How many games you have played?

[alle]

Greetz

[pdallair91]

Did you mean like games played at the same time (alternating between them)?  Did you mean how many games "completed" or "finished"?  Some of us had been gamers for like decades.  Like, I didn't keep count of course but I personally must've tried at least 500 different games over the course of ~25 years.  I mean, I bought (or received as gifts) 300+ games and then there's all the free browser based and mobile games, games I rented or borrowed, games my friends owned, games in businesses (arcade cabinets and demos) or public places (like the children's hospital, conferences).  So, I'm a bit flabbergasted that your highest option is only 25+. 😅  No disrespect, I don't know how old you are and your addiction is just as valid as mine.  And like, kudos to you for stopping early, if that's the case.  Maybe developing an addiction right off the bat (like with our first few games) is a more modern phenomena.  It feels reasonable to assume that gaming have never been more addicting than it is today, considering the high level of stimulation and how easily accessible games are now.  I mean, I have a marijuana problem as well but at least I can't just download marijuana or go get me some cheap extra addictive browser-based or mobile marijuana. 🤣

[alle]

47 minutes ago, pdallair91 said:

Did you mean like games played at the same time (alternating between them)?  Did you mean how many games "completed" or "finished"?  Some of us had been gamers for like decades.  Like, I didn't keep count of course but I personally must've tried at least 500 different games over the course of ~25 years.  I mean, I bought (or received as gifts) 300+ games and then there's all the free browser based and mobile games, games I rented or borrowed, games my friends owned, games in businesses (arcade cabinets and demos) or public places (like the children's hospital, conferences).  So, I'm a bit flabbergasted that your highest option is only 25+. 😅  No disrespect, I don't know how old you are and your addiction is just as valid as mine.  And like, kudos to you for stopping early, if that's the case.  Maybe developing an addiction right off the bat (like with our first few games) is a more modern phenomena.  It feels reasonable to assume that gaming have never been more addicting than it is today, considering the high level of stimulation and how easily accessible games are now.  I mean, I have a marijuana problem as well but at least I can't just download marijuana or go get me some cheap extra addictive browser-based or mobile marijuana. 🤣

Hey, im just wondering about how many games you played and how many hours you spend with gaming in general  since you started until you thought about that gaming is a "bad choice".

Im today 21 and started "gaming" through a reallife-friend with 13-14, we are played together almost 1-2 years straight just one single online multiplayer game. After some time my friend who gets me playing the game quit it and im played that game solo until 1-2 months nearly everyday for 3-4 hours. Most other games im just playing like 1-2 weeks for a couple hours and than leave them and im not interested in new games. But to quit that particular game is just a struggle. With that game im easly wasted thousand of hours. Im not sure about others, are you played many games for a few hours or  do you also got a game what you played so excessive. 

 

Sorry for my englisch and grammar im not a native spearker. 

Thanks

[goodvibes]

1 hour ago, alle said:

Hey, im just wondering about how many games you played and how many hours you spend with gaming in general  since you started until you thought about that gaming is a "bad choice".

I remember listening as a child to a youth minister's sermon convincing me that gaming was a "bad choice" .. I just lacked having enough tools, information, motivation and/or inspiration to make any changes to do anything about it.  That and my family was enabling my gaming problem by buying me video game consoles and games .. they discouraged me from changing the norm on a regular basis by screaming and beating the crap out of me when I did something wrong. I didn't start making efforts to quit gaming until I quit a career only to start investing a ton of time into games. It's was the realization that I could still be in that career and thriving if I had given it the time and attention it needed and that games was always getting in the way of this.

[alle]

23 hours ago, goodvibes said:

I remember listening as a child to a youth minister's sermon convincing me that gaming was a "bad choice" .. I just lacked having enough tools, information, motivation and/or inspiration to make any changes to do anything about it.  

yeah, to talk about myself - my dad said to me so many times that gaming like im done it is wrong and not good for me but i guess that im was not ready to fully understand what he mean. 

Maybe im need time to get to point where im now. 

[pdallair91]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:33 AM, alle said:

... quitting that particular game is just a struggle.  With that game, I easily wasted thousand of hours. ... Have you played many games for a few hours or did you simply get a game that you played excessively?

Yeah, I understand how some games might be hard to let go.  Personally, this revolves more around franchises or "brands".  Like, a new title from a particular studio/design team or a sequel/re-spin/spinoff of a game I liked comes out. 

So, yeah, as you seem to imply, I think we differ whereas I tended to change games more often.  Sure, I ended up spending hundreds or thousands of hours on one game from time to time (especially sandbox or open world games) but the vast majority of my games were like an impulsive 10-80 hours.  Like, not necessarily as fast as possible but trying to finish the main story/campaign and moving on was a normal approach for me.  I enjoy the surprise of originality/novelty, I don't like "too much" repetition.  I do this in other hobbies as well, like, I really don't enjoy playing the same board game multiple times in a row unless it changes a lot from session to session.  I tend to prefer playing chaotic alignment characters in tabletop RPGs and improv.  Even in my sociopolitical views I tend to favor "radical" changes.

Anyways, this bias towards "novelty/progress/change" has it's disadvantages because it makes it very difficult to develop and maintain new approaches long enough to reap the long-term benefits.  It's like, I depend a lot on short-term extrinsic "rewards" for something to "stick".  My psychologist has mentioned multiple times that I might have a mild case of ADHD but he doesn't have the qualifications to make a full assessment.  I really ought to get that sorted out...

[pdallair91]

On 3/19/2022 at 1:14 PM, goodvibes said:

I just lacked having enough tools, information, motivation and/or inspiration to make any changes to do anything about it.  That and my family was enabling my gaming problem by buying me video game consoles and games .. they discouraged me from changing the norm on a regular basis by screaming and beating the crap out of me when I did something wrong. I didn't start making efforts to quit gaming until I quit a career only to start investing a ton of time into games.

Oh, comrade.  I feel for you. 

Don't blame yourself for not having the right knowledge, tools, motivation, etc.  I mean, we live in a society that expects uneducated/unsuccessful parents to pass down the emotional intelligence needed to succeed to their kids.  We expect parents to be able to pass on these skills somehow.  Depending on where you live, parents were deemed generally unqualified to teach our youth how to cope with sexual impulses, yet, we judge that they're somehow qualified to teach kids how to cope with emotional impulses overall?  Psychology experts have been arguing for it for decades but we rarely see emotional intelligence skills taught in school.  Whether you had a chance to acquire and master these tools/skills, like any other set, depends on your luck of the draw in the lottery of birth.  The system, overall, isn't making it easier to acquire and master these tools/skills if you aren't born and raised under the right conditions.  Depending on where you live, one could even argue that the system makes it harder now more than ever to get proper education of any kind as the cost of living keeps increasing, outpacing the increase of your average income.  The lack of access to proper education on the matter isn't the only problem but my point here is this: I strongly believe, the lack of these skills/tools is a systemic problem, not just an individual one.  It's not entirely your fault if you have yet to master the skills you needed to "succeed" in this world.  So like I said at the beginning: don't blame yourself.  Life isn't fair and don't ever let anyone convince you otherwise.

Traumatic events are undoubtedly at the root of almost every addiction.  I was yelled at and shamed (often inadvertently) by my parents while being ostracized and bullied by my peers at school... clearly my environment wasn't promoting the acquisition and use of a proper emotional tool-belt I'd like to have by now.  Based on what you said about your family, it seems rational to say they didn't help you build that tool-belt either.  Kids like you and me, we barely had a chance, we were practically bound to "self-medicate" one way or another.  I don't know about you but I've been to a lot of addiction meetings and whether it was video-games, exercise, weed, alcohol, gambling, sex, hard-drugs, etc., it's always rooted in someone feeling trapped for a long period of time at some point in their life.  Whether it was a soldier on the battlefield, a minority hiding from oppressive/violent bigots, or a child just crying for some encouragement instead of punishment from their parent(s)... every addict has a story like this.  We were all victimized in ways that create a strong desire for some relief (that need to escape), and that's what video-games felt like they were doing during those times for you and me.  They didn't just feel fun, they felt like one of the most reliable sources of comfort/safety.  At some point in our lives this level of "consumption" felt less destructive than any alternative we had access to.  While the conditions of our life may have objectively changed, unfortunately, that subjective feeling towards it and video games as the most reliable source of comfort didn't.  Now we have to make an extra effort to see things as they are, to see the alternative sources of comfort we have access to, etc.  Anyways, my point here is this: It's tough but you're not alone.  There are people like you out there, that have chance to better understand how you feel, and what you've been through and they wouldn't blame you for it.

Anyways, just to repeat my points: It's not entirely your fault and you're not alone.  You did the best you could think of at every moment in your life.  And you look at you now, you're here, acknowledging what's lacking in your life and trying to do something about it.  That's some awesome self-awareness and tenacity.  You're getting better at this (and by "this", I mean your life).  It's gonna take time, you're gonna fumble and stumble but you'll get back up.  You can be proud of yourself, you're amazing.  👍 Achievement unlocked.  Here, have a flippin' balloon to celebrate --->🎈 Cheers to you mate (or anyone reading this really). ✌️  You got this.

[goodvibes]

1 hour ago, pdallair91 said:

It's gonna take time, you're gonna fumble and stumble but you'll get back up.  You can be proud of yourself, you're amazing.  👍 Achievement unlocked.  Here, have a flippin' balloon to celebrate --->🎈 Cheers to you mate (or anyone reading this really). ✌️  You got this.

Thank you for the encouragement, exactly!  As you well said it's just the cards we get dealt in our little pocket of evolution.  My condolences to your own trials, bullying is no fun at all.  For myself I was fortunate to have been led in to the 12 step societies after a series of unfortunate events, so they were fortunate events in disguise .. it was quite a stressful time but it was because of such times that I began to grow stronger and evolve from it.  I don't agree with everything about the 12 step programs but at the very least it has served me as a path to more growth.  I really had no kind of handle on emotional intelligence before all this. 

I used to be full of self hate & blame growing up.  When I first started the addiction meetings I started redirecting that hate & blame at people such as my family with thoughts of childhood victimization but that was just another phase as I really just wanted to find some kind of peace for myself.  I have found peace about it all, I am enough, we all are though I do feel I sometimes still have negative feelings for family when I bring them up, I just have to keep working on that and shake it.  It's that internal dialogue of thought we repeat to ourselves consciously and subconsciously, those thoughts become our reality and that is a very powerful thought.  This is my "goodvibes" namesake.  Time to time I may slip & stumble but as you said I will get back up .. Good vibes to all as a reminder to myself and anyone that as you get back on your feet to go for everything you can, stay positive and kind to yourself because you can do whatever you set your mind to!

Thank you everyone for stirring in this thought provoking thread it might be a help to somebody, it did me well.

[goodvibes]

7 hours ago, alle said:

Maybe im need time to get to point where im now. 

Your father is smart!  Mine is a gamer 😂  I think the roots and footprint of Gamequitters is a big help making a decision to quit. Youtube video content, GTS podcasts, GQ forum / articles / programs are such helpful sources of inspiration.