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My Game of Thrones detox


Primmulla

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Another rather busy day, I haven't managed to do the writing exercise yet, and as for these entries, I would really have to reduce them into weekly recaps. On the plus side, today I reached a hundred-day streak on Khan Academy :)

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A terribly stressful day, I was just finishing a translation when a huge thunderstorm came, and I had to turn off the computer without completing this text. Ugh :( I hate this stormy weather when nothing is certain, I need to hurry up with all kinds of work that has to be done on the computer, as once a thunderstorm starts, it may last for hours on end, I remember one which took an entire night and a part of the morning. Luckily, the storm is now gone and I managed to finish the translation as well as do Duolingo and the rest. For now. But my marvellous learning streak on Duo is constantly in danger ;) due to these thunderstorms. 

Since the storms are gone now, I may attempt to write something longer, Falky's post about completing his detox encouraged me to reflect on my own gaming detox. It did not really make much difference in my life, but thanks to this forum which enabled me to read very honest and open accounts of other people, I discovered that I was not really addicted to games, or rather, the game LotRO. Gaming entered my life relatively late, in my thirties ;) and I was fascinated by something which was so totally different from anything I experienced in my life before. My first experience with a computer game was when I was a teen, when I got my first computer ever, it was "constructed" by a colleague of my Dad's, and it had a preinstalled game Jazz Jackrabbit, and I grew to hate this game above anything else, since I failed abysmally whenever I tried to play it. It was the first computer game that I laid my eyes upon, so I came to the conclusion that all games are so horrible, and definitely not for me. Some of you would perhaps say that this bad experience with games saved me from becoming addicted to them, and maybe it did, or maybe not, we would never know what would happen in an alternative world ;) It does not mean that I never played anything else in my life, I recall some car racing game in which I competed against my Dad, Tetrises and other logical games, but these were always on the periphery on my life so much that I had to think about it to remember what I played. I enjoyed the demo of Syberia, but I never went on to buy the game, or any other game, my domain was books. From time to time I played some games which were free on CD attached to computer magazines which I started to read because of having problems with computer classes at school. But I never considered buying myself a game and today I also think it is a waste of money to spend it on games, if I can buy an interesting book (or perhaps many books, taking into account the prices of some new games) for the same amount of money. Why should I waste money on something I did not enjoy? With LotrO it was different, as it was free, and it was finally a game in which I learnt how to move my character about ;) Initially, I was playing quite a lot, I loved being immersed in the world of Middle-Earth I knew from Tolkien's books. And this is how I came to the conclusion that I was addicted to the game, but after reading many accounts on this forum and comparing my experiences against what other users here did and how they felt, I learnt how a real addiction to games looks like. I wrote about my "addiction" on other forums for game addicts, and I did not get any answers, now I know why, they probably thought I was making fun of them. I did the detox though, because I was convinced that I was cheating myself that I was not addicted when in fact I was. My Mum did not share my opinions about my being addicted, but of course I knew better ;) This was partly because I assume the worst things about myself, while being more forgiving towards other people (which may be actually a good thing). So I believed that because I play a game, and games are addictive, then I must be addicted, logical, isn't it?

Now my perception of the game is changed, maybe it is a result of the detox, or maybe I simply got used to it and so its newness and attraction disappeared. I play it from time to time, but there are tons of more interesting things to do than gaming, writing and reading sharing the first place. I noticed that the game is very repetitive, because in a game there are only two kinds of task a character can do, either killing something or picking something up/collecting something. I guess this is because no other actions can be programmed in the computer, but it makes games very boring entertainment, which can be enjoyed but in small doses and not very often. 

However, the thing which really changed my life in the way the detox did not is, is the book on creative writing by Barbara Baig, thanks to it I started writing again without any fears that I am only wasting my time doing it, and recently I have been very creative. I no longer feel guilty about my writing, whether about the time I devote to it or its quality, which is perhaps very low (do not expect much from first drafts!). This writing course is the thing which changed my approach to life, which made me look at the world in a different way, and finally, it lead me to re-discover and appreciate the world outside. This is what Falky discovered through his detox, and he inspired me to write this entry - thanks :) I discovered it thanks to the book by Baig. I was never particularly interesting in my surroundings and never observed people around me as Baig advises to do, as during my school/university days I was focused primarily on learning the school subjects, to such an extent that I often did not recall what my friends were wearing on a given day at the university when I came back home. I also hated anything which could take my away from my studies, e.g. a sudden visit of an aunt etc. Remember, it had nothing to do with games, I was rather "addicted" to good grades, some may say it is a "good" addiction but I am not so sure ;) Now I know that everything in life may be a great opportunity for a writer, may provide inspiration, ideas, material which you can later use in a story. Everything can be a writing material, even doing the chores, and sitting and waiting in a queue at the doctor's can be a great moment to do some observation practice. Before, I hated these moments when there was seemingly 'nothing to do,' I always had to have a book with me so that I would not "waste time." But now I grew to love these peaceful moment, when nothing happens, apart from ideas slowly germinating in my subconscious :) 

Edited by Primmulla
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Now I know that everything in life may be a great opportunity for a writer, may provide inspiration, ideas, material which you can later use in a story. Everything can be a writing material, even doing the chores, and sitting and waiting in a queue at the doctor's can be a great moment to do some observation practice. Before, I hated these moments when there was seemingly 'nothing to do,' I always had to have a book with me so that I would not "waste time." But now I grew to love these peaceful moment, when nothing happens, apart from ideas slowly germinating in my subconscious :) 

yes this is amazing isn't it? 

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I'm having a much more relaxed day than yesterday, so I started to gather my notes, observations and poems to type them into Evernote for backup, I do not want to lose the pieces of paper with their precious contents ;) it turned out there were quite a lot of these notes, taking into account that I haven't been writing for very long yet. It's good to have them all in a safe place. I would have to type my freewriting which forms the parts of the dragon story, too, in case I would not be able to decipher my scribbles later on.

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Yesterday, there was a longish thunderstorm, but I spent it rather productively, writing another part of my short story, and then I completed a colouring page with a fox which I found on one of Polish websites and printed out nearly half a year before ;) I felt a bit guilty about not reading on my Kindle but decided to finish the fox. You have to finish what you've started ;)

Today, I have a more relaxed way, I read some chapters from the Sanderson book and writing course on FutureLearn. I realised that the reason I start so many courses is that my interests are really wide and diverse, and it is really sad to give something up, for instance, I had to stop participating in some courses to concentrate on my writing. I guess I give writing a go now as I neglected it for a couple of years, but I am still sorry about not being able to follow these courses, they seem quite interesting, but I just cannot spend all my time on the computer. It is different at the university, because even most reading material is available in print, not to mention that you have to leave your house for the classes, the whole learning experience is very technology-free. And maybe this is what makes it so effective and enjoyable. I am totally against children using tablets in all their school classes, it is not good either for their learning and concentration or their health. I wonder who would volunteer to tell these kids that working on a tablet at school means no computer use at home, because they've already "used up" all their screen time available for one day at school? The children would not be too pleased to hear it ;)

I've been browsing a blog about productivity by an author whose work I found out on NoiseTrade, there is some really good advice about forming habits, which I am going to link here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/spw-ebooks/success-habits.pdf

But what really gets on my nerves in all these productivity tips is the most frequently repeated piece of advice of not checking your e-mail first thing in the morning, or to check it only once or twice a day. Great perhaps, when you have a solitary work in which you do not have to keep in touch with other people, there are few jobs in which you can ignore other people so completely. For me, it smells a bit of egoism, like saying "I am so important that your silly e-mails have to wait when I decide it is proper time to deal with this rubble." I would not like to have my e-mails ignored by other people, and others deserve to have their messages answered, too. In my case, it is a total nonsense, I get translation jobs through my e-mail, and not checking it often enough may really mean lost income, if someone sends a text to translate, they want it as quickly as possible and not when I deign to check my inbox. And if I am not there to tackle this text, they can always find someone else who is willing to do it. Anyway, not checking the inbox means nothing to do, at least professionally. So, the golden advice of productivity does not really work with me, and not only would it not aid me, but actually hamper and hinder what I do. What is worst is that there is no specific time of day when I can expect getting these texts, they can come just any moment, even during the night, so I have to be vigilant.

 

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I think that important thing here, is to realize difference between using e mail for important stuff and procrastinating on it. You just have to use it wisely and even then think about not to overdose it. 

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Would it be possible to have a separate email for your work translations than your other stuff? That might help you not be so distracted by other stuff coming into your email during the day if you find that happens!

Maybe it would be convenient for me, but the people who send me the translations already know my current e-mail for a long time, so it might be problematic for them, they would have to remember the new e-mail or change their settings in their software. I am not so much distracted by the inbox as by the fact that I can never plan anything even as mundane as e.g. watching a film on TV because I can get new text to translate.

Today, an e-book I was looking forward to was finally released, so as long as I do not have any translations I would probably be reading :) I could do a 90-day gaming detox, though I am not addicted to games, but if someone suggested abstaining from reading books for 90 days, I would never agree to it. Giving up reading would be like stopping to breathe or to communicate, and though I do not necessarily read a book everyday (I try to, but sometimes there are more urgent duties that have to be done), I don't think I would survive 90 days without books. I wonder what does it say about me.

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Although it would probably be good for me, I have no interest in a 90 day no coffee detox yet. :P

I drink only one mug a day, and I am not interested in coffee detox, either ;) As for the book detox, the most important thing is I would never be motivated to undertake something like this. Books are the vessels of knowledge and wisdom (of course, there are also many stupid books, but they were invented to preserve and share the knowledge), so by giving up books I would be making myself dumb rather than doing something productive with my life.

Recently, I also had a bit of introspection about my TV series problem. The fact is, I was not remotely interested in series before my university days. At the university, there was a girl who was a very bright student, the first one in our group to defend her thesis. I am not saying "friend" because I was not particularly befriended with her, and in Poland the word przyjaciel (friend) is reserved for people whom you know really well for a long period of time. (in English it is more extensive, isn't it?) She was very self-confident and outgoing, great with her accent and vocabulary (I studied English), whereas I was also a good student, but I have always been a shy mouseburger (remember what I wrote in an earlier entry that I have a very low opinion of myself). I learnt that she watched a lot of British and American TV series and even wrote a blog about them. And somehow I came into the conclusion that this was the missing ingredient which would make me more like her, as watching TV series was the only thing I was not doing but she was. And as I ventured into the world of the series, I discovered that there were many productions with fantasy or science fiction setting, my favourite genre, whereas before I was not aware that TV series could be about something else than the traditional Polish staple of a TV series: a story about a multigenerational family and love affairs of all their members (everyone from Poland here should know what I mean), and I hated these.  I found TV series which I enjoyed, most prominently Doctor Who, and others, not necessarily the same as she enjoyed. And I cannot complain because these series were definitely good for my language skills, particularly after I graduated since I do not have contact with spoken English in my everyday life, I do not live in an English-speaking country and I am not immersed in the language, so it is easy for me to forget what I learnt at the university. The best thing about not having English as my native language is that for me, activities such as watching TV series, which, when done by the native speakers, are considered waste of time, are rather a learning opportunity ;) But recently I started wondering whether I should stop watching the series (as you know from my journal and other entries), because I was using them to become someone else, and thanks to them I neglected my imagination?

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Hey guys and girls, I decided to be less active on the forum and concentrate on my writing, this is something I re-discovered after a long break so I want to give it all my heart and energy now. I know I did a lot of writing here, but it is not the kind of writing I want to focus on now: I want to return to fiction writing and finally start working on my short stories and maybe a novel :) I was thinking whether to keep weekly recaps here, but I do not think there is any need to post if nothing interesting happens, so this is a sort of a goodbye post. Maybe I would check the forum from time to time to know how are you doing, but I won't be as active as it was before. Good luck with your game quitting, I am sure you all will be successful :)

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Hello all,

my fiction writing is going well, the story is taking me to some totally unexpected places, and I manage to write more and more of the tale, usually I continue writing past the obligatory 10 minutes and now I concentrate on the story and not some autobiographical journals which I used to pen when I had no ideas for the story.

GoT detox is OK as well, I removed the Leechblock since it started blocking a dictionary I was using, no idea why, but I do not have time to add countless websites to exceptions. It is far easier to uninstall Leechblock as the best blocking software is my brain. I come across George R.R. Martin's surname in articles on writing (it should not be surprising as he is a writer, and in a genre I am interested in), but this does not count as a relapse, I hope, since I am not reading his actual books.

Inventing my own fantasy plots and characters is so cool :) I wonder if it would work with people who are really addicted to games, I am not sure and I would not like to trigger anyone. But maybe in the case of those who were not really addicted, but spent too much time gaming, it would be a good idea to start writing their own stories? E.g. if you liked fantasy games, try writing your own fantasy story. Do not worry about the quality of writing, the first draft is always of a very poor quality, even in the case of professional writers. We readers never see the drafts, only the finished product after many rewritings and editing, so it is easy to assume that words of genius flow effortlessly from the writer's fingers, but in reality, it is not true. You do not have to show your story to anyone, and eventually, coming up with your own protagonists and world would be much more fun than any game can offer.

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I have just reached a year of doing Duolingo exercises :) A year! I still cannot believe it is actually happening. The streak was often in danger of being broken, such as when I was sick and later when there were massive thunderstorms, but I made it :)

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I have just reached a year of doing Duolingo exercises :) A year! I still cannot believe it is actually happening. The streak was often in danger of being broken, such as when I was sick and later when there were massive thunderstorms, but I made it :)

Wow that is amazing!!

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I wonder if I am in danger of relapsing to GoT? I was reading an article about legal streaming and piracy, and it said that pirates have an easier access to films, series etc., the example was given of one of GoT episodes appearing in HBO streaming service much later than it was supposed to be there, so that fans pirated the episode rather than wait for the release on HBO streaming website (behaviour I cannot justify from a moral point of view, anyway, but let's not diverge). Of course there was nothing about the content of the episode in question, naturally I do not read any re-caps or anything of this kind. But I come across GRR Martin's name sometimes in discussion on fantasy writing, I am learning how to write fantasy and read a lot about worldbuilding, character creation etc. Martin and GoT show in this context. I was wondering whether reading some writing advice by GRR Martin may be considered a relapse? I was tempted to read what he has to say on this subject, but I resisted the craving, or it is over-reaction?

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  • 1 month later...

A quick update: a couple of days ago I completed the 90-day detox from "Game of Thrones" in all forms and shapes, I am still curious what happens to the characters (particularly as my best friend constantly discusses books and series in her emails), but I know that my life is better without GoT than with it. I decided to continue avoiding GoT-related articles even though my detox is past. How to get rid of the cravings? I guess they must be fought differently than the gaming cravings, since they fulfil different needs than gaming, I don't want e.g. challenge or constant measurable growth, but I am intrigued by what happens next to the characters. Any suggestions?

On the more positive note, I completed my word goal this Camp NaNoWriMo and I am a "winner" ;) I keep writing my fantasy novel, though inspiration is dry sometimes.

All the best :)

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I am a bit worried as the cravings started to increase significantly since I finished the 90-day detox, I wonder why is this so and what can I do to make them go away? I was hoping for some advice from you guys and girls here, though I guess you cannot help me much because, as mentioned earlier, the book/series cravings have different reasons than the gaming ones. Maybe you could suggest another on-line place where I could get help? Thanks :)

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