Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts

Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by Jtsummers on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @02:49PM (#8955272)

I have friends that keep insisting I get back into gaming and frequently question my (apparent) lack of interest in current games. This sums up my reason for not going back to video games:

  But just as Patricia rematerialized, her AA recovery partner
  and husband of 43 years contracted a fatal illness. Patricia
  took care of him until the end.

  "I regret so much," she said. "I wasted all our time
  together. We could have been doing all kinds of things, but I
  was just gaming."

I wasted almost a decade of my life, and who knows how many years off the end by the terrible condition I let my body fall into. I failed at graduate school, and nearly failed as an employee. I had no social life outside 3 or 4 friends at any time during that decade. I'm no longer in the head space where games are dangerous to me, but I can safely say that I'm enjoying playing sports, going outside, dating, hanging out with friends and the rest of the things I gave up for those years much more than playing the latest FPS or strategy game of the month.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by shadowwolf007 on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @03:30PM (#8955593)

I don't think [many/most] gamers consider gaming to be "a real addiction" - especially FPS games. I definitely have friends that I don't want to play games, I don't talk to them about games, and when the subject of games comes up I actively try to move it elsewhere because when they gamed that's literally all they did. As someone who enjoys going out, it's so weird to ask someone "Hey, wanna go do XYZ" and have them be like "nah dude, let's just hit up ABC game like usual - I played all weekend to get us set up for tonight".

People don't realize that it's like you wouldn't invite your now-sober alcoholic friend to the bar unless you knew they were absolutely comfortable with it.

I'm glad you got outside of it. Games are awesome and a lot of fun, but there's a lot of other really awesome stuff out there too.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by kylebrown on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @05:19PM (#8956460)

Will augmented reality games (eg. Ingress) be more healthy activities than flat screen stay inside games?

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by shadowwolf007 on Wednesday January 28, 2015 @02:01AM (#8958497)

Honestly, I'm not sure. I mean, I play games too - don't get me wrong. I am not sure how much of gaming comes down to being healthy or not and how much is just the culture. The very limited exposure I had to ingress involved a lot of drinking and eating out. It definitely was not even close to neutral calorie wise.

But I didn't get in to Augmented Reality games and it's not my shtick. At the end of the day, I definitely use games as a way to decompress.

For me, personally, when I go out I have a hard time wanting to have anything to do with the computer, be it software dev or games.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by reinhardt on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @05:33PM (#8956573)

I'm not much into gaming, let alone an addict, but I never got this moral superiority argument people use when bashing games. Why are "sports, going outside, dating, hanging out with friends" inherently better than games? Admittedly all these other things are less likely to lead to addition but that's exactly because they are less stimulating, or to put it bluntly, boring.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by Jtsummers on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @09:27PM (#8957650)

I was on my phone before. Here's a more complete response.

> that's exactly because they are less stimulating, or to put it bluntly, boring.

Sports are hardly boring, at least if you enjoy the particular sport you're playing. Which isn't true for everyone, so this is one that can be dropped off a lot of people's lists.

Going outside can often be stimulating, if you're open to it. I don't get to do it as much as I'd like, but camping or at least hiking is fun. I went to a friend's wedding in November in a state park. I stayed at the lodge in the park and from my window I had a fantastic view of the trees in their autumn colors, blanketing the mountains. A friend and I hiked a few miles of trails, seeing the waterfalls and river from various angles. A very memorable and enjoyable experience. My only regret is that my girlfriend couldn't make the trip, but it gives me something to show her in the future. And then there's stargazing, or catching rare or uncommon events like a lunar eclipse or a total solar eclipse. I still remember the time in high school my dad snagged a couple pairs of night vision goggles and drove us out to the middle of the desert to watch a meteor shower. That was 15 or so years ago and the memory is still strong in my mind.

Dating is hardly less stimulating than games. I've, admittedly, not got much experience because, well, my 20s were wasted. But, I've never experienced this level of fear and exhilaration and happiness all rolled into one moment in anything other than dealing with someone I loved.

Hanging out with friends is a broad thing. While not video games, my friends and I play boardgames, card games and tabletop RPGs. For me, I count these as distinct from video games because they require enough effort to setup and play that they can't touch the addictiveness of video games. We also go to the nearby big (hah!) city's downtown and have a good time checking out local productions of plays and art by local artists at the galleries. Eating at restaurants with interesting cuisine. All these things are stimulating, and to a variety of senses. And it's a shared experience with people I care about and that care about me, making it an emotionally satisfying experience.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by Jtsummers on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @06:33PM (#8956927)

Because they actually make me happy. Gaming, for me, was a way to numb myself. Like others turn to drugs or drink. I don't have anything against gaming. I just don't do it anymore.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by rtb on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @05:42PM (#8956636)

Mainly because they are creative / productive, whereas gaming is passive / consuming.

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Re:Inside the Tragic, Obsessive World of Video Game Addicts by darkmighty on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @09:13PM (#8957610)

Clearly you've never played any game competitively (e.g. broodwar, cs); there are even 'creative' games in the traditional sense for that matter, where you design things (e.g. minecraft, DF, wc3,...). Most of those don't usually have the shortcircuited feedback loop that brings someone into addiction however. I disagree there's anything fundamental about gaming that's better than other activities other than the lack of exercise. Mastering a game in skill/strategy or crafting maps/mods can bring as much joy as anything else. I'd equate some games with playing music for the closest traditional perspective.

I'd expect them surpass any meatspace activity actually. It's hard to compete with the limitless degrees of freedom from a game (specially when we get more inputs/sensitive feedback). And I'm not at all uncomfortable with that. Having fun is quite productive, one just has to safeguard the more longlasting joys of life, like having a successful career, family relations, etc.

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