Hi TL, It's been quite a while since I've posted, but most of you won't know me. I'm your everyday TL lurker, addicted to reading forums, reading about games and other things. My summer holidays are about to end and I'm going to need to start concentrating on my studies. So I blindly decided just to quit.
I'm not sure that my brain can handle it, but I just keep wanting to go back to forums and keep reading about the games that I've decided to quit. I say to myself over and over again that I will not play Starcraft 2 until I finish school, yet every day I have an urge just to jump on and play.
Now I'm in a bit of a stalemate. School starts in a week and I'm just finishing off my final preparations. The thing is that this next year I'm going to have to pass or else my life is basically going to go downhill.
So now there's this blankness in my life. Sunday afternoons doing nothing, when usually I'd be playing games all day. I'm not really sure if there can be anything that can replace my passion for gaming, but gaming will have to be put on hold until I graduate.
I'm sure many people have been in my situation, where they have put studies infront of games. But now I don't know what to do to fill in time as a hobby. If I could get some suggestions it'd be great, because right now I'm feeling guilty just for being on the computer.
Many of us are in the same situation, just gotta suck it up. I probably have feel more guilt then you but cant escape my PC since I have to practice coding. Then I realize I would take long breaks playing games instead. -___-
Now this is how most of the "Quitting School for Gaming" people should think. I think it's best you don't completely quit gaming but rather, reward yourself with a couple games at the end of a day of studying. But if you really can't help yourself when you have access to games, then its best you just lock them up. Working out could be a useful hobby to pick up though when you have free time and games are not an option.
You could try working out or picking up a musical instrument. Thing is, even if you quit sc, you'll still try to fill in that time of enjoyment for something else whether it be browsing teamliquid even more or listening to music, surfing the web or looking at facebook or finding a good anime that get u hooked for even longer hrs than sc etc etc. <--- This is what happened to me when i stopped playing sc too lol. I'm not saying this will happen to you becuz it happened to me but just sharing my experience.
But I have a serious problem too. Can't get my butt to study sometimes. It's hard. I know i have to get out my room and go to the library away from distractions but i have to come home to eat. Once I get home i get all relaxed and dont wanna go back. This screws me everyday. I know i can get quality study time if i can go to the library. But it's easier said than done. I wish you good luck, it takes a lot of discipline unless you truley enjoy what u do and can do it for hours.
Don't quit gaming for school, you don't need to. The reason why you're struggling with school is not because a video game addiction is taking over; it's because you can't manage two things in your life. Later on in your life, you will realize how much of a breeze school and studying is compared to working in a real job, especially when you also have a family to take care of. If you need to completely lock up your games just so you can pass school, you're probably not gonna do very well in the future anyways. My best suggestion to you is that you should play enough games to keep you happy, and in the time you have remaining, train yourself to make the best of it. If you can fuel your passions and do well in school at the same time, then you have a bright future ahead of you.
The problem isn't gaming, the problem is that you don't have any discipline. Pretty dumb move imo to stop doing what you love because you aren't balancing it out with school.
Either learn to just game for an hour as a reward after doing school work, or be miserable not having a hobby.
On January 25 2011 14:30 nesteaplunger wrote: Now this is how most of the "Quitting School for Gaming" people should think. I think it's best you don't completely quit gaming but rather, reward yourself with a couple games at the end of a day of studying. But if you really can't help yourself when you have access to games, then its best you just lock them up. Working out could be a useful hobby to pick up though when you have free time and games are not an option.
I don't think you're in a place to tell people how they should think, it never ceizes to surprise me how many people on a pro gaming team site are of the opinion progaming is throwing away your life.
On January 25 2011 14:34 Chairman Ray wrote: Don't quit gaming for school, you don't need to. The reason why you're struggling with school is not because a video game addiction is taking over; it's because you can't manage two things in your life. Later on in your life, you will realize how much of a breeze school and studying is compared to working in a real job, especially when you also have a family to take care of. If you need to completely lock up your games just so you can pass school, you're probably not gonna do very well in the future anyways. My best suggestion to you is that you should play enough games to keep you happy, and in the time you have remaining, train yourself to make the best of it. If you can fuel your passions and do well in school at the same time, then you have a bright future ahead of you.
I'm in the same boat haha. Over christmas break I started beating really good players in tournaments, but school is more important at the moment for me. I do have a goal of one day becoming a progamer, but there is still alot of stuff you can do to improve gameplay outside of the game! Consider meditation, in any form, working out can also be really good. I would also consider learning better time management, as if you can finish your studies fast, you can play more starcraft! I think QXC is pretty insane at this, as he has been pretty deep in school but is still a top player. Just remember that it will be all worth it in the end, and you won't regret it!
Quitting gaming is always a good thing if you play a lot, like 3-4 hours a day. Nothing wrong with casual gaming. Any gamer that spends 25+ hrs a week gaming has negatively affected their life in one way or another, though they may be unwilling to admit this to themselves.
I always say, school can be figured out. School is less about time invested and more about time management//study skills.
It's awesome that you have your priorities figured out--realizing how important school is and not going "herp derp I'm going to be a progamer because xyz did it" You just don't have to completely give up one thing for the other.
School is not only academics. There's a whole heckuva lot going on that you should be involved in, and if you've got your face buried in an LCD monitor, you're going to miss some stuff. To invest in the social scene and extra-curriculars, a time investment is required.
putting my computer away and out of sight for a year helped me learn to achieve balance, and it taught me how much of a waste of time playing computer games is. best thing i've ever done for myself.
On January 25 2011 14:12 LyRa wrote: The thing is that this next year I'm going to have to pass or else my life is basically going to go downhill.
School results aren't everything. They're helpful, but understand it's what you make out of it. I turned into a robot for my final year of high school, and got absolutely beautiful results. Unfortunately, I didn't really transition well at tertiary level education, though I'm back on track.
Moderation is the key as most have already stated. Whether this relates to sex, drugs, gambling, video games, work, you name it. No reason to give up something entirely unless you have no control. All-or-nothing is a drastic choice; Alcoholics can never have a sip of beer, thugs become bible thumpers, and Tiger Woods a lonely sex deprived Buddhist millionaire. Playing video games doesn't make you a loser. Only when there's nothing else but video games are you a loser.
I've found myself in this same situation. What's happened is the gaming has more or less come to a halt, though I have the time to play. School has become more a priority but I managed to find times of just relaxing where I might not be gaming but I'm enjoying myself i.e. lurking around TL. I think what it is is not about shutting it out completely but still having that outlet to keep one foot in. I might not be gaming myself but I find watching streams, reading some posts here and there, watching pro games helps to fill the void.
All in all, take it in stride. Plus it does help to put your energies to doing something other than sitting around and doing something on the computer.
On January 25 2011 14:12 LyRa wrote: The thing is that this next year I'm going to have to pass or else my life is basically going to go downhill.
School results aren't everything. They're helpful, but understand it's what you make out of it. I turned into a robot for my final year of high school, and got absolutely beautiful results. Unfortunately, I didn't really transition well at tertiary level education, though I'm back on track.
Also, balance in life is utterly important.
I'm in year 11 this year, but doing mostly year 12 subjects so the pressure is on.
I also play Tennis, but I'm being urged to drop weekly comps to concentrate on study. Also used to play the violin, but dropped that to play computer games ;O
On January 25 2011 14:25 Whiladan wrote: It's better to learn to play games/browse the internet in moderation than to deprive yourself entirely of a hobby that you clearly enjoy.
SOmetimes you have to make tough decisions that impact a large portion of your life, if u think this is what u need then u gotta do it Bro, more power to you
As people have said, I think you shouldn't quit completely but rather learn how to play in moderation. However, it is good to see a blog like this after all of those "I quit work/school to go pro at SC2!" blogs. Nice to know some people still understand what their priorities should be ~_~
im in a similar spot. im absolutely addicted and trying to quit. ive quit on and off a couple of times so i've developed some good strategies that have worked before. the people who are the most successful at school acknowledge their weaknesses and habits (such as procrastination). i once read an article about research done on students and procrastination and it completely changed how i saw successful students. they arent necessarily more intelligent but are just masters at managing their time. they put more thought into methods for putting themselves into productive situations.
if you have a similar addictive personality as i do, then i'd suggest you put as many obstacles between you and starcraft as possible. i personally would uninstall the game and break the disc so now if you ever want to play it you have to watch the 4-8 hour download screen to give you time to think about what you want in life. i need to do this because i have a very addictive personality. I'm an all or nothing guy and i know a lot of people are. if im going to study i'm going to do it for 12 hours a day. if im going to game, same deal.
you could operate differently though. some people need balance in their life so perhaps reserve 1-2 hours a day for starcraft to relieve some stress and forget your worries. this doesn't work for me because i get hooked pretty quickly and pretty soon i cant even sleep without macroing hatcheries in my mind.
if you've been playing starcraft all day for many weeks/months, you need to realize that the first couple days are the hardest. starcaft is very mentally stimulating. we are all over stimulated when we play lots of starcraft and we have to come down from that state of mind and slow down. learn to focus on simple tasks and enjoy peace and quiet. hours may seem longer at first but eventually you'll adjust and feel more peaceful with a temporary lifestyle shift.
I understand what you mean. I had to study for the SATs hard core and I had no time for Starcraft at all. Its great that you're showing this kind of dedication to school though. Keep going
On January 25 2011 14:34 Chairman Ray wrote: Don't quit gaming for school, you don't need to. The reason why you're struggling with school is not because a video game addiction is taking over; it's because you can't manage two things in your life. Later on in your life, you will realize how much of a breeze school and studying is compared to working in a real job, especially when you also have a family to take care of. If you need to completely lock up your games just so you can pass school, you're probably not gonna do very well in the future anyways. My best suggestion to you is that you should play enough games to keep you happy, and in the time you have remaining, train yourself to make the best of it. If you can fuel your passions and do well in school at the same time, then you have a bright future ahead of you.
This really got me thinking. Thanks for this.
To provide a second story, I was inundated with school at the end of last semester due to having four projects due in less than a month, and ended up quitting League of Legends, at the time temporarily. What I found out was that one(!) game was sucking up way too much time and effort. Over the next month, I still played games, I just played less time-consuming ones, and didn't feel a compulsion to play every night, so I ended up having what felt like "a whole lot of time" on my hands. Oh, and I also finished all the projects on time and aced them. I can't really imagine cutting gaming entirely out of my life because it's a nice individual way of blowing off steam or killing time (because face it, sometimes you just want to relax and kill shit in a game like NWN2 to unwind). Plus, I (we) grew up on it, and it's become a part of my (our) life/culture.
Obviously we, much less I, don't know how disciplined you can be about gaming as a whole (other than LoL I'm fairly disciplined with my time allotment, and I rarely procrastinate because I hate having stuff hanging over me), but you'll probably end up finding that locking up gaming entirely will simply cause you to fret and get stressed out (not playing games = must be working to use time efficiently! = not working = might as well have played = but REALLY should have worked = plus wanna play still = endless cycle). Find out if you have one or two things that're absorbing an inordinate amount of time - those are the things you're better off cutting out (hence why WoW is given such a bad name, it's one of those games that take up an inordinate amount of time, and why WoW addicts actually probably fare worse in time management than people who play like a hundred games but each sporadically and in "pick up and go" intervals).
On January 25 2011 14:35 Saechiis wrote: The problem isn't gaming, the problem is that you don't have any discipline. Pretty dumb move imo to stop doing what you love because you aren't balancing it out with school.
Either learn to just game for an hour as a reward after doing school work, or be miserable not having a hobby.
On January 25 2011 14:30 nesteaplunger wrote: Now this is how most of the "Quitting School for Gaming" people should think. I think it's best you don't completely quit gaming but rather, reward yourself with a couple games at the end of a day of studying. But if you really can't help yourself when you have access to games, then its best you just lock them up. Working out could be a useful hobby to pick up though when you have free time and games are not an option.
I don't think you're in a place to tell people how they should think, it never ceizes to surprise me how many people on a pro gaming team site are of the opinion progaming is throwing away your life.
I see nowhere in his quote did he suggest progaming is throwing away one's life. But the pursuit of progaming is throwing away one's life for a vast majority. The success rates are horrible, the work hours are horrible, the pay on average is horrible, very limited career pool choice when you are to old/slow to play video games anymore, and it is not to nice on health unless you fit your very small amounts of spare time on exercising.
We are on a programing sight to learn how to play casually, to follow the select few who actually succeeded in programing for personal entertainment, and to converse in a surprisingly above average quality forums as far as the internet goes.
While a few lucky ones can naturally fight addictions like a few people can quit smoking anytime and how some people can control drinking while others cannot.
But back on topic, I used to have the same problem as you. It is important to fill your time with something else. I used jogging and working out. But if you still have nothing to do on those lazy Sundays call up some friends, improve your social network. If you finish that and still cannot find anything to do, go ahead and play.
Once school starts join a couple of clubs, meet new people and keep in contact with them. Your time will be filled.
EPT
