Life is miserable without video games

I came back to playing video games after 3 months of a break.

It feels so good. I barely feel tension, depression and anxiety like I used before.

Games are fun and they dont have side effects like drugs do (smoking, alcohol or crystal meth).

I play Civilization 5. Such a Great game!

I am 33 years old, from Israel and single.

So tell me your opinion and the games that you play?

 

i'm 83 and I like first person shooter and auto racing games. While I can live without them my favorite game is 'DOOM'.

 

That was my first pc game that I played on my own computer.

 

I had a year long stint playing a game that completely enthralled me. I have not played games since as the experience is not likely to compare. The game was Morrowind and involved an entire world of creatures and character to interact with and fight. I eventually became God and became bored.

 

I've dived into a number of games over the years and gotten rather lost in them for a while, sometimes on and off, other times just once. They are generally very stimulating to the senses and the mind, and I'm one who can appreciate exploring a virtual open world, powering up a character and hunting for virtual loot. However, I reached a point where that all became hollow and boring. I don't enjoy many games anymore. Last one I got into was Grand Theft Auto V, primarily for its story. I could not really enjoy the multiplayer since it is full of hackers/cheaters anyway, at least on the version I have. Shame that Rockstar and many other devs and publishers are now moving towards multiplayer and grinding and microtransactions and the general notion of a game being like an MMO. They want mo' money and their "whale" players will give it to them in large volume via those microtransactions. Looks like a good time to get out and stay out of gaming, at least where new titles and consoles are concerned, unless of course you like that sort of gameplay. Seems plenty do.

YouTube, movies, shows, books... That's more where it's at for me now. The former all tend to distract me from the books, though. I'm working on No Country For Old Men at present. I've watched the movie a couple of times and thought I would get through the novel. It's written in an interesting style - colloquial, with purposeful misspellings and other errors, in a dialect appropriate to the setting and characters. It also flows rather quickly and smoothly as you read it because of that, kind of like how we tend to write online.

 

Books dont beat games. They dont fight depression or anxiety.
Books also dont contribute you as much as people think.

 

That will vary by reader and book. I tend to enjoy the fantasy genre most, like Salvatore's long-running series about Drizzt and Tolkien's venerable Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The latter books are obviously a bit more enriching than the former.

Then you get real classics that gain lasting, worldwide fame, like the works of Dostoevsky. Very powerful. But when it comes to depression, man, I understand. I think depression is what keeps me distracted from reading, so in that respect we may agree. Depression sucks.

 

So are you going to spend your life reading?

 

Your first three sentences contradict your conclusion. It is an addiction. Beyond that, sitting for long periods of time is as bad as smoking.

Are you going to spend your life playing imaginary games? When was the last time you were on a date?

 

Life is normally full of assorted experiences, activities and pursuits. Pursuing any one thing to the exclusion of others is not healthy.

HereWeGoAgain asks an interesting and important question above... I think that more than a few people suffer from social isolation, which in turn has a negative impact on the psyche. Games - especially multiplayer games - are a way to fill the void and stave off the resulting depression. Food is easily another, but I don't know your status on that front. I can only go by my own experience and what I have seen elsewhere.

 

LOL!!! Dude this post has me dying. I don't know how you made the jump from alcohol to meth but this post is awesome.

And to the point of the OP, I totally agree. Video games help calm a lot of stressors

 

It would make great PSA.

 

True. I love Civ5. That activity of gaming keeps my sanity!

I am someone who read books on psychology and specifically on mental health.
Nothing kills tension/depression/anxiety in a normal person better than videogames.

I am vegan who eats healthy.
I like eating vegan pizza once a month. Expensive but worth it. I dont pig out normally.

 

It goes to show how different we all can be, I guess. Too often I will get bored with a game and desire some other form of entertainment. They don't help me the way they seem to help you, although that may have been different in the past.

 

I dont think so.

Play some civilization, it is a great game!

It will keep you entertained for hundreds of hours.

 

I think video games have potential like no other medium to engage, entertain, educate, and...dammit, I couldn't think of any other words beginning with "E".

I have played video games all my life. It's my chief interest when it comes to entertainment. I am a big fan of RTS, RPG, FPS, and MMO-style games.

Picking just a few of those I play, I have always been a big fan of the GTA-series, and I think GTA V is brilliant.

When it comes to strategy, I do like the Civilization-series, but I actually think the best one is Colonization, which was sort of a spin-off about the colonization (who could've guessed?) of the Americas. A few years ago, they made a remake of it, keeping basically all the gameplay the same, but using the engine from Civilization IV.

The game I've spent the most time with is without a doubt World of Warcraft. All in all, I've played that for over 7'440 hours, all in all. My second place game is probably Terraria, which I've played for a measly 510 hours or so.

I've always loved games where I can fiddle around, build things, explore the world, maybe grow crops, so naturally I think Stardew Valley is lovely.

 

Two thoughts:
1) We are seeing that people tend to choose virtual reality over reality
2) Keep it up boys. Become a master of the universe or whatever. All the more real women for me!!!

In fact, I had a sugar baby who left her bf [living together] because all he did was play video games. I wonder whose former gf I was doing. In any event, thank you video game designers! She was fun. I guess some men would rather play with their joystick.

 

I haven't seen any good resulting from video games. I've only seen bad.

 

Not a fan of video games.

I'd rather visit my girlfriends or read Shakespeare.

 

Not even a tiny release of stress or depression?

 

I'm sure playing video games helps people forget and escape the things they must deal with in the real world. No need to handle the stress of dealing with people or social settings, the stress of looking for a job, the angst of completing past due homework. These games help people escape from reality. That's not helpful.

Perhaps a person who can deal with stress in a healthy way by facing up to their issues first...can have some self control with these games. Otherwise they can be destructive.

 

Morrowind was great, such a big game. I played it for ages.

 

Golf and fishing games are the only ones I play any more because they are the only ones that I can turn off and walk away from and not think twice about it. I won't play a first person shooter unless I am going to be off for at least a week. They literally take over my life until I get all the way through them to the end, not necessarily in a good way.

 

I would opine that in some cases, video games do, apparently, have side effects; Amongst them: Lack of gainful employment and a girlfriend.