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Video Game Addiction

TheAppleCore

TheAppleCore

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
5,510
I am in a bit of a predicament right now. I don't have any interest whatsoever in doing anything but playing video games. It's hard to go through the motions of the real world, and almost every moment I'm away from my computer or Wii or XBox, all I can think about is getting back on.

I wish I could have that level of dedication toward something useful and productive, like, ohhh, advancing my career. Then, I could have the joy of engaging myself in an obsession, but the result would be the betterment of my life, rather than the acquisition of virtual items in video role playing games. *__*

Is this possible?

I mean, yes, I could always simply limit the amount of time I spend playing games, and set aside more time to work on other things, but the point is, I am never going to bother doing that unless I am able to gain the motivation to do so. And sadly, right now I just don't give a fuck.
 
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because. video games are fun when you are a kid. when you can't really do stuff. there is no reason to have video games as an adult. because you can do other stuff.

but if they are a problem for you, maybe consider getting rid of them anyway.
 
Could you maybe set a goal for yourself each day and reward yourself when you've completed the goal with video games? You'd probably feel better about yourself and enjoy the games more if you did this rather than just spend the entire day on video games.

Otherwise, I agree with hydro and getting rid of them might need to be considered.
 
I second hydro. Sell em.

Or you can go the other route (like I did) and turn your addiction into something productive. You can get yourself a game building program and build em yourself. You do have to have patience though.
 
As a fellow gamer I can understand your predicament. It really goes beyond a past time and into an actual lifestyle; and for me that's just what it did for many years.. I still love to play games every chance I have, but by no means as heavily as I did years ago where I was dedicating every spare hour of my waking life to playing.

Eventually I burnt out, and for me that was the only way I was going to slow down.. But it's still a very active part of my life and I'm quite sure it will continue to be well into my later years.. some people enjoy sport or watching tv, for me it's gaming.

My old housemate who's 28 also has a passion for gaming. (our house was like command central, computers everywhere with mass sessions of Starcraft, WoW and others, together we just perpetuated our own obsession and did nothing constructive lol) he eventually decided to pursue study in multimedia design, basically anything where he could somehow turn his obsession into something useful.

Unfortunately for me at 23 I'm still figuring out what to do.. I've played around with map, model design and coding but it's not for me. I missed the release of Diablo 3 to go travelling, and I had to laugh at myself because I realized I would often bend my world around the releases of games with work holidays, free time, travel etc.. it's absolutely insane to people outside of the gaming culture but to everyone else within it, it's normal hah.

Just think, some of the top players in Starcraft are making well into $150,000+ a year.. now that's an obsession :)
 
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the rhetoric, substance, and structure of even the most narrative-based video games does not compete with feature films or literature. it is not the same. one field deals with attempting to break down the wall separating individual realities. the other is about a kill-to-death ratio or how much damage a sword does.

also, hypocrites give good advice. i spend way too much time watching movies and reading stories.
 
I think games are to quickly generalized and stereotyped.

You have games like Portal which are specifically designed to provoke critical thinking and puzzle solving while still building into an engaging story. Or RTS games which require you to apply strategic thought and patience to understand the economy of your civilization and tactical approaches.. I see them as a great learning tool while still enjoying the game. There by no means on the same front as film.. but this form of media entertainment is evolving at an amazing speed; only 10 years ago were games looked down upon as a past time for children and now you have people of all ages playing them, I feel they will only continue to become further refined and developed.
 
i'm 35 and have all three current gaming systems. i play regularly and still have plenty of time to work full time, study full time at uni, be an attending father to my 15 month old and supportive husband to my wife, stay in shape, and occasionally progress with learning bass guitar, ukulele and mandarin chinese (these will accelerate after i complete my 3 year degree this week =D).

moral to the story: moderate your fun and just get off your arse, mate :)

and lol @ "career before 21".
 
Age of Empires and Total War more or less got me through history class in 7th grade actually

my teacher would always be like "how in the world did you know that?"

and when I said a video game he just laughed and went to the next slide on his presentations that I never took notes on
 
L2R said:
lol @ "career before 21".
Click to expand...

I figured someone would point that out. "Advancing my career" was just an expedient way of saying "spending time studying relevant material to graduate from college and earn a degree, hence improving my chances of realizing my dream career".
 
You really need to look at it in relative terms of what you want out of life, as playing video games heavily, or not playing them has little effect on anyone but you. If that makes you happy it counts for a lot in my book. On the other hand, if you feel yourself compulsively doing it with little return, then it might be best to try to call it quits.

The mentality that one thing is better than another is just a bothersome part of society to me. It's all relative to what other people think you should be doing, and not what you find personally rewarding. I'm sorry but I don't see any point to living to just satisfy others.

Do whatever you choose with confidence and good intention, and people question it a lot less. </$0.02>
 
hydroazuanacaine said:
the rhetoric, substance, and structure of even the most narrative-based video games does not compete with feature films or literature. it is not the same. one field deals with attempting to break down the wall separating individual realities. the other is about a kill-to-death ratio or how much damage a sword does.

also, hypocrites give good advice. i spend way too much time watching movies and reading stories.
Click to expand...
I spend too much time with all forms of entertainment, including gaming and, although I'm sure you know, not all games are about mindless killing and point systems. My son and I play a game called LittleBigPlanet where you basically create video games within the video game. It is actually quite complex and stimulating. It is an incredible form of creative expression but also time consuming if you want to put out quality work. Portal is another example of a complicated game of strategy and puzzle configuration.

To the OP- I began having a problem with the amount of time I was investing in online gaming as well. I even had a few sessions that would last up to 9 hours long. If it isn't affecting your daily life, I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, you could be doing something more productive, but look at how many of us spend hours on here!
 
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i was addicted to a MMORPG for 6 years and it was really intense, similar in ways to drug addiction

id set my alarm for 3am to play for 5 hours before school started and reached emotional highs and lows and become a complete shut-in

i doubt there was a way i would have been able to make money playing video games, for me it was escapism from scary real life

the way i was able to get out of the cycle was playing a modded version of the game were everything is 150x easier then you realise eventually how much time your wasting playing the real thing then i lost interest

i made some great friends from all over the world though but i dont think it was worth shutting life out for
 
When I was 17 I was addicted hard to FFXI in two years time I had roughly 10000-12000 hours playtime, I played alot of 24 hour days

goooood times
now 10 years later I wish I had that kind of time on my hands i'm lucky if I can sit down for 30 minutes of a RPG

It did help me get off of meth though..
 
The whole "video games are for kids" is a completely outmoded concept.

The generation of 30 and 40-somethings are the 1st generation gamers and a lot of software devs actually cater to that market with mature and an in-depth titles.
Gaming is gaming, from cards and checkers to Angry Birds and League of Legends.
 
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