After three hours of game play and another 30-minute wait to join the raid, you behold Argath as he transforms into Lucavi Duma. Just as you’re about to give it all you have to defeat him, and witness which mask he chooses, your power goes out – leaving you with nothing but expletives. The game will go on without you. Thankfully, this scenario rarely happens for PSE&G customers who rely on a steady stream of power to game for pleasure and/or profit.
In the world of gaming big money is at stake, from the millions professionals earn from sponsors and subscribers to the hundreds up for grabs in amateur tournaments. Power losses threaten that income.
Ayla Brooks, 25, of Trenton has been gaming since she was a kid, starting with traditional consoles, graduating to PC gaming and now gaming live with players from around the world. Final Fantasy XIV is one of her favorites.
“It’s bothersome when you’re in the middle of a raid, which is being grouped with random people, and the internet goes out,” said Brooks, who is a lifelong PSE&G customer. “But I have to worry more about my connection than the power. Our power rarely goes out.”
Brooks remembers a storm causing her power to go out for about an hour once last year, but she slept through it and only knew about the outage because her mother told her. Coincidently, another storm caused another short outage the day she spoke to PSE&G.
“I’m not surprised if power goes out during a storm,” Brooks said. “When it does go out, it’s important that it’s restored relatively quickly and PSE&G does that.”
Brooks, who games for fun is considering venturing into the money making side – streaming. For now, she’s content to work at Hyperspace Gaming in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, which provides virtual reality space and tools primarily for young people at the Quaker Bridge Mall.
Seema Sharma, who started Hyperspace Gaming about a year ago, said she created the business due to her own love of gaming and because she noticed that young people needed more creative outlets.
“I’ve had conversations with many parents about their concerns regarding gaming but gaming presents a lot of opportunities and is a viable career option today,” Sharma said. “VR is like a sport. It’s physical. If you play a VR game for 30 minutes you feel like you’ve been in the gym for an hour.”
Both a PSE&G customer at home and work, Sharma agreed that PSE&G is highly reliable and particularly helpful to small businesses. She said streamers and online tournament players count on that reliability to earn money, often right from home.
Fortnite streamer CDNThe3rd, one of New Jersey’s most known gamers, has nearly two million followers on Twitch, a popular gaming site, including thousands of paid subscribers. While it may take years to get good enough to earn a living at gaming, Sharma said gaming is a great way not just to earn money but to get young people interested in technology.
“It’s a different world currently,” Sharma said. “The way that technology is moving, we need to encourage our kids to embrace the technology. The applications are humungous.”
Sharma said people are often surprised to find that she, who spent many years as a stay-at-home mom, is a gamer and that she hosts weekly tournaments to provide an exciting outlet for young people. She said she keeps her fees low so that teenagers and others can view Hyperspace Gaming as a place to make friends, indulge their interests and have fun.
In order to do so, she counts on reliable and predictable services like those provided by PSE&G. “Losing power affects gaming,” Sharma said. “PSE&G is very reliable. I have friends who aren’t with PSE&G and I hear about their issues. I have no complaints.”
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