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Apartment Hunting Checklists For The Modern Gamer

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Does your life center around games and technology? Do you work to (hopefully) live comfortably while staying on top of the latest releases? Are your friends carefully selected for their potential in an online game raid or a capture the flag battle on a shooting game? More people are embracing the lifestyle, but there are some key amenities that could make the difference between enjoying your hobby thoroughly and struggling to get everything you need. For gamers, media aficionados, and tech lovers of all types, here are a few things that many apartment hunters forget about when choosing their next apartment rental.

Internet Options For Speed And Consistency

A lot of gaming is tied to internet service quality, whether the game is online or not. You may need to download the game and patches, or want to watch videos about the game without dealing with choppy video quality. For online games, there's an entire set of industry certifications dedicated to figuring out what a "good connection" actually is.

For most apartment hunters, you'll want to know what Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are in the area. Although internet search engines can bring up some results, you're probably better off asking a real estate agent to figure out what services are specifically available in the apartments of your choice.

The issue is that individual neighborhoods have different services, which may not be accurately reflected in search results. Getting these answers yourself depends on street level and apartment number, and you're better off leaving these amenity searching tasks to the real estate agent. You still need to bring it up, and point out that you need more than just fast--you need consistent.

In every case, the final consistency test will need to be done when you move in. For the best chances at getting service problems fixed, ask your real estate agent for areas that have enough competition to threaten ISPs with leaving for another service.

Proximity To Gaming Centers

Aside from major cities, arcades and net cafes aren't a thing anymore. In most cases, you're limited to game-themed retail stores such as Gamestop for video games or Games Workshop for tabletop games. 

Ask your real estate agent if there are any smaller/independent/non-franchise gaming stores in the area. Be sure to explain what you mean by gaming, as some people may confuse the term for game hunting (shooting deer, turkeys, beer cans, etc) or gambling. Bonus points if you're into all of those and they're all in your area.

Along with asking for apartments that are near gaming stores, figure out what larger electronics retailers are in the area. You'll need at least a Best Buy or similar store in the area to get repairs or spare parts, and it's even better if there are smaller computer parts shops that can talk with you about different services.

For gamers who need support and community on their next move, contact a real estate agent and ask about apartments that are high on gamer, geek, and hobby shop outlets.  


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