Addicted to Games

[Ghadrack]

I can't wait for DDO

I have done several playing sessions well in excess of 24 hours, Everquest was the prime culprit, that game sometimes required you to fight in an area for ten plus hours to clear a zone or battle a God in the game. But I made the conscious decision to participate in those events. Sure I like to go to the skeet club and practice with my Shotgun, I am an Archery fanatic, I like to mountain-bike, but I also grew up playing video games, I enjoy them, I think I can have just as much fun playing a game that I like, especially when you are with 4 to 40 of your friends like in an MMORPG as I can out on the golf course. Six of one, half dozen of another in my opinion. I agree that there are those that don't understand moderation, and put all their eggs in one basket, but just because some peole are dumb doesn't mea we all need to have regulations on how we spend our free time.

My opinion here, but I suspect that video games are going to become a major part of the lives of the elderly in the next few years to decade. They require only manual dexterity and the ability to read, and certain types of games don't require much if either. They are sedentary and entertaining, allowing even the disabled to participate in exciting confrontations and battles, mind challenging puzzles. Video Games are perfect for the elderly, they just have to realize the potential and get into it, the the game designers will see the retirment crowd dollars and start making games specifically for them.

[Agent ONE]

I enjoy the save feature.

319165[/snapback]

I remember back in the day, when the save features were invoked after you would die or something... instead i would just leave my game on pause for days. One day I was playing the orig Zelda, then we went on vacation to Belgium (where my family is), we came back 3 weeks later and my game was still on pause... HAHAHA.

[Agent ONE]

quoting on A1: Parents of suicidal children ALWAYS look for excuses. Finding an excuse is much easier than admitting you failed as a parent.

the truth has been spooken, i think that someone who goes for suicide just for something like a videogame is a pussy, lacking the courage to stand up and face his own problems and choosing the easy way out.

as for the fathers there are times in wich discipline must be applied, and to do so they need to have strong determination and avoid being intimidated by their sons.

sometimes i pitty those who waste the precious gift of life.

319156[/snapback]

Great way to look at things.

[Godzilla]

Well, isnt Korea the most wired and dont they treat video games like sports here in the US? I mean they have sponsors and craps for video game tournaments over there.

[Briareos]

Well, isnt Korea the most wired and dont they treat video games like sports here in the US?  I mean they have sponsors and craps for video game tournaments over there.

319431[/snapback]

According to my Korean friend, one of the reasons for it being so wired is due to the popularity of Starcraft. The game was so addicitive, easy to play and deep in play that it spread like wirefire. Tournaments cropped up and now my friend claims that the best Starcraft players are no longer in the West but now in Korea. PC Bangs (Cafes) with starcraft gaming became was in such high demand that an infrastructure in Korea came about. He told me that even the girls were also very skilled at starcraft, that when you bought a new PC it came automatically with starcraft installed and food packages had starcraft advertised on it. Other games like Lineage, Counterstrike WOW , WC and Age of Empires 2 followed suit. He claimed that these games helped teach english. But he also claimed despite learning some english it hasn't helped their online etiquette. Due to this gaming onslaught there has been a trickle down of cultural behavior. His mom now Instant Messenges him on a daily basis and is quite tech savvy compared to women of her age here. You can agree with him or disagree. I just found his story interesting.

Here's an interesting read:

South Korea: King of the Virtual World

[bsu legato]

Lol died form some lame strategy game? lol how boring...

PLay battlefield... hehehheh

319062[/snapback]

No kidding. Its too bad this guy didn't log onto a BF2 or CoD server first. He would have had his sissy RTS Nancy-boy ass handed to him on a silver platter, then he might have shut off the computer and gone outside.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Word of advice: stay away from world of warcraft if you wish to maintain a life (outside of the one in the game)

Once you start it is hard to stop.

In the future gaming will probably be done by having your brain connected to one massive global server, like in the matrix or something. Food will be suppied by robots that feed your body through a tube every once in a while to keep you alive.

When a person dies in real life from old age, they die in the videogame.

This way the old won't even need working limbs to press buttons since they can just think with thier mind. Money will be exchanged within the game instead of through the real world. The economy will be run in the MMORPG itself. If they need to sleep? A robot will just inject a drug into thier body to make them go to sleep and the game will simulate them feeling drowsy and affect thier ability to play affectively. Now korean gamers don't have to worry about dying.

Edited August 12, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[gerwalk25]

For the longest time I was into Crazy Taxi on Dcast untill I beat my sisters score, $37,650 w/ 225 pick ups on the regular arcade mode. Also back in my younger days I'd play Atari 2600 Centipede endlessly with the vertical mushroom pattern as well as 2600 Millipede which was a better game IMHO. Right now I'm addicted to Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission and leaving my PSP with my sis who's playing Lumines and Hot Shots Golf.

[Gabe Q]

Word of advice: stay away from world of warcraft if you wish to maintain a life (outside of the one in the game)

Once you start it is hard to stop.

319516[/snapback]

That game is EVIL addicting. I can't say for sure because I haven't played it. My cousin is very very addicted to that game and he told me not to start because I would become infected, too. Incidentally, he was supposed to be training for football during the summer and he didn't because of that game. He plays for San Diego State. Poor Bastard.

[Grayson72]

This looks like a case study.

Couple's online gaming causes infant's death

Second gamer dies after massive binge

Death of a Video Gamer

Somewhat similar:

Chinese gamer sentenced to life

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Read the first article on this one, clearly documents what a couple of dumbshits these two were. The death of their child had nothing to do with a game, it was the fact that they thought it was ok to leave a 4 month old infant by itself for any length of time. Had they gone to the movies for an hour or two and the kid died we wouldn't have heard anything about it. Games, movies, whatever, it was just a matter of time.

[Grayson72]

I'm addicted to Battelfield 2 right now and and I play WOW on the side. Man that Battlefield 2 is a time sucker.

[SpacePirateNeko]

I can't wait for DDO

I have done several playing sessions well in excess of 24 hours, Everquest was the prime culprit, that game sometimes required you to fight in an area for ten plus hours to clear a zone or battle a God in the game.  But I made the conscious decision to participate in those events. 

319380[/snapback]

If your waiting for DDO your going to be very dissapointed. The game is awful i played it at E3. Its being made by Turbine that should say it all. At any rate the game is less like an MMORPG and more like Baldurs Gate that you can play with others online. Very little customization and collision EVERYWHERE , it feels like you have to follow levels instead of a free open world. While i like the idea of twitchj fighting and want to see it done correctly in an open MMORPG this is definately not the way to do it.

Such a great license and they give it to turbine to bungle up, did the same thing with another great license. LOTR was coming along very cool, they were making a sort of morality system that would lead your character down diffrent interactions with players and npc's as he progressed and if he was a good person or bad. Turbine took over and days later announced they were cutting all that.

As for EQ i too was once in a raiding guild but thankfully those days are behind me. I did enjoy raiding , its fun to come up with strategies to take down huge creatures and figure out how to combat them. However 8 hour vex thal raids were just too much. Although i would have loved to take down mata murum i left shortly after omens of war was released. To my knowledge after a year very few guilds have even taken him down yet.

I play EQ2 now now, it has many many flaws and way too much hand holding but i can come and go as i please and i just enjoy doing quests. I await what i think will be the best online game to date Vanguard

Ok gotta get back to writing my application essay for art institute socal. I want to go to this school for video game design major soooo bad and i already applied for fafsa but god knows how im supposed to pay for it. The school is about 12k per quarter. Sometimes i have absolute bursts of confidence , most days im so diffident and inept im impossible. I just wish i could get to point A so eventually i can get to point z.

[Graham]

I guess this is really just an example of Darwinism in action. I mean a person who's life consists soley of playing online games 24/7 should not really be contibuting to the gene pool anyway .

Rememeber, everything in moderation.

And games rather than sex? Sorry, my brain is just not wired to understand that mindset at all.

Graham

[reddsun1]

Wow, that "Death of a Video Gamer" story was from 1982? So I guess there was some basis/inspiration that could spawn the popular sci-fi movie rule that: if-you-get-killed-in-an-ultra-realistic-VR-game-your-brain-thinks-you're-really-dying-and-the-body-follows.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

These are just extreme cases within even the most hardcore. I doubt it is representative of all online gamers for those who are worried. I bet the media only focuses its attention on it because its new. (why not gambling, drugs or alcohol addiction? Why have we not banned this to wipe away the uselessness of these activities and the damage it does to society? A: 1.money 2. because of lot of people secretly want it but won't admit to it. A bit like porn or recreational drug use really, since online gaming has a nerd stigma.)

Of course, graham it's possible to have both sex(30 minutes) and games 23.5/7. After having sex with the wife, she can join in on the online game too and you can share the fun of being addicted. Who cares so long as it is making money?

The one thing that gaming has over other mediums is the level of interaction involved. Unlike a movie or sitting on your ass on the couch to watch a tv, which are passive, gaming stimulates the brain and requires skill and your attention. I guess this is the thrill of playing an online game because unlike other forms of entertainment (including offline games which are predictable because computers do not adapt to human intelligence) there is a certain amount of freedom that you can't get (or would be illegal) in the real world. Eg: carjacking in GTA which might get you killed or arrested in real life. Or not having the opportunity to street race sombody because its against the law, or you don't have anywhere to do it safely in real life.

I think in future gaming is going to compete for $ against other things like movies, and TV, and people are worried about lost profits to these game giants so they kick up a stink under the cover of "being concerned". After a time when the older generations who did not grow up in an atmoshpere of gaming die off, it won't be so taboo and you will see less reaction to these types of stories anymore. (just like "granny dies of heart attack after gambling addiction" stories)

Any addiction is bad, but if we were so concerned we could prohibit it completely to solve the problem and be done with it. But so long as it is profitible, I doubt anything will be done. The government probably thrives on it despite the destruction it might have on the person's family and social life and victims. When criminals start breaking into homes to look for items to pawn off to pay for thier evercrack addiction that's when I'll be scared.

Edited August 12, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[myk]

I'm addicted to Battelfield 2 right now and and I play WOW on the side.  Man that Battlefield 2 is a time sucker.

319537[/snapback]

Right. So when are we all getting together to frag the hell out of one another?