8 ms·

There are more subtle ways of gaming ruining your life, as well: slowly losing the drive to do anything more than what's necessary to pay the cable bill, rent,

There are more subtle ways of gaming ruining your life, as well: slowly losing the drive to do anything more than what's necessary to pay the cable bill, rent, and the gaming subscription. Slowly the only friends you have are people you know from your guild. When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. I've also seen people similarly consumed by pornography, alcohol, gambling, day trading, and I'm sure other things I can't think of now. Pot. I think any of those things can have their place, but please maintain connection to people who can and will say something if you start going overboard. For instance, I'm in a pretty good place right now and still gave parental control to a friend for the D3 release, just in case. Six hours a week is arguably still too much, but seems reasonable to me, and they won't budge because A) I asked them not to; B) they care. That I've hit that limit is a good sign that I may not be as well off as I thought I was ;) Take care of each other, and yourself.

sliverstorm 14y ago
... day trading ... Well, if you're a successful day trader I'd say rather that the normal rules for not letting work consume you, rather than play. If you are unsuccessful, then it probably does fall more in line with a gambling problem.
- ajross 14y ago
  I think the point was more that the psychology of the disorder is independent of what society chooses to call the activity.
daenz 14y ago
> When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. One day I imagine we'll be able to map real world problems to video games, in a way that doesn't require knowledge of the solution to create the mapping. Programming itself is very similar to a game. If someone could make it into a virtual world, where I "write" code simply by putting together various machines in 3D space...well, that would be fun :)
- bitops 14y ago
  I believe someone already did this in Minecraft. http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/09/minecraft-users-go-wild-building-cpus-in-their-virtual-world-vi/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/09/minecraft-users-go-wild-b...
- falcolas 14y ago
  Not to feed the addiction, but that's pretty much exactly what SpaceChem does. You're programming, without programming. And you have some very clearly defined limits, letting you be remarkably creative with your solutions. Now then, that doesn't apply well to a real world problem, but there are definitely parallels.
  - daenz 14y ago
    I love SpaceChem! Fantastic game...though when I'm playing it, I think "I should just be programming instead." If only SpaceChem had more freedom and could actually create code.
    - dkersten 14y ago
      Spacechem is essentially dataflow programming. Unfortunately the canvas size is to small to do general purpose computing. If you could have a lot lot more reactors, then you could encode useful data in the molecules and use the pipelines as queues to simulate memory buffers and, well, obviously queues.
- rwallace 14y ago
  Already being done in at least one important domain: http://fold.it/portal/ http://fold.it/portal/
- klipt 14y ago
  The real zen moment is when you realize you don't need someone to "gamify" life for you, but can simply choose to see life as a game.
  - 14y ago
kika 14y ago
> consumed by pornography, alcohol, gambling, day trading, and I'm sure other things other things being startups?
- wendation 14y ago
  That's a good point. The health-risks of overwork seem to match well those of having too much 'fun'. My guess is that the hidden psychological motivation is the same: to avoid addressing personal problems. Exercise can help but even there, it depends. If you keep moving your body around forcefully for extended periods you risk heart disease and stroke, e.g. dancing plague of 1518.
- mbell697 14y ago
  Or how about work in general? If doing something 6 hours a week is borderline what is doing something 40-60 hours a week? Assuming most people work for money, isn't this just an extreme cultural addition to money?
  - k-mcgrady 14y ago
    I don't think it's fair to say it's an addiction to money. That may apply to some professions but a lot of people working 40 hours a week are just making enough money to get by.
  - kika 14y ago
    My work, as in day job, usually consists of 3-4 hours working with 3-4 hours having lunch, chatting with colleagues, staring at the window, reading reddit/HN/LJ, doing some 'transparent' research on my startup. And that's when I'm working hard. Working on my startup could easily drag me into a 8-10 hours race with only a few tea breaks.
  - jvoorhis 14y ago
    If by addiction to money, you mean necessity for it to pay the bills, then this is true for most workers. I suspect those of us electing to work upwards of 60 hrs/week at startups have other issues to work out beyond the allure of money.
dekz 14y ago
How does this compare with what can be considered a 'gym' addiction. Is it ok when it is exercise? What is too much? What about work, startups? I rock climb at least 6 hours a week, it's not bizarre to hear someone dying from rock climbing though.
- jmduke 14y ago
  Psychological addiction is never healthy for the mind, no matter what the stimulus is. That being said, spending an exorbitant amount of time devoted to exercise is generally better than spending an exorbitant amount of time devoted to passivity.
  - dromidas 14y ago
    That's a very life stylist point of view. Who's to say that exercising, producing useful things to society, or social interaction is in ANY way "better" than spending your days playing video games? I for one am an avid gamer and I would rather game than quite a large number of other activities that people find rewarding or fulfilling, but I don't go write on some blog saying that they're wasting their life away jogging down the street or writing Dragonlance novels. Everyone should keep their negative opinions about gaming to themselves, much less people die playing video games than pretty much every other activity on the planet.
    - humbledrone 14y ago
      As a gamer myself, please understand that I don't have anything against gaming in general. However, I can think of an objective way in which producing "useful things to society" is better than gaming, which is that if everyone chose to spend all their time gaming, we would die from lack of basic necessities such as food, water, sanitation, etc. This would, of course, cut short the amount of gaming we could all do. So, obviously, we have no choice but for some people contribute to society. Is there a fair way to decide who has to contribute, and who is allowed to opt out and play video games all day? On an entirely different note, gaming probably causes a very significant number of deaths, due to its sedentary nature. Being sedentary is perhaps more dangerous than smoking: http://www.naturalnews.com/001547.html http://www.naturalnews.com/001547.html .
hollerith 14y ago
I spend about 6 hours a week playing chess. I am not sure whether it is a good idea, but has at least one benefit: it gives me a "barometer" for how well my brain is working (in the form of my FICS rating, which is automatically calculated).
rane 14y ago
A bit related to this: http://www.solvemygirlproblems.com/2012/03/world-of-warcraft/ http://www.solvemygirlproblems.com/2012/03/world-of-warcraft...
muraiki 14y ago
Six hours a week? I used to play four to six hours a _day_ of CounterStrike back in college. And let me tell you, that's one of the biggest regrets of my life. Most of my friends consisted of people whom I gamed with -- I barely made any friends in college. And of course, most of those gaming friendships never developed into any sort of deeper connection. Having made friends "IRL" with whom I have deeper connections than playing video games, I can't tell you how much more enriching that is. Also, I now have all sorts of interests that require lots of something that I once had but now don't: time. In college, I now understand, I had so much time with which to learn and create. Instead I squandered it all away. I did graduate cum laude, so it's not like I was a total slacker, but I could have spent my time in ways that would have been far more interesting and rewarding than clicking, clicking... Furthermore, I now have problems with my left hand as a result of holding down WASD so much. That's not something that can necessarily ever be fixed, which is frustrating to me as someone who once played musical instruments. I gave up being able to play guitar and violin for what? For video games? Yes, I have Diablo 3 and I see that many of my friends are on Hell difficulty now and level 55 or whatever. They did that in 2 or 3 days while I still haven't beaten normal mode. And even though I'm having a bit of fun playing Diablo 3, it can never compare to the enjoyment that I once had playing instruments. And what's sad is that _I knew this_ at the time, but it was so much _easier_ to play games than to do any of these other more rewarding but more challenging activities. Was I addicted to video games? I don't think I've suffered from any of the more classical addictions like alcoholism, so I can't fully compare. But in retrospect, I think that I was. I was always interested in games as a kid (playing NES), but I think that I really turned to games after a particularly traumatic event in my life. From that point on, gaming became an outlet for psychological stress and personal insecurities. And as time went on with me using gaming as a bad coping mechanism, additional negative effects accrued: for instance, I lost that drive in life which boredguy8 mentioned. Well, I'm rambling a bit now... but what I wanted to convey was that if you find that what I said about my relationship with gaming resonates with you, please take some time to reflect upon yourself and the way in which you are using the gift that is your unrepeatable life. Examine yourself and see if there are perhaps deeper problems with which you need to get help, problems which are being masked by gaming. And if you can't figure this out through self-examination, please find someone who can help you. There's more to life than playing games.

sliverstorm 14y ago

... day trading ... Well, if you're a successful day trader I'd say rather that the normal rules for not letting work consume you, rather than play. If you are unsuccessful, then it probably does fall more in line with a gambling problem.

ajross 14y ago
I think the point was more that the psychology of the disorder is independent of what society chooses to call the activity.

daenz 14y ago

> When the only source & output of creativity and energy are all wrapped up in playing a video game. One day I imagine we'll be able to map real world problems to video games, in a way that doesn't require knowledge of the solution to create the mapping. Programming itself is very similar to a game. If someone could make it into a virtual world, where I "write" code simply by putting together various machines in 3D space...well, that would be fun :)

bitops 14y ago
I believe someone already did this in Minecraft. http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/09/minecraft-users-go-wild-building-cpus-in-their-virtual-world-vi/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/09/minecraft-users-go-wild-b...
falcolas 14y ago
Not to feed the addiction, but that's pretty much exactly what SpaceChem does. You're programming, without programming. And you have some very clearly defined limits, letting you be remarkably creative with your solutions. Now then, that doesn't apply well to a real world problem, but there are definitely parallels.
- daenz 14y ago
  I love SpaceChem! Fantastic game...though when I'm playing it, I think "I should just be programming instead." If only SpaceChem had more freedom and could actually create code.
  - dkersten 14y ago
    Spacechem is essentially dataflow programming. Unfortunately the canvas size is to small to do general purpose computing. If you could have a lot lot more reactors, then you could encode useful data in the molecules and use the pipelines as queues to simulate memory buffers and, well, obviously queues.
rwallace 14y ago
Already being done in at least one important domain: http://fold.it/portal/ http://fold.it/portal/
klipt 14y ago
The real zen moment is when you realize you don't need someone to "gamify" life for you, but can simply choose to see life as a game.
- 14y ago

kika 14y ago

> consumed by pornography, alcohol, gambling, day trading, and I'm sure other things other things being startups?

wendation 14y ago
That's a good point. The health-risks of overwork seem to match well those of having too much 'fun'. My guess is that the hidden psychological motivation is the same: to avoid addressing personal problems. Exercise can help but even there, it depends. If you keep moving your body around forcefully for extended periods you risk heart disease and stroke, e.g. dancing plague of 1518.
mbell697 14y ago
Or how about work in general? If doing something 6 hours a week is borderline what is doing something 40-60 hours a week? Assuming most people work for money, isn't this just an extreme cultural addition to money?
- k-mcgrady 14y ago
  I don't think it's fair to say it's an addiction to money. That may apply to some professions but a lot of people working 40 hours a week are just making enough money to get by.
- kika 14y ago
  My work, as in day job, usually consists of 3-4 hours working with 3-4 hours having lunch, chatting with colleagues, staring at the window, reading reddit/HN/LJ, doing some 'transparent' research on my startup. And that's when I'm working hard. Working on my startup could easily drag me into a 8-10 hours race with only a few tea breaks.
- jvoorhis 14y ago
  If by addiction to money, you mean necessity for it to pay the bills, then this is true for most workers. I suspect those of us electing to work upwards of 60 hrs/week at startups have other issues to work out beyond the allure of money.

dekz 14y ago

How does this compare with what can be considered a 'gym' addiction. Is it ok when it is exercise? What is too much? What about work, startups? I rock climb at least 6 hours a week, it's not bizarre to hear someone dying from rock climbing though.

jmduke 14y ago
Psychological addiction is never healthy for the mind, no matter what the stimulus is. That being said, spending an exorbitant amount of time devoted to exercise is generally better than spending an exorbitant amount of time devoted to passivity.
- dromidas 14y ago
  That's a very life stylist point of view. Who's to say that exercising, producing useful things to society, or social interaction is in ANY way "better" than spending your days playing video games? I for one am an avid gamer and I would rather game than quite a large number of other activities that people find rewarding or fulfilling, but I don't go write on some blog saying that they're wasting their life away jogging down the street or writing Dragonlance novels. Everyone should keep their negative opinions about gaming to themselves, much less people die playing video games than pretty much every other activity on the planet.
  - humbledrone 14y ago
    As a gamer myself, please understand that I don't have anything against gaming in general. However, I can think of an objective way in which producing "useful things to society" is better than gaming, which is that if everyone chose to spend all their time gaming, we would die from lack of basic necessities such as food, water, sanitation, etc. This would, of course, cut short the amount of gaming we could all do. So, obviously, we have no choice but for some people contribute to society. Is there a fair way to decide who has to contribute, and who is allowed to opt out and play video games all day? On an entirely different note, gaming probably causes a very significant number of deaths, due to its sedentary nature. Being sedentary is perhaps more dangerous than smoking: http://www.naturalnews.com/001547.html http://www.naturalnews.com/001547.html .

hollerith 14y ago

I spend about 6 hours a week playing chess. I am not sure whether it is a good idea, but has at least one benefit: it gives me a "barometer" for how well my brain is working (in the form of my FICS rating, which is automatically calculated).

rane 14y ago

A bit related to this: http://www.solvemygirlproblems.com/2012/03/world-of-warcraft/ http://www.solvemygirlproblems.com/2012/03/world-of-warcraft...

muraiki 14y ago

Six hours a week? I used to play four to six hours a _day_ of CounterStrike back in college. And let me tell you, that's one of the biggest regrets of my life. Most of my friends consisted of people whom I gamed with -- I barely made any friends in college. And of course, most of those gaming friendships never developed into any sort of deeper connection. Having made friends "IRL" with whom I have deeper connections than playing video games, I can't tell you how much more enriching that is. Also, I now have all sorts of interests that require lots of something that I once had but now don't: time. In college, I now understand, I had so much time with which to learn and create. Instead I squandered it all away. I did graduate cum laude, so it's not like I was a total slacker, but I could have spent my time in ways that would have been far more interesting and rewarding than clicking, clicking... Furthermore, I now have problems with my left hand as a result of holding down WASD so much. That's not something that can necessarily ever be fixed, which is frustrating to me as someone who once played musical instruments. I gave up being able to play guitar and violin for what? For video games? Yes, I have Diablo 3 and I see that many of my friends are on Hell difficulty now and level 55 or whatever. They did that in 2 or 3 days while I still haven't beaten normal mode. And even though I'm having a bit of fun playing Diablo 3, it can never compare to the enjoyment that I once had playing instruments. And what's sad is that _I knew this_ at the time, but it was so much _easier_ to play games than to do any of these other more rewarding but more challenging activities. Was I addicted to video games? I don't think I've suffered from any of the more classical addictions like alcoholism, so I can't fully compare. But in retrospect, I think that I was. I was always interested in games as a kid (playing NES), but I think that I really turned to games after a particularly traumatic event in my life. From that point on, gaming became an outlet for psychological stress and personal insecurities. And as time went on with me using gaming as a bad coping mechanism, additional negative effects accrued: for instance, I lost that drive in life which boredguy8 mentioned. Well, I'm rambling a bit now... but what I wanted to convey was that if you find that what I said about my relationship with gaming resonates with you, please take some time to reflect upon yourself and the way in which you are using the gift that is your unrepeatable life. Examine yourself and see if there are perhaps deeper problems with which you need to get help, problems which are being masked by gaming. And if you can't figure this out through self-examination, please find someone who can help you. There's more to life than playing games.