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Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

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Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#2
Sounds like he has the "rage to master" personality trait... very conducive to hardcore training and mastery in something like martial arts or a craft skill, or a discipline... also conducive to addiction or getting "way too into" hedonistic pursuits.

I've got it too, and have made insane/amazing progress and gotten quite good at some skills, crafts, and disciplines in fast time. I've also burned many hours on something like Civilization IV or playing lots of Chess. It's a mixed bag.

I wrote about it here --

http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/advice-if-youve-got-the-rag...

Definitely worth reading if you've got the same personality mix.

Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#4
Bit of personal insight here, I have anger issues that may border on bi-polar. I've never attempted a diagnosis or treatment, I just try to maintain a cool head. Most of the time I'm rational and level headed. However, there are certain triggers that just make me snap, completely flipping my personality.

On more than one occasion, Starcraft 2 was one of those triggers. It only occurred after long heated anonymous matches that I lost, never during single player or with friends. I shelved Starcraft 2 shortly after a bad outburst where I broke the door of my wooden keyboard tray.

If I had to guess, the intense focus I was putting into Starcraft broke my normal awareness of my emotions. Thus, loosing control when I was defeated.

Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#5
post #3

Videogames are harder to quit than drugs? What has he been smoking?

Videogames can evoke the same physiological responses from your mind and your body as the high of many drugs. Most anything is capable of being an addiction for biological creatures such as ourselves - it's simply in the chemistry of our minds that defines what gets us "high".

Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#6

Bit of personal insight here, I have anger issues that may border on bi-polar. I've never attempted a diagnosis or treatment, I just try to maintain a cool head. Most of the time I'm rational and level headed. However, there are certain triggers that just make me snap, completely flipping my personality. On more than one occasion, Starcraft 2 was one of those triggers. It only occurred after long heated anonymous mat…

I've always said Counter Strike makes me go from 0 to Angry in 9 seconds flat.

Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#8
post #3

Videogames are harder to quit than drugs? What has he been smoking?

I lost a lot of seventh and eighth grades to video games, and the final departure from them entailed smashing Starcraft 1 and Brood War CDs in my driveway, in front of my friends, who were telling me "not to waste the CDs." But I needed to do something cathartic, and in my case smashing the discs helped me go cold-turkey.

I wrote about it a little bit more here: https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/from-the-departmen... .

Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#9

This sounds so fake :/ There are certainly video game addicts out there, it's a serious problem in korea and china, but I think this is a troll and/or pathological liar.

I do know what you mean. All that stuff about becoming a monk was curiously non-specific. Still, we should assume good faith here: we stand to gain nothing by making accusations.

Re: Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life

#10

Bit of personal insight here, I have anger issues that may border on bi-polar. I've never attempted a diagnosis or treatment, I just try to maintain a cool head. Most of the time I'm rational and level headed. However, there are certain triggers that just make me snap, completely flipping my personality. On more than one occasion, Starcraft 2 was one of those triggers. It only occurred after long heated anonymous mat…

What symptoms do you get that make you think you're bipolar?

I'm asking because most people diagnose themselves as being either bipolar or ADHD, and it's almost always a bogus diagnostics based on very common personality aspects that everyone has, such as some level of mood swings or tendency to procrastinate...

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