Gave up Gaming

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: tfcmasta97

Originally posted by: aswedc
You know what's funny? That you failed a semester of college.

Because of gaming? Hell no. Because of genetics? Wrong again. It was because of you. Because you lacked the self control and maturity to go to class and do the work.

Way to take responsibility.

Hey, video game addiction is a DiSEASE. This man needs god to cure him because he is powerless over this DISEASE, or hes doomed.

Wait no, he's just a weakling that racks disciprine

When did I say it was a disease? This distinction between just being undisciplined and having a disease is often abused. I already said that I chose to screw up my life. I learned a lot out of it.

I believe that saying you have a "disease" is a hurtful label that prevents someone from manning up and fixing their own problems. Yep, life is hard, but it's not medically impossible to self-correct for things like alcoholism, ADHD, or other behavioral "diseases." People who cry to their doctors will never really get over it with pills.

 

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: dbk
gaming?? gl with the rest of your life.

I can't exactly figure out what angle you're taking here.

 

[skace]

It's more important to learn how to prioritize than it is to completely quit gaming. Why? Because if you can't learn to prioritize gaming, you won't learn how to prioritize watching tv, reading a book, listening to music, work, school, friends, relationships, food, or anything else that happens in your life. The exercise is learning what needs to be done first.

 

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: aswedc
Are you saying there are people that get stimulated by doing school work? Come on. Everyone hates work, and everyone has something they'd rather be doing, be that gaming, TV, drinking, music, sports, whatever. Calling something an addiction is just a classification to make it sound more acceptable to lack self control.

But the ability to get caught up in it is what makes it different. When you watch TV you get up to get stuff during commercials. Shows change every half hour or hour or so. Your perception of time isn't all that distorted because it's ticking on the screen right before you.

Unlike drinking, music, sports, etc., gaming has the ability to wrap you up into an alternative reality that can make you forget where you are, what you're supposed to be doing, and what time it is.

I have new hobbies, and none of them do this to me. They're all real; they don't remove me from the world. I'm currently working on building a CNC 3-axis mill for subtractive rapid prototyping and engraving. I picked up a scooter out of the trash that I'm working on fixing. I'm also fixing an amoire for my fiance. These little projects don't keep me glued to a seat in order to finish a multi-player game only to start another quick zergling rush (that turns into a backstab) right afterwards. They don't introduce alternative worlds with alternative rules and cultures. Time progresses in a real fashion. And, I can put it down in an instant's notice only to pick it up where I left off later.

 

[Q]

Yeah, TBH, I'm starting college next year, and I'm worried that I will game too much and hurt my grades. My parents aren't letting me take any game system to college (even though it sucks I'm kinda glad) but I'll still have my laptop to play CSS and plus I get distracted easily and will just read AAT, etc.

 

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: skace
It's more important to learn how to prioritize than it is to completely quit gaming. Why? Because if you can't learn to prioritize gaming, you won't learn how to prioritize watching tv, reading a book, listening to music, work, school, friends, relationships, food, or anything else that happens in your life. The exercise is learning what needs to be done first.

I prefer hobbies that aren't so empty. I find no reason to waste precious time on earth by sitting in front of a screen jumping through some programmer's holes. With my new hobbies (cars, electronics, welding, bicycling, etc.), I feel like there's some kind of gain in everything I do. It's much more satisfying. These are the rules God made. It's easier to prioritize these hobbies because my hobbies don't feel like chores. That's where the difference in addiction comes from. My gaming addiction was so severe that I felt like my day wasn't complete without playing them. I felt like I had to. It was who I was. Yeah, it was really bad. If I go a day without riding my bike, oh well... it'll be there next time for me.

These Things were made for people. They are tools, not masters.

 

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: Quintox
Yeah, TBH, I'm starting college next year, and I'm worried that I will game too much and hurt my grades. My parents aren't letting me take any game system to college (even though it sucks I'm kinda glad) but I'll still have my laptop to play CSS and plus I get distracted easily and will just read AAT, etc.

My first semester, I solved this problem by running Linux to keep myself from running Windows games. My second semester I got hooked on my roommate's PS2.

 

[ColdFusion718]

So what you're saying is you have no self-control of any sort?

 

[invidia]

The only way to stop this disease is to give into a higher power. It's obvious anyone with an addiction is powerless to control it, like smoking, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. Only acceptance of a higher power will aid you in quitting an addiction right away.

I was addicted to WoW for 1.5 years. Playing 12-14 hours a day. Then I realized, that by accepting my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can I control my addiction to WoW. It has been a year since I stopped playing WoW, all thanks to God.

 

[ranmaniac]

MMORPGs can definitely do it, if Sony hadn't nerfed the Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies, I'd still be grinding in groups hunting for Bols.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Originally posted by: invidia
The only way to stop this disease is to give into a higher power. It's obvious anyone with an addiction is powerless to control it, like smoking, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. Only acceptance of a higher power will aid you in quitting an addiction right away.

I was addicted to WoW for 1.5 years. Playing 12-14 hours a day. Then I realized, that by accepting my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can I control my addiction to WoW. It has been a year since I stopped playing WoW, all thanks to God.

wow.

 

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: invidia
The only way to stop this disease is to give into a higher power. It's obvious anyone with an addiction is powerless to control it, like smoking, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. Only acceptance of a higher power will aid you in quitting an addiction right away.

I was addicted to WoW for 1.5 years. Playing 12-14 hours a day. Then I realized, that by accepting my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can I control my addiction to WoW. It has been a year since I stopped playing WoW, all thanks to God.

I quoted the 12 steps for rhetoric. While I do believe in God, I also believe that one important reason for trusting in Him for help in addictions is to step outside of the id and to think with the super-ego.

 

[EGGO]

Originally posted by: invidia
The only way to stop this disease is to give into a higher power. It's obvious anyone with an addiction is powerless to control it, like smoking, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. Only acceptance of a higher power will aid you in quitting an addiction right away.

I was addicted to WoW for 1.5 years. Playing 12-14 hours a day. Then I realized, that by accepting my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can I control my addiction to WoW. It has been a year since I stopped playing WoW, all thanks to God.

*looks at your signature*

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: kevinthenerd

Has anyone else had a similar experience? What are your thoughts on the psychological experiment that discovered a gene that leads to a propensity for addictions?

I've yet to get into gaming. If I found myself getting addicted I'd get bummed out and quit. I just have too many other things to do. Not that I refuse to try. I've bought some games, but not given them a chance yet. Some day. I'll probably get a Super Nintendo and some games. Maybe HD, cause I have an HD projector.

A roommate I had said he didn't watch TV because if he started doing it he knew he'd get lost in it and addicted again. I don't do that either, except some news and sports (and only occasionally some other stuff, nothing regular). Even that can be addicting, but I'm not doing much of it. Partly because I don't have cable. If I got cable, it would mostly add to my problems, is my thinking.

 

[BrokenVisage]

What game was it?

 

[Superrock]

I'm addicted to forums like this one.

 

[MyThirdEye]

I'm 15, and I wasted all of the 2006 year on an addictive RPG. I had a consistant +6 handicap for my golf game; I came to play high-school golf this year as a freshman, and it was like +9. I gained nothing in that year besides bad eating habbits, and a lot of weight.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: hans030390
Um, video games can be addicting, but I always know what to put before gaming...

Absolutely correct. Sex.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: aswedc
Are you saying there are people that get stimulated by doing school work? Come on. Everyone hates work, and everyone has something they'd rather be doing, be that gaming, TV, drinking, music, sports, whatever. Calling something an addiction is just a classification to make it sound more acceptable to lack self control.

Ever heard of a workaholic? They just can't stop working. Seriously. They'll die if they don't work and they'll die an early death because of overwork. Even those who don't particularly like their work somehow can't stop working.

Back on topic:

While self-control is a large component of anything, many things are more addicting than others, and computer games fit this category. It short circuits our "rewards" system by "rewarding" us immediately and giving increasingly larger rewards at longer intervals. What makes MMOs and games like WoW so addicting to people (besides the social aspects of it) is the fact that the cumulative time spent over levels looks like a slow growing exponential function - they keep enticing you with ever so slightly more difficult to achieve "rewards". I'm studying motivations of play and social interactions in MMOs as a final project in one of my current courses, and despite playing some MMOs specifically in order to get screenshots/clips of gameplay and interactions, I found myself getting sucked in. Note that I get easily bored and have a hard time focusing on one thing for an extended period of time... there's more to games than simple self-control. They short-circuit parts of our brain and this is what makes them psychologically addicting.

Note: This is an overly simplified summary of game addiction with MMOs in particular, but it is still relevant to the discussion at hand.

The best way to quit: Sell your computer, buy a crappy notebook with little to no 3D power. Install only the bare minimum. Thankfully I'll be at home during the summer with only an old Celeron notebook, so there won't even be a temptation to play. Stat-whoring RPGs and MMOs are the worst waste of time. A little Civilization or RTS play seems to be much easier to control.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: tfcmasta97

Originally posted by: aswedc
You know what's funny? That you failed a semester of college.

Because of gaming? Hell no. Because of genetics? Wrong again. It was because of you. Because you lacked the self control and maturity to go to class and do the work.

Way to take responsibility.

Hey, video game addiction is a DiSEASE. This man needs god to cure him because he is powerless over this DISEASE, or hes doomed.

Wait no, he's just a weakling that racks disciprine

Engrish?

 

[MyThirdEye]

^^ You obviously didn't catch it. read it over a few times before you post, dumb@$$.

Racks Disciprine. (Asian Parents.)

idiot.

 

[Azndude51]

Here's my story, I failed my first semester of college which was pretty embarrassing, I got 4 F's and 1 A (in English) and was put on academic probation. I played games about 6 hours a day minimum, but I didn't fail because of that. I failed because I was a lazy bastard with no motivation to go to class or do any work. My gaming habits haven't changed at all but since I actually go to class and do my homework now, I haven't gotten mostly A's and B's with nothing below a C since then.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: tfcmasta97

Originally posted by: aswedc
You know what's funny? That you failed a semester of college.

Because of gaming? Hell no. Because of genetics? Wrong again. It was because of you. Because you lacked the self control and maturity to go to class and do the work.

Way to take responsibility.

Hey, video game addiction is a DiSEASE. This man needs god to cure him because he is powerless over this DISEASE, or hes doomed.

Wait no, he's just a weakling that racks disciprine

Engrish?

South Park Reference. Bloody Mary episode.

 

[sdifox]

Netrek. Need I say more?

 

[Skotty]

If possible, wait as long as needed before going to college. Don't go until you are ready to do what it takes. Spend a year or two playing games and working at McDonalds. Eventually you will grow tired of it, and then you will be ready to take college seriously. I realize sometimes this isn't possible due to how the way some grants and scholarships work, but if it is an option for you, take it. It beats doing the flunk out / repent / retry cycle, which is never a good thing. And if you spend several years playing games and working at McDonalds and happen to like the lifestyle, then hey, you just saved yourself years of college loan payments.