Did gaming ever cause you life problems?

[GT__Jedi]

No, gaming has always been something I've looked forward to.  I'd say the only downside to gaming, at least for MMOs, is that so many people rely or expect you to play at all hours kind of took the shine off of it. 

 

But, I've made so many friends over the years and have actually met quite a few of them that it has been a very rewarding adventure for me.  

[jackmadrox]

Nah, quite the opposite actually. LIFE caused GAMING problems.

[DrZero_1983]

Thanks to gaming it took me forever to finish studies and find a job.... it was all so boring compared to videogames and I always did everything with zero interest.

But there's no happy ending where I realize that there are better things in life, I'm still bored everyday at work and can't wait to go home and play 

[JohnCenaSong-]

In my younger years, probably, with a question mark though. 

 

You see, back in my teens I was hooked on an MMO and I totally recognise I spent an unhealthy amount of time with it (I mean, I was ranked #1 in my server for PvP and I had a 2nd character which held a significant lead for highest HP tank in the server too... that doesn't happen overnight) and since I moved on from that game I've acknowledged how easily addicted to MMOs I get and have forbidden myself to play them. I probably could have done much better in my school results were I to have studied instead of spending most of my free in that MMO.

 

However, the question mark part... I had a pretty rough time as a teenager both at home and at school. I'm not going to go into details but I did even have a couple suicide attempts and one of the things that kept me going and effectively, I guess, contributed to surviving this phase of my life was this exact same MMO addiction. A problem but also a crutch at the same time, the routine, the people and heck honestly the feeling of being 'important' or 'somebody' because of how significant of a player on the server I was.

 

Sure, it seems so silly now and it doesn't justify or make that behaviour healthy in any way but maybe it was a case of the right problem at the right time. So, whilst I recognise the issues, I guess I don't really regret all too much in hindsight.

 

Prior to and since that MMO I've never had any other issues related to gaming. Healthy balance really, heck if anything I don't get enough time to relax and play games .

 

I still won't risk it getting into an MMO, even if my behaviour and addiction may have been more due to my circumstances rather than an inherent addictive personality I'd rather not risk my life going off the rails at this stage lol.

[djb5f]

2 hours ago, Frostbiites said:

To contextualize my response, I have been working in the mental health field since 2016 and have several degrees related to such.

 

Like any other dopamine-inducing hobby, lifestyle, or vice (e.g., drugs and alcohol ), video games can certainly contribute to a deterioration of daily living skills, habits, and broader functioning area(s) (e.g., school, relationships, etc.). The level of contribution (severity) and the mechanisms can be much different and related to different issues. For example:

• 1) Are the video games associated with other (perhaps more unhealthy vices)? In other words, do you tend to drink, do drugs, etc., more when you are playing video games? If yes, then perhaps it is not the video games leading to the potential issues but that there is a co-morbidity issue. In this case, taking a step back and evaluating what came first and what is actually contributing to problems, might be helpful (i.e., Did the chicken or egg come first kind of question).
• 2) Do you find yourself loosing enjoyment in other things? When you are out and about or with friends/family, do you find yourself thinking a lot about video games? Do you rush out of prior commitment/events/etc. to get home and play video games? If so, this needs to be looked at with an objective view, perhaps scheduling gaming time and taking much more time away from games.
• 3) Although video games CAN and ARE a good coping mechanism for stressful events and circumstance, overreliance can lead to you (for lack of better term) losing your coping skills/strategies. This is the same as drugs and alcohol or even, more recently, social media. Overreliance on these escape/coping mechanisms can lead to a "softening"/an inability to remember how to cope without them. In these cases, exposure and re-learning to cope with things without escaping is typically recommended. For example, learning to cope by thinking through a situation, talking with others, etc.
• 4) Typically speaking, if broader domains are being impacted it is likely time to seek professional help. For example, if you are no longer attending work/school, completely withdrawing, not taking care of your own hygiene, ignoring important life responsibilities, etc. In these cases, it is likely a dependency issue that will require some time to break.
• 5) Finally (and perhaps more specific to trophy hunting/video game achievements), sometimes it can be easy for our self-worth to be tied into video game achievements. We can sometimes feel a need to get that achievement or grind for that trophy. I am an advocate that this is not usually "unhealthy" but should certainly not be a replacement for more concrete forms of long term self-esteem/self-worth and fulfillment. For example, having sustainable work, being in school, chasing a dream, working towards financial freedom/time freedom, etc.

Sorry for a long winded answer. But in short, yes I have also struggled with some dependency issues on video games in the past when I was going through some darker times. Although video games will always be in my life, I have certainly taken many steps back to evaluate the level of control they hold over my life. I can certainly love and appreciate them much more knowing that I am in control and have balanced them out with the fulfillment I can find in other areas (e.g., school, work, relationships, etc.). Taking breaks and focusing on other aspects can, as they say, make the heart grow fonder. Although this is typically a relationship "statement", it can apply to our other passions.

 

Hope this was informative to answering your question.

 

Sincerely,

Frost

Great messaging and agree with all.  I think there is a lot of undiagnosed mental health issues out there, and a higher % of that in the gamer population.

 

One quick side note.  I don’t consider myself having OCD but all of the grammatical/spelling errors, nothing baffles me more than seeing folks use “loose” or “loosing” when meaning “lose” or “losing”.  I can’t believe how prevalent it is.  Second would be mistakenly using “could have” or “should of” instead of “could’ve” or “should’ve”.

 

But that doesn’t take away from your on-point message!

[Lava_Yuki]

For me, I'm pretty good at doing everything in moderation, I have a willpower of steel and am good with routine and dedicating time for things, so it never interfered with my life in a significant way.

 

However, being a gamer since age 10, in university I remember getting tendonitis of my right thumb, probably due to too much gaming in addition to my phone. It was painful for ages, I could barely even write so I had to only type stuff for ages before it got better. 

 

Another time I suffered with extremely dry eyes, it was bad enough that I could not open my eyes, and could not even watch tv for more than 30 minutes before having to use eye drops. I ended up on a one month streak of eye ointments, eye compresses, eye gels, and also using blue light filters on all my screens and it eventually improved, but it was really painful initially. 

 

My father is against games. He was very strict and so I had to hide all my consoles from him as a kid, and used to play pokemon silver under the bed lol. Thankfully he was never home when I was a kid since he worked like 100+ hours a week. My mum was lenient and nice, she bought me games as a kid, so me and my mum were kind of in partnership to prevent my father finding out as a kid. He eventually gave up in the DS generation, but he still always muttered criticisms whenever he saw me gaming. I don't know of this contributed or not, but me and my father have an essentially broken relationship (although there were tons of other issues as well)

[No longer here]

Not really, my irl friemds just know I play video games and that's about it.

[Frostbiites]

5 hours ago, djb5f said:

Great messaging and agree with all.  I think there is a lot of undiagnosed mental health issues out there, and a higher % of that in the gamer population.

 

One quick side note.  I don’t consider myself having OCD but all of the grammatical/spelling errors, nothing baffles me more than seeing folks use “loose” or “loosing” when meaning “lose” or “losing”.  I can’t believe how prevalent it is.  Second would be mistakenly using “could have” or “should of” instead of “could’ve” or “should’ve”.

 

But that doesn’t take away from your on-point message!

Good catch! As a side note, I believe mis- and undiagnosed mental health issues are problematic in many populations. This seems to be related to a lack of well trained and passionate clinicians (and funding/financial support), which I think might be associated with the barrier to entry (e.g., time and money, degree requirements, examinations, and sheer number of supervised hours required). Being particular about grammatical accuracy is certainly not a "typical" trait of OCD as I think "OCD" gets thrown around a little too much But yes! Good catch on my typo! I probably should have reread the response, but I was too passionate about this topic and wrote it in between clients.

 

Interestingly, in professional and research-oriented writing condensed forms are typically not used. For example, we (being used liberally here) would not use "should've" but rather "should have".

 

Anyways, I digress. Thanks for catching that

 

-F

[poker_1987]

Yeah my friend died in a school shooting because the shooter played doom

[PalaceOfLove706]

I just want to thank everyone immensely for their engagement, but also for their willingness to share personal experiences that can sometimes make us vulnerable in an online community. People seem generally supportive of each other.

 

I agree it’s so important to “game with care” and I hope people will be helped by seeing how so many of you navigated life and gaming, with success.

 

Thank you!

[SHADOW-KILLER-S2]

There is one that comes to mind.

 

Almost 2 years ago when i was doing Final Fantasy XV, i liked the game so much and it was getting late, had to work the next day but i wanted to play more so i said to myself just this 1 dungeon for today. Turned out it was a pretty long dungeon and i got lost all the time, didnt know how to progress but there was no way to save and i was already 2 hours in haha.

In the end i went to bed at 2 am and had 4 or 5 hours sleep, the next day nothing was going well at work, was tired all the time and even had a big argument with my boss in the end.

 

So the lesson learned here was never do ''just 1 more'' before sleep hahaha

[NullRay85]

 It did cause me some problems when I was younger.

 

 Back in 10th grade, I was so into Borderlands 2 on PS3 that I'd play it even after everyone in the house was asleep during school days. I'd start at 12AM and finish up around 4 then wake up at 6. Felt like crap throughout the school day until I finally beat it. 

 

 By 12th grade my Dad was mad that I'd spend most of my time inside playing rather than going outside. I took his advice and it was the best thing ever. I fondly remember my senior year making new friends and hanging out every week, picking up reading again, swimming for the first time in years, AND I was keeping up with my backlog and yearly game releases. 

 

 So what I learned over the years is that any hobby is best enjoyed in moderation. Too much can lead to burn-out and too little isn't any fun. Nowadays, I balance gaming, exercising, going out with friends and family, and things have been great.

[djb5f]

16 hours ago, Frostbiites said:

Good catch! As a side note, I believe mis- and undiagnosed mental health issues are problematic in many populations. This seems to be related to a lack of well trained and passionate clinicians (and funding/financial support), which I think might be associated with the barrier to entry (e.g., time and money, degree requirements, examinations, and sheer number of supervised hours required). Being particular about grammatical accuracy is certainly not a "typical" trait of OCD as I think "OCD" gets thrown around a little too much But yes! Good catch on my typo! I probably should have reread the response, but I was too passionate about this topic and wrote it in between clients.

 

Interestingly, in professional and research-oriented writing condensed forms are typically not used. For example, we (being used liberally here) would not use "should've" but rather "should have".

 

Anyways, I digress. Thanks for catching that

 

-F

You’re absolutely right.  I didn’t mean OCD in the clinical sense but in the Internet sense of being triggered by something small but I obviously shouldn’t have used it and will do my best to take it out of my vocabulary!

 

Mental health is getting a lot more attention than a generation ago but yes, the gap is still there.  My wife does it for a living and has more requests/patients than she can reasonably see.  

[TrophyChief]

Honestly, no, but in fact, has enhanced it in terms of quality and fun entertainment, making friends, and a better appreciation of the medium.