he started watching mixed martial arts and researching the subject. He has shown interest in learning Brazilian Ju Jitsu and kickboxing. Entering an actual school and being taught by a master is his ultimate goal; he said he has no interest in joining clubs in college. Until then, though, he said he’ll continue doing his research until he finds a master.
Math is another field where video games have taken Cameron. Since he wants to become a developer, being a great math student is a must. “I’ve always been good at it since I was young,” he said. He remembers always placing first in his class’s math competitions in which the class was timed to complete certain math problems such as multiplication or problem solving. “I’ve always been good at (stuff like) algebra and calculus, I always got A’s in them,” Cameron said. “I don’t know how, I guess it’s just something I was born with.”
Before becoming this video game innovator, though, Cameron said he is currently making the decision between two universities: Virginia Tech and Drexel University. He likes Tech because of their campus and engineering program, but he said Drexel has a good video game designing program. He has currently been accepted to both schools and is just waiting to make his decision.
