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Addiction is Good

Blogs > IzieBoy
Post a Reply
IzieBoy
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States865 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-09-10 18:07:50
September 09 2011 20:33 GMT
#1
I don't know why everyone claims gaming addiction is such a bad thing. I also "lost" about a year of my life gaming. The only time I felt angry at having gamed was when I knew I could have been doing something better.

Starcraft 2 took me down for 4 months. However, it was a delightfully happy 4 months, as I was basically being paid at the same time. Call me a douchebag; I won't deny it. Those were 4 months where I did not feel able to make a real difference anyways. Instead, I drank and fed myself daily on Starcraft 2. Emotionally, I was floating in bliss. My friends were very supportive and told me many times to quit, basically whenever they saw me preparing for another gaming stint at night. Nor did family (whom I kept in the dark) give me any pressure. Starcraft 2 was a world where I can vent my emotions in being in a slow career and not seeing the end of the tunnel. It was right place for me to be to rage about what a wrong place I was at in terms of my career. In my real world job, I was feeling like a revolutionary forced to be a socialized builder of things with theoretical and often-times uncertain value. In Starcraft 2, I was Jim Raynor - the rebel commander with a heart of gold. My real world job suffered immensely. I let people down. I let myself down. I wasn't even that good at Starcraft 2 (I was probably only top 25% percentile). However Starcraft 2 filled this emotional void - this great need. I played 3v3 over and over. The anonymous commaraderie, the adrenaline rush, and the ego-stroking feeling of "being the commander" kept me hooked for more and more. After an eight-hour stint of Starcraft 2 that lasted till morning (when the birds start chirping), I would always kick myself for having "wasted" a whole night - revelling in the guilt of my debauchery. Needless to say, I never really wanted to quit in the morning. Maybe I could have tricked myself by writing down a note to myself for when I woke up about the evils of Starcraft 2 and therefore prematurely stopped my addiction. Anyways, I didn't. In the afternoon, I woke up again after having slept like a baby, did some basic maintenance on myself (which is not much at all), I may have had to attend some functions (where I typically dozed off - 5 hours of sleep was too little) then I would kick up Starcraft 2 late at night - whatever "guilt" I felt in the morning was all gone.

The people who helped guide my struggle against gaming included a shrink. He basically told me to go home and see family. I did that and even though my mom was a dragon lady, I managed to break it to her. Our family was not too poorly off, so she dumped in some major cash to invest on me and my living situation. I moved out from my roommates and started to focus on my job again. The funny thing was that the lost of rapport I had with my boss got amplified when I actually started performing again. I had doubts and self-doubts before, but when I was "reborn" from the Starcraft 2 high, I started to do what I felt was important, losing focus with what boss felt was important. So actually Starcraft 2 did not make me lose my job. It was the clarity after the Starcraft 2 high that allowed me to figure out what I really wanted to do and the guts to change at the age of 23. After the four months, it took me about another four months to perform without withdrawal symptoms. My dad took my many Starcraft 2 accounts away (I kept buying new licenses and then giving it to him the night/morning after the binge). I took every opportunity to play, such as at gaming cafes.

In the aftermath of my entire gaming experience/addiction on Starcraft 2, I attended a church group, started believing in Jesus again, and read a lot of books on religion. It was a time of spiritual and personal growth. I felt gaming was a wake-up call from God telling me that something that I was doing was wrong. Maybe it was exactly God, but it was one of the laws in which He had made the universe that I was breaking. I felt that after the experience, I grew as a person. I finally knew what I really wanted and cherished. I had known before, but the process of getting to the same place was long, hard, and uncertain - the last was the major kicker. I now know what I should do and am going to do to be able to cherish both the process and the end result. I owe all of this to my Starcraft experience.


*
Let's Do This! Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins!
cz
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States3249 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-09-09 20:40:40
September 09 2011 20:39 GMT
#2
"I don't know why everyone claims gaming addiction is such a bad thing. I also lost about a year of my life gaming."

That's why. You lost a year of your life, which is a bad thing, and that was caused by gaming addiction. Ergo your gaming addiction was bad.
The_Pacifist
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States540 Posts
September 09 2011 20:48 GMT
#3
If you don't mind telling, what was your previous career?
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States42429 Posts
September 09 2011 21:23 GMT
#4
On September 10 2011 05:39 cz wrote:
"I don't know why everyone claims gaming addiction is such a bad thing. I also lost about a year of my life gaming."

That's why. You lost a year of your life, which is a bad thing, and that was caused by gaming addiction. Ergo your gaming addiction was bad.

You can't keep years of your life. You can't save them and spend like them like you would money, they unfold at approximately a year a year whether you learn a new language, cure cancer or play sc2 all the time. In the end, everyone dies.

He spent a year of his life content due to Starcraft II and I don't see a problem with that. That year would have happened anyway, he couldn't have saved it.
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
DystopiaX
Profile Joined October 2010
United States16236 Posts
September 09 2011 21:27 GMT
#5
On September 10 2011 06:23 KwarK wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 10 2011 05:39 cz wrote:
"I don't know why everyone claims gaming addiction is such a bad thing. I also lost about a year of my life gaming."

That's why. You lost a year of your life, which is a bad thing, and that was caused by gaming addiction. Ergo your gaming addiction was bad.

You can't keep years of your life. You can't save them and spend like them like you would money, they unfold at approximately a year a year whether you learn a new language, cure cancer or play sc2 all the time. In the end, everyone dies.

He spent a year of his life content due to Starcraft II and I don't see a problem with that. That year would have happened anyway, he couldn't have saved it.

I think what that term means is more that he "lost" a year cause instead of being obsessed with Starcraft he could have been doing more productive/rewarding things. What it comes down to is whether devoting a year of your life almost entirely to starcraft is worth it or not.
Knap4life
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Slovenia333 Posts
September 09 2011 21:29 GMT
#6
To much of something is always bad.
Probe1
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States17920 Posts
September 09 2011 21:35 GMT
#7
KwarK just solved the entire riddle. Well said. I'll go with the tried and true Time You Enjoy Wasting is Not Wasted Time.

I don't know what positive things I can say about you attributing gaming addiction to Gods plan but good luck and I hope you relapse. Starcraft is freaking awesome and I'd rather see you addicted to that than the kinds of things normally associated with that word.
우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by
cz
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States3249 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-09-09 21:57:51
September 09 2011 21:51 GMT
#8
On September 10 2011 06:27 DystopiaX wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 10 2011 06:23 KwarK wrote:
On September 10 2011 05:39 cz wrote:
"I don't know why everyone claims gaming addiction is such a bad thing. I also lost about a year of my life gaming."

That's why. You lost a year of your life, which is a bad thing, and that was caused by gaming addiction. Ergo your gaming addiction was bad.

You can't keep years of your life. You can't save them and spend like them like you would money, they unfold at approximately a year a year whether you learn a new language, cure cancer or play sc2 all the time. In the end, everyone dies.

He spent a year of his life content due to Starcraft II and I don't see a problem with that. That year would have happened anyway, he couldn't have saved it.

I think what that term means is more that he "lost" a year cause instead of being obsessed with Starcraft he could have been doing more productive/rewarding things. What it comes down to is whether devoting a year of your life almost entirely to starcraft is worth it or not.


Exactly. He implied that he made a bad decision in that he could have done "better" things, however he defines that. Therefore his addiction was bad, as it compelled him to make inferior decision repeatedly. Otherwise we'd have to accept that doing anything that makes you feel good immediately is the best decision, yet we all run our lives differently for a reason.
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