You're wise to start thinking about life outside of mmorpgs. But take a little advice from a guy who is past his youth: one of the worst things you can do when you are young is to spend your time worrying about what you're missing out on or what you have already missed out on. You just depress yourself thinking that way.
Enjoy the life you have. Try to improve it if it needs improving. But never worry about the things you might have missed.
Ok im 18 I have played mmos for the good part of 4 years i cant drive I have not had a social relationship for god knows how long and the top point of my day is when i finally beat the 5 hour instance and get the item/armor I have been wanting... please stop while you can before its to late...
I know im pathetic dont rant on about it just here to stop ppl from repeating my mistakes..
You know, don't snicker or take this lightly. MMO's are the new phenomenon of the first decade of the 21st century. Is it the new drug addiction for many teens in Europe, Asia, and North America? What last_exile says rings so true. Sounds to me like the young man has stepped back to "look at himself through the mirror", as it were. I applaud you last_exile. At your age, you should be out with the guys or on a date to the movies with your girl.
In many cases, once you become wrapped up in MMO game play, it very difficult to walk away, or at least attempt to change from "hard core" to "casual" gamer. In WoW, many guilds won't accept this type of change. That's oh so sad, too.
For me, I have my own reasons for playing MMO's, but I'm no teenager either. I have lived quite a few years and have had some interesting real life adventures. Now, I have toned things down in my life quite a bit. I think, because my youth was spent with many people in a large social group setting, I have learned to balanced the real world with the fantasy quite well. I understand and respect that any MMO can be detrimental if one ignores his environment around him/her.
Good luck last_exile, may you find your way again in the real life...
Smell the flowers, feel the sun's rays, caress and be caressed, enjoy people again..real people..face to face
All I want is the truth Just gimme some truth John Lennon
Well this is why there are casual mmorpgs and consoles there fun but dont immerse you into a world and encourage you to forget about the world around you, you can always play consoles with friends or a fps online like halo 3 when it comes out, even games like cox and auto assault are great for logging in from 15 min to 2 hours I love games like this but cox gets boring fast trying auto assault now, anyways I swear to myself never again will I play a hardcore game even wow isnt all that casual unless pvp is your main thing.
He needs someone to show him some direction like his parents? If I was his did I would straight up uninstall and throw away the game, obviously he does not want to face the challenges of his real life and live in a video game someone has to show him that no matter what he cannot escape reality. He only thinks he can, im assuming he has had some kind of deep past behind him and maybe even currently was having trouble either with school, socializing with others or even girls friends?
Don't blame MMOs if you are not happy with your life. Get friends... Get friends that play games, what ever. Go to lan parties. Don't let other non-games bring you down because you like to play games. Most non-games don't get it... My mum still doesn't see the difference between talking to PC and talking to other people via PC (funny... she gets that difference with the phone).
Raiding for 4h every night for some virtual item... Well it's not fun in my book but hey if you are enjoying it, just don't let that rule your world. Call your old friends, ask em to go out for a drink. Just get couple of friends or get one friend that has lot's of other friends... He'll get you connected That's how I met most people tbh. I'm not very good at stepping to some one I don't know and go like "Hay... Wanna be my friend?" and it only gets harder as you get older.
I remember when I was a kid... "I have a penis", "I have one too", "Let's be friends!". Then you get bit older and for some unknown reason you start to pay attention to the girls... But now. There is so many stuff you need to take in to account...
But if you are not happy with it... Cancel your WoW account... That could be good 1st step.
Every time I read your post, I die a little inside...
I love how all of you have contributed so much to this topic, and it just may help many, many, people, so I applaud you all for that. To reiterate, and shorten what everyone has contributed to this discussion, it goes like this:
Gaming is a ligitimate addiction, many people have it, and it is to be taken seriously.
All things should be in moderation, alchohol, food, and yes, gaming.
Always make time for real life, real people, talking (in person) etc. Never forget that you can, will, or have a life outside the game
If it's really bad, find a way to quit or tone it down, you don't have to do it all at once, however that can be the solution, talk to other people or read some of the replies on this forum for some ways. There are multiple solutions.
And never forget that a game isn't real and will not benifit you at all.
And i think those are the main points to consider. And the only other thing is that:
The first step to solving one of your problems is recognising you have a problem.
Hope it helped.
Aaron Alexandre, Aurora, Ontario, Canada, A 13 year old who manages to have nice life, go to the movies with friends, hang out, party, date, and have some spare time to play mmorpg's without overabusing them.
That is bad advice right there, if your addicted to games you have a problem and it is unhealthy for your future, social life, and your body there is a big differance in human contact in a video game and human contact in real life, games need to be played in moderation just like others have said, and if your raiding all the time that is hardcore gaming basicly another word for game addiction.
And for blaming the games they are to be blamed because some of them just pull you into hardcore gaming very very time consuming making you feel like you cannot play it unless you play more then 3 or 4 hours a day im sorry but all they care about is your money not your health or future, so damn straight im going to blame it on the games.
Nc soft is pretty good about keeping there games casual no reason why others cannot do it.
You know when you think about it, life is inherently pointless and every endeavor we pursue meaningless,
Might as well spend it playing a game till you die,
Who decided that getting a job, starting a family or any of that other crap was good,
Because when you die a long painful death and you look back on all the stuff you did in your life and wonder why you were even born,
You can alway say that you had the most epic badass dragon, and computer code will survive much longer than any other achievement, especially when the world is taken over by robots, and all humans are killed.
Don't you worry little buddy. You're dealing with a man of honor. However, honor requires a higher percentage of profit
Most people dont know who they want to be until they are 18 and in the UK we cant drink or drive til 18. Some people are content with very few friends but to a certain extent it depends if those few friends are great people. If you have no good friends then you may want to try and find some but you dont need to have 50 friends to be happy. Frankly, I just wouldnt worry about it. You will meet people at college/university or at any job without having to additionally socialise. Im making friends at work in a dead end job after I went to college and the people Im meeting at work rock more than the people at college. Some weekends I stay in all weekend doing 10 different free trials of mmorpgs and drinking cider not needing to go out caus I know I'll jus talk to people at work and go for drinks after work.
Not to sound melodramatic but youre entering the most complicated stage of your social life where you'll meet lots of different types of people and you need to start narrowing down which ones you want to associate with which can be a long and tedious task ending in your early twenties.
The really important thing I must stress is DONT beat the shit out of yourself every night youre in on your own because most people spend most nights in alone - why do you think mmorpgs are so popular? I spent a lot of time wondering why I was in alone but then I realised I was just lonely for good friends and once I found them I wasnt really bothered about how I spent the time between seeing them.
-- Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL
Ok i'm not a old guy moaning about youths hanging around on street corners or at supermarkets wasting time being annoying as hell.. id rather them play MMO then doing the sad things they currenlty seem to do... My estate has a football field and a basketball area and some do use it then there others moaning about that they have nothing to do and end up breaking stuff and being idiots.. them kind should start playing mmo and get addicted and never come out again....
ive been wondering wat id do with my life too but i found some fun things to do on youtube. me and my freinds made a whole sluu of videos in a few days.if you want to check them out click this link : http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AyanMitirin this is my profile (start from episode 2 and up episode 1 is boring)
Interesting topic, gaming addiction. nothing wrong with gaming,I've been at it for more than double your years op. I've managed to raise 2 sons, been in three wars, a tank commander , instructor at the us school of armor , airborne scout , climbed towers, poles, telecom engineer, had a whole hell of a lot of fun and still managed to game my ass off.
What can I tell you? to stop gaming, that it's a waste of your life? No i think not. It's your life you do with it as you will. I will say it's a big world out there and gaming doesn't stack up to life in the long run, life is so much more. Is gaming a waste of time?, hell no. it's competition, it's a way to beat others without the pain.
Sounds like you're having growing pains, wanting more than the virtual world can give, ready for the big game, to step out in the world and cut heads, Go for it, you've trained in the sims, now go hit the real thing. just remember, ya got to have fun. Some spend time reading , watching tv, going to movies, or sitting behind a computer gaming and chatting. it's all the same, it's down time from the daily grind.
See the world grasshopper, live it. just remember to make time for what YOU think is fun.
Hell there are gaming tournaments I've won and placed high in that are as important to me now as some of the things I did in rl
Two words: Time Management. I play in a division I sport in college which takes up loads of my time but I have managed to have a social life(though a lot of the people I hang out with think im a bit odd), maintained a 3.2 GPA and averaged 20+ hours of MMO gaming a week. Its not that hard if you aren't lazy. However I have been playing sports all my life and MMO's since I was 10, so I have had some practice in getting it to work right. Here is a tip - during the school week, make a schedule of what, when and how and stick to it. Ive seen so many kids waist hours upon hours of just sitting around doing NOTHING when they could be getting something done to allow them to have more time to do what they want. In this case, play MMO's or any games.
My typical day in college is composed of 6-8 hours of sleep, 3-4 hours of school, 2-3 hours of soccer, maybe 1-2 hours of homework. Sticking to this schedule, i'm finished by 5 leaving me 7 hours (assuming I go to sleep around 12) to socialize and do whatever I want. That is A LOT of free-time. Some people just don't recognize this.
Comments
You're wise to start thinking about life outside of mmorpgs. But take a little advice from a guy who is past his youth: one of the worst things you can do when you are young is to spend your time worrying about what you're missing out on or what you have already missed out on. You just depress yourself thinking that way.
Enjoy the life you have. Try to improve it if it needs improving. But never worry about the things you might have missed.
In many cases, once you become wrapped up in MMO game play, it very difficult to walk away, or at least attempt to change from "hard core" to "casual" gamer. In WoW, many guilds won't accept this type of change. That's oh so sad, too.
For me, I have my own reasons for playing MMO's, but I'm no teenager either. I have lived quite a few years and have had some interesting real life adventures. Now, I have toned things down in my life quite a bit. I think, because my youth was spent with many people in a large social group setting, I have learned to balanced the real world with the fantasy quite well. I understand and respect that any MMO can be detrimental if one ignores his environment around him/her.
Good luck last_exile, may you find your way again in the real life...
Smell the flowers, feel the sun's rays, caress and be caressed, enjoy people again..real people..face to face
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
John Lennon
Raiding for 4h every night for some virtual item... Well it's not fun in my book but hey if you are enjoying it, just don't let that rule your world. Call your old friends, ask em to go out for a drink. Just get couple of friends or get one friend that has lot's of other friends... He'll get you connected
I remember when I was a kid... "I have a penis", "I have one too", "Let's be friends!". Then you get bit older and for some unknown reason you start to pay attention to the girls... But now. There is so many stuff you need to take in to account...
But if you are not happy with it... Cancel your WoW account... That could be good 1st step.
I love how all of you have contributed so much to this topic, and it just may help many, many, people, so I applaud you all for that. To reiterate, and shorten what everyone has contributed to this discussion, it goes like this:
Gaming is a ligitimate addiction, many people have it, and it is to be taken seriously.
All things should be in moderation, alchohol, food, and yes, gaming.
Always make time for real life, real people, talking (in person) etc. Never forget that you can, will, or have a life outside the game
If it's really bad, find a way to quit or tone it down, you don't have to do it all at once, however that can be the solution, talk to other people or read some of the replies on this forum for some ways. There are multiple solutions.
And never forget that a game isn't real and will not benifit you at all.
And i think those are the main points to consider. And the only other thing is that:
The first step to solving one of your problems is recognising you have a problem.
Hope it helped.
Aaron Alexandre, Aurora, Ontario, Canada, A 13 year old who manages to have nice life, go to the movies with friends, hang out, party, date, and have some spare time to play mmorpg's without overabusing them.
That is bad advice right there, if your addicted to games you have a problem and it is unhealthy for your future, social life, and your body there is a big differance in human contact in a video game and human contact in real life, games need to be played in moderation just like others have said, and if your raiding all the time that is hardcore gaming basicly another word for game addiction.
And for blaming the games they are to be blamed because some of them just pull you into hardcore gaming very very time consuming making you feel like you cannot play it unless you play more then 3 or 4 hours a day im sorry but all they care about is your money not your health or future, so damn straight im going to blame it on the games.
Nc soft is pretty good about keeping there games casual no reason why others cannot do it.
You know when you think about it, life is inherently pointless and every endeavor we pursue meaningless,
Might as well spend it playing a game till you die,
Who decided that getting a job, starting a family or any of that other crap was good,
Because when you die a long painful death and you look back on all the stuff you did in your life and wonder why you were even born,
You can alway say that you had the most epic badass dragon, and computer code will survive much longer than any other achievement, especially when the world is taken over by robots, and all humans are killed.
Don't you worry little buddy. You're dealing with a man of honor. However, honor requires a higher percentage of profit
Most people dont know who they want to be until they are 18 and in the UK we cant drink or drive til 18. Some people are content with very few friends but to a certain extent it depends if those few friends are great people. If you have no good friends then you may want to try and find some but you dont need to have 50 friends to be happy. Frankly, I just wouldnt worry about it. You will meet people at college/university or at any job without having to additionally socialise. Im making friends at work in a dead end job after I went to college and the people Im meeting at work rock more than the people at college. Some weekends I stay in all weekend doing 10 different free trials of mmorpgs and drinking cider not needing to go out caus I know I'll jus talk to people at work and go for drinks after work.
Not to sound melodramatic but youre entering the most complicated stage of your social life where you'll meet lots of different types of people and you need to start narrowing down which ones you want to associate with which can be a long and tedious task ending in your early twenties.
The really important thing I must stress is DONT beat the shit out of yourself every night youre in on your own because most people spend most nights in alone - why do you think mmorpgs are so popular? I spent a lot of time wondering why I was in alone but then I realised I was just lonely for good friends and once I found them I wasnt really bothered about how I spent the time between seeing them.
--
Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL
Ok i'm not a old guy moaning about youths hanging around on street corners or at supermarkets wasting time being annoying as hell.. id rather them play MMO then doing the sad things they currenlty seem to do... My estate has a football field and a basketball area and some do use it then there others moaning about that they have nothing to do and end up breaking stuff and being idiots.. them kind should start playing mmo and get addicted and never come out again....
What can I tell you? to stop gaming, that it's a waste of your life? No i think not. It's your life you do with it as you will. I will say it's a big world out there and gaming doesn't stack up to life in the long run, life is so much more. Is gaming a waste of time?, hell no. it's competition, it's a way to beat others without the pain.
Sounds like you're having growing pains, wanting more than the virtual world can give, ready for the big game, to step out in the world and cut heads, Go for it, you've trained in the sims, now go hit the real thing. just remember, ya got to have fun. Some spend time reading , watching tv, going to movies, or sitting behind a computer gaming and chatting. it's all the same, it's down time from the daily grind.
See the world grasshopper, live it. just remember to make time for what YOU think is fun.
Hell there are gaming tournaments I've won and placed high in that are as important to me now as some of the things I did in rl
LIVE LARGE
Sadnebula
My typical day in college is composed of 6-8 hours of sleep, 3-4 hours of school, 2-3 hours of soccer, maybe 1-2 hours of homework. Sticking to this schedule, i'm finished by 5 leaving me 7 hours (assuming I go to sleep around 12) to socialize and do whatever I want. That is A LOT of free-time. Some people just don't recognize this.