Hidden within the confines of Garfield is a genius of his art, a man who can rock with the ferocity of Ozzy Osbourne, the imagination of David Bowie, and the gameorienfestedness of Jimi Hendrix. The individual is Micah Arvey. The craft is Guitar Hero.

In 2005, Arvey was in eighth grade, and as APP middle-school students are wont to do, he was a connoisseur of video games. At that time, Guitar Hero was a new release, barely noticed, and nothing like the sensation it would become. “I just saw it on the shelf,” says Arvey. Fascinated by the concept, he purchased it.

With a combination of entertaining coordination-based gameplay and simple escapism, Guitar Hero has been sold and played around the world. The player holds a guitar-shaped controller, strumming a lever with their right hand while holding down the proper buttons with their left, similar to how a real guitarist strums, strings, and holds down frets.

“I sucked,” Arvey says of his beginning days as a virtual rocker Padawan. In order to improve, and also just for fun, he took to playing a couple hours a day, several days per week.

Arvey immediately began to hone his skills. He progressed from playing the original Guitar Hero to playing the conceptually similar Guitar Hero 2 in 2006, and Guitar Hero 3 in 2007. His improved technique allowed him to attempt and master the higher difficulty levels of the game, which involve faster and more complex fretting. By the time he started to play Guitar Hero 3, Arvey was a formidable force.

New songs such as Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce began to pique his interest. He received 5 stars, the maximum, on We Three Kings by Steve Ouimette and scored 200,000 points on Cult of Personality by Living Colour without using Star Power (a Guitar Hero equivalent of turbocharging), both impressive achievements.

In late August 2008, Arvey competed in a tournament at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. It was sponsored by Penny Arcade Expo, one of the largest gaming conventions in the world. Of the approximately 200 contestants, he placed fourth. “Most of them were like 25 or something,” he says, brushing off the age difference among the participants.

Even though he is reaching new levels of success, Arvey has fallen back from his previous intensive levels of practice. Currently, his controller is broken. He also enjoys soccer, and is otherwise occupied with friends and school. Besides, he says “I play less now, I can actually play guitar.”