71–77 of 77 posts
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Are things better now?
Truthfully, I am still that same person on the inside. I am making some effort to fight off the motivation to give in to it in times of stress. I think it won't ever go away and I will just have to manage it to the best of my ability.
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I always question that. I've played online too, and ever got to "know" some people (as much as you can know an anonymous nickname). But in face to face situations, the online interactions really weren't very useful. Did you find face-to-face easier because of online experiences?
Learning to lead dungeon groups (and later raids) was critical training for me later being able to take control of projects, manage subcontractors etc. So yeah, some skills learned in an MMO absolutely do carry over into real life.
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I don't socialize online at all as it would quickly feel like a burden to me. I don't work freelance or have any income at all, but I'm very low maintenance as I don't eat much and don't like material possessions. All I own is a few computers and a toothbrush, but I don't have any debt either. I think it would be impossible to make my life more minimalistic than it is now. Once a month I do my laundry and all other t…
> I work on a project for some months, delete it after completion and start over with a new project. Damn, that is hard to hear. Is it because you don't think the project is good enough? Will you get to a point where you don't delete your projects? I am a little like you otherwise, especially in being low maintenance and owning almost nothing except for a computer. I don't hang out with much of anyone besides my wife…
It not so much that, I have enough time to work them into perfection, but there is no use for them after completion. It's not like when an employer request some work to be done that is going to be used afterwards, it's just me trying to make op some project ideas.
Hikikomori is not only a Japanese phenomenon. I was Hikiki for a year after dropping out of college. I lived with my parents playing WoW all night and sleeping all day. I had very few social interactions. What dragged me into that lifestyle was the complete destruction of my ego. I was simply unprepared to live as an adult. It's not much of a surprise I couldn't cope. In high-school I was coddled for being smart and…
Thank you for sharing. This comment thread is 10x as enlightening as the linked article. I am only curious, what specifically about adult life had such a powerful destructive effect?
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In my opinion, required military service for 1-2 years post high school (or deferred until after University) can help mitigate it. I don't have any facts to back up my claim but an environment that has guaranteed work, physical fitness requirements and is heavily team based hits a lot of points. While not a perfect solution, I don't see it discussed often.
An environment where you are being taken care of for every aspects of your life: when to wake up, what to do, what to eat, how to dress, how to talk, when to relax and when to get to sleep again ? Problems would get back as soon as one gets out I am afraid.
Military discipline would have been great for me because I would have had some functional baseline. Unfortunately, there is no analogue to "just join the military" for the disabled.
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I did something similar for a few months (right down to becoming a nocturnal WoW troglodyte). It started when I quit my job to go traveling, and continued after I returned. For me, it was due to a bit of an existential crisis - my 'life script' had always been 'work hard in school, get good grades, get into uni, do well at uni, get a job'. I'd finished the script and was lost. What now, and why should I care? What dr…
How did you get a job and meet a girl when you played WoW all night and slept all day?
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I really appreciate you sharing your experience. What made you decide to be hikikomori? It's never too late. Tell your parents that you want to change life. Turn their support into something positive. Go out of your house to buy pizza, ice cream, whatever. Get your body moving, the mind will follow. Try to stay in your room without digital devices... for one week. It will clear your thoughts and force you to deal wit…
I wouldn't say it was an active choice, I didn't even known about hikikomori until very recently, but the description fits my lifestyle. I went to trade school and graduated as a network technician/systems administrator, but I never got a job and then time just went on and suddenly I hadn't left my home for years. I wrote in my first post, I'm sad I missed out on so many things in my youth, but sometimes I think the…