Games, Gamers, and how does it affect or not affect your social life.

[Vexing]

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.

[Pneumonica]

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.

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.

[Vexing]

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.

[Kelsey]

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.

[Jeatyn]

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.

[Vexing]

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!

[Jeatyn]

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!

[Vexing]

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:

[Jeatyn]

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

[soldierjane]

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

ROFL @ comic btw

[Jeatyn]

Ah fallout

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

BOOM HEADSHOT

[soldierjane]

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