2 ms·

Having played lots of strategic and competitive games in the course of my life, I definitely spent a lot of time on it, and also experienced everything you said

Having played lots of strategic and competitive games in the course of my life, I definitely spent a lot of time on it, and also experienced everything you said and more. Nowadays, in order to keep my focus on more productive tasks, I tend to force myself not to play, and also not to start playing any new game, because once I get started, it is hard to stop. Although the compulsiveness level might vary largely between individuals, I believe that this kind of compulsive behavior is specially true among MMO players. The social factor that MMOs bring is just too addictive, even for the least competitive and compulsive person. I have to say that games brought a lot of good things to my life, such as starting me in programming, friends, a lot of brain activity, great moments and raw fun, but there is a dark side, yes there is, and sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. It might depend on the situation of the individual.

jwdunne 11y ago
Exactly this. My poison in my teenage years was a small MMO with it's own development platform. Developing content for it became part of the game. I learned the basics of pixel art, good level design, story development and, of course, scripting from this game. It became an easel. It's interesting that I too have shifted to strategy game as I've got older. HL2 is just a nostalgia thing, I'm not partial to shooters. My biggest problem games are Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings 2 (now that I use Linux) and used to be Civ5 and Vic2 on OS X. With EU4, I got so into it I probably spent half the time watching DDRJake (who us totally insane at EU4 - took vassalised OPM Athens and recreated Alexander the Great's empire). Classics like AOE2 and Caesar 3 are a good past-time too. With treatment for ADHD, I can certainly resist a lot easier. I'm now getting more urges to program and build things, which I seemed to have lost from my youth after work grinding me down.

jwdunne 11y ago

Exactly this. My poison in my teenage years was a small MMO with it's own development platform. Developing content for it became part of the game. I learned the basics of pixel art, good level design, story development and, of course, scripting from this game. It became an easel. It's interesting that I too have shifted to strategy game as I've got older. HL2 is just a nostalgia thing, I'm not partial to shooters. My biggest problem games are Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings 2 (now that I use Linux) and used to be Civ5 and Vic2 on OS X. With EU4, I got so into it I probably spent half the time watching DDRJake (who us totally insane at EU4 - took vassalised OPM Athens and recreated Alexander the Great's empire). Classics like AOE2 and Caesar 3 are a good past-time too. With treatment for ADHD, I can certainly resist a lot easier. I'm now getting more urges to program and build things, which I seemed to have lost from my youth after work grinding me down.