Is playing game geting out of hands to escape reality ?
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Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6944Members
Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6944Members
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<div class="IPBDescription">Is Natural Selection YOUR cure for this ?</div>THere is something that I had been thinking for the past 2 days and thought to write it down in some way, hopeing to serve as self therapy and to help others.
I admit that I am a gamer. A video FPS gamer and for the past 2 years, I spend close to 20 hours per week on playing games. Guess what ? I play NS 90% of those times. I have other games but for some reason, only NS satifies me for my special need.
At the beginning, I used to play because I love playing FPS games. I still do. But lately, I've been starting to realize that I play not for the same reason. I play to escape reality or more like I play simply so I will not think about my situation. Not because I do not want to live it anymore because I have no choice but to live it and make the best of it.
I have always been the kind of person to control my emotions so people would not know how I feel when I feel bad. Even when I am sick, which rarely happens, I hardly every complain nor show signs of acking. But having to bottle up emotions and thoughts just because you don't want to experience them, well, someday, the bottle might not have room enough in it anymore. I had 2-3 elaps where my bottle started to leak but managed to self contain the leak by taking a deep breath. I am of a very patient nature, can take a lot, very resistant emotionaly (maybe my resistance is degrading as I grow old ?). I am not shy (quite the oposite). People see me as a fun guy to be with and trust worthy. I am more brainiac then emotional. I am very appriecated from my close circle of friends. I have few friends by choice alone. I am independant and organized (well I think I am ;-) ). I have been living with my wife for 15 years. Now I am simply describing myself so you would realize I do not fit the typical image people would get when they hear someone is a game adict.
For the past 2 years. we had lots of problems and 11 months ago, I lost my 10 year job to find myself in a boring, no future, no creation, no promotion type of job at about 45% of my old salary. I am the only revenue for my family. I won't go further in details. I bascily lost motivations on lots of things. I am still looking for a better job but my career is geting rare and openings for it even rarer.
So in lack of motivations and in order to not think about your situation, do you play too much and if so, is NS your game ?
What is in NS that satifies me and you more in fulfilling this special need ?
Anthing similar experiences, thoughts ?
Now there is no need to start explaining what your problems are. This isn't a soap opera type of threads. I am more interested to see who else is doing it and is NS realy the only thing that can help you in this situation ? Why ?
Since the majority of NS players are under 21, they will most likely not understand, nor comprehand this type of situation. Things only get more complicated as you get older. By the way, I'm 43.
I admit that I am a gamer. A video FPS gamer and for the past 2 years, I spend close to 20 hours per week on playing games. Guess what ? I play NS 90% of those times. I have other games but for some reason, only NS satifies me for my special need.
At the beginning, I used to play because I love playing FPS games. I still do. But lately, I've been starting to realize that I play not for the same reason. I play to escape reality or more like I play simply so I will not think about my situation. Not because I do not want to live it anymore because I have no choice but to live it and make the best of it.
I have always been the kind of person to control my emotions so people would not know how I feel when I feel bad. Even when I am sick, which rarely happens, I hardly every complain nor show signs of acking. But having to bottle up emotions and thoughts just because you don't want to experience them, well, someday, the bottle might not have room enough in it anymore. I had 2-3 elaps where my bottle started to leak but managed to self contain the leak by taking a deep breath. I am of a very patient nature, can take a lot, very resistant emotionaly (maybe my resistance is degrading as I grow old ?). I am not shy (quite the oposite). People see me as a fun guy to be with and trust worthy. I am more brainiac then emotional. I am very appriecated from my close circle of friends. I have few friends by choice alone. I am independant and organized (well I think I am ;-) ). I have been living with my wife for 15 years. Now I am simply describing myself so you would realize I do not fit the typical image people would get when they hear someone is a game adict.
For the past 2 years. we had lots of problems and 11 months ago, I lost my 10 year job to find myself in a boring, no future, no creation, no promotion type of job at about 45% of my old salary. I am the only revenue for my family. I won't go further in details. I bascily lost motivations on lots of things. I am still looking for a better job but my career is geting rare and openings for it even rarer.
So in lack of motivations and in order to not think about your situation, do you play too much and if so, is NS your game ?
What is in NS that satifies me and you more in fulfilling this special need ?
Anthing similar experiences, thoughts ?
Now there is no need to start explaining what your problems are. This isn't a soap opera type of threads. I am more interested to see who else is doing it and is NS realy the only thing that can help you in this situation ? Why ?
Since the majority of NS players are under 21, they will most likely not understand, nor comprehand this type of situation. Things only get more complicated as you get older. By the way, I'm 43.
Comments
So I kill virtual things instead of real people in a violent revolution.
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There's the problem right there.
Puff, puff, pass...
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/marine.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::marine::" border="0" alt="marine.gif" />
I just can't stand people... I think they're stupid, boring, and altogether useless sheep who after years of mental abuse and degradation have let society put a slew of imaginary boundaries and rules on them. Instead of lashing out, I trudge on and do my best to avoid it all. So I kill virtual things instead of real people in a violent revolution.
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Don't see how killing anyone would fix anything.
Seriously, take a few days to drive the wife or family to some not so extravagant destination and soak up some culture. Spend some time outside of your comfort zone and get to know how people from another area live their lives. It will give you a powerful perspective of your life from the outside.
For me, I spent my honeymoon last summer driving to D.C. to visit all the <strike>free</strike> previously paid for tourist attractions for a couple of days (we stayed in Arlington-I recommend it) and then spent the rest of two weeks driving through Virgina, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania on our way back to Michigan. We stayed off the expressways as much as possible and the range of cultures and lifestyles is amazing.
If that doesn't seem feasible to you, try visiting a local church service (if you don't already). It might sound hokey if you aren't the religious type but I think you'll find that people are quite friendly at most church services and the sense of camaraderie or community might help you break from the train tracks you seem to be stuck on.
Good luck.
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<b>Now I am simply describing myself so you would realize I do not fit the typical image people would get when they hear someone is a <u>game addict</u></b>.
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I am a little annoyed with these terms people put on people who play games, or people themselves put when they play games.
There are two forms of "playing video games":
<b>1.</b> Playing them as just a form of entertainment or relaxation or to escape reality. Just like watching TV is a form of entertainment.
<b>2.</b> Playing them as a hobby or, more so, competitively. You get into the game, you may be angry or frustrated when you lose<i>(Though, this can happen with people who play just as a form of relaxing or entertainment, just it happens to people who play competitively more often than those who play as a form of relaxing)</i>.
Many people fit into option number 1, as well as option number 2. Though, people usually put everyone who plays video games to category "2"(competitively). Just explain to those people how playing video games is like watching TV.
It can be compared to many things, like playing sports. Some people may play sports for fun or to relax with just family and friends. Some play competitively, in tournaments, etc.
Playing videogames is a form of entertainment for several people. It is just like watching TV, or listening to music, etc. People watch TV to escape from reality sometimes, same with playing games.
People who go to work, then once they're done work, just watch TV all day until they sleep and repeat the process again... No one calls them anything like "TV addict" or anything(If they do, I never hear it).
<b>Summary:</b> Video games are a form of entertainment, anyone <b>any age</b> can do it. There is nothing wrong with it, it is normal. Just like how people watch TV as a form of entertainment. Like above, there are two sides to playing video games: 1. Entertainment/Relaxation 2. Competitively and as a hobby.
Both forms can be used to escape reality.
its basically walking around untill you find yourself.
Perhaps there is some truth to that.
Travel and change of enironment is a good start to finding out who you are,and what you are.
you won't find it in a videogame or anything else "outside" the world.
I did it.It worked for me.
I was unhappy,unsecure about my future,stuck where i was.
So i packed up and left(remind you i was very young at the time)
But a roadtrip or some form of temporarily change of environment might prove some good <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
owning aliens or fooling marines around is so much fun and can make me laugh like theres no tomorrow <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
So I kill virtual things instead of real people in a violent revolution.
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Was that a Kreator reference? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
There is a trend in society in general of more depression. It's kind of ironic that population densities are getting higher yet we can go through our daily lives so little human contact.
Edit: If it makes you feel any better, NS is still the game I play the most. There's nothing wrong with entertaining yourself if your other priorities are in order. I don't think my usual advice for teenage angst is going to be much help here, but I think it might be refreshing to throw a little spontaneity and randomness into your life. As somebody who is still in school, I know how dull something becomes when everything becomes predictable.
Hahahah. It wasn't until you mentioned it. Good eye, nonetheless. The only Kreator I -really- enjoyed, though, was Enemy of God. Pleasure To Kill is pretty fun, but the only KILLER track on there for me really is the intro... best intro to an album ever though, imo.
Not too long ago, a programme in the UK did a documentary on the rise of video games and the influence it has on modern culture, and the youth. They also looked at the effects on society of people becoming labelled as "Games Addicts".
The findings that they did basically dispelled every single notion that people had of people supposedly addicted to games. Ok, so they bracketed people into either "Addict" or "Normal Behaviour" groups, but they dispelled the myth that someone who plays video games for over X amount of hours a week as being an addict. What they did is look at the term of "addiction" which means to be uncontrollably fixated on the use of a certain product, to the detriment of the subjects personal, mental, and habitual life, not necessarily including the life of a majority of people, but affecting their immediate family and friend groups.
What they did as their examples, as the show went out at about 7pm (prime time for the typically stupid shows, like game shows, and soap operas...) so it was dumbed down a bit, were to take 2 people, and give examples of them.
1: An 18 year old, unemployed or part time student/employed person, playing video games for 60 hours a week.
2: A 40 year old buisness man, working at a successful brokerage, playing video games for 50 hours a week.
Which would you think to be addicted? Well, all you need to do is look at the amount of time in a week, and remove the time playing, the time spent working/studying, commute time, and the sleep time of 8 hours per night, and the answers work themselves out.
Basically, what they found out is that video game addiction is one of the few true addictions that is curcumstantial only. The unemployed person, part time worker, or part time student playing games for 40 hours a week is because there's rarely anything better to do during the day. However, the busnessman, after his 40 hour a week job (I know many work more than 40 hours though), and his 50 hour game playing, has 78 hours left a week for anything else, remove 64 hours for the 8 hour example sleep, and you have 14 hours left. Now that's even before the commute to work, any papers he needs to get ready for his job, and even before eating, going to the toilet, going to the shops, etc.
People in higher stressed jobs/situations will tend to lean on either video games (and particularly easy difficulty ones they found) or to a lesser extent, TV, to escape from the situations of their jobs and personal circumstances.
Just playing video games for 60 horus a week does not make you a game addict.
Playing them with <i>every reasonable spare hour you have</i> does, however, fit you perfectly into the box of "addict"
Games playing is more mentally active than watching TV and will sharpen your reflexes and reactions, turning to booze or other less 'socially acceptable' drugs will cost a heck of a lot more than gaming and can isolate you even more than gaming can (had some friends who started smoking weed and lost touch with them... mainly because stoners are pretty boring to hang out with :/ ).
Gaming is also less likely to get you into dangerous debt situations than gambling :3
In all honesty though, the suggestions to get away from the computer aren't a bad one. I'm not really a massive computer hog but when my PC broke a long while back I started going out cycling with one of my friends and within a day or two I honestly couldn't be bothered trying to get my PC repaired as I found the sudden increase in spare time was enjoyable. I probably wouldn't have ever come back to the net if a new game hadn't came out that caused my friends to bug me into getting it fixed up again XD
My father once told me a piece of interesting advice... "It's only when you face new situations, situations you haven't experienced before, that you truly learn things about yourself."
Back when I had exams to do I used NS as a form of procrastination. Hadn't played for some time. Then I was on study leave and spent the entire of study leave playing NS, pretty much non stop. Once the exams were over I stopped playing NS just as quickly.
Really odd behaviour but I guess it was some sort of escapism.
Original poster: Remember that you are in control of your life! If you don't like something that you are doing, you can stop. Just like that (even heroin! but I did have to start smoking). Positive thought is the key! I can! I will!
i don't think there's anything wrong, as long as you know the difference of taking a break from the sucky life, and an addiction to video games. and easy way to test for an addiction is try quitting it, if you find it enormously difficult, than that's more the reason to quit it while you're not completely fallen.
My cure for life?
Puff, puff, pass...
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/marine.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::marine::" border="0" alt="marine.gif" />
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QFT
about your job - I don't know what job you used to have, or what the job market is like by you, but if you have 10 years of experience at a higher-paying job, you should definitely make an effort to get a new one that's at least as good. put your resume on monster. you'd be surprised at how many people can wind up e-mailing you and asking if you're available.
I also play games that have tons of atmosphere and lose myself within them, kinda like therapy.
TL;DR Edit: I enjoy seeing my enemies driven before me, and hearing the lamentations of their women
I don't think I've ever played a game to "escape" anything really... I play games for the satisfaction. I enjoy the feeling you get right as you line up the perfect sniper shot, knowing that there is no way you can't get the kill. Knowing that the person on the other side of the internet will have no idea what hit them. Or the happiness you feel when a strategy finally falls into place perfectly, your opponents army taking the bait, while your main force rolls right over the opposite side of his base. I enjoy trying to picture the look on his face when he realizes <b>that I'm in his base, killing his dudes</b>.
TL;DR Edit: I enjoy seeing my enemies driven before me, and hearing the lamentations of their women
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fixed
fixed
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It's funny that you wrote that, because back at the high-point of my C&C generals playing, me and my friends would create complementary account names. One of mine was "In your base" and my friends name was "Killing your dudes". We also did stuff like having both of our names "Mr.Original" or "Mr_Original" then get in arguements with each other when we joined a room. Good times.
...about your job - I don't know what job you used to have, or what the job market is like by you, but if you have 10 years of experience at a higher-paying job, you should definitely make an effort to get a new one that's at least as good. put your resume on monster. you'd be surprised at how many people can wind up e-mailing you and asking if you're available.
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For those 10 years, I was doing mainframe application support (and a bit of Unix the last 1.5 year). I was touching so many things, so many different environments. They dont show mainframes in school anymore since 1985-1990. When I got fired from that place, it was due to our main customer cuting 50% of its development budget. It impacted every single projects in our company (CGI). In 5 months, my company did 2 waves of 500 layoffs. In the following 5 months, I was subscribed to 4 job search sites and my inbox had 1000 job offers from them but only 2 were from my domain. One got cancelled and the other went on ice. About 98% of all support job offer I see are for PCs. I don't do PCs and never did.
Another factor for this rarety of offers, personnel rotation is kinda rare in this job domain. People usualy stick at their position for like 10-25 years. I live in Montreal Canada. The situation is the same for the whole province where I am. In Ontario, there are lots of jobs. But when you are not living alone, moving to another city involves money (which I don't have) and it is a family decision (you cannot decide for the whole family).
If I look at Monster, my resume was viewed 45 times since December where I re-subscribed. About 7 different agencies called me in one month but most were proposing me stuffs I don't do or they didn't even looked at my resume before calling me. I have one outstanding job offer close to what I was doing before but the client interview is taking long just to be announced.
So my job situation is like if you were a director who lost his job, the only jobs you can find are sweaping floors.
In my current boring job, I consider listening to MP3 to be a motivation tool to make it through the day.
I don't think I've ever played a game to "escape" anything really... I play games for the satisfaction. I enjoy the feeling you get right as you line up the perfect sniper shot, knowing that there is no way you can't get the kill. Knowing that the person on the other side of the internet will have no idea what hit them. Or the happiness you feel when a strategy finally falls into place perfectly, your opponents army taking the bait, while your main force rolls right over the opposite side of his base. I enjoy trying to picture the look on his face when he realizes what just happened, and that nothing short of a miracle will rescue the game for him.
TL;DR Edit: I enjoy seeing my enemies driven before me, and hearing the lamentations of their women
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<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=V30tyaXv6EI" target="_blank">CONAN! What is best in life??</a>