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Please don't let gaming consume your life

buildstarted.com

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Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#31

Post by sukuriant »

jsz0 wrote: post #17

Not knowing anything about this individual I don't want to make too many assumptions but the broader point here is valid. The whole culture of 'hardcore gaming' is pretty creepy to me. There's a fine line between fun and mental illness. It's too easy to look at this as just a harmless eccentric hobby when, past a certain point, it really needs to be treated more like a serious problem with interventions & rehab. I re…

s/hardcore gaming/competitive horseback riding/d

s/hardcore gaming/competitive Go playing/d

s/hardcore gaming/dedicated Iron Man competition training/d

s/hardcore gaming/frequent weekend get-away-ing/d

s/hardcore gaming/dedicated volunteering/d

Perhaps I'm not familiar with the hardcore gaming you've seen, with exception, perhaps, of WoW addiction, but you need to be careful of looking at a particular use of a person's pass-time, or even an entire culture's use of their pass time

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#32

Post by bitops »

daenz wrote: post #27
boredguy8 wrote: post #8

There are more subtle ways of gaming ruining your life, as well: slowly losing the drive to do anything more than what's necessary to pay the cable bill, rent, and the gaming subscription. Slowly the only friends you have are people you know from your guild. When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. I've also seen people similarly consumed by pornography, alcoh…

> When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. One day I imagine we'll be able to map real world problems to video games, in a way that doesn't require knowledge of the solution to create the mapping. Programming itself is very similar to a game. If someone could make it into a virtual world, where I "write" code simply by putting together various machines in 3D s…

I believe someone already did this in Minecraft.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/09/minecraft-users-go-wild-b...

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#33

Post by jsprinkles »

Buildstarted wrote: post #14
driverdan wrote: post #11

I'm sorry you had to lose a friend. I understand that you're trying to find meaning and place blame but playing a game for 3 days is not likely to end your life. It's possible he had an underlying medical condition. If he had been sitting for 3 days straight writing code would you blame it instead?

I wasn't placing blame on the game but on himself. The game was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Yes, there were other health issues which I addressed later in the post.

The title of your post blames gaming pretty directly.

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#34

Post by kika »

boredguy8 wrote: post #8

There are more subtle ways of gaming ruining your life, as well: slowly losing the drive to do anything more than what's necessary to pay the cable bill, rent, and the gaming subscription. Slowly the only friends you have are people you know from your guild. When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. I've also seen people similarly consumed by pornography, alcoh…

> consumed by pornography, alcohol, gambling, day trading, and I'm sure other things

other things being startups?

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#35

Post by neutronicus »

Buildstarted wrote: post #5

Server died...here's a repost: Over this past weekend a good friend and coworker passed away. He always had a good heart and would do anything he could to help you out. It was certainly a shock. Monday morning he didn't show up to work. He always calls or sends an email if he won't be in but nobody could get a hold of him. I got a bit worried since I knew he was playing Diablo 3 since it came out on Tuesday and I've…

It's funny, I completely disagree that "video games are great fun when played in moderation". The "in moderation" part obviates the whole point for me.

That's why I don't play them anymore.

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#36

Post by falcolas »

daenz wrote: post #27
boredguy8 wrote: post #8

There are more subtle ways of gaming ruining your life, as well: slowly losing the drive to do anything more than what's necessary to pay the cable bill, rent, and the gaming subscription. Slowly the only friends you have are people you know from your guild. When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. I've also seen people similarly consumed by pornography, alcoh…

> When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. One day I imagine we'll be able to map real world problems to video games, in a way that doesn't require knowledge of the solution to create the mapping. Programming itself is very similar to a game. If someone could make it into a virtual world, where I "write" code simply by putting together various machines in 3D s…

Not to feed the addiction, but that's pretty much exactly what SpaceChem does. You're programming, without programming. And you have some very clearly defined limits, letting you be remarkably creative with your solutions.

Now then, that doesn't apply well to a real world problem, but there are definitely parallels.

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#37

Post by daenz »

falcolas wrote: post #36
daenz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. One day I imagine we'll be able to map real world problems to video games, in a way that doesn't require knowledge of the solution to create the mapping. Programming itself is very similar to a game. If someone could make it into a virtual world, where I "write" code simply by putting together various machines in 3D s…

Not to feed the addiction, but that's pretty much exactly what SpaceChem does. You're programming, without programming. And you have some very clearly defined limits, letting you be remarkably creative with your solutions. Now then, that doesn't apply well to a real world problem, but there are definitely parallels.

I love SpaceChem! Fantastic game...though when I'm playing it, I think "I should just be programming instead." If only SpaceChem had more freedom and could actually create code.

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#39

Post by staunch »

nemik wrote: post #12

Maybe he died doing what he loved...

I think this is actually a perfectly reasonable idea. When I look back on past 15 years one of my absolute favorite memories is playing FPS games with my friends, brothers, and father. Those times were more real and more meaningful to me than many other more socially acceptable activities.

But...you shouldn't die at 32 because you're eating burgers and playing games too much. That's a terrible way to go, and it ultimately means you get far less time gaming!

Re: Please don't let gaming consume your life

#40

Post by dekz »

boredguy8 wrote: post #8

There are more subtle ways of gaming ruining your life, as well: slowly losing the drive to do anything more than what's necessary to pay the cable bill, rent, and the gaming subscription. Slowly the only friends you have are people you know from your guild. When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. I've also seen people similarly consumed by pornography, alcoh…

How does this compare with what can be considered a 'gym' addiction. Is it ok when it is exercise? What is too much? What about work, startups? I rock climb at least 6 hours a week, it's not bizarre to hear someone dying from rock climbing though.
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