OT: EverQuest addiction?
Question:
Restless Scorpio <restless_scor…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
news:c048a704.0204051423.73164c62@posting.google.com…
I agree, I think that boy was screwed up pretty badly before he ever started playing video games. But this does seem to be an addiction that comes pretty close to drug or gambling addiction. You don’t hear of people being addicted to tv or sex, to the point that they lose their jobs, lose their
relationships,
etc.
I don’t know anything about tv addiction, but yes people do most certainly lose jobs and relationships over sex addiction.
Response:
On 5 Apr 2002 14:23:29 -0800, restless_scor…@yahoo.com (Restless Scorpio) wrote:
I agree, I think that boy was screwed up pretty badly before he ever started playing video games. But this does seem to be an addiction that comes pretty close to drug or gambling addiction. You don’t hear of people being addicted to tv or sex, to the point that they lose their jobs, lose their relationships, etc.
Someone already replied about sex addiction, but the TV addiction one has me thinking. TV tends to have a lot of continuity breaks that curb addiction. Few shows exceed an hour, and there are usually quite a few commercial breaks during the show. This keeps people from getting "hypnotized" by the TV for very long, since they don’t get to focus on the same thing for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down to watch TV at 2pm and the next time I looked at the clock it was already 10pm (I used to do that with Quake). Maybe online games could use such a formula? You KNOW all those services would put "commercial breaks" in their games if they could do it without losing too big a chunk of their consumer base. The really devious thing about it is, no one would want to get up and go piss or get a snack during the commercial, for fear they’ll be away from their character too long after the commercials and getting PKed! :) Plus, limiting daily sessions to one or two hours would conserve a lot of bandwidth (less lag). They could probably make the service dirt cheap doing this, too. Of course, if I was an EQ player, I’d hate that shit because it’d keep breaking my concentration and I couldn’t play all day. Tough love, I guess.
Response:
I agree, I think that boy was screwed up pretty badly before he ever started playing video games.
Ya know this thread got me thinkin…. I remember when I was a kid people thought me and my friends were suicidal devil worshippers cuz we played a little D&D… When did that change to the RPGer = Nerboy stereotype thats around nowadays?
Response:
Jet Nebula <thi…@spamfreezone.com
wrote in message
news:vjbsau4h5vnh2f7138q0tbdhdmc2ofuu7s@4ax.com…
Someone already replied about sex addiction, but the TV addiction one has me thinking. TV tends to have a lot of continuity breaks that curb addiction. Few shows exceed an hour, and there are usually quite a few commercial breaks during the show. This keeps people from getting "hypnotized" by the TV for very long, since they don’t get to focus on the same thing for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down to watch TV at 2pm and the next time I looked at the clock it was already 10pm (I used to do that with Quake).
The Home Shopping Network is a noteable exception to this. This might be classed as more of a shopping addiction, but my mother had a real problem with HSN for a while. She watched because she has no social life and she felt like the friendly voices of the salespeople were her friends and she would leave it on for hours at a time.
Maybe online games could use such a formula? You KNOW all those services would put "commercial breaks" in their games if they could do it without losing too big a chunk of their consumer base. The really devious thing about it is, no one would want to get up and go piss or get a snack during the commercial, for fear they’ll be away from their character too long after the commercials and getting PKed! :) Plus, limiting daily sessions to one or two hours would conserve a lot of bandwidth (less lag). They could probably make the service dirt cheap doing this, too. Of course, if I was an EQ player, I’d hate that shit because it’d keep breaking my concentration and I couldn’t play all day. Tough love, I guess.
I don’t want a game company deciding for me that they need to regulate my playing time in case I might be having a problem with addiction to the game. For the most part I do limit my playing time, but if I feel like a marathon session on a Saturday, that should be my business.
Response:
rooo…@yahoo.com (Ben) wrote in message <news:3e6289c2.0204051126.3894932b@posting.google.com
… People can get addicted to anything. Food, tv, sex, sniffing dirty feet, licking jam off of the kitchen table, scratching their noses until it falls off, etc… Especially people who were diagnosed as a depressed schizoid like the guy who shot himself over Everquest. The only thing I think that could be done to avoid this scenario would be if the people who ran EverQuest did a psychological evaluation on anyone who signed up, but that would still be nuts. I think a label should be put on the mom that says "Warning: This mother does not care about her son enough to moniter any of his schizophrenic obsessions and then likes to blame it on others". It’d be nice if we could pad the world with little pieces of nerf foam on every corner so nobody ever got hurt but, as a great man once said, it’s alot harder to carpet the world than it is to just put on a pair of shoes.
I agree, I think that boy was screwed up pretty badly before he ever started playing video games. But this does seem to be an addiction that comes pretty close to drug or gambling addiction. You don’t hear of people being addicted to tv or sex, to the point that they lose their jobs, lose their relationships, etc.
Response:
I can relate to this, except due to a slow internet connection I play single player (RPG and strategy games that take hours to finish) rather than on-line games. DUNGEON SIEGE! NEVERWINTER NIGHTS! NETHACK! (Which has a NEW VERSION OUT!) MORROWIND!
I’m looking forward to the release of all those except Nethack which I’ve never heard of.
Response:
"davros" <cd…@iinet.net.au
wrote in message
news:3cad7683$0$27939@echo-01.iinet.net.au… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
I can relate to this, except due to a slow internet connection I
play
single player (RPG and strategy games that take hours to finish) rather
than
on-line games. DUNGEON SIEGE! NEVERWINTER NIGHTS! NETHACK! (Which has a NEW VERSION OUT!) MORROWIND! I’m looking forward to the release of all those except Nethack which
I’ve
never heard of.
www.nethack.org — Joel If you want a look into my life, check out: http://moleculor.blogspot.com/ — 04/03/02 6:32 PM
Response:
"Joel" <molecu…@yahoo.com
wrote in news:a8jrl0$ami$1
@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu:
I can relate to this, except due to a slow internet connection I play single player (RPG and strategy games that take hours to finish) rather than on-line games. DUNGEON SIEGE! NEVERWINTER NIGHTS! NETHACK! (Which has a NEW VERSION OUT!) MORROWIND!
The nice thing about single-player games is that they have a built in cap on addiction (usually!), when you finish the game. Is the new version of Nethack worthwhile? I’ve always been disappointed in nethack versions in the last few years… I ascended a couple of guys a few years ago, but can’t really get into Nethack any more, probably fortunately:) I actually prefer Angband/Zangband, since Nethack to me doesn’t have very interesting combat, and it’s all "tricks" and memorizing special cases. I’ll admit that Nethack is just full of little funny gems though:) (E.g. polymorph into a dingo and eat a tripe ration… "This tripe ration tastes surprisingly good!") Neverwinter Nights has been "Just about to be released" for a couple of years now, at least, hasn’t it?:) It will be interesting to see if it lives up to its hype, and people use it to run online D&D-ish campaigns.
Response:
People can get addicted to anything. Food, tv, sex, sniffing dirty feet, licking jam off of the kitchen table, scratching their noses until it falls off, etc… Especially people who were diagnosed as a depressed schizoid like the guy who shot himself over Everquest. The only thing I think that could be done to avoid this scenario would be if the people who ran EverQuest did a psychological evaluation on anyone who signed up, but that would still be nuts. I think a label should be put on the mom that says "Warning: This mother does not care about her son enough to moniter any of his schizophrenic obsessions and then likes to blame it on others". It’d be nice if we could pad the world with little pieces of nerf foam on every corner so nobody ever got hurt but, as a great man once said, it’s alot harder to carpet the world than it is to just put on a pair of shoes. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -"Jessica A." <nos…@yahoo.com
wrote in message <news:uapj9tanp43lc3@corp.supernews.com… Restless Scorpio <restless_scor…@yahoo.com wrote in message news:c048a704.0204041345.354d8643@posting.google.com… I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his mother.) Read more about it here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than "the game". Any comments/experiences? I play Ultima Online which is a similar game. I play it like most people watch the TV. I alternate playing with reading books or the occasional movie (couple other nice ways of escaping reality). I’ve never gone so overboard that I neglected my work, school, or relationship type duties, but the truth is that my life online is a lot more exciting than real life. What do I have to look forward to anyway? I get up every morning and go to work where I sit bored all day long. A lot of my non-work time is spent doing menial tasks like cooking, paying bills, and cleaning up after my cats. I like escaping from the normal world. In UO, I can fight heroic battles and tame dragons. Of course it’s better than real life. When I didn’t have a computer, I used to read pretty much an entire novel each day. When I was much younger and in junior high/high school, I read sometimes as much as 2 novels each day. Sometimes I worry, but then I look at everyone else I know. They spend their evenings watching the TV.
Response:
"Restless Scorpio" <restless_scor…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
news:c048a704.0204051423.73164c62@posting.google.com…
rooo…@yahoo.com (Ben) wrote in message
<news:3e6289c2.0204051126.3894932b@posting.google.com
…
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
People can get addicted to anything. Food, tv, sex, sniffing dirty feet, licking jam off of the kitchen table, scratching their noses until it falls off, etc… Especially people who were diagnosed as a depressed schizoid like the guy who shot himself over Everquest.
The
only thing I think that could be done to avoid this scenario would
be
if the people who ran EverQuest did a psychological evaluation on anyone who signed up, but that would still be nuts. I think a label should be put on the mom that says "Warning: This mother does not
care
about her son enough to moniter any of his schizophrenic obsessions and then likes to blame it on others". It’d be nice if we could pad the world with little pieces of nerf foam on every corner so nobody ever got hurt but, as a great man once said, it’s alot harder to carpet the world than it is to just put on a pair of shoes. I agree, I think that boy was screwed up pretty badly before he ever started playing video games. But this does seem to be an addiction that comes pretty close to drug or gambling addiction. You don’t hear of people being addicted
to
tv or sex, to the point that they lose their jobs, lose their
relationships,
etc.
The thing is is that the mother is overreacting. The ‘addiction’ that she touts, at least in it’s last week (a week straight of playing) was more his final dying gasp of life. As I said earlier, he was probably getting the things that mattered to him in order. Like his loot, his money, and his character. Someone might already be using the guy’s account. — Joel If you want a look into my life, check out: http://moleculor.blogspot.com/ — 04/03/02 6:32 PM
Response:
davros wrote:
I played D&D as a teenager around the time it first came out. I copped all that suicidal devil worshiper stuff too.
I don’t think I would be comfortable worshiping an ungulate. s "Of some old paperback book All the places I’ve played and the money I’ve made"–Tim McGraw
Response:
On Fri, 5 Apr 2002 15:37:26 -0800, "Jessica A." <nos…@yahoo.com
wrote: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
Jet Nebula <thi…@spamfreezone.com wrote in message news:vjbsau4h5vnh2f7138q0tbdhdmc2ofuu7s@4ax.com… Someone already replied about sex addiction, but the TV addiction one has me thinking. TV tends to have a lot of continuity breaks that curb addiction. Few shows exceed an hour, and there are usually quite a few commercial breaks during the show. This keeps people from getting "hypnotized" by the TV for very long, since they don’t get to focus on the same thing for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down to watch TV at 2pm and the next time I looked at the clock it was already 10pm (I used to do that with Quake). The Home Shopping Network is a noteable exception to this. This might be classed as more of a shopping addiction, but my mother had a real problem with HSN for a while. She watched because she has no social life and she felt like the friendly voices of the salespeople were her friends and she would leave it on for hours at a time. Maybe online games could use such a formula? You KNOW all those services would put "commercial breaks" in their games if they could do it without losing too big a chunk of their consumer base. The really devious thing about it is, no one would want to get up and go piss or get a snack during the commercial, for fear they’ll be away from their character too long after the commercials and getting PKed! :) Plus, limiting daily sessions to one or two hours would conserve a lot of bandwidth (less lag). They could probably make the service dirt cheap doing this, too. Of course, if I was an EQ player, I’d hate that shit because it’d keep breaking my concentration and I couldn’t play all day. Tough love, I guess. I don’t want a game company deciding for me that they need to regulate my playing time in case I might be having a problem with addiction to the game. For the most part I do limit my playing time, but if I feel like a marathon session on a Saturday, that should be my business.
These companies won’t directly limit the amount of time people can be on if they can help it, since it’d hurt business. I wouldn’t be surprised if some day, though, they indirectly limit it, by charging by the hour. (Sony is already trying out a tiered system, where top-tier Everquest is $40/mo–roughly four times normal price. I balked, but several people were seriously interested in it, because they thought the high price would drive away the kiddies, which would supposedly drive away most of the jerks. Personally, I think the jerkiness would be unilaterally replaced with self-righteous bitching, but that’s beside the point. People were INTERESTED, despite the high price!) As for the introduction of advertising into these games, that’s only a matter of time. Seriously–if Sony came out with a "free" Everquest server, with the catch being a minute or two of TV-style commercials every 15 minutes, I bet the server would be flooded with people in days. (By TV-style I mean it stops you from playing and takes up the whole screen.) I’ve also heard of game companies selling product placement in games for millions. This probably wouldn’t go over well in most MMORPGs, though, since they’re almost all medieval fantasy.
Response:
I played D&D as a teenager around the time it first came out. I copped all that suicidal devil worshiper stuff too. In fact my school was visited bt a "cult buster" organisation to warn us about D&D’s evils. Computer games seem to be the new "evil" eg Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem etc "VanillaSm00thy" <vanillasm00…@aol.com
wrote in message
news:20020405183447.04374.00003223@mb-fi.aol.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
I agree, I think that boy was screwed up pretty badly before he ever started playing video games. Ya know this thread got me thinkin…. I remember when I was a kid people thought me and my friends were suicidal devil worshippers cuz we played a little D&D… When did that change to the RPGer = Nerboy stereotype thats around nowadays?
Response:
"Jessica A." <nos…@yahoo.com
wrote in message <news:uapj9tanp43lc3@corp.supernews.com… I play Ultima Online which is a similar game. I play it like most people watch the TV. I alternate playing with reading books or the occasional movie (couple other nice ways of escaping reality). I’ve never gone so overboard that I neglected my work, school, or relationship type duties, but the truth is that my life online is a lot more exciting than real life.
I read about this on either kuro5hin or slashdot; I don’t remember which. My thought was, what do we really know about this guy? 1) He was diagnosed as depressive 2) He was diagnosed as schizoaffective 3) He was overweight 4) He had a siezure disorder 5) At an age when most people are in college, he was working in a pizza place 6) His mother is a histrionic nut from which I can conclude 7) He probably had never gotten laid And so he killed himself because of a *game addiction*? Because his life was otherwise obviously just peachy. Yeah, right. A little over two years ago, 1) I had just been left by my wife 2) I had no money and no job 3) My mother is a histrionic noodge 4) And she was recovering from mastectomy 5) And I was supposed to take care of her And I played a whole lot of Exile III, because it simply made me feel better. I don’t play games as much anymore, though I am getting into EV Nova. But then again, I have a highly paid job, and I don’t have to stay with my mother, who is fine now. Life is not perfect (still don’t have a girlfriend or wife, but I’ve become disillusioned at the quality of women in Atlanta and am planning to move back to Florida), but it’s way better, and there are more fun things to do. I don’t have to go into an escapist world. So, I have a lot of empathy for this guy and think that, if anything, Everquest stayed his hand, and he would have shuffled off this mortal coil more quickly without it.
Response:
"davros" <cd…@iinet.net.au
wrote in message
news:3cad311d$0$27927@echo-01.iinet.net.au… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> "Jessica A." <nos…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
> news:uapj9tanp43lc3@corp.supernews.com… > > Restless Scorpio <restless_scor…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
> > news:c048a704.0204041345.354d8643@posting.google.com… > > > I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was > > > discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who > > > committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his > > > mother.) > > > Read more about it here: > > > http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html > > > But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people > > > who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously > > > addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or > > > have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were > > > socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because > > > they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than > > > "the game". > > > Any comments/experiences? > > I play Ultima Online which is a similar game. I play it like most people
watch the TV. I alternate playing with reading books or the
occasional
movie (couple other nice ways of escaping reality). I’ve never gone
so
overboard that I neglected my work, school, or relationship type
duties,
but the truth is that my life online is a lot more exciting than real
life.
What do I have to look forward to anyway? I get up every morning
and go
to work where I sit bored all day long. A lot of my non-work time is
spent
doing menial tasks like cooking, paying bills, and cleaning up after
my
cats. I like escaping from the normal world. In UO, I can fight
heroic
battles and tame dragons. Of course it’s better than real life.
When I
didn’t have a computer, I used to read pretty much an entire novel
each
day. When I was much younger and in junior high/high school, I read
sometimes
as much as 2 novels each day. Sometimes I worry, but then I look at
everyone
else I know. They spend their evenings watching the TV. I can relate to this, except due to a slow internet connection I play
single
player (RPG and strategy games that take hours to finish) rather than on-line games.
DUNGEON SIEGE! NEVERWINTER NIGHTS! NETHACK! (Which has a NEW VERSION OUT!) MORROWIND! — Joel If you want a look into my life, check out: http://moleculor.blogspot.com/ — 04/03/02 6:32 PM
Response:
OK I played both EverQuest and Ultima Online. I was VERY addicted to both games but have since stopped paying for both just recently because of school. I’m probably going to start playing EQ again during the summer with my friends. As for UO…..I don’t think I’ll ever go back because of how they ROYALLY fucked up the game play!! Like I said before though, one of my friends is VERY VERY addictive…..I’m afraid my other friends and I are going to have to have a LITERAL **intervention** for him because its starting to go out of control. Although I highly doubt he’d ever kill himself over it…..people have killed themselves over stupider things than that, but he is failing his classes though. THE TRICK IS……DO NOT LET IT RUN YOUR LIFE!!!!! Limit your time on there…..say okay, I’m going to play for ONE HOUR and then get off. I know it is VERY hard to do that once you get on, however. When I played Ultima Online, I met the people I played with in my guild IRL. Some of them had also played EQ, but they realized that the addiction came from how the game worked. In EverQuest, you have to kill monsters for items. Thats basically all the game is about. However, if a monster you need an item for comes alive once a day, you basically have to "camp" where its going to be for that whole day because a thousand other people will be trying to get that same item. Once people realize it’s a teadious venture…..they start to become un-addicted to it. As for me…..I play EQ for a while then I get fed up and leave. When I left this time I told my friends that "I want to focus on the REAL", iow, I want to focus on school, a carrer, shyness, and things that affect me in real life……you can only live in a fantasy world for so long, imo. Anyways…..thats my 2 platnum. =) ========== Wilson
Response:
On 4 Apr 2002 13:45:21 -0800, restless_scor…@yahoo.com (Restless – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Scorpio) wrote:
I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his mother.) Read more about it here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than "the game". Any comments/experiences?
Online games are a funny addiction, really. Unlike drugs and alcohol, there’s nothing physically going into your body to change your brain chemistry. And unlike gambling, there’s no chance of vastly improving your real life through some stroke of fortune in the game. With online games, you literally make your own addiction. You have to come up with reasons to keep playing just one more hour. Then, a year later, after you step out of the context and realize you are totally responsible for blowing the last 3000+ hours of your life on NOTHING, yeah, it can be pretty depressing! Then what do you do when you stare that fact in the FACE and STILL can’t stop playing? You’ve lost the will to do anything else; you’ve lost control of your motivation; and it’s all–your–fault. What do you do? I used to be addicted to multiplayer Quake, by the way. There’s a different motivation for playing that vs. Everquest, but the addiction is pretty much the same. The reward:effort ratio is so high in those games, if you accept that the rewards mean something.
Personally, I’m just glad my video game playing days are behind me!
Same here.
Response:
Restless Scorpio <restless_scor…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
news:c048a704.0204041345.354d8643@posting.google.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his mother.) Read more about it here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than "the game". Any comments/experiences?
I play Ultima Online which is a similar game. I play it like most people watch the TV. I alternate playing with reading books or the occasional movie (couple other nice ways of escaping reality). I’ve never gone so overboard that I neglected my work, school, or relationship type duties, but the truth is that my life online is a lot more exciting than real life. What do I have to look forward to anyway? I get up every morning and go to work where I sit bored all day long. A lot of my non-work time is spent doing menial tasks like cooking, paying bills, and cleaning up after my cats. I like escaping from the normal world. In UO, I can fight heroic battles and tame dragons. Of course it’s better than real life. When I didn’t have a computer, I used to read pretty much an entire novel each day. When I was much younger and in junior high/high school, I read sometimes as much as 2 novels each day. Sometimes I worry, but then I look at everyone else I know. They spend their evenings watching the TV.
Response:
"Restless Scorpio" <restless_scor…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
news:c048a704.0204041345.354d8643@posting.google.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his mother.) Read more about it here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than "the game". Any comments/experiences? Personally, I’m just glad my video game playing days are behind me!
Used to play UO (For a year… got nearly 2000 posts on the Stratics boards from it!), used to play AO (for a few months), and now play EQ. EQ is… simpler than UO or AO. Not sure it’ll hold my interest for very long. In my opinion though, his suicide was caused by everything else which was f-ed up in his life. In my opinion, the reason why he played EQ for a week straight (just after he quit his job) just before offing himself was because he was getting his affairs that mattered to him in order. Like giving away all his l33t gear, and generally saying goodbye to people. — Joel If you want a look into my life, check out: http://moleculor.blogspot.com/ — 04/03/02 6:32 PM
Response:
On Fri, 05 Apr 2002 03:41:48 GMT, bjpar…@sympatico.ca (William – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Parker) wrote:
Jet Nebula <thi…@spamfreezone.com wrote in news:qk2qauk11e9jv4fgcqbpf9k35676ml07jt@4ax.com: Then, a year later, after you step out of the context and realize you are totally responsible for blowing the last 3000+ hours of your life on NOTHING, yeah, it can be pretty depressing! Then what do you do when you stare that fact in the FACE and STILL can’t stop playing? I’m feeling philosophical and I’ll ask what it’s all about anyway… How much of what anyone does actually "accomplishes" something? Yeah, you could go out drinking and dancing all the time, and meet and hook up with, and have sex with all kinds of women, and this sure will impress your friends a lot more:), but it basically just comes down to figuring out how you like to spend your time, doesn’t it? Whether I enjoy Everquest, Usenet, golf, chess, TV, fishing, football, whatever, they’re all good for precisely nothing, right?
What do you have to show for playing all that time? Is skill in the game marketable? Is playing the game making you healthier or smarter? Is there anything tangible coming of your time with the game? Do the friendships you make in the game carry over into the real world? (As an aside, that last one reminds me of a funny web comic I read once where the lead character’s wife went to Vegas to meet with her Everquest buddies. When they got to the motel, however, they all stayed in their rooms with their laptops, and met INSIDE THE GAME!) With Usenet, you’re practicing your ability to write clearly and effectively, and think critically (at least, some of us are). Golf and football have health benefits. Chess helps develop your ability to plan and visualize. Based on the "camping" I hear about in Everquest, I guess it’s similar to fishing. Although when you catch fish, you have something tangible to bring home and stick in your face. Watching TV is iffy. Depends on what’s on, I guess. Of course, if your philosophy is, "Nothing in this world will matter when I’m in the grave," then everything is good for nothing! :) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
And well… Obviously if Everquest is your whole life, you might not realize what you’re missing, I’ll certainly concede that.
Response:
EQ creates accomplishment in the game. When you get in there, and do some stuff you actually feel like you’ve accomplished something. Like when I placed my house in UO, I was on this "high" for like 2 or 3 days! I couldn’t believe it, it was so wicked! I was like one of the first people on the entire server to place it as well! Accomplishment is all in the mind…..if your only reality is an illusion, than illusion is your reality. Therefore, if EQ is your reality, and that falls apart……you die pretty much since you have just lost the thing that was most real to you. Now granted you have to be pretty demented to get into a game THAT much….but I was almost there with UO and EQ…..when I played them, I used to SNAP at people in the real world for taking me OUT of that moment……man, I was messed up sometimes….. =========== Wilson
Response:
"Jessica A." <nos…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
news:uapj9tanp43lc3@corp.supernews.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Restless Scorpio <restless_scor…@yahoo.com
wrote in message
> news:c048a704.0204041345.354d8643@posting.google.com… > > I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was > > discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who > > committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his > > mother.) > > Read more about it here: > > http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html > > But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people > > who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously > > addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or > > have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were > > socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because > > they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than > > "the game". > > Any comments/experiences? > I play Ultima Online which is a similar game. I play it like most people > watch the TV. I alternate playing with reading books or the occasional > movie (couple other nice ways of escaping reality). I’ve never gone so > overboard that I neglected my work, school, or relationship type duties, but
the truth is that my life online is a lot more exciting than real life. What do I have to look forward to anyway? I get up every morning and go
to
work where I sit bored all day long. A lot of my non-work time is spent doing menial tasks like cooking, paying bills, and cleaning up after my cats. I like escaping from the normal world. In UO, I can fight heroic battles and tame dragons. Of course it’s better than real life. When I didn’t have a computer, I used to read pretty much an entire novel each
day.
When I was much younger and in junior high/high school, I read sometimes
as
much as 2 novels each day. Sometimes I worry, but then I look at everyone else I know. They spend their evenings watching the TV.
I can relate to this, except due to a slow internet connection I play single player (RPG and strategy games that take hours to finish) rather than on-line games. Eventually it gets less interesting and I get into a reading mode, or a DVD/video mode etc. It has never got in the way of work, but there are times when I haven’t gone to social activities. I still manage to read 1-2 novels a week depnding on number of pages. It’s uually sleep that suffers. The problem with getting too into games was that I would grab fast food on the way home from work and never exercise. This led to me putting on a lot of weight, lacking fitness, and being tired all the time. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but it did affect work to some extent because I wasn’t always performing at my best. And it certainly didn’t do much for my physical and mental health. I still enjoy games, but now I put other activities first.
Response:
Jet Nebula <thi…@spamfreezone.com
wrote in
news:qk2qauk11e9jv4fgcqbpf9k35676ml07jt@4ax.com:
Then, a year later, after you step out of the context and realize you are totally responsible for blowing the last 3000+ hours of your life on NOTHING, yeah, it can be pretty depressing! Then what do you do when you stare that fact in the FACE and STILL can’t stop playing?
I’m feeling philosophical and I’ll ask what it’s all about anyway… How much of what anyone does actually "accomplishes" something? Yeah, you could go out drinking and dancing all the time, and meet and hook up with, and have sex with all kinds of women, and this sure will impress your friends a lot more:), but it basically just comes down to figuring out how you like to spend your time, doesn’t it? Whether I enjoy Everquest, Usenet, golf, chess, TV, fishing, football, whatever, they’re all good for precisely nothing, right? And well… Obviously if Everquest is your whole life, you might not realize what you’re missing, I’ll certainly concede that.
Response:
"William Parker" <bjpar…@sympatico.ca
wrote in message
news:Xns91E6E8C92563Cbjparkersympaticoca@207.35.177.135… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
Jet Nebula <thi…@spamfreezone.com wrote in news:qk2qauk11e9jv4fgcqbpf9k35676ml07jt@4ax.com: Then, a year later, after you step out of the context and realize you are totally responsible for blowing the last 3000+ hours of your life on NOTHING, yeah, it can be pretty depressing! Then what do you do when you stare that fact in the FACE and STILL can’t stop playing? I’m feeling philosophical and I’ll ask what it’s all about anyway… How much of what anyone does actually "accomplishes" something? Yeah, you
could
go out drinking and dancing all the time, and meet and hook up with, and have sex with all kinds of women, and this sure will impress your friends
a
lot more:), but it basically just comes down to figuring out how you like
to
spend your time, doesn’t it? Whether I enjoy Everquest, Usenet, golf, chess, TV, fishing, football, whatever, they’re all good for precisely nothing, right? And well… Obviously if Everquest is your whole life, you might not realize what you’re missing, I’ll certainly concede that.
I believe an addiction is where you feel forced to do something (especially for the high it may give) despite the fact that in general it is making life very bad for you. So, someone with an addiction doesn’t necessarily like doing that particular thing – in fact, they may actually hate it (or hate the fact that it is in control of their life) – but they can’t stop. So, yeah, playing golf or whatever doesn’t necessarily accomplish anything other than to possibly boost your self-esteem, whereas letting a compulsion take over your life has precisely the opposite effect.
Response:
I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his mother.) Read more about it here: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,51490,00.html But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than "the game". Any comments/experiences? Personally, I’m just glad my video game playing days are behind me!
Response:
Categories: Game Addiction | 
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SF2 means Street Fighter II to practically everyone else in the world, except you it seems. I’m playing PSO, Skies of Arcadia, HeadHunter, Sonic Adventure 2, Capcom 
