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So I've decided to take a long break from MMOs. More-so just dropping gaming completely (at least I'm playing extremely casually).
The reason being, it's just become a really bad addiction. I've been playing MMOs for the past 7 years (I think) and they've just started to consume my life more and more. To the point where I really don't have much social skills, and with that comes lower self confidence/esteem. Fortunately, I've managed to break from the game world about a month ago and my life is slowly recovering. This is something I should have done a long time ago....
I've started making the best of my free time; spending time with friends, I've started running (plan on doing track), and whatever else I can find to do other than wasting all my time gaming. It's definitely paying off and I'm happy to have taken this direction.
So in case anyone was wondering why I even made a thread about this...just because I felt like it, it's that simple.
So I'm pretty much done until GW2 comes out, in which case i plan on limiting myself and continuing what I've started.
Comments
Wish you the best
Good luck
Well the older you get the less time you have for mmos unless you can afford not to work or not have a ton of responsibility. Best of luck!
I wish you be the best of luck and I hope the track thing goes well for you. Don't forget to stretch! (From one person who started to run just a little while back and hurt themself lol)
If you're looking for a good transition game try MojiKan, its still in early development so its probably more something to keep an eye on for now but its a free to play mmo style browser game but without the serious time investment that MMOs require - just a little fun game with some mmo components.
Your not alone my mmo gaming days are coming to an end as soon as I finish the quests in each zone of Cataclysm.It could be sooner as the wow devs are driving me out little by little.I purchased an Xbox 360 and started playing Console games again and found out I was missing some really great games out there and I can play them casually if I want too. Mass Effect is an Amazing game and so is Red Dead Redemption.Good Luck :P
I can understand however keep in mind many of us play games about as much as the average person watches TV.
Having said that, when I took a gaming break my blood pressure went down, then again, I play Darkfall which is a high blood pressure game.
The only point I am making is although anything can be addictive if you do it as much as you best friend watches TV it really cant be worse then TV.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
I give you props, but I highly suggest you not play GW2 when it comes out. You can say you will play it on a limited basis, but that is was addicts say to anything they are addicted to.
My advice break off from MMO's for good. If you really feel you need to play games, play a SRPG.
I definitely appreciate the advice. But being a huge fan of the original I kind of have to get the 2nd. Though to be honest, I actually tried MMOs a little less than a month ago and I actually had a hard time getting into the game. Unlike how it used to be, where I had a hard time leaving. It will be one of those games that I only play on evenings with friends, I can say that for sure.
No you don't have to. But if you do, I wish you the best of luck.
It's good that you decided to step away from something that had a negative affect on your life. You may not realize it, but coming out and stating it publicly is a way of owning it and holding yourself accountable. Best of luck to you!
i wish you luck with real life stuff, i myself took a break from mmos and actually from games as a whole too for a while, i also started going to the gym and went to take hikes, i think i was most happiest during those times when i was very active.
now i have been apart from that path for a while, even though im not playing anything either, i feel a little bit empty... i also got a mmo fever once again and im going to play GW2 when it comes out but im also making it my business that im also going to enjoy life... its spring time of youth you know ! im sure none of us would like to tell our kids when we are old that our younghood was spent on games ...
«Si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum»
@ OP
1 word: EVE
Have Fun
addiction is all a state of mind, mainly one where feel good chemicles are released from the brain, making you want to do whatever causes that over and over, aka being addicted
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
There is only as much value in something as we give it. As such, value is an illusion of the mind, and can be adjusted at will.
Best of luck to you.
Thats just a weak person and its not MMO's he would have found the same addiction elsewhere.
I have read countless stories of similar with gaming in general Championship Manager costing 2 mates divorces.
Its just sad TBH if someone can;t step away from a MMO when their life is falling around them, I'm on a break from them not through choice the current offerings are just pants i miss them but Im not a trembling wreck without them like the OP theres many other things that can be done in my case training for another attempt at gaia (I'll get you this year I promise you)
Good thinking. Gaming is fun but having a life is better. A long break out in the real world is sometimes the only thing to do and not everyone is strong enough. It is a lot like to quit smoking actually.
But if you really misses it, try to play a boardgame or P&P RPG with your friends, it usually helps.
I think all gamers should take a break once in a while, it also makes it more fun when you go back.
Good luck.
I'd say even your friend wasn't addicted...that implies a chemical reaction in the body as induced by drugs or alcohol.
What you describe is an obession, and like any sort of obsessive compulsive disorder such as extreme handwashing or what have you it is a mental illness of sorts and has a wide range of degree and impact on the life of the individual.
Hand washing probably never killed anyone, but MMO obsession can certainly destroy one socially.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Didn't you know? MMOs do cause chemical reactions in the body. Specifically the brain. Everytime you get something you want or accomplish something you wanted to do, you feel good. That feeling comes from deep in the pleasure centers of your brain. Do it long enough and it's habit forming. For those that are genetically predisposed to addiction, it becomes an addiction.
Yes, that was the TLDR version. Google the full version.
Drugs do it articicially with chemicals, games do it artificially with illusionary reward.
Wish you best of luck! I did the same some years ago (tho i still do gaming) but I enjoy life a lot more. Went back to gym training, lost 30 pounds and now back into a healthy weight, stopped smoking, going outside more with kids and friends, hell I am even participating in the Spartan Races now.
I'm still gaming because I love video games but more casually and it's not interferring with my life anymore. It eventually led me to enjoying more gaming then before because I enjoy all of my gaming session now instead of gaming for the sake of gaming and being bored easily, pretty much disliking most games.
Keep it up!
Lol, it sounds like tempting fate, but good luck on that.
GL to you OP, just stay away from gaming if it consumed your life that mush.
I also play less and less, maby because I'm getting older. Got less time for gaming, I haven't played a game in weeks! let alone an mmo! I was planning to return to wow with cata, but I still haven't done it, and I'm not sure I will..
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