Online gamers - How well do you balance your 'Addiction vs Real Life'?

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

DanTheMan

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Joined
11 Oct 2005
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Location
Manchester, UK
I was an avid MMO player back in 2003/04 and must've spent 99.9% of my free time online. I was 14/15 at the time so it didn't affect me as much as it would now. I still had school which was my work and my social life, although I dare say it affected how well I did there.

I've tried playing MMOs since but I can never get into them as much as I'd like as the addiction becomes too much and I choose to stop as I don't want to end up spending all my time on them now I have a lot more responsibility and commitments. It's sad in a way but I just find online gaming inherently more fun and interesting than most things that there is to do on a weekday evening, it's just that those evenings usually end up turning into all weekend aswell.

How do you currently feed your addiction without going overboard?
 
I got into them and still do a bit, but i kind of convinced myself that they are not really much fun in the end, its the same old thing time and time again... kill or collect. Playing a MMO is abit like stamp collecting. I much prefer a good story like KOTOR, BG and the like. I just cant see any reason people get so wrapped up in mmo's.

I guess for a lot of people its all abou the social life.
 
My 'addiction' to online gaming was basically tempered by three main factors:

1) Family issues; my gf's dad died and my sister was diagnosed with cancer, so I had to support those around me a lot
2) I moved house and changed jobs, giving me less free time due to commuting
3) Internet connection at my new house wasn't really good enough for competitive play

#3 is the only issue I had any control over really, rather than going for mass market high-speed ISPs (NTL, Sky) I should have gone with a traditional gaming isp like Nildram as I had for many years previous.

The bottom line is, gaming is often more enjoyable than 'real life' so I don't worry about the so-called addiction so much. Playing QW around 1998-2004 is something I don't regret, despite the impact it had on my degree and social development. I can't think of anything that's ever given me such a buzz. I still enjoy playing but the addiction has passed.

In 10 years time I'd like to think I'll look back on it and think "yeah, it was worth it", in spite of the effect it had on my future.
 
HangTime said:
The bottom line is, gaming is often more enjoyable than 'real life' so I don't worry about the so-called addiction so much. Playing QW around 1998-2004 is something I don't regret, despite the impact it had on my degree and social development. I can't think of anything that's ever given me such a buzz. I still enjoy playing but the addiction has passed.

In 10 years time I'd like to think I'll look back on it and think "yeah, it was worth it", in spite of the effect it had on my future.
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How sad. I have never found an MMO that is worth my money not alone better than my life. I dont think they could create such a game.

Please stick to shaving with an electric razor...we dont want any "Accidents" :eek:
 
I used to play WoW religiously.... I literally would rather stay in on a friday night than go out when offered. That when when i was like 14/15 as well. In the holidays I wouldn't sleep until 6/7am in the morning.

Then WoW got boring.... now I only play Dwan of War 2 and CoD4 online, which are sort of switch on - play - switch off games, require no long-term commitment, which I like.

The problem with WoW (only MMO i played) is that to get any real satisfaction at max level you have to raid, and that takes an obscene amount of time in the evenings. In proper guilds you also have to have money, materials and stuff, which also takes time - and that's not even including PvP. So you have to either get a casual raiding guild (2/3 days a week) or just become a pvp whore.
 
Never played a MMO regularly and yes I do expect the social side is a big part of it. I think like all things in life, if something appeals you do it over and over again until you've got it out of your system. Then you find something else and get in to that, another hobby or game, whatever.
 
Spend 95% of my free time on the Internet/in games.

HangTime said:
The bottom line is, gaming is more enjoyable than 'real life'.
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^^ That's why.


Also the majority of my friends are on the Internet/in games, so I spend time with them online.
 
bloodline76 said:
What can be so bad about life that an MMO is more enjoyable?
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Just for the record, the only MMO i have ever played was Ultima, but surely it is less that life is so bad and more that the game is just very enjoyable. I am sure as a gamer yourself you can appreciate that.
 
matt0r said:
Just for the record, the only MMO i have ever played was Ultima, but surely it is less that life is so bad and more that the game is just very enjoyable. I am sure as a gamer yourself you can appreciate that.
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Yes I do enjoy gaming but I could never say that it is more enjoyable than my life.

Gaming is a pleasure but having it as the top pleasure in your life is a bit sad in my opinion.

Spending time with my daughter could not be topped by an MMO. I could think of a dozen other better things to do with my time.

Fun Yes, better than real life, no!
 
bloodline76 said:
Gaming is a pleasure but having it as the top pleasure in your life is a bit sad in my opinion.
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Not really, some people find great pleasure in their hobbies and gaming is well, a hobby for many.

Some people would say going out and getting smashed is their top pleasure, some people would say going skiing is theirs...do you see where I am going with this? :)

Spending time with my daughter could not be topped by an MMO.
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Sure but that is your duty as a parent, it's not something you do just for fun. I'm sure it is rewarding though, but I don't think it's directly comparable to something you would do for pleasure/fun/to pass time.
 
There was a time many years ago when I became hellishly addicted to an MMO (it was Ultima Online), that was during the period of 1998-2001. UO had essentially become more of my life than my actual life. I became massively in debt due to the costs involved with being online back then (no easy flat rate broadband cost, so phone bills to be connected to the net were huge).

My life frittered away, marriage, job..they all suffered. I ended up being £10,000 in debt. Due to RL things, UO had become my safehaven, the opportunity to be someone other than who I was.

That was then though.

Eventually I dealt with things, left UO and corrected my life. Still married now (18 years now), got a near perfect daughter, career is better than ever, and thanks to a piece of luck my debt is not only gone but I am left with no money worries for the foreseeable future.

I still like to play MMOs (well..not currently as the ones out at the moment are all crap :) ) , I still like to play online. To be honest though, I dont game anywhere near as much as I used to, I dont even game now as much as I did 2 years ago. There was a time when I was younger that I thought I would game for the rest of my life, but now I actually think that in another 2 or 3 years I will have stopped gaming completely. Just seen it all before and played it all before.
 
i think the addicition becomes less of an issue the longer you have been playing mmos for.
ive been playing them for around 10 years so nothing is really new or unique to me just more of the same generally so its easier to pull my self away.
 
arknor said:
i think the addicition becomes less of an issue the longer you have been playing mmos for.
ive been playing them for around 10 years so nothing is really new or unique to me just more of the same generally so its easier to pull my self away.
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Same for me, been playing for about 12 years or so now and it's all been done before. I've done the raiding lark and the sitting up all nighters and to be honest nothing out at the moment can, for me, get close to the experience I've already had because no one seems to stick around in games long enough to build up that addiction. Apart from WoW every game I've tried I just feel everyones going to leave soon, why invest the time.

Defiantly don't regret my time spent in games thou, meet loads of good friends and it kept me out of trouble sitting down the park or trying to get drunk on cheap cider.
 
I've played a lot of games in my life, normally at a fairly even balance, I played competitive football, went out with friends, went to the football.. nothing wrong with that, would spend a few evenings a week playing games.

Got into World of Warcraft, when I was going through a transition period in my life, a lot of things were changing, and I felt I could just relax and chill out playing the game. I enjoyed playing the game, was just more fun then putting up with what was going on around me, as a result I played more and went out less.

Don't play so much now, but will still logg on to catch up with old friends, do a bit of PvP.
My life got better, so I'd spend less time on the computer, more time doing other things :)

It's like a drug you associate the game with good times, so you go back to play and enjoy eventually you don't want to face you're real problems and you just spend all you're time doing something you enjoy. kinda.
 
When I was playing Matrix Online, I pretty much based my life around the game. I spoke to people about it as if it was an everyday part of life. All this during the 2yrs I was playing the game. Needless to say people thought I was a loon lol...but it never bothered me. When I finished work, I would rush home and be straight online to play with my friends and have a laugh.

I still had time to go out and socialise in real life at every possible opportunity. So I guess you can say I wasnt a total hermit. But I finally took the plunge and moved away from playing Matrix Online as it started to get boring and I was getting more and more into other games.

I have been back on Matrix only once and that was last month after a good 9mth hiatus. Nothing has changed to be honest. Still boring but nice to see some old faces I guess.

Of course all this may change when I start playing DC Universe Online :D
 
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