Emanuele

Hi to everyone, Greetings from Italy, my name is Emanuele, I am 34 yo and this is my Story 😃 My video game journey started at 6 y.o. when my mother brought home my first gaming console of my life: nintendo entertainment system (NES). My first video game was Super Mario Bros and... I was hooked. I then started playing all the major consoles, but mostly Nintendo. I had: -Nintendo -Super Nintendo -Nintendo 64 (my favorite console ever!!!) -Game Boy -Game Boy Color -Game Boy Advance -Play Station 2 -Play Station 3 -PC (of course) -Wii U My favorite games ever were: Super Mario, when I was a kid, but then growing up The Legend of Zelda and Sci-fi shooter games, like Halo. I reduced gaming some years ago and then I started drawing as a hobby instead. Of course I drew video game characters and I had so much fun doing it (attached some examples). For me the "nostalgia factor" is a big thing! Why I am here? Because I noticed that when I play, even in moderation, I tend to enjoy it so much that my social life and work life... the following day suffer. I feel like... I was drunk lol (I don't know if it is a dopamine thing or not) even after just one hour playing my favorite games like Zelda! Furthermore during my adolescence, I tended to be a loner, I did not have many friends and I used to play video games all day long after school. Because I suffered from loneliness I think that video games were a method I used to cope with that! My problem is that... I cannot just enjoy gaming with "moderation". For example even if I only play just one hour, then my mind goes back to all those memories and I tend to think to that particular video game even when I am, for example, at work or I am doing other daily activities. Do you think I am addicted? 😃 My proposal for the New Year is to do a 90 days "gaming detox" and also to avoid watching gaming content videos on youtube (because they often trigger me and make me want to play). What do you think? Glad to be part of this awesome community! Emanuele 😃