Addicted to a game

[fugeelama]

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you could help my friend out... (I swear, this is not one of those "my friend is really me pretending to talk about my friend" threads, or else I'd probably be too busy playing the game to want to reach out for help). Anyways, my friend is, well, addicted to a certain online computer game. And by addicted, I mean he plays it more than the 40 hours he spends at work every week. I knew some guys a few years ago when I worked at an ISP that were hooked on Everquest: talking about it all day at work, and supposedly playing it all night at home. But my question to you all is: have any of you ever been addicted to something like that? My biggest qualm is that he doesn't really have a life, he just works, drinks, and plays his freakin' game. I really wish he'd go outside when it's nice, or hang out with his friends when they ask (outside of the "lets go to the bar" context). His sister (a good friend of mine) sides with me on this, but every time we try to talk to him about it he just shrugs it off (of course, every time we try to talk to him about it he's on the game).

Wow, that seems a bit long for 8am... I'd love to monitor the responses to this all day (if anyone cares/feels like posting), but alas I must go to work. I'll be back tonight to post some more info for those of you that want to know. Thanks.

[Mr. Anderson]

Just curious, but what's the game?

And you should get him to just get away from it for a while - although I imagine eventually it will get old and he'll move away from it all by himself.

D

[mgargan1]

he needs a girl... that'll get him off the game. Well it would atleast get me off the game. But i was hooked, and i mean HOOKED on Warcraft III when it came out. I also played Deus Ex nonstop... and then I also got into playing RISK on the computer as well...

[scem0]

I was addicted to StarCraft for a long time. Now I only play it on the weekends.

But I don't think you should do anything to him/for him. He has made a choice to play the game, let him suffer the consequences (if there are any major ones).

scem0

[markjones05]

I was addicted to counterstrike for a year. I did nothing except play, go to class once in a while and drink. When i wasn't playing it i was thinking about it. It really is a sad experience being so addicted to something. Finally I made my desicion to get my mac despite the fact that counterstrike wasnt made for it, and i havnt looked back since. Its really hard to break all the ties with the people you meet playing that game. I still get pm's and emails from people in the clan asking why I left and asking me to come back.

[ExoticFish]

i get addicted to games for a while here and there but they never completely take over my life. usually what happens is a game comes out and i get all excited and play religiously for a couple days, perhaps a week even... but then it dies down and i just play "on the weekends" or whatever. that and girlfriends hate it when you're playing some "stupid game" when they want to go for a walk or go to dinner and you aren't even out of your pajamas yet. :D

[Macmaniac]

Every single Blizzard game I have gone through an addiction faze, whats even worse is that I revert back to my old addictions sometimes, Starcraft is just so much fun!

[evil]

last year i was addicted to a game called cossacks. last summer i didnt have a job and my girlfriend was living at her parents about an hour away. consequently all i did last summer was wake up, go buy beer and sit around and play cossacks until i passed out.
it was an excellent summer. ahhh i miss the good old days.
unfortunately (or fortunately) the game isnt made for the mac.

[krimson]

i've been playing Moongate/Materia Magica (www.materiamagica.com) for like 6 or 7 years..

recently, the Castles (http://www.xgenstudios.com/castle/) flash game has take most of my time...

starcraft, civ III usually take up alot of time as well.

[flyfish29]

If you want addiction...try this simple little game.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/warthog.html

cool little game.

I was addicted to Tetris for a while and Medal of Honor (the first playstation 1 game)

This is what I looked like after playing too much. :eek:

[takao]

i also have this "get addicted for perhaps 1-2 weeks" then i don't play the game for motnhs sometimes and then i find the disk somewhere 3months later in a cupboard "wow i haven't played that for years" and i install it and get addicted again

famous entries:
Civilization 2 ...hands down the most addictive game ever ..and with the gold multiplayer version i have i just can't stop ... at the moment my favourite game because of the endless scenarios

Half Life ...endless fun with multiplayer mods

Panzer General I,II etc.. and all those other 5 star series games from SSI like fantasy gen.,pacific gen.

Steel panthers I-III and fan made mods etc. i wasted whole days on single 24 turn levels...

Star trek armada 2.. very addictive multiplayer

gran turismo 2 is always a nice candidate too even as emulation...

(and of course i was addicted to cossaks and other RTS games too...i stopped playing cossaks because my younger brother didn't want to play anymore multiplayer after losing every time)

[Roger1]

This is a funny thread. My wife is hooked on yahoo backgammon and euchre. She can spend hours playing it. I don't usually mind, but I'll be doing something and I'll hear "Honey! Come here quick!" I'll come running to see what's up, and all it'll be is she wants to tell me that this is the 3rd person from Turkey she's met today. :rolleyes:

Ah, well. Now I know what she used to go through when I was hooked on Star Wars (for the 386 pc). :D


As for your friend, he'll come around eventually. If his job is in danger, his sister might have to take the machine away for a while.

[powerbook4me]

I use to play a game called everquest for about 3 years or so.

Now that game was insanely addicting!

[blue&whiteman]

any video game I have ever played has bored me within 15 min. so I guess I will never be addicted to one.

[JesseJames]

Yeah, I can relate. I was addicted to 'Rune' a while back. I just had to finish that game.
It was madness.
So now I am ultra-selective with the games I buy. I have other interests that I'm pretty passionate about so now I don't worry. Just need to be more careful with vengeance themed games. They appeal to something inside of me that's unhealthy. Hmmm.

[markjones05]

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you could help my friend out... (I swear, this is not one of those "my friend is really me pretending to talk about my friend" threads, or else I'd probably be too busy playing the game to want to reach out for help). Anyways, my friend is, well, addicted to a certain online computer game. And by addicted, I mean he plays it more than the 40 hours he spends at work every week. I knew some guys a few years ago when I worked at an ISP that were hooked on Everquest: talking about it all day at work, and supposedly playing it all night at home. But my question to you all is: have any of you ever been addicted to something like that? My biggest qualm is that he doesn't really have a life, he just works, drinks, and plays his freakin' game. I really wish he'd go outside when it's nice, or hang out with his friends when they ask (outside of the "lets go to the bar" context). His sister (a good friend of mine) sides with me on this, but every time we try to talk to him about it he just shrugs it off (of course, every time we try to talk to him about it he's on the game).

Wow, that seems a bit long for 8am... I'd love to monitor the responses to this all day (if anyone cares/feels like posting), but alas I must go to work. I'll be back tonight to post some more info for those of you that want to know. Thanks.

I think that most people posting dont really relate to the type of addiction your friend has. I think most have experienced some sort of addiction to a lesser degree. I know what it is like to be seriously addicted to the point where it ruins certain aspects of life. I think your friend needs a serious lifestyle change. Thats how i was really able to kick the habit. Most of my friends I plays CS with still play regularly and they arent really friends anymore because now we have nothing in common and i feel like they resent me for not playing anymore. He needs to realize that there is something better out there. Also multiplayer games especially online games are more addictive over others because they never end. If you really want to gove him a wake up call, cut his cable line.

[Mav451]

Blizzard has a habit of creating addicting games.

Though, I'll admit I used to have a Diablo2 problem. I started in high school, but ended right after I changed the p/w and FORGOT IT! I was playing an avg of like 3-4 hours easily every day. Not 40 hrs. a week per say, but definitely too much it dropped my AP class grades by one letter...

Anyway, when I forgot it, I ended up not playing it for 1.5 years! Sure was effective wasn't it? The only time I ended up play 10 hours straight was when the new patch came out, 1.10 when "Hell Froze Over" (ironic they use the same phrase for iTunes)...uggh

I ended up pissing off alot of my friends...got into a lil fight. Ended up quitting to save the relationships. I can tell you since then, I've be doing alot less gaming, and a ton more IMing (stuff normal people do, not game 24/7 haha). Its nice not to be tied down to a game, seriously.

(also more time to go to Maryland BBall/Football games!)

[howard]

i've only felt addiction once in my life, and that was form asherons call

i played it for a good few months, all the signs of addiction were there, i wasn't happy when i wasn't playing it, i would think about it all the time, i could never stop playing it, i would be angry if something kept me from playing it... despite all this i really didn't play it THAT much...i'm talking average 3 hours a day... but if i had had my way it would have been more is the thing.

i quit cold turkey, i started hanging out with friends more and i found it to be a lot more fun. I still think back and have fond memories, i also wonder what it would be like to pick up where i left off... oh and one thing... one of the reasons why i was able to quit easily was because in the game i died a number of times and permantently lost a bunch of stuff and never got it back...for anyone who has played that knows that that sucks big time.

[haiggy]

Wow, a coincidence that my parents just told me I play too much WarCraft III? Honestly... I agree with them but I can't stop because it is just so fun and addicting. I tell you, Blizzard sure knows how to make good games. I actually just got booted off from playing WarCraft III for a week because I played until 5 AM :eek: I'd keep telling myself "after this game I'll go to bed" the WHOLE night. I think I've done this once before. I can definately relate to your friend. It's come down to the point where my parents have told me to get a life. lol Not that I take that offensively. I barely ever go outside, just play WarCraft and when I go to my friend's houses it is to play WarCraft over LAN. Man it's so crazy - I am going nuts without being able to play it - I have to sneak in one game here or there when the 'rents aren't home. And even with the new patch, ah damn... I think I've ranted on long enough but point is, I seem to be like your friend right now and I think he and I should both quit playing so much. I play way more than 40 hours a week, no problem. Right home from when I get home from school (3:15) to supper which takes about an hour and then when I go to bed (10:00-11:00)

[Capt Underpants]

I used to be addicted to counter-Strike. Eventually, it just got repetitive. My friends were pissed off because all I did was talk about the game. I started using CS language in regular speech, like "owned". At one point in time, one of my friends almost begged me to get a mac, just because it wasn't available for OSX. Then he realized that is was availale for xbox (which I own), and that a mac wouldn't solve anything. It's pretty sad. I still have Steam installed on my comp. In fact, I played it yesterday for the first time in a month. I still think it's fun, but not nearly as fun as other things.

I'm Pete Hoover, and I was addicted to Counterstrike.

[Mr. Anderson]

any video game I have ever played has bored me within 15 min. so I guess I will never be addicted to one.

how many have you played?

getting to the end and finishing the game is sometimes a long haul at the game - others are repetitive. I've enjoyed many - although I don't know if I'd call myself addicted to one.

D

[blue&whiteman]

how many have you played?

getting to the end and finishing the game is sometimes a long haul at the game - others are repetitive. I've enjoyed many - although I don't know if I'd call myself addicted to one.

D

I have played a lot. the only ones that ever gave me any real enjoyment were quake 3 and oni. I did have a 3 day stint where I played oni about half the time. great game.

how well would oni play on my mac in classic mode? system specs in my sig. or is there an osx version? quake 3 for osx plays pretty smooth on my system.

[hardon]

yea im still totally addicted to RTCW (return to Castle Wolfenstein),

So much so that i have hired a PC/Linux Box to run my own server. there is nothing better than (other than sex/love) having grown men use your server to vent thier daily frustrations/frags upon each other!!

p.s im a grown man doing the same?!?!

really... it depends on what the weather, or your friends are doing at the weekend, so when im bored i frag :eek:

[fugeelama]

i've only felt addiction once in my life, and that was form asherons call

Someone hit the nail on the head!

Back from work guys, finally.... I think any addictions I may have ever had to anything on the computer are gone now for the simple fact that after staring at a monitor for 9 hours at day while at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and stare at a monitor for another 9 hours (even if it is my sexy 17" widescreen... I digress).

So anyways, a little more info for those of you who are following this. My friend/room-mate has been play Asheron's Call 2 (from hereon "the game") for about a year now. I didn't really mind it so much at first, but the situation is as follows: for a year we've been living together in a one bedroom apartment, but I've got the bedroom and he's got the living room. No biggie, but his computer is in the corner so it's the center of the apartment. So if he's on the computer, you know it. Well it's kinda weird to always see him sitting in the same corner, day and night. A good example was this past weekend (which mirrors most weekends) -- I left Saturday morning, and he was at it. I came back Sunday night, and he was in the same spot I left him. You guys get the idea.

My worry is, that the game has taken over his life. Being one of his closest friends, I just wish he would do more than just play the game. Like make friends, or do social things (not talking to his online friends). God, I sound like a worried parent. I know I can't force him to give it up, but I really want to help him expand his horizons and whatnot.

So my questions is: should I continue trying to change his "lifestyle"? Should I just look the other way? We're moving this weekend, so he'll finally have his own bedroom, where he can sit and play all day and night and not be seen or heard. But I still wish he'd do something other than play the game. I understand he enjoys is, much the same way I tell everyone about my soon-to-be new car (fyi, i'm getting a Scion xA :D), but still... any thoughts?

[Mr. Anderson]

So my questions is: should I continue trying to change his "lifestyle"? ?

Find out how to turn the power off to the apartment for a couple of hours and see what happens...:D

Talk about something else and see where it leads

D

[markjones05]

I used to be addicted to counter-Strike. Eventually, it just got repetitive.


Dont talk that way about my precious counterstrike.

[MrMacMan]

If you want addiction...try this simple little game.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/warthog.html

cool little game.


Ahh now you made me addicted to a game... sooo fun.

:D

I love Counter Strike as long as the Admins aren't lame.
'I died damnit *yells over mike that is*'
Round will restart in 1 seconds
Me - 'God damn!'
:30 seconds lapse:
Admin - *dies* (over mike) 'That was cheap, your hacking *kicks person*'
Round will restart in 1 seconds.
Me -- 'ARG!'


Since I don't have a windows comp, obviously I can't play CS too often, but when I play, I play a lot.

[Mr. Anderson]

Ahh now you made me addicted to a game... sooo fun.

:D


I got to 17 and got bored....

There needs to be something added to it so that it makes things more interesting :D

D

[virividox]

im addicted to FISHY its a flash game check it out hehe

[ExoticFish]

man i got stuck on level 30. oh well. sweet game though! :D

[MrMacMan]

I got to 17 and got bored....

There needs to be something added to it so that it makes things more interesting :D

D
I got to level 12 and had problems... beat it and got to level 21, it was fun, some are just hard and hell... hehe.