What is your take on offline games?

[Firecat]

I plan to play Rocksmith 2014, and Pikman for the wii. I also have wii sports. My goal is too have no online on my consoles. What do you guys think?

 

[ceponatia]

I only played single player games so they're still a no-go for me.

[Firecat]

@ceponatia What games did you play?

[station mouse]

It's not the type of games that causes problems, it's how bad for you your attitude and behaviour with them is. Although some games (like online/multiplayer games) are easier to get hooked on than others! For me, I play single player games that aren't even very exciting, like the Sims, but I played for solid hours and hours at a time and neglected to care for myself or do any of my responsibilities.

All video games fulfil one of the 4 things we go to them looking for (socialisation, escape, achievement, or challenge) so even the games that aren't well known to be addictive can cause problems for you and you can end up where playing them is the primary thing you do with your life. For example, you could even have a problem with simple games like candy crush or even freaking snake, because they give you a feeling of achievement or challenge or they let you stop thinking about any negative things that are happening in your real life.

 

If online games are causing a problem for you, then absolutely it is a good idea to get rid of them. The risk when you replace them with a different video game is that you're just going to fall into the same patterns of behaviour with that new game, even though it's maybe even boring. The reason the 90 day "detox" is a thing, is it gives you time to learn new habits and behaviour patterns that are benficial for you. You can pick up activities to fill your time that will improve your health or smarts or living situation. Yeah, you'll be bored and you'll miss games and want to replace them with some "less bad" video games, but in the end that's still your video game habit, even if it's slightly different.

 

If you have a lot of self discipline, and you really don't want to "detox" (the detox doesn't have to be 90 days, it can be whatever amount of time you personally need), you can try gaming in moderation. This is where you only play video games at certain times of day (probably in the late afternoon) once you have done everything else you need to do.

Trying to quit a video game addiction or bad video game habit using gaming in moderation is often much harder than quitting cold turkey, though. Think everything through and make plans for whichever choice you make. Good luck!

[ceponatia]

On 5/20/2020 at 5:39 PM, Firecat said:

@ceponatia What games did you play?

Wow I had a long response written and accidentally pressed the hotkey to open the source code viewer in my browser and it wiped everything.

I played just about everything "big" that has ever come out for the PC, I was never a console gamer. I bought a PS3 when it came out and only ever used it as a DVD player despite buying and trying to play several games. My Steam library is around 1200 games but most of those were bought when I was still actively drinking and would drunk-purchase about $300 worth of games a week. I make about $10,000 a year less than I used to back then but still end up having way more money because I'm not blowing it all.

But as examples I suppose I most liked open world RPG style games like The Elder Scrolls and Witcher 3 as well as simulation games like Civilization and Factorio. I still occasionally play games like Factorio and Space Chem because I don't "enjoy" them like I did other games. They're more like tests of my logical abilities. I play very rarely though, maybe a few times a month. I think "gaming" will always be a small part of my life even though I don't find most games interesting anymore.

[LadyRen]

On 5/21/2020 at 4:14 AM, ceponatia said:

I only played single player games so they're still a no-go for me.

Same here

[ace_dee]

On 5/20/2020 at 11:50 AM, Firecat said:

I plan to play Rocksmith 2014, and Pikman for the wii. I also have wii sports. My goal is too have no online on my consoles. What do you guys think?

I think there is a continuum of the "danger level" of games including specific aspects that increase habituation and addictive behavior. 

Most mobile games are really bad, they have time gates, energy systems, paid boosts, blind bags, gatcha, pvp, clan/team pvp, etc.  Next are mmo type games that have no endpoint, daily quests, logarithmic progression, and are substitutes for other social interactions.

Then come pure, offline single player games with games that have an "ending" being the least dangerous.  And finally games that have a physical component like the dance, rock band games or pokemon go are IMO the most "safe".

[GrainSiloEnthusiast]

On 5/20/2020 at 9:14 AM, ceponatia said:

I only played single player games so they're still a no-go for me.

Same, I could more easily trust myself to play Mario Kart at a friends house or even a few rounds of some online game than any single player game.
It's different for everyone.

The only games I'd play on a screen now are games with physical equivalents, like mahjong for example, or crossword puzzles.
But during my 90 day detox I am cutting out All screen-based games including those.

[Undsoweiter]

On 5/20/2020 at 6:14 PM, ceponatia said:

I only played single player games so they're still a no-go for me.

Same for me too, so my final verdict was quit them all together otherwise I will never be able to move on from games in any way.

[Dpesuti]

Honestly, I’ve played both online and offline games, and I got hooked on all of them. Even games like Factorio, surviving mars, My Colony, Oxygen not included, and subnautica were hard for me to put down. Being able to build something that you finally managed to scrounge enough resources for is where all the dopamine comes from in those games. Plus, it doesn’t help that I have an obsession with organizing things, so I get another big rush from seeing that things are neatly placed and work in synch.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Dpesuti