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So, gaming addiction...

In My Safe Space
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
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Codex 2012
I was recently learning new IT stuff and spending a few hours a day studying but a few days ago I bought a few new games.

For last few years I was playing mostly casual games like Armored Brigade, Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge and Operation Flashpoint.

Now I bought a hardcore game, Deadnaut.

Soon after I started playing it, I started experiencing very high levels of stress. Down to physical level. Now I find it difficult to not think about games and to focus on studying. Similar thing happened to me when I was a teen. I'd spend several hours a day playing games, and would be very stressed out almost all the time.
 

Tel Velothi

Cipher
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May 12, 2011
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beneath a lonely desert sun
I feel quite the opposite actually. Lately I feel like I've grown out of games. I have a huge fucking respect for such masterpieces like PS:T, Thief, System Shock 1, you catch my drift - I can appreciate them, but I can't bring myself to play them anymore for more than 20 minutes.
Maybe it's just some kind of strange period of life.

Same goes with movies also.

Lately it's just been work, working on motorcycle and riding it.

Feels strange, bros
 
Joined
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there nothing like an addiction to something which isn't a drug.
there's only weak minds seeking refuge somewhere.
 
In My Safe Space
Joined
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Messages
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Codex 2012
I feel quite the opposite actually. Lately I feel like I've grown out of games. I have a huge fucking respect for such masterpieces like PS:T, Thief, System Shock 1, you catch my drift - I can appreciate them, but I can't bring myself to play them anymore for more than 20 minutes.
Maybe it's just some kind of strange period of life.
Generally, I have the same, playing in short bursts like 20 minutes.

This time it was different because it's like these games from 90s like X-Com: Terror From The Deep and Syndicate Wars with high tension and long missions.
 
In My Safe Space
Joined
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Messages
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Codex 2012
there nothing like an addiction to something which isn't a drug.
there's only weak minds seeking refuge somewhere.
The thing is that it works the opposite way than seeking refuge. Also, I'm pretty sure very high stress is also like a drug.
 

Gregz

Arcane
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The Desert Wasteland
Soon after I started playing it, I started experiencing very high levels of stress. Down to physical level. Now I find it difficult to not think about games and to focus on studying. Similar thing happened to me when I was a teen. I'd spend several hours a day playing games, and would be very stressed out almost all the time.

Games are like food. If they don't agree with your system, play something else.

Awor has me on ignore, but I thought I'd add my 2 cp.
 

AngryKobold

Arcane
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
534
Watch this lucky autist, getting distressed by computer games. I am so old and lifeless it almost makes me envious.
 

leino

Cipher
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Oct 14, 2014
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rats' alley
there nothing like an addiction to something which isn't a drug.
there's only weak minds seeking refuge somewhere.

If you believe physical symptoms of withdrawal are the only mechanism of addiction, or the only reason people are driven to drugs and the like, or the trickiest to deal with, think again. And behaviours can also trigger similar bodily chemical reactions as drugs do, leading to the same physical symptoms.

(Not that Awor's case sounds like proper addiction, but what do I know.)
 

AngryKobold

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
534
I feel quite the opposite actually. Lately I feel like I've grown out of games. I have a huge fucking respect for such masterpieces like PS:T, Thief, System Shock 1, you catch my drift - I can appreciate them, but I can't bring myself to play them anymore for more than 20 minutes.
Maybe it's just some kind of strange period of life.

Same goes with movies also.

Impatience, lack of time, impression of "wasting time" even if you're gonna pathetically waste it anyway, inability to "turn off": a wonderful example of neurosis in making.
 

rado907

Savant
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
249
I've had something like this a few times... Especially about 10 years ago when I was still playing Football Manager.
One thing to do is to decide not to play more than 2 hrs per day of the particular game you are addicted to. One other good trick is to form a habit of not playing after 8pm.
It's a matter of habits. Break the ones you feel are harmful and try to form more reasonable ones. After a week or two you'll get used to the new norm and it'll all be hunky-dorey.
-----
Btw I think that competitive games pump up the adrenaline in your body. And after the adrenaline level falls you feel drained.
 

Alienman

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The only time I find gaming stressful is when I desperately want to play a game, but are too much of a chicken to do it. Like with Alien Isolation and now Soma. The tension fucks me up, so I can only play in small bursts. But then I walk around thinking about it - man, I gotta man up and do this fucking thing! Because, well, I really want to experience it, since I both love Sci-fi and horror. But it usually ends up with me sitting in front of the computer surfing the web instead of actually booting up the game and then eventually I get spoiled of the story - The End.
 

glasnost

Augur
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spurious messiah camp
One other good trick is to form a habit of not playing after 8pm.
Unfortunately it doesn't feel right to me unless it's happening after 8pm--or at least, I don't like playing computer games when the sun is up.

These days it seems like FPSs and platformers just make me feel jittery and worsen my heartburn. I've been replaying The Dark Project lately, though, and that doesn't give me any trouble. Neither do turn-based RPGs vs real-time, so I suppose the approach of middle age is making me elitist about games for health reasons as much as aesthetics/design.

It doesn't matter. Just try to get less worked up about what you do with yourself.
 
Self-Ejected

Excidium II

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I wish I played more games. It's not lack of time, I just can't be arsed somehow. After I start the game I sit down and play just fine but getting to the point of starting seems to take hours, and if it takes too long I just give up and go to sleep.
 

Machocruz

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Hyperborea
Between your studying and playing, too much time sedentary? I got into a rut a while back where I was on my ass for 90% of the day and any little intrusion or deviation from this (like getting a call for an interview) was anxiety inducing. The realization at the end of the day that I had sat around all day was also. But it became hard to do anything different.

I'm more inclined to be hooked on looking up information/news about games than actually playing them. I can waste a lot of time on here and looking up gameplay vids on YT. Playing them just seems like a major endeavor when I think about it. And so many modern games are designed so that the good shit is always ahead of you (and mostly superficial) and not in the moment, so why not just watch someone else who is at the good point for a few minutes?
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
7,307
I'm getting too old to play most games for long too. But it still happens, some shit like Dark Souls comes along and I'm glued to it for majority of my free time as if I was still a kid. These are rare exceptions though and most games I can't be arsed with anymore. Starting and never finishing. Not that I think I should be worried about that.
 
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Self-Ejected

Excidium II

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I got into a rut a while back where I was on my ass for 90% of the day and any little intrusion or deviation from this (like getting a call for an interview) was anxiety inducing. The realization at the end of the day that I had sat around all day was also. But it became hard to do anything different.
:negative:
 
In My Safe Space
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
21,899
Codex 2012
But Awor why are you stressed out? Because the game is intense and difficult?
Yes. It's pretty intense. Has great atmosphere too. And pretty difficult.

If games are your hobby it's ok I guess to spend most of your free time on them.
Well, it got too consuming.

Games are like food. If they don't agree with your system, play something else.
True. I returned to playing Epic40k: Final Liberation and I feel a bit better.

One thing to do is to decide not to play more than 2 hrs per day of the particular game you are addicted to. One other good trick is to form a habit of not playing after 8pm.
Well, this time I'd play it about 1-3 hours a day. It was still very disorganizing.
 

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