Being a serious gamer is a waste of life

If there aren't any repercussions, then yes.
Call in sick, have fun for once.

sleeping is a waste of life

fixed.

fixed.

I did.

It's called "some extra information you should know" about something you would consider evil that's not truly what it is.

It's like alcohol can be used as an abusive substance but it is extremefuly useful and important in the medical field, along with marijuana.

It's called being open minded. Even though you acted like you were, but clearly you're not and too blinded by your fanaticism.

Amen.

read a book.

Can this be the real life help-desk of the Off Topic forums?

I would like that.

I somehow read all 11 pages of this thread. The OP kind of put himself into a position that he didn't think he was going to be in/didn't know how to get out of.

First of all, smoking weed makes you more productive than playing video games? STUPIDEST statement I have ever heard.

Second of all, have you ever considered WHY certain people play video games all day?
I personally(and lately) have been using it as a coping mechanism for some mental issues I am dealing with. Yes. I am sad. A lot. I have lots of friends, but between work and school for all of us, we rarely see each other. What else do I have? I don't smoke cigs/weed, I don't keep alcohol in my home, and drugs are repulsive, so...hey video games. It's a release for me, and sometimes helps me deal with some of the anger I experience sometimes.

Your post was intended to be non-judgmental, just as someone says "I'm not a racist, but..." and then follows it up with something incredibly racist.

Case in point, OP sounded foolish, stop judging others, if you want to help your "friends", reach out to them privately, and don't bash strangers in a place like this, where we probably came to escape from judgmental asshats like you.

amen.

^
This is pretty much all that needed to be said.

K, first of all, Xeno, let me make something clear. If your dad played 6 hours of video games every day during medical school, he would have failed out. There is absolutely no possible way, with all the work you have during medical school, that you can compulsively play video games and not fail out. If you are trying to tell me that your dad was a HARDCORE GAMER that spent all of his time playing video games instead of studying for intense biology, chemistry, and anatomy classes, and still went through medical school, I say you're full of ****.

If you say that he played games casually when he had free time, I say, sure, that's acceptable.



To this other guy calling me foolish. First off, let me make something clear to you. You don't smoke weed. Yet you make statements about how it affects you. I have played video games COMPULSIVELY, and that is why I make statements about how they affect you. Do you understand the difference?

Judgmental? The judgmental guys are the guys at bars calling all of you nerds and virgins. I'm the one trying to tell you that by reducing the amount of time you play video games, it could increase the quality of your life. My statements are made with positive intentions. If you don't want to take it that way, fine. Generally, depressed people have a tendency to view everything with the cup half full. I am a psychology major, and that is a 100% true statement.

Using video games as a coping mechanism is not a smart idea, just as using marijuana as a coping mechanism isn't a smart idea. I can't say what happened to you to get this way, but generally speaking, running from your problems only allows them to boil up inside of you. I recognize that I don't understand your circumstance, however, and am speaking in general, not specifically to you.

I am speaking about COMPULSIVE gaming. I watch TV. That is no more productive that playing video games. I watch movies. That is also not productive. Human beings need entertainment. It is a necessity to psychological health. I understand that completely. But if I watched 6 hours of TV a day, I would not be getting important things done in my life. And for me personally, if I'm watching everything I love slip away because I'm simply not doing it, I'm gonna get depressed. I can't make real life friends watching TV 6 hours a day. I can't make money watching TV 6 hours a day. I can't meet girls watching TV 6 hours a day. I can't develop life skills that can benefit me in the long run by watching TV 6 hours a day.

I can, however, study when I'm high. I can make friends while smoking weed. I can work out while I'm high. I can do things while I'm high because it doesn't suck up the one resource that's more valuable than money - time.


If you guys don't want to listen to me, that's fine. If you're playing 4-6 hours of video games every day, and one day you wake up a 40 year old making 40k a year, unmarried/divorced, with absolutely no way to move up in life at all, you're going to wish you had started working on something that was marketable much sooner in your life. And probably, you'll be depressed by your lack of success in life. So what will you do to cope with it?


Play video games for 6 hours to drown out your sorrow. I hate to use the phrase "You Only Live Once" because this whole YOLO thing is gayer than buttsex. But seriously.

Psychologically, every man has an innate desire for power. To obtain power in real life takes a long time, hard work, dedication, and focus. Video games suspend reality and allow men to obtain that power in a matter of hours. That is why men are so much more likely to get addicted to games.

I see what you're trying to say, and it's still condescending and rude. And that whole "I'm a Psychology major so I know" mentality is also condescending. I'm an English/Journalism/Professional Writing major, but that doesn't mean I feel the need to correct everyone's grammar around these parts.

Anyway, I think this thread would have been better had it not existed. I should not have even commented on it, but I found it too offensive not to. I work. A LOT. I go to school. FULL TIME. So to say that me doing something I like to do a little more than the average person is a "waste of time" is an insult. I'm sure whatever activities you do more than the average person may be great for YOU, but a waste of time to others. That doesn't give said others the right to judge you for that. Let me relax the way I want to. Yes, *I* said drugs were revolting, but I also did not enter a forum about and supporting recreational drug use and make a post about it, dig me?

You really should. The people here need it.

I was obviously talking about playing videogames. Also, I don't find skipping work and getting drunk fun, if you do, GL with holding a job

Like i have anything to do

People like you are the reason why we have to call black people "African Americans" and waiters "servers." Everybody is soooo ******* sensitive. People like you are also why kids still get trophies when they lose sports, etc. etc. If you took offense to what I said, you are a little, whiny bitch. Seriously. I'm not even saying this to be mean, I'm just not putting it in the politically correct term that you'd like me to put it (weak-minded).

Let me ask you, why are you depressed? I've been depressed before. I have. Literally to the point of being suicidal. I understand how weak and helpless you can feel. But instead of drowning in my sorry and trying to numb the pain...let me correct myself - I did just that for a long time. In fact, I've even used video games to cope with pain. My sophomore year of college, I sat glued to Warcraft III, and did nothing but that. At first, I played it because I enjoyed it. But eventually, I played it sooooo much, that I got depressed. I was depressed because I was naturally talented in a sport and watching that go by, I slowly faded out of existence to all of my real life friends, I wasn't getting any interest from the opposite sex, and how did I deal with these things that made me depressed? I played video games so that I'd forget about them.

Let me make this clear to you guys. Playing hours of video games to drown out depression over lack of social support is like binge eating to drown out the depression caused by being fat. I'm not saying this is the reason why you are depressed, but still - if your depression stems from something with more depth, shouldn't you be spending the 4-6 hours you're playing video games every day doing something else, like therapy or researching the cause of your depression?

Eventually, that's what I did. I realized what was going on, and instead of sitting around drowning out the pain, I manned up, and I faced it. That was the first time I ever did research on video game addiction. I spent an entire 6 months after that not playing a single video game, and eventually found Monday Night Combat. Thought I had kicked the problem and would be able to play casually again. Same thing happened. Now, after almost 2 years of doing nothing but playing video games, failing out of a university that I was once a Dean's List student at, gaining 30 pounds of fat over what used to be a pretty nice body, and once again destroying my social life, I have quit playing video games again. It's been like 2-3 weeks since I stopped playing video games, and I've made about $5000 this month in sales (tell me a 22 year old that makes 6000-7000 dollars a month that isn't a pro athlete right now), I haven't missed a single MMA practice, I've already got a lot of toning back, and I'm current talking to a beautiful girl that has an amazing sense of humor. And if only 3 weeks of changing my habits would make such a difference, I can't imagine that monster I could become over a long period of time.

I am unable to play casually. I repeat again - some people can. I can't. I can watch TV or movies or things like that, but I am legitimately psychologically addicted to video games, and just like a crackhead can't just take one hit of crack, I can't play one video game.

Now you, sir, are stupid. I say this because your post reeks or desperation. You compare me using my background in psychology in an argument that is relevant to psychology to using your journalism degree to correct people's grammar? What does my grammar have to do with this argument? If psychology wasn't relevant in this, I wouldn't have mentioned it. What exactly are you trying to get at?

Look, dude, the bottom like is this. You are depressed. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting the results you are getting. That is how life works. If you fail to see it any other way, it's because of 1 of 2 reasons.

1) You deep down know that what I am saying is true, but are too weak to change it or need help to change it
2) You are actually this stupid

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
-Albert Einstein

I'm sure that becuase I quoted Einstein you're going to tell me that I'm retarded for using a Physicist in this argument. That is why I'm not responding to you anymore unless you are going to ask for legitimate advice. The most pathetic part about your post is that there are people out there who are legitimately suffering because of this, and instead of being open minded and saying "Hey, some people may have this problem and need the help I hope this guy can help them" you are arguing against the fact that this problem exists, which may further reinforce the notion that it doesn't exist.

I know this post sounds harsh, but consider it a wake up slap in the face. If anybody else wants to talk to me about this, feel free to respond to this thread with questions/concerns. If you're here to deny the fact that anybody can possibly be addicted to video games or try to tell me that spending 1/4 of your day every day gaming isn't detrimental to your life, the complaint thread is down the hall and to the left.


I could take all of my posts in this thread and create the Great Wall of Text, eh?

Brb, smoking weed with my friends that I know in real life and then going to work at my job.

Sorry I know I'm going against my word, but I'd like to say one more thing to this guy - I know that last post was super douchey. It's called shock value. You pay more attention to **** like that.

But seriously, if you do want help, contact me. That even includes the guy I was a douche to. If you don't want help, please don't interfere with the people that do. I'm a pretty damn good motivator, and I can help you adopt the attitudes necessary to succeed in every area of life.

That's my point having fun doing something you like like doing drug playing video games for more than a quarter of the day can be harmful.

As a BLACK PERSON (I am not from Africa, therefore not African-American) and a former SERVER (we serve you, not WAIT on you hand and foot), there is no sensitivity in basically calling someone out for being an elitist, which you are.

My reasons for my personal sadness are of no concern to you, nor are they anything I personally have done, so much as they are uncontrolled events that have taken me down a few notches. Going out and "doing something" with my life is not going to change that, so I just live my life the way I want to.

I'm not going to be ridiculously tacky like you and take this time to discuss my accolades and how much money I make, just know that I make enough and do enough to support what I want to do and then some.

You know this about yourself. That doesn't mean it applies to everyone else.

You used your "background in psychology" to basically try to demean everyone else and break down why they even play video games as a "career" in the first place and establish yourself as some know-it-all who just thinks that because an individual plays a video game for more than 2 hours a day, that they're an absolute failure in life. Success for you isn't success for me.

Self-righteous Jesus complex alert.

I bet you are absolutely INSUFFERABLE to watch television with.