BF2S Forums Video game Addiction. Dont let it ruin your childhood. (For teens)

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

MAGUIRE93 wrote:

I think about more than 700 hours of my life were spent infront of a tv or computer monitor. The real big thing that got me of games was my grades got bad so my parents took away my games. I hated myself when i was younger. I was a very emotional kid and if i couldnt do something right my dad would yell at me and i would just have a melt down. 6 times i almost killed myself. 6 fucking times. only because i coudlnt do something right i thought of myself as a failure at life. I dont remember what kept my from killing myself. And i don't want to remember. You guys are the only ones who know about this. It amazing how much a video game can change your life. Ive never even met any of you and you know my darkest secret.

That's pretty lightweight, considering that some people have played several times that amount on Battlefield 2 alone, nevermind all their other games and computer time.

Again, the best thing people can do is to find alternative hobbies. You don't have to stop playing, but read a book, watch a movie, play with your pets, exercise or go garden for awhile. When you're at the point when you don't care which one you do, so long as you have time to do it, you're in a good place. I spent the latter part of my school years going to two different schools and a college, all at once. Find a way to keep busy.

ik it dont sounds like alot but those 700 hours are on my new pc which i got 2 Christmases ago.

[TUF]Catbox wrote:

XanKrieger wrote:

Can't sleep now, got alot on my mind I need to digest currently, I think tomorow I'm gonna have a talk with Dad over what's going on, I'm at the end of the line here for future prospects.

what do you mean... is everything cool?   Talk with someone where you live or in here... pm me if you have nobody to listen to you...

Yeah, had a small panic attack when it hit me.
I have one chance to avert a horrific future as a result of my addiction now, I need to do something before my mind dismisses this, to change.

MAGUIRE93 wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

MAGUIRE93 wrote:

I think about more than 700 hours of my life were spent infront of a tv or computer monitor. The real big thing that got me of games was my grades got bad so my parents took away my games. I hated myself when i was younger. I was a very emotional kid and if i couldnt do something right my dad would yell at me and i would just have a melt down. 6 times i almost killed myself. 6 fucking times. only because i coudlnt do something right i thought of myself as a failure at life. I dont remember what kept my from killing myself. And i don't want to remember. You guys are the only ones who know about this. It amazing how much a video game can change your life. Ive never even met any of you and you know my darkest secret.

That's pretty lightweight, considering that some people have played several times that amount on Battlefield 2 alone, nevermind all their other games and computer time.

Again, the best thing people can do is to find alternative hobbies. You don't have to stop playing, but read a book, watch a movie, play with your pets, exercise or go garden for awhile. When you're at the point when you don't care which one you do, so long as you have time to do it, you're in a good place. I spent the latter part of my school years going to two different schools and a college, all at once. Find a way to keep busy.

ik it dont sounds like alot but those 700 hours are on my new pc which i got 2 Christmases ago.

Let's split that up (forgive me ahead of time if there's a mistype: ill and tired, but unwilling to bypass BBQ steak; forward all mistakes to the fact that I've been blowing my nose on the keyboard).

700 hours in 24h shifts = ~29 days
700 hours in 10h shifts = ~70 days
700 hours in 5h shifts = ~140 days
700 hours in 2h shifts = ~350 days

Give or take hours and days, and your 700 hours from two Christmases ago seems quite reasonable for a primary hobby. It sounds like a lot, and couldn't you just imagine everything you could've been doing instead of being on the computer for seven hours? Well, there's 8760 hours in a year (barring leap). 17520 in two years. It's a chunklet, but nothing to get too excited about.

Now let's compare that with people who've crammed 2000 hours of BF2 within the first few months of its release...

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2008-07-12 20:27:57)

usmarine2 wrote:

XanKrieger wrote:

[TUF]Catbox wrote:

what do you mean... is everything cool?   Talk with someone where you live or in here... pm me if you have nobody to listen to you...

Yeah, had a small panic attack when it hit me.
I have one chance to avert a horrific future as a result of my addiction now, I need to do something before my mind dismisses this, to change.

I think he was having a go Catbox

If I interpreted that right, I ment no offense or ridicule, I am genuinely concerned atm

Last edited by XanKrieger (2008-07-12 20:31:39)

i too am going to have a long post when i get the time, although you might receive it as a pm since im sure theres alot of people out there who would like to make a funny issue out of this

Glad to see you found some balance.  I thought about this a week or so ago.  I'm 31 and the computer has been the one true constant I've had in my life.  Started at 6 yrs old.  I played the first flight simulator.  I played the first Kings Quest.  Microprose Silent Service, Karateaka etc, If it was pc I probably played it.  I was a computer freak.  I too had to eventually come out of my shell.  I still played, but not when it mattered.  I still play today a few hours.  Married, kid, job I enjoy it and I've decided it is a relaxing hobby.  Stats are shit (as mine reflect & I realized that before I ever played the game).  I always loved in games though how if you fucked it up you just pressed the 'reset' button.  I have always wished true life had a 'saved game' slot where I could go back and re-do shit.  You'll be ok.  You'll still use the computer to play games.  You realized that needs to be a balance between a real social life and hermit game land.  You are maturing.  Feel good about it.

I refuse to read this because I don't want to feel bad about my gaming habits...

Patton, wish you coulda written that story about a year an a half ago prick. I've already made the transition on my own. Too late to save my school marks and to get to know the people I grew up with (mostly). Corrospondence courses, clinical depression and gaming combined killed my senior year grades.

I had the same problem, since i left school in 2005 to early 2007, then it all changed, my friends knew i love my computer games and they just forced me to go out and hang out with guys and girls and it worked. All i did was play BF2 for 8 hours a day everyday, no working, no school, no girlfriend and certainly no life.

Now i have a job with great people and now almost all of them are my friends, we go to partys together and everything
I have great friends who i owe it all too.

I still havnt had a girlfriend yet but im working on that one

I have had the internet for almost exactly 3 years now and look at all the hours ive logged on.

http://www.xfire.com/profile/shaunboulton

Now i rarely play in the weekdays as im pretty tired after work, only weekends now

Last edited by ELITE-UK (2008-07-13 03:22:01)

Its great that the OP now has a life, but don't be too much of a socialite now.  Once in awhile its still ok to ignore a big party or not pick up the phone to talk to peeps (unless its an emergency) so that you can spend a few hours playing video games blowing stuff, shooting baddies, or fighting a dragon with a big ass wand in a metal costume, whatever wets your strudel.

I figure most of you people snap out of a full-time gaming life around college, and for the slow people, by the first 3 years after college once they have a job.  After 25, and you're still playing games like there's no tomorrow, then I would say you got issues.  Then again, some people just LOVE LOVE LOVE video games and its their passion/life.  Some people are just born to play games and be a loner.

For everyone else, everything is about balance.  Work/life, e-life/real life, eating/exercising, etc..  I would say having more of a real life over e-life is probably more beneficial, but if someone has a 50-50 I wouldn't think that's all bad.  What I'm saying is that it sounded like you think a successful real life is when you get numerous calls a day, get invited to parties, have tons of people at school like you, etc.. which is great but if shouldn't be the only thing that makes you life real life over e-life.  If you started to get no calls a day, don't get invited to parties as much, and the tons of people that like you no longer are around will you go back to e-life 100%?  Because that will happen when you start once you're out of college and into the real business world.

trippy982 wrote:

Its great that the OP now has a life, but don't be too much of a socialite now.  Once in awhile its still ok to ignore a big party or not pick up the phone to talk to peeps (unless its an emergency) so that you can spend a few hours playing video games blowing stuff, shooting baddies, or fighting a dragon with a big ass wand in a metal costume, whatever wets your strudel.

I figure most of you people snap out of a full-time gaming life around college, and for the slow people, by the first 3 years after college once they have a job.  After 25, and you're still playing games like there's no tomorrow, then I would say you got issues.  Then again, some people just LOVE LOVE LOVE video games and its their passion/life.  Some people are just born to play games and be a loner.

For everyone else, everything is about balance.  Work/life, e-life/real life, eating/exercising, etc..  I would say having more of a real life over e-life is probably more beneficial, but if someone has a 50-50 I wouldn't think that's all bad.  What I'm saying is that it sounded like you think a successful real life is when you get numerous calls a day, get invited to parties, have tons of people at school like you, etc.. which is great but if shouldn't be the only thing that makes you life real life over e-life.  If you started to get no calls a day, don't get invited to parties as much, and the tons of people that like you no longer are around will you go back to e-life 100%?  Because that will happen when you start once you're out of college and into the real business world.

Well about the party thing, there is really nothing to do at night in the florida keys so thats what we do.

Flecco wrote:

Patton, wish you coulda written that story about a year an a half ago prick. I've already made the transition on my own. Too late to save my school marks and to get to know the people I grew up with (mostly). Corrospondence courses, clinical depression and gaming combined killed my senior year grades.

Around here it's usually senioritis that kills senior grades.

Spearhead wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

That's pretty lightweight, considering that some people have played several times that amount on Battlefield 2 alone, nevermind all their other games and computer time.

Again, the best thing people can do is to find alternative hobbies. You don't have to stop playing, but read a book, watch a movie, play with your pets, exercise or go garden for awhile. When you're at the point when you don't care which one you do, so long as you have time to do it, you're in a good place. I spent the latter part of my school years going to two different schools and a college, all at once. Find a way to keep busy.

1) The "other people have it worse" excuse doesn't work with video game addictions.

2) Speaking from personal experience here.  My experience has been pretty similar to ronin pattons.  NO person can play 700 hours of video games and still have a normal healthy life. 

3) Videos games are meant to be recreation, but they should be nothing more.  As patton said, they can literally take over your life and you won't even know it.  Well, you may know it, but its always in the back of your mind and it REALLY fucks you up.

4) The key is social interaction with REAL LIFE people... not people on the internet.  Playing video games and having friends online you don't know in real life is totally different from playing sports and such.  It's just not the same.

1) Actually, it does. I remember distinctly saying an addiction's an addiction, but you're not going to get STD's from playing Halo. Therefore, as addictions go, it's more harmless than most...unless you let it take over.

2) Again, 700 hours would be obscene for a period between two to three months (been there, done that, had the time to waste, realized I didn't have energy for anything else and stopped), but is somewhat muted over a period of two years. Only coming out to be about 4% of total hours in two 365 day periods. Unless you're also watching three hours of TV or a movie every day, it's fairly paced for a recreational hobby. I've known people who've racked up 2000 hours in under a half a year on just one game, and of course there's kamikaze Korean Starcrafters who will die at the console before taking a break for food and sleep.

3) So can soap operas. Anyway, like other addictions, if someone else notices the problem, or you catch yourself clicking on that BF2 icon with no conscious effort, it's a fair bet that you need help.

4) The video game industry made 17.9 billion dollars last year in the US alone. It goes without saying that it doesn't take that big of a leap to meet people in person who play video games. Invite them over, be invited over and have yourself a LAN party. I've met people in college who I still speak with over IM voice and meet at irregular intervals (a few are now spread across the west coast). One even works in my company. Years ago, I met a Canadian in Diablo II who now works for a drilling company (his boss and co-workers are pretty much all avid gamers). It is to the credit of MSN that we still game together. The internet keeps me in touch with people in a way that would otherwise be impossible over long periods of time, and one of the time-honored activities online just happens to be gaming. There's absolutely nothing wrong with written, voice or even video correspondence.

I admit that it isn't all rosy, though. I met a fairly decent friend during my one year of homeschooling (7th grade) at the Y. We'd do things like play Warcraft, Descent and Doom over the modem, and I distinctly remember with fondness sneaking up behind him and punching him in the back of the head with berserker packs (Doom), followed by the satisfying and ludicrous meaty sound if corpse explosion. All good fun, right? Well, his schedule got so goofy due to spending too long awake playing games (I'm not sure if he even did any schoolwork) that we were for all intents and purposes in different time zones. I'd call, he'd be asleep. He'd call, I'd be asleep. Since instant messenger software wasn't in full swing yet, contact pretty much came to a screeching halt. Though I wouldn't mind out of curiosity, I wouldn't have the first clue how to find him again, other than remembering how to spell his last name and calling all over the country (bleh).

As for sports, they're great, but not accessible to everyone. Games have a much wider audience.

NateWiese wrote:

Flecco wrote:

Patton, wish you coulda written that story about a year an a half ago prick. I've already made the transition on my own. Too late to save my school marks and to get to know the people I grew up with (mostly). Corrospondence courses, clinical depression and gaming combined killed my senior year grades.

Around here it's usually senioritis that kills senior grades.

What killed my grades in civics was the fact that I was directly opposed in all things political to my teacher's opinions, and unable to keep my mouth shut about it. Fought the D up to a C, but it wasn't the best example of the first amendment.

While that grade suffered, I was much more interested in the electronics course I was taking at the community college. Find something you enjoy doing (I learned that it was great fun to participate in the class "sabotage other students' circuits" days. Simply spreading a resistor between power and ground on a power supply and watching someone puzzle over it for two hours was great.

====

If it looks like I'm writing way too much on this topic, it's only because I find it more interesting than most.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2008-07-13 11:37:04)