Lion's Weekend Blurb - Aug. 31, Sept. 1-3

[Lion]

Game Widow or Widower...who are they? They are the husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends, parents, and just plain old friends and family of gamers whose playing habits have consumed their lives. The bereaved say their mates, friends, family, etc. have suffered a kind of digital death that has left only the shell of the person they loved behind. There are literally millions of gamers worldwide who can be classified as having an addiction to gaming, although most won't admit it. The game WOW (World of Warcraft) has lured in over 9 million peeps and still counting. Over the past several years many websites have popped up supporting those who are affected by the game addict. Some of the more popular ones are GamerWidow.com (http://www.gamerwidow.com/) and GamingSucks.com (http://www.gamingsucks.com/). As for myself, I've probably been guilty at times for spending too much time gaming, but it's usually within the first month or so when I get a new game. Once the novelty wears off, things return to normal. For the most part, I balance my family life with my gaming time. So what are YOU...casual gamer, average, or a diehard game playing addict with little hope for recovery? And if you think your truly addicted, look around and see if your affecting those close to you. Ya'll have a super great weekend!

[ein1017]

I consider myself a true gamer, not a die-hard gamer. I try to play only if there is nothing else to do, (like home alone) and all my friends, when not going to school, work hard so I rarely see them outside.

[General Al Ramsey]

Thanks for breaking in a nice long weekend mixed in with a little guilt. I gotta admit sometimes my gaming takes away time from my family but I try to get everything else done first. Fixing cars, mowing lawns, knocking down weeds, and this weekend I will be painting one of the kids rooms. So I really don't have a lot of free time, but nothing relaxes me more than Generals or C&C 3 or Company of Heroes. Then usually it is time for bed so I can get up and go to work etc. So addict I think not, but it is better than sitting around watching TV. :grumpy:

[Avapodnaught]

Thanks for breaking in a nice long weekend mixed in with a little guilt. I gotta admit sometimes my gaming takes away time from my family but I try to get everything else done first. Fixing cars, mowing lawns, knocking down weeds, and this weekend I will be painting one of the kids rooms. So I really don't have a lot of free time, but nothing relaxes me more than Generals or C&C 3 or Company of Heroes. Then usually it is time for bed so I can get up and go to work etc. So addict I think not, but it is better than sitting around watching TV. :grumpy:
Quoted for the truth..... :p

[Lazzars]

http://www.xfire.com/profile/Lazzars/

yea, i play games faaaar too much

[WNxAnthrax]

http://www.xfire.com/profile/Lazzars/

yea, i play games faaaar too much

Just 1859 hours???? And you say you play games to much?

http://www.xfire.com/profile/cmexander/

Nuff said?

Im a Hard Core gamer with little chance of recovery however, past 6 months i've hardly played much. Work/Skool/Life/Prep for the military life.

[Mighty BOB!]

Addict. :(

[Hellscream2007]

I'm guilty of playing Guild Wars to much.:wtf:

It screwed over my life. (thankgod i wasn't addicted to WoW or it would have been more difficult.)
I had to get help even, not that i fell out of my chair, but my life is/was a mess. I have become so withdrawn in real life... a bit to much.

I just bought the expansion. BUT, I have set goals for myself not to play more then 3 hours a day on that game. Or even 2. (in the week.)
The weirdest thing? If you take a step back, you see how addicted some others are. Not just cause you notice the playtime (in those kinda games atleast), but you think how you yourself were and they were always there with you. Shared playtime, is shared problems.

That's how I feel about it now. Some people jump in there @ 9:30 AM and keep playing till 2AM only stopping to eat and go to the toilet. I was like that, cause others were, so I didn't care as much.

What's even weirder, is you want to somehow warn those people... "Hey, online already?" No response. "And how many hours are you going to play today? 8? 12? 15? lol"
"This player has put you on ignore and can no longer receive messages."

Be glad, it's only C&C. The game isn't really deep, but other games are and it's in that and other people that the danger lies.

Thanks for the links Lion...checking them out right now.

[Lazzars]

Just 1859 hours???? And you say you play games to much?

http://www.xfire.com/profile/cmexander/

Nuff said?

Im a Hard Core gamer with little chance of recovery however, past 6 months i've hardly played much. Work/Skool/Life/Prep for the military life.

thats all FF online though (how can you play that! ff sucks so much)

i don't play any mmorgps and stick to non life eating games

[NuclearDreams]

I use to go on hour long binges, but I came to the conclusion that my family shouldn't have to compete with a video game.

http://www.bilder-speicher.de/07090112121823.350direkt.jpg

[SgtRicko]

I usually tend to play 4-5 hours at a time, though whenever a new game comes out I tend to go a bit crazy like Lion does, so I guess I'm sorta wee bit addicted, eh?:D

[Zri]

Well, I'm okay, but I tend to play a new game way too much when I initially get it. Other than that.... I'm okay!:D Though for some reason I get bored quickly when I play the same game for too long. :happysad:

[Hellscream2007]

I usually tend to play 4-5 hours at a time, though whenever a new game comes out I tend to go a bit crazy like Lion does, so I guess I'm sorta wee bit addicted, eh?:D

lol, trying SO hard to contain myself from playing that expansion I bought, since MMORPH's (technicly GW isn't anymore, since you can do alot of stuff alone in this expansion) are very dangerous to social life...
The thing is, you can quit singleplayer games any time you want (saven and quit to windows), in online games you just can't quit a group of players, even if you are in the middle of a 2 hour during mission/instance/dungeon and it's way to late to be staying up. If you do, chances are they won't ask you to come along again, and also putting you behind so much you can say bye bye to social life for sure. Cause most of them ARE persistant worlds, and that's something that has great impact on people's playing style.

But doing good so far.

And 1-2 hours was my playtime for other games. Except the latter wich was more like 5-6 hours (played no other games at that period), wich resulted in 5-6 hours of sleep before going to work. NOT good. :doped:

So never EVER try and touch online games, they are evil. I've seen people ignoring work (mostly those who have their own shop/compagnie), ignoring their partners and trying to find replacements in the game, and technicly treat weekend/new year as just any other workday, wich is rather sad to see.

Hmmmpffff, look who's talking.

Glad I got that out of my system.

[Derek]

I've only got a few hundred hours on my Xfire, but thats because I've only been using it since last December or so. If it had all the hours from when I played ZH almost constantly (in addition to other games I played at the same time), I'm sure it would be 1000 hours or more. Of course, it also doesn't track the console games, which I play almost equally to PC games. Most of my PC time however is spent on the internet.

[C4]

Very good subject Lion.
I don't have that much time to be playing and for that i also stick to quick and less-time-taking games like Zero-hour, Quake3, CS1.6 or even some old arcade emulator games (yeah, an oldie like me still like those good old relics like SF2:D, Toki and T.N.Z.Story). Those mmorpg like WOW are not games to me even if i can see they are good in their purpose an can really entangle ppl.

Anyway i also prefer the PC to TV. The PC is an excellent tool, be it for work or for diversion. It is my HI-FI, DVD player as well as (of course) game platform of choice. As a consequence i usually pass 3-5 hours a day with my PC on, but playing i'd say 1-3 hours even if it can vary with the mood. And it's rare to me to be interested in a new game (well, right now i'm curious about Starcraft2... but usually i tend to play those of my choice times and times again) so i do very rarely feel that "crazy" sensation of new-game-on-the-block u'd spoke of.
Anyway sometimes (mostly on holidays or some lazier weekends) i also do crazy "adventures" of 5+ hours playing. Sometimes if some rare opponents come to my place (i have a little LAN of 3 PCs and a switch to 5) things can gain a new entusiasm.
Behind are few crazy old days in university when i spent in one single day several ours playing. My record is !! 10 hours !! in a single day with AOE2:rolleyes:.

So as a conclusion, i'm far from addiction on playing even if i pass some hours with my PC on. There're other good things like my girlfriend, Basketball and Football (soccer for those USAs) matches or some good books to spend my beloved free time.

[Zri]

Anyway i also prefer the PC to TV.

Yeah, I prefer PC to TV too. I feel that playing video games is much better than watching TV, because, unlike TV, you must think to play games(especially CNC!):D But as for TV, all you do is sit down and warm your chair while your mind does nothing!:p

[Avapodnaught]

Yeah, I prefer PC to TV too. I feel that playing video games is much better than watching TV, because, unlike TV, you must think to play games(especially CNC!):D But as for TV, all you do is sit down and warm your chair while your mind does nothing!:p
But its a good place to go when I want to watch old favorites... and eat....

[WNxAnthrax]

thats all FF online though (how can you play that! ff sucks so much)

i don't play any mmorgps and stick to non life eating games


Very Very Easily. Having a charactor with over 240 days (Real life days), the ability to experiance a extreamly massive MMO with friends (friend of mine was playing Final Fantasy XI and got me into playing it altho he left FFXI for lolWoW). I've met alot of good friends on there, had a good time and i had (hardly now..) alot of time on my hands. I have friends and they'd come over on the weekends and we'd sit and play games and such as our hang out thing.

I love FFXI. Awsome, graphics tho are rly outdated but it still looks better then most MMO's as its not extreamly cartoony like lolWoW and Lord Of The Rings Shadow of Agmar and such. Thats prob the only reason im still subscribed to FFXI is because it isn't an extreamly cartoony game.

[Annihlator :D]

Well, I'm okay, but I tend to play a new game way too much when I initially get it. Other than that.... I'm okay!:D Though for some reason I get bored quickly when I play the same game for too long. :happysad:

that's ca;;ed burnout and come form playing a game for to long without much variation, without this symptom, I would be up till 3am every day/night., but I am, happily, not

[Daishi]

I used to play and think games 24/7, but I've noticed I'm spending a lot less of my free time playing games since summer began. (I'm getting my life back, bitches).

90% of my free time I spend on imageboards and forums.

[Tesla]

I'm guilty of playing Worms: Armageddon too much almost whenever I have spare time...although I do do other things, such as read Calvin & Hobbes and science textbooks, and during the week, I will probably be studying for the GED so I can get into college.

[SgtRicko]

I used to play and think games 24/7, but I've noticed I'm spending a lot less of my free time playing games since summer began. (I'm getting my life back, bitches).

90% of my free time I spend on imageboards and forums.

No, Daishi, NO!!! You must discard such unwordly things such as the internets, work, and parents, they will only distract you from your true passion: VIDEO GAMES!!! It is not too late for you, my son; return to the fold before you are consumed with apathy towards us!!!