took a break myself from video games for a little while after the fiasco that was diablo 3. a friend of mine a few weeks ago told me about a game called "broken age." it has restored my faith in video games and has reaffirmed that there are still a few people in the industry who can bridge the gap between a game and art.
Falling out of love with gaming
- Thread starter Adebisi
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Broken Age is great, glad I Kickstarted it and get the second act free because that cliffhanger is a motherfucker.
I love how accepted it (and even cherished) it was that a select few women would get chosen to be eaten by that enormous monster right up to the point that they were being devoured whole. The shit seemed all bright and sunny and I totally didn't expect that bit of dark humor. The spaceship story was pretty flawless, too.
You certainly should fall out of love with gaming. No longer is she the gorgeous woman who entertained you in so many ways before. She's now a herpes-ridden whore who's fucked every single thing with two legs around town for money, even the fucking horses.
Kreugen
Vyemm Raider
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And you can trust Dumar on this, he's an authority on herpes-ridden whores. And don't let him near any horses.
But I don't get it. You enjoy playing games, so you uninstall everything and quit cold turkey because...? What are you punishing yourself for? Who the fuck really wants to go to the park every day or learn French?
I mean, I get that playing video games won't make anyone the Most Interesting Man in the World. And doing it day after day gets really old (see thread.) But running on a treadmill or loafing around in the park isn't going to do that either. The idea is variety. For all I know you just have an addictive personality and can only focus on one thing at a time.
Hell, mostly it just comes down to budget. Have good money? Well you can afford to do cool things and don't really need video games or tv or movies. If that's the case, what the fuck are you doing here? But if you're barely making it day to day, there's only so much cheap entertainment out there. It's that or get drunk all the time to take your mind off of your misery. Do you want to be the guy who has his own goddamn reserved seat at the bar? My stepdad's week is to work until he can't stand the pain any more, then rush home and get drunk alone in front of the tv.
Of course, I'm a bad example. Gaming has pretty much become the only thing I know how to do, and I'm bored to death of it. But that's not for lack of quality or trying to do other things. They just either didn't work out well, ran their course, or I couldn't find anyone to do those things with. And so for the last couple of years I've done basically nothing, and I feel worse off than ever. But gaming is not the cause, it's simply the effect of having shit else to do and nobody to do it with. Sure, if I won the lottery, I'd never touch a video game again. Who the hell would? Because money without obligation = ultimate freedom. But I'm fucking trapped and I have to fill the time with something that keeps my mind off of how god damn miserable life is.
But I don't get it. You enjoy playing games, so you uninstall everything and quit cold turkey because...? What are you punishing yourself for? Who the fuck really wants to go to the park every day or learn French?
I mean, I get that playing video games won't make anyone the Most Interesting Man in the World. And doing it day after day gets really old (see thread.) But running on a treadmill or loafing around in the park isn't going to do that either. The idea is variety. For all I know you just have an addictive personality and can only focus on one thing at a time.
Hell, mostly it just comes down to budget. Have good money? Well you can afford to do cool things and don't really need video games or tv or movies. If that's the case, what the fuck are you doing here? But if you're barely making it day to day, there's only so much cheap entertainment out there. It's that or get drunk all the time to take your mind off of your misery. Do you want to be the guy who has his own goddamn reserved seat at the bar? My stepdad's week is to work until he can't stand the pain any more, then rush home and get drunk alone in front of the tv.
Of course, I'm a bad example. Gaming has pretty much become the only thing I know how to do, and I'm bored to death of it. But that's not for lack of quality or trying to do other things. They just either didn't work out well, ran their course, or I couldn't find anyone to do those things with. And so for the last couple of years I've done basically nothing, and I feel worse off than ever. But gaming is not the cause, it's simply the effect of having shit else to do and nobody to do it with. Sure, if I won the lottery, I'd never touch a video game again. Who the hell would? Because money without obligation = ultimate freedom. But I'm fucking trapped and I have to fill the time with something that keeps my mind off of how god damn miserable life is.
Soygen
The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
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Two questions:
1) Uh...why?
2) What do you do at the park after you go to the gym?
When I had a kid video games turned into a hobby instead of something I did every single day for hours.
Vitality
ＨＵＳＴＬＥ
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Damn, the ultimate feels in that read.
Video Games to me are a reward for daily success, whether it's doing chores, working out, or some kind of progression in life.
The meaning of life is balance. Gotta find it my main man.
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I play tennis at the park, walk/run in the woods, and sit in the sun for a while. I shifted from doing all my cardio at the gym to the park. It's much more fun and relaxing. I just bought a new Babolat racquet not long ago. Won two games last night, 6-2 and 6-3, back to back against two different guys who beat me a month ago.
For example, I get off work at ~4 P.M. I go straight to the gym after that and lift for ~1 hour (years back I would be at the gym sometimes 3 hours, easy.) I then go to the park and walk/run for a few miles, hit a couple hundred serves by myself, and then sit in the sunlight and tan after I'm tired and/or my shoulder starts hurting.
Depending on how my tennis partner(s) work is situated, sometimes I play tennis around 5 to 6, sometimes later. Last night, I played from 7 to 9 P.M. Same thing planned for tonight.
I don't think I really have an addictive personality, I've always had variety. As stated, it's not as if I spend (or rather, spent) all day playing games. I work, I go to the gym, I play tennis, and I do various things with friends and, until recently, did things with my longtime girlfriend. I went to Europe last year (Ireland and France,) I plan on going somewhere this year, and so on. I have a decent job and make decent money, and I do get out and see things. We go out to dinner all the time, nice places, no less, we go to events, museums, concerts, the list goes on.
Speaking of TV, I virtually never watch it. Literally once or twice a month, without exaggeration.
I've always liked your posts, Kreugen. I understand your point, about games filling your time. You're right, I could still, even with a full life, insert games in somewhere. I'm choosing not to for a while. It's not as if I'm saying I will forever. I've studied French on and off for almost 20 years, and my last girlfriend was a French citizen here in the U.S. I enjoy studying it, and I feel like I've accomplished something after I learn something new. In the same vein, I feel like I've accomplished something when I learn something new in tennis.
You, you say gaming isn't the cause of your problems. But maybe if you branched out and tried to do some other things, you'd find there's more out there waiting for you. You do have shit else to do, even with no or little money. There are things to do out there, and lots of people without money doing them, that are more rewarding than spending all your time gaming. Believe me, I've been there. Again, not saying to quit playing games like I am (temporarily,) I think it's just refreshing and rewarding to switch focus on occasion.
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Seriously? You're aware self-study of language is a huge thing, right?
I've got a dozen books. It's all drilling, drilling, drilling. I use Assimil and Quizlet (electronic flashcard site.) Tons of lessons on there. I watch French movies, I listen to French music.
Great forum here for learning techniques and such. The hardest part is speaking practice, but even it can be done.
Language Learning Forum
Just don't mention Rosetta Stone, it's shit.
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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alavaz
Trakanon Raider
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Aside from the time I spent playing turn based RPGs (FF, Chrono Trigger, etc) I've always been a social gamer. I never cracked out alone on platformers or anything as I preferred to read books if I was going for solo entertainment. RPGs were similar to books I guess since I mostly played for the story. They were also boring as fuck to watch so it wasn't like my brothers or my buddies wanted to take turns doing shit like we would with Mario or Punch-Out or something.
I've been considering trying to find a local group for table top gaming or trying out MTG. I owned a lot of cards at one point but never truly learned to play. I also used to play a lot of poker at the casino, but it's kind of a cracked game now and I feel I pretty much went as far as I could staying local. I still have ambition to do one of the WSoP or WPT events, but that's more of a bucket list thing.
For now there is my scheduled raid nights in WoW and in all honesty playing 3 nights per week (2 raiding and 1 doing all the little weekly bullshit) is easily doable and I really like my guild. So if they all quit or migrated to another game I probably would too.
I've been considering trying to find a local group for table top gaming or trying out MTG. I owned a lot of cards at one point but never truly learned to play. I also used to play a lot of poker at the casino, but it's kind of a cracked game now and I feel I pretty much went as far as I could staying local. I still have ambition to do one of the WSoP or WPT events, but that's more of a bucket list thing.
For now there is my scheduled raid nights in WoW and in all honesty playing 3 nights per week (2 raiding and 1 doing all the little weekly bullshit) is easily doable and I really like my guild. So if they all quit or migrated to another game I probably would too.
The same way one studies anything, learn the definition of a word, then hear the word used in various sentences, become used to that word so that it you no longer hang on that word when you hear it in a sentence.
dak
Bronze Knight of the Realm
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It's like that South Park episode where Randy says essentially "Well, sure smoking pot won't kill you, but it will make you content with being bored and you will end up with no skills to do anything worthwhile."
Excessive video games are the same, an over-inflated sense of satisfaction from doing essentially nothing, which will ultimately keep you just content enough to sit in a dark room all day. It results in a vicious cycle of 1) I use my free time to play video games for instant gratification so I don't have the urge to develop valuable skills, 2) I didn't develop valuable skills so I don't have an outlet to productively use my free time to obtain meaningful gratification, 3) I have abundant free time and no meaningful gratification, so I have the urge to play video games to fill my time and for instant gratification.
I don't have a solution other than find something that you would be proud of doing and do that instead of video games. It doesn't even have to develop a skill, at least it is something different and gratifying. I recommend throwing on a suit and going to regional entrepreneurial conferences, workshops, etc...it sound lame but watching people hustling to start a business will make you want to the same.
The more you do, the more you can do. The brain has a lot of plasticity and it's easy to break the "I wake up and go to sleep thinking about video games" slump with just a couple days of doing something that makes you feel empowered.
take it from someone who is a professional poker player, it sucks. doing it for a living makes it a job just like every other job. and tournaments are the worst investment possible, unless you're one of the lucky 1% of poker players that have sponsors who pay for their buy in's/travel costs.