To the gaming comunity out there
 

How do you people deal with the time you spend playing games? do you people feel guilty or something?

There is this boring git at my work i was talking to the other day, and he said he was a game aficionado, until one day he played a little more than he should and got a bad grade at some mid term. And he was already feeling guilty for playing instead of studying/reading/learning useful shite. So he deleted his \games folder (which contained over 50 good games) and promised never to get any games again.

He is an IT guy who actually hates gaming, but he got the highest score on the delphi test the company applied, and has a pretty interesting culture level.

personally im currently playing only Warcraft III . I thought about playing WoW but that would obliterate my current way of live, where i jiggle a gf, my work, warcraft and university, which leaves me with absolutely no free time (just the work + uni automatically consumes 14 hours per day, only going to classes, not actually studying) And even though my time playing is very low comparing to most of you (like 5 hrs/week) its kind of crippling me from studying more and reading books and shite, but its just too damm pleasant... =(

how much do you people normally play?

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

However long you spend playing computer games it's still too much.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

No comprendo Señor :confused:

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I play games because I enjoy them. I don't see why I should be any different guilty over spending time doing something else I enjoy, which is to say "not at all".

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Lost in translation :(

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Adults cannot do things they enjoy. They must work, which sucks, and study, which is boring, although its very enjoyable, depending on the subject.

The point is you cant do things you like!. Otherwise it would be just sex sex sex nap nap beer beer gd gd sex game die poor and lonely =(

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I hope to god something's been lost in translation there.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Real Life is overatted anyway, if the technology were there, I'd go digital all the way.. lawnmower man ahoy!

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

'jiggle my [objectname]', classic.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

How hard is it to grasp the concept that you cant do only things you like, otherwise you will end up ****ed up in the long run?

Its good to eat lard
to have unsafe sex
not having to wake up early to study/work
not to make exercises
to watch tv all day


But


Where do you get with this attitude?

geezzz:rolleyes:

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

i dont understand you.

you can do all the stuff adults has to do plus playing computer. it's like a hobby, some go out playing football, tuning their cars, buy shoes etc.. others play computer games..

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I'm up several thousand euro thanks to poker which means I barely ever have to work. I'm pretty intelligent so I rarely have to study. Life has been pretty good to me :up:

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I don't feel guilty at all. I manage to turn up for 95% of my lectures but never bother with the required reading and then pass my exams with the required marks by revising for 3 weeks in the year. I then work in the summer holidays to get extra cash. I am not exactly swamped. If I didn't play games I would probably just watch tv, or perhaps occasionally read but I still get through most of the books I want to. I'm not quite sure what you are doing that you have absoloutely no time left but I am certainly nowhere near that.

Even if I was I don't see why I would feel guilty for playing computer games, unless I perhaps had a family to support and got so addicted that I ended up not completing work needed for my job so got fired. Until then what I don't care what I do in my free time, be it playing sports, watching tv, reading or playing computer games. I enjoy them all and just because one is considered less acceptable by some people I'm not going to stop doing it.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Ok then
lets do a little math:

I wake up 0735, and go to work. Then I come back home 17:00, eat, shower, and 18:30 the classes begin. 22:45 im back home, knackered and stuff, but i usually study/fiddle with gf until its bed time


Weekends i usually study/clean the house/ hang around with GF.

Meaning

If i want to play, ill have to either stop studying or stop having a girlfriend.

To sum up.

I have to give up things in order to play, leading to questioning if giving up stuff to play is really a good thing.


I hope ive made myself clear now :)

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I think I'm going to build up a social life network in World of Warcraft, and keep this one just to make some money and feed my real life body, which I only need to whack on the keyboard that controlls my WoW char.
So the WoW char becomes my primary, and this one as a backup.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Your life sounds incredibly dull and soul destroying, Morte.

I rarely feel guilty about wasting time playing games and even then its only because I know I'm stopping my other half from getting online to check her Eve account, post here or chat on Irc. I also don't feel guilty when I drink beer or coffee (both of which reduce my work efficiency greatly) or sit and read a book....or on a very rare occasion go out and enjoy the sunshine.......its rendered in the most convincing manner.

You're going to end up being one of those guys that starts work at 6:45 am comes home at 20:00 or so, find out that your GF is shagging the poolboy/milkman/postie/your sister, die of stress induced heart failure and realise at the end that you never managed to reach alpha centauri :(

A possible alternative is that you become one of the uber rich successful and happy guys who make up about 0.1% of the population

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Please please show me the way! I cant take it anymore!


*just on a sidenote my life stile is quite commom here in brazil. It really sucks being in poor country :(

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

We don't, hence the question is invalid. Ding ding?

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I think you fall in the category of people who got to level 60 in the same time it took most of the people to get to level 10, real life time that is.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

it doesnt have to be wrong to give up stuff for playing computer. i mean do you seriously learn the whole weekend or clean your room (i doubt you have a big room)?

hobby is a balance to your everyday life i would say. however if you ask your self if it is right/brings you forward what you are doing, i doubt you enjoy playing computer games. and if you dont enjoy your hobby, well search another one.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

actually im addicted to computer games, specially w3. If i sit on my computer i have to play.

Thats why i was considering erasing my \games folder :(

to take out of my life something which i value the most

what if your hobbie would take so much space on your life that consumes your thoughts and dreams?



its a scary scenario right? I dont want to let that happen. As of today, i spent more time playing (at a rate of 5hr/week) than studying, and its worriyng

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Assuming it takes you 45 minutes to get home from uni then you still spend 2 and a half hours in classes everyday. This totals 12 and a half hours per week you are in class, personally I would count that as studying as you are still learning and very few people actually do the reading outside of class constantly throughout the term. By the look of it you spend most of your week rushing about from one place or another doing something that you are supposed to, I don't see why you should feel guilty for doing something you enjoy for a few hours on the weekend. If you spent that time studying instead would it significantly improve your end mark? I doubt it somehow. If it does would it be worth it? For example I am sure if I put in more effort I could go from a 2:1 to a first, I just don't consider the extra effort worth it so don't bother.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

imo, with 5h a week playing computer games, you are far from being on such a level.

however doing something with feeling guilty is definatly not the right way.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I understand what you mean Baron.

When I was at uni I just lived how I wanted to lived. The result, I ended up a bit overweight, very unhealthy, feeling guilty my life was so unsubstantial but I always told myself I'd buck up and become motivated the next week. Next week never came.

This went through to the end of my university life, and I ended up with a shit grade.

Now I'm training to be a teacher, and it's hard work. But when I do do things I enjoy (from just posting on here, to going out with my friends) I feel more like I've earnt it.
I enjoy my leisure time a lot more, as I don't feel guilty. I am content with my life, even though I'm completely knackered by the time I get home most days.

Sure, you can live how you want for a while. Chances are that life will come and kick you in the nuts sooner or later though, if you try to live a hedonistic (sorry for the general term there Jonny, but it's come to mean that now) lifestyle. Of course that doesn't apply to everyone - but for the most part, it's true.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

As an afterthought.

At the beginning of one of my terms, the internet wasn't working my room. It pissed me off at first, and I thought about ways of getting on. So I went to the library and posted a bit on here (and some other forums), and then got bored and went home.

The net was down for about 2 weeks. I became amazingly productive in that time. The reason, I can only assume, was because I didn't have the internet around. I am addicted to it, I know. And it wastes so much of my time.

There are worse addictions out there though.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

What a hard life you lead indeed.

As my parents dont give me any money, let me describe the average day in my life.

12pm wake up (Gosh youre thinking that is late)
1pm go to my lectures
4pm listen to the lectures you missed in the morning (youre fault you should have woken up earlier)
6pm go to the bookies, place some bets on horses, football and roulette
6:30pm watch hollyoaks
7pm cook
8pm-12 either studying or with my girlfriend, playing planetarion/poker or at a club
12-8am go to work
8am go to sleep
12pm wake up

Now This is my life, 4 days a week, and to be honest the only thing that relaxes me is gaming (lately I have been doing 3am-11am shifts) Now to be honest if I didnt play games, relax I would do bugger all but vegetate in front of the tv on the sofa.

Your life my friend is so hard, you work while at university (omg) and you play 5hrs of gaming a week (dont go overboard) And you study, wow youre my hero.

Im not complaining but to be honest, games have nothing to do with my life, its like tv, its there I watch it. Its not like I play them to fail my degree or not go to work, its relaxing and enjoyable.

The 3 days that I dont work, I sleep more, party more, spend time with my gf more, study more, game more.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

My turn:

8am: Wake up.
1pm: Have lunch.
8pm: Have dinner.
12pm: Go to sleep.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

My life is the pits. I don't really feel guilty about this. I blame society and video games.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

just as an honest question

where do you get without this attitude?

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I usually play at least 5 1/2 hours of poker every weekday and prolly 12 hours/day at the weekend/days im off.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

BTW (with the exception of swimming when i was younger) poker is the only thing i've ever tried hard at.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

As I've got older I've got more of a "complex" about wasting time. When I was at school I would have hours and hours of free-time so it didn't really matter if I spent six hours every evening playing Frontier or similar.

But now I'm in my mid-twenties, I do feel vaguely dissatisfied if I spend a lot of time which has been unproductive. Not because of guilt, but simply because I realise there's a finite amount of hours left and doing something which has no sort of reward is pointless.

There's different levels though and "reward" can be defined in a number of ways. I think one of the things about on-line gaming in particular (but perhaps games in general) is that there are rewards for continuing to play (just perhaps slightly pointless ones). If you finish a nine hour session of WoW you do feel (I imagine) like you've achieved something, even if it was levelling up n times, or killing x bad guys.

The same happens with these forums - they're pure time-wasting in one sense but then after posting you do feel like you've done something (in the form of post-counts, reputation counts, people replying to your posts, etc). I think I'd find it a lot easier to quit this forum if post-counts / post-archives were deleted every week or something.

At the other end there's things like Solitaire. I was playing Solitaire the other night on a PDA and I found mysel fthinking "wtf am I doing?". It was a pointless exercise which had no reward (not even internally to the process) and so I stopped immediately.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

Like knowledge, the pursuit of enjoyment is its own reward.

Personally, I swear at myself if I start to play Solitaire, but for other reasons. Solitaire is a terrible, terrible game; whether you win or not is less decided by skill, but more by the luck of how the cards draw out. (This is entirely because they don't let you put anything other than a king in an empty row, by the way.) You can play perfectly and still not win. Hell, I've played games where it's been impossible to do anything at all.

Minesweeper is also imperfect, because pmce again there's luck involved. I can't remember playing a game of Minesweeper on "Expert" which didn't involve guessing (well, that's a bit strong, but "an uncertain move") at some stage.

FreeCell is a good game. Whether you win or lose is entirely determined by how YOU play. Unless you're playing -1 or -2.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

where do you play? I mean, in real life with gangstars and stuff (like lock stock & 2 smoking barrelz)?
woah
do you lose any money while at it?

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

He plays online!

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I imagine it leads to you being happy as opposed to some muppet who becomes a wage slave working 50 hours a week so he can get a bit more money to pay off his mortgage and pay for more crap he doesn't need. Way to live life.

Couldn't have put it better, I'd rather waste times playing games than watching TV or sleeping.

[Edit: Also I'm at university full time, I pay for it myself (With government assistance) and I work about 20 hours - 30 hours a week, I still never ever plan to become someone who lives life not doing anything I want to do.]

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I believe he loses (duh its called gambling for a reason) but hes also won nicely too...

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

I'm up and getting better (finished 8th last night for $110 btw Pig).

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

****ing hell, at one point I was playing 30 hours of poker and I thought that was sick.

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

i decided to take a break after 10hrs straight:\

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

well pld, plz tell me legoman didnt win or that cottaa guy

Re: To the gaming comunity out there
 

30 hours every weekday? Jesus, how much do you play at weekends?