67 replies to this topic

[kspr]

ive started one last oblivion game until skyrim comes out with a huge handicap: my character is deaf. im playing the whole game without sound, along with the difficulty at max.

[Vicious Parker]

What about subtitles?

[kspr]

i'm assuming my character can read lips.

[Vicious Parker]

There's something about these games that is just unhealthy for me. I just spent the last month or so completely addicted to Skyrim. Again. Since I've never been involved with drugs or alcohol, I imagine it's probably the closest I've been to serious addiction. All I can think about is the game, and when I'm next going to play the game. Even right now I am having a little trouble keeping it out of my head, though I've permanently deleted all of my save files and uninstalled the game. This is probably the fourth time I've gone through this with Skyrim. I can't even imagine how many hours I spent with Morrowind (being single and not particularly interested in my job when I went through this with Morrowind, I wasn't as aware of the situation). I went through the same thing with Oblivion, too, but it didn't last as long because... well, it's Oblivion. And let's not forget the Bethesda Fallout games...




What do these games provide for me that seem to hit all the right buttons? (For lack of a better phrase). I don't want to never play a Bethesda game again, but how do I learn to manage my play time and still enjoy the game? I don't want to give up video games, because I enjoy the hell out of them, but I would honestly choose to never play another game again rather than feel addicted and dependent on the games that I play.

[Donkeymog]

/>There's something about these games that is just unhealthy for me. I just spent the last month or so completely addicted to Skyrim. Again. Since I've never been involved with drugs or alcohol, I imagine it's probably the closest I've been to serious addiction. All I can think about is the game, and when I'm next going to play the game. Even right now I am having a little trouble keeping it out of my head, though I've permanently deleted all of my save files and uninstalled the game. This is probably the fourth time I've gone through this with Skyrim. I can't even imagine how many hours I spent with Morrowind (being single and not particularly interested in my job when I went through this with Morrowind, I wasn't as aware of the situation). I went through the same thing with Oblivion, too, but it didn't last as long because... well, it's Oblivion. And let's not forget the Bethesda Fallout games...

What do these games provide for me that seem to hit all the right buttons? (For lack of a better phrase). I don't want to never play a Bethesda game again, but how do I learn to manage my play time and still enjoy the game? I don't want to give up video games, because I enjoy the hell out of them, but I would honestly choose to never play another game again rather than feel addicted and dependent on the games that I play.

My advice to you is to find out what these games offer you that your daily life doesn't and try to work towards making it part of your life. Then you can return to Skyrim and enjoy playing it on your own terms, without needing to depend upon it.

I can definitely relate to your addiction - I went through the same thing with Morrowind. Three times. I had to think carefully about what I was getting out of the games I played and how I could get it out of the people in my life instead. For me it was a lot of things, the sense of adventure rather than being stuck in the same place all the time, the sense of agency of being able to make decisions and take actions more spontaneously than I felt I could in my life, and from the laughable, yet satisfying, sense of empowerment I gained from levelling my character. Lastly, I took a lot of pride in the games I played - but it's a weird sort of pride. I put a lot of time into those games and thought carefully about how I played them and was usually rewarded at the end - sometimes with cake. But in life the things you put the most time and thought in are the things that tend to backfire most.

I don't regret the time I've dedicated to games like Morrowind, Deus Ex, Thief, Mario, Zelda, Minecraft, and so on - I appreciate how they gave me a space to identify things I was unhappy with in my life. They've definitely shaped who I am and what I want to get out of my life. I was young and had no real responsibilities in my life, if I hadn't wasted so much time playing games I probably would have just spent the time indulging other vices, probably more destructive ones. Or getting chicks, but hey, what are you gonna do?

[Glaciermage]

Much like an alcoholic can't stop at just one drink, you may not be able to play these games casually, VP.

It's the same for me and mmo. I have to cut them out completely, or else I sacrifice all other things and devote all my time and energy to play them.

I'm sure there are other games you aren't addicted to. You wouldn't have to cut out all games completely. But if you rly think you are addicted and it's affecting your life adversely, you may have to cut out bethesda games completely.

[kspr]

find what it's replacing in your life? i'm a heavily armored axe wielding serial killer. the military doesn't want me, and my body is too broken to get into mma.

also oblivion helped reduce my strong desire to run around naked in the woods at midnight picking mushrooms and taking a swing at a bear

[Donkeymog]

I think there's less of a direct substitution than that. I enjoy shooting hundreds of unarmed civilians in CoD, but I'm pretty certain doing that in real life would make me throw up at the very least. Harvey Smith says some interesting things about this in response to a question from Warren Spector: