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General Discussions => General discussions => Topic started by: cindybc on December 21, 2008, 11:27:57 PM

Title: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: cindybc on December 21, 2008, 11:27:57 PM
Hi All this topic appears to be quite popular and comes up as off topic quite frequently on different other topics. I pray that this thread will serve those who are interested in this topic. Enjoy.

Cindy
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Jeatyn on December 22, 2008, 05:37:08 AM
My gaming IS my social life

I don't have a single close friend I didn't meet online through some game

We usually meet in person....for more gaming
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 03:13:52 PM
Simple answer:
It doesn't. Affect my social life.
Some of my friends are gamers, so we game once in a while. Some of my friends are drinkers so we drink once in a while. Some of my friends are sports fans so we watch the rugby once in a while.
Etc, etc, etc.
Gaming is no different to any other activity.
I don't see why people always want to put it in a box on its own labeled "ANTISOCIAL, BAD, ADDICTIVE". It's just another hobby. Any hobby or social activity can be taken to the extreme.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: cindybc on December 22, 2008, 03:45:55 PM
I agree Vexing, I don't watch TV and I am not into doing much outdoors in the winter, so my hobby is mostly communications with other folks on the Internet, actually much of my leisure time is spent on the internet either sharing with people or as I say to Wing Walker, being on rescue missions. I also do allot of research because if your going to be on rescue missions you better know what your talking about. No one has all the answers. So I suppose gaming would have it's similarities, you have to have knowledge and experience of the game in order to play it effectively. I love a challenge, and I must admit I am darn good at it.;D But I also love socializing with other folks out there.

Carry on guys and goils, have fun.

Cindy   
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Kelsey on December 22, 2008, 06:11:11 PM
My friends and I do the "Old" video game thing and watch movies instead of doing drugs and Booz.
So it effects us in that we are healthier and less likely at many risks; and we save alot of money buying a 12 pack of Mountain Dew for $4, instead of a 6 pack of booz for $8. So its a Win-Win :)

And on my own, I set up a WVI to my portable DVD player So I can play my xbox 360 in my room even when its in the basement without wires going through the house
Turn the xbox on with the controller, which also turns on the WVI, and manually turn on the screen. Then BAM, xbox in my room without my parents knowing because the xbox is 2 floors away from me. So in turn I can play it all night and does not effect my social life.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 06:14:46 PM
FYI, a friend of mine got type II diabetes from Mountain Dew.
I'll stick to the red wine, which has proven health benefits.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: tekla on December 22, 2008, 06:16:09 PM
From Mountain Dew exclusively?  Or was it the entire bad diet that goes with drinking Mtn. Dew?
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 06:23:25 PM
Quote from: tekla on December 22, 2008, 06:16:09 PM
From Mountain Dew exclusively?  Or was it the entire bad diet that goes with drinking Mtn. Dew?

Roughly 2 litres of Dew each day. Ruined his teeth too.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: cindybc on December 22, 2008, 06:31:01 PM
Me I'm a club soda addict. Kentucky Fried Chicken or mac and cheese with tomatoes.

Cindy
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 06:32:58 PM
Quote from: cindybc on December 22, 2008, 06:31:01 PM
Me I'm a club soda addict. Kentucky Fried Chicken or mac and cheese with tomatoes.

Cindy
I won't touch KFC, after seeing the conditions the hens they use are raised in.
Absolutely abominable. I actually threw up.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: tekla on December 22, 2008, 06:35:30 PM
What?  Are we somehow interfering with its ability to be a doctor, air traffic controller, or IT quality control expert?
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Pneumonica on December 22, 2008, 06:37:22 PM
Quote from: Jeatyn on December 22, 2008, 05:37:08 AM
My gaming IS my social life

Aside the fact that my gaming is tabletop RPGs, and I've only recently graduated to online tabletops, we seem to share a social life.   :D

EDIT:  Corrected the quote.  Stupid multiple windows.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 06:44:11 PM
Quote from: tekla on December 22, 2008, 06:35:30 PM
What?  Are we somehow interfering with its ability to be a doctor, air traffic controller, or IT quality control expert?
Have you seen the conditions they live in?
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Pneumonica on December 22, 2008, 07:01:56 PM
I am not a mod, and I do not seek to step on the collective fingers of the mods, but I would posit that the treatment of chickens in KFC facilities is distinctly off-topic and should be put into another thread.  Since I'm interested in this thread, I'm just wanting to keep it clear.

Back on topic, how many tabletop RPGers are rummaging about?  It's always fun pretending to be somebody you're not.  Or sometimes pretending to be someone you are but can't admit to.   :D
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: tekla on December 22, 2008, 07:03:03 PM
I've seen conditions that human's are housed in, and live in, solve those, and I'll worry about the KFC chickens, which, I don't eat anyway, really, there is good chicken.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 07:04:30 PM
Quote from: Pneumonica on December 22, 2008, 07:01:56 PM
Back on topic, how many tabletop RPGers are rummaging about?  It's always fun pretending to be somebody you're not.  Or sometimes pretending to be someone you are but can't admit to.   :D

Played various tabletop RPGs, the World of Darkness games were my thing for several years. Recently I've been involved in an A Game of Thrones RPG and a Star Wars RPG.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 07:06:04 PM
Quote from: tekla on December 22, 2008, 07:03:03 PM
I've seen conditions that human's are housed in, and live in, solve those, and I'll worry about the KFC chickens
Humans are capable of solving their own housing issues. Chickens who have been caged by humans have zero options.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: lisagurl on December 22, 2008, 07:07:32 PM
QuoteFYI, a friend of mine got type II diabetes from Mountain Dew.

Corn syrup.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: cindybc on December 22, 2008, 07:52:35 PM
There are humans on this planet that live in worst conditions then the chickens raised by the corperate funded mega farms and even pigs and have no alternative or choice on how they live because the fat cats that govern their countries steal it from them. But then that is another topic like housing third world countries street people in north America and chickens.

Cindy 
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Reese on December 22, 2008, 08:46:06 PM
I love games and play them occasionally for pleasure. If my friends like to play them, then we get together over one for a few hours. If anything, games have enhanced my social life; given me common grounds with some people I'd otherwise never know.

But I do have a friend who got addicted to video games, and he let it monopolize his time way too much; in high school, he had to drop down a grade because he played them almost all the time, even during classes. Strange as it sounds, for some people, I think video games can get dangerous, socially. It's like everything else, really: moderation is important.

Also, that much mountain dew is madness!
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 09:02:44 PM
Quote from: cindybc on December 22, 2008, 07:52:35 PM
There are humans on this planet that live in worst conditions then the chickens raised by the corperate funded mega farms and even pigs and have no alternative or choice on how they live because the fat cats that govern their countries steal it from them. But then that is another topic like housing third world countries street people in north America and chickens.

Cindy

Hey, you wanna eat the tortured, hormone stuffed, pustulated, scabrous, infected never-seen-daylight skin of insane hens that litterally live on top of each other...
Be my guest.
I'm not supporting that activity by buying the product.
Just like I don't support inhumane conditions for humans.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Pneumonica on December 22, 2008, 09:33:07 PM
Quote from: Reese on December 22, 2008, 08:46:06 PM
But I do have a friend who got addicted to video games, and he let it monopolize his time way too much; in high school, he had to drop down a grade because he played them almost all the time, even during classes. Strange as it sounds, for some people, I think video games can get dangerous, socially. It's like everything else, really: moderation is important.

In the end, any behavior that has a sense of pleasure can become addictive.  I headed a mock protest against prayer when a study showed that there were, in fact, many people that prayed addictively.  I wasn't being serious, naturally, and handed out pamphlets talking about the real purpose of the mock protest.

Quote from: Reese on December 22, 2008, 08:46:06 PM
Also, that much mountain dew is madness!

Dude, I'm a Pepper and I don't drink that much of the Doctor.  That is much with the intense.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 22, 2008, 09:49:49 PM
Quote from: Pneumonica on December 22, 2008, 09:33:07 PM
In the end, any behavior that has a sense of pleasure can become addictive.
Precisely!
Online gaming can be dangerous for people with addictive personalities.
That doesn't mean online gaming itself is 'bad' or 'evil'.
There are millions of well-adjusted online gamers out there who are not addicted and can happily function with or without their chosen game(s).

It's unfair to blame the activity for what is essentially a personal problem.

Interestingly enough, recent studies have shown that many 'addicts' are not actually addicted to the game - they are addicted to the sense of camaraderie and social acceptance they gain from the group activities in the games.
i.e. someone might be a fat, pimply, bespectacled, pasty walrus with braces in real life, but in BattleField II he is a rugged Master Sergent with over 40,000 kills under his belt who is respected by his team mates and feared by his enemies.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Kelsey on December 22, 2008, 09:53:02 PM
Wow, thats alot o the dew.
Also, on addiction, we have a big history of addictions. I can addicted easily, but I feel its the pure determination that gets you through.
This summer I was(Dont laugh) addicted to live saver mints. I would not go a second without one (Dont take it wrong)in my mouth.
I went a Lonnng time like this, brought them to my deli were I worked, had one when I went asleep, all the time I was eating them. I had about 100+ a day. One night I was watching Lost and saw how a drug addict Charlie got off heroine, he took his stash and threw it in a fire. Well, I took my remaining last 300+ and did the same. First few days after it was hard, and the lack of the sugar was hard especially at work(As antonio said "Your doing the jobs us mexicans wont do" and I was Tired from all the hard work and no sustaining energy)
Well after a week I was off them, and I can have one, and not need more.

But then again theyr mints not things that actually form necessities for our body, so I may have had it easy for this small addiction.


Also, I think online addictions are an escape from the real world, kinda like movies and TV.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Jeatyn on December 23, 2008, 09:35:20 AM
I must admit I was ridiculously addicted to neopets for a good 6/7 years

I never wanted to leave the house because it felt like a waste of time that could have been spent "productively" in the game

I'd get really mad if somebody else wanted to use the computer or if something happened that meant I couldn't be online during an important game event

I have a trophy on there I got for completing an RPG they have in the fastest time. You're not allowed to take breaks during play and my time was something like 25 hours. It took me 7 attempts. So I didn't sleep for pretty much a week, playing that stupid game, living off take-aways because I didn't have time to make food.
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 23, 2008, 02:27:43 PM
Quote from: Jeatyn on December 23, 2008, 09:35:20 AM
I have a trophy on there I got for completing an RPG they have in the fastest time. You're not allowed to take breaks during play and my time was something like 25 hours. It took me 7 attempts. So I didn't sleep for pretty much a week, playing that stupid game, living off take-aways because I didn't have time to make food.

Back in the ancient days of WoW, Molten Core raids used to eat my entire weekend; from roughly 10am to 10pm. Weeknights after work were spend farming materials to buy expendables (potions, etc) for those raids.
Competitive PvP players would have to spend 18 hours a day online, just to keep their place on the PvP ladder. As soon as one person starts putting in 18 hour shifts on the game, everyone else has to in order to compete. Madness!
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Jeatyn on December 23, 2008, 06:03:09 PM
Quote from: Vexing on December 23, 2008, 02:27:43 PM
Quote from: Jeatyn on December 23, 2008, 09:35:20 AM
I have a trophy on there I got for completing an RPG they have in the fastest time. You're not allowed to take breaks during play and my time was something like 25 hours. It took me 7 attempts. So I didn't sleep for pretty much a week, playing that stupid game, living off take-aways because I didn't have time to make food.

Back in the ancient days of WoW, Molten Core raids used to eat my entire weekend; from roughly 10am to 10pm. Weeknights after work were spend farming materials to buy expendables (potions, etc) for those raids.
Competitive PvP players would have to spend 18 hours a day online, just to keep their place on the PvP ladder. As soon as one person starts putting in 18 hour shifts on the game, everyone else has to in order to compete. Madness!

my gamer card just ran out on WoW, I am getting a well needed break

I should not play MMO's!
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Vexing on December 23, 2008, 06:37:00 PM
Quote from: Jeatyn on December 23, 2008, 06:03:09 PM
my gamer card just ran out on WoW, I am getting a well needed break

I should not play MMO's!
I got Wrath of the Lich King a week after the release and have played maybe 10 hours in total.
I think this comic sums up beautifully why that is:
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.penny-arcade.com%2Fimages%2F2008%2F20081114.jpg&hash=d195f987eb46c9f9f2e1bb30a8bf744cb22a9746)
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Jeatyn on December 24, 2008, 08:00:45 AM
I got lich king the day it was released, made a death knight, played it for about an hour, then got bored and went back to my warlock xD
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: soldierjane on December 24, 2008, 08:25:49 AM
I got Lich King on release day too and it was fun for a while but then Fallout 3 happened and... my warrior has been lv 74 for about a month :P

ROFL @ comic btw
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: Jeatyn on December 24, 2008, 08:41:53 AM
Ah fallout

I was convinced the battle system would get really old after the first 10 times but it doesn't

BOOM HEADSHOT
Title: Re: Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.
Post by: soldierjane on December 24, 2008, 08:46:23 AM
Quote from: Jeatyn on December 24, 2008, 08:41:53 AM
Ah fallout

I was convinced the battle system would get really old after the first 10 times but it doesn't

BOOM HEADSHOT


Yeah seeing heads explode never seems to get old. I'm a Lincoln Repeater kind of girl  ;D