From my own personal experience...the highs that you experience while playing a video game are unexplainable yet easy to describe.
You are in control. Nothing can stop your quest/venture/objective. Everytime you reach new levels, obtain new items, gain power over others, you still crave more. You can never have enough. You want to perfect your player, be the best at this game.
You look forward to the next time you can play as you are turning off the computer. You think about what you will accomplish next time you are on, and this is while you are driving to work, eating dinner, at a meeting, with friends - ALWAYS. You cant wait and make excuses to cancel appointments, not get groceries, not bathe or even sleep.
You finally sit down at your computer. Tv is off. Phone is off the hook. You are ready with excitement and log on to play. "This computer is so slow, why cant i log on faster?"
"C'mon, c'mon" Time means nothing. You've played for an hour already but it seems like only five minutes. "I know I should call so-and-so, but I'll do it later". Everything will ALWAYS be done later.
"3:00am? And I'm not even tired. Just a few more minutes wont hurt anyone". 4am and you say to yourself you will call in sick. Why not? You havent called in sick since last month. Besides, you can play all day now and not even sleep. Good idea.
You have played for fifteen hours straight. You havent eaten. "I'll grab something later, I've almost finished this level" Someone next door is cutting the grass and the noise is interrupting your game to the point you want to tell them to shut up. But you play on. It's 8pm. Almost 24 hours later since you began playing. This is the most you have played in a long time and you have accomplished so much you feel proud of yourself.
"I'll leave it for now. I can always play again through the night anyway" You look forward to the next time you can play as you are turning off the computer....
And the cycle continues...
Edited by: lizwool at: 11/25/06 14:38
From a wife with no window inside her husbands head, this was invaluable! Thank you so much!
"This is the end...." The Doors
its crude but very realistic. nothing, and I mean NOTHING, else matters. your spouse could leave you, your mother could pass away, the world could implode. but it doesnt matter as long as you get that 'fix'. that adren high off gaming.
for it to cease, the individual has to realize what they are doing to themselves and the world around them, and sometimes that can take an eternity
That pretty much sums it up.
I started on one of my old RPGs a few weeks ago and was playing for about 3 weeks or so. Then one night it took me 3 hours to gain one level and I remembered why it was such a waste of my life. I cannot touch RPGs.
"nothing, and I mean NOTHING, else matters. your spouse could leave you[...]"
Yeah, I said it before, but when my ex-girlfriend left me my first thought was how much more time I would have to game from the new-found lack of responsibilities otherwise caused by my relationship. It took awhile for it to actually hit me, but I just buried myself farther into the games.
Anyhow, great summation.
Yes, an eerily realistic description. Nothing to be proud of, but I have once played for what I believe was about 32 hours streight.....
It comes to a point when everything else does not exist, I think I even stoped to breathe at times, a bit like in deep meditation, but definitely MUCH less healthy...
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What you think, you create. What you say, you produce. What you do, you call forth more of.
It's amazing the grips these games have on people. Destroying them on so many levels while at the same time psychologically making them Heroes or whatever in game.... : --> games
"This is the end...." The Doors
thats exactly the point...you are perceived as a hero, king, or superior being in the game but are totally mindless and a zombie outside of it.
I found that out last night when my husband and I were having it all out on the table again... OMG - it just gets worse with every confrontation... Some fake *** hero in a game instead of real life hero to kids.... I wish he'd get a grip
"This is the end...." The Doors
my problem was i kept denying i had a problem.
in the game i was a leader, someone who was looked up to, respected, knowledgable at the game. outside of it, my world was crumbling down and i couldnt see it.
"heck, me have a gaming problem? I've quit smoking cold turkey before, no game is going to have that effect on me." i would tell my wife.
once i got over the 'selfishness' of game playing and realized its effect on everyone around me, i knew i was wrong.