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What has gaming done for you?
Derrial
Member Posts: 250
We often talk about how we waste a lot of time with gaming, maybe too much time especially in MMORPGs. But is it all for nothing or has gaming lead to anything good for you?
For me, I probably wouldn't have the decent career that I have in IT if it wasn't for being a PC gamer. I expect this is true for a lot of gamers. I don't think I learned half as much about computers in college as I did tooling around with my own PCs over the years, tweaking an old machine to get it to run Half Life at a decent framerate, teaching myself how to upgrade components, keeping drivers up to date and spyware and viruses out, and of course troubleshooting error messages, freezing, crashes, weird noises, and everything else a PC can throw at you.
So how about you? Did gaming make you a PC wiz? Did you meet your significant other at a gaming convention? Did games inspire your artistic expression? Or has it really just been all a big waste of time for you?
Comments
Gaming seems to have taught me the same skills as you except it hasn't lead to a career for me. I'm now a self-sufficient pc user who never buys a new pc, but instead upgrades what he already has.
One slight problem i have is my desire to kill people and loot their corpse because i believe it will give me experience so i can level-up my life, but i'm getting professional help for that.
Why are there so many cutesie, fantasy, childish MMO's. Give me blood, gore and a long lasting challenge. I don't need my hand being held along the way. Thanks.
same, im doing computer science so gaming led me there(for the wrong reasons
), fixing thing so game may work, deactive this, activate that, update this, driver not found...and 70% of my english is from gaming, ad some other bad things too 
now: GW2 (11 80s).
Dark Souls 2.
future: Mount&Blade 2 BannerLord.
"Bro, do your even fractal?"
Recommends: Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, Mount&Blade: Warband, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
-Well to be honest this is first MMO that i installed, played for 3 minutes, uninstalled and deleted.....uber garbage, i know that i shold give the game more time before judging it......but come on....that cant be called a game imo.....ppl wont play that if its F2P....
I've been a gamer for a very long time. Gaming has helped me through the years, but has also hurt me some. When I was little, my friends and I would get together and play games on the old systems (nintendo, sega, etc.) and its kept with us through the years, so eventhough our group is very spread out now, we can still keep in touch and hang out doing things we enjoy when we're not able to hang together.
Although gaming didn't get me my job in IT, when I was a consultant it was helpful because we did some residential work too, and every now and then we'd get someone who's kid couldn't run a game or something. I usually got sent on those calls, for obvious reasons.
I enjoy gaming, and its become such a big part of me, eventhough I'd be much more productive without it, I might not be nearly as happy.
The negatives are obvious: physical health hits, social hits, and concentration level hits.
The positives, as they pertain to MMORPG's:
Loyalty. In a world where everything is anonymous, sticking with something for the cause and purpose has proven very rewarding in its own right. While I don't jump jobs or friendships necessarily, seeing this aspect of my personality in action in an environment where there are no repercussions for a lack thereof, reinforces views I have of myself.
Confidence. Namely, with the application process. Being able to practice time and time again writing 'resumes' about achievements in a make believe world, sell myself to others about those accomplishments, then fitting in and contributing with the team translate directly to real world experiences as well.
Economics. Being able to snag details about supply-demand and marketing trends in a fictional, less-dense environment allows for some really nice business decisions with real world investments.
Entertainment. Being able to turn any boring ideal into a possibility, then turn that possibility into a goal, then that goal into a challenge, then complete all of the above. Self-motivator.
Learning how to deal with scum. Moreso of late than earlier days of gaming and MMOs as I've noticed, albeit the Halo and Madden crowds weren't exactly docile from the get-go either... Unreal was rather abrasive, being able to filter the bad apples from the good and help be one more voice with a contribution rather than one with slander and the like.
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
I run my own IT business now thanks to being a gamer. I also have been noticed in previous jobs by national CEO's and other high profile corporate individuals for my ability to manage people, streamline communication, and get the job done quickly thanks to my experience as a multi MMO guild leader in Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, and other titles!
Oh and I learned how to do HTML due to a need for a guild website, and I learned how to program due to a desire to compete with full time players in Asheron's Call while I was going to college!
Imagine that. Gaming actually did something for a few people!
Guess if you dont sit around drinking Mountain Dew, getting pizzas, and smoking pot you can actually do something with gaming!
Laudanum - Romance. Revenge. Revolution.
Crappy, petty people breed and raise crappy, petty kids.
I admit that I see gaming as more for entertainment than for something to make a career out of. Though I wouldn't actually mind going into the creative side of a gaming career, such as the thinking up of storylines and features. I wouldn't even mind working as a translator for some of those free to plays with terrible English translations. Silly me, following my parents and going into Biomedical Science instead of creative design, even though my school offers both.
Though I have to admit that even after a few years of gaming, I still know next to nothing about how computers work. My brother knows far more than I do, and he doesn't even play games in the first place.
That being said, gaming certainly has helped me deal with certain issues. For one, it has made me a less fustrated person overall. I love the fact that when I get upset, all I have to do is turn on a game, and have my fustrations die away with each monster I kill. It's really very good for anger management therapy, and it has made me a whole lot more patient in the long run.
Moreover, it has also taught me when to pick my fights. A long time ago, I used to jump into everything that went on on forums, which was why I ended up getting very much emotionally involved in forums, and getting very upset over what some people have said about be due to my actions. Now that I use the ignore button more freely in gaming, I have learnt how to apply it in real life as well. That's why I tend to not get emotionally involved online, because at least now I know when to sit back and just stay out of things to value my own sanity.
I have made a lot of friends while gaming as well, and it has made me more confident. Now, I actually speak up in class and in conversations with my classmates (while also not jumping in if they are discussing topics that I am not interested in or if I am not welcome; after years of experience I can tell when I'm not wanted), and am more outspoken in class. Which is necessary in the school environment I am in now, since most of my grades come from class participation.
Main characters:
Jinn Gone Quiet (Guild Wars)
Princess Pudding (Guild Wars)
made a lot of friends, both online and off, so that's a plus.
i don't think i would have met these people if they weren't FPS players like me...same in college.
bonded by playing CoD in my dorm. we still do that now. pretty sweet.
Gaming in general is like suckling on the nector of the gods!
I've been a game addict since a baby, was only a year old when the orignal NES was released and even then I wouldn't put the controller down, even though I wasn't really able to play propperly my parents had to pry that thing away from me lol. It has taken many many hours of my life away, which probably add up to years, but if given the chance it is time spent that I would never ask to have back.
So simply put, gaming has made a fairly mundane existence much more enjoyable.
MMO-gaming on the otherhand.. can just adds to the pointless stress of everyday life (Your children are dicks lmao :P).
I think one of the nicest things to me that has come from gaming is being able to keep in regular contact with friends who have moved far away and still have something to do together. Also, have made many new friends through gaming.
Gaming has been a great help in learning English and probably is, along with reading, a big reason for me being nearsighted.
Mount that screen on the wall across the room! Reverse that eyesight!
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter