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Ever quit gaming?

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by specofdust, 28 Dec 2007.

  1. specofdust

    specofdust Banned

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    Well, it's not quite new year yet but I already have a resolution enacted. I've given up games and TV. Anyone else ever tried this?

    Now TV I don't miss too much, TV for me basicly just means watching whatever latest series I got, on my monitor, while I'm eating or before I go to sleep. Gaming I kind of do miss - not nearly as much as I expected I would though - but at the same time I feel like I have a fair ammount more time on my hands which I can use for better things.

    So, did giving up the games improve your life? I always considered myself a hardcore gamer. I was dedicated, I was better than those part-timer console gamers, I was serious about games, and not least I was in the fortunate position of being bloody good at most games I tried my hand at. So it feels a little weird from that perspective to have dropped them. Almost like losing a part of yourself that you love :(

    Anyway, just curious for other peoples experiences, and thoughts. Having more free time to spend on more worthwhle things must be worth it. I do wonder if, in a while once I'm used to not gaming, I might enter the world of the casual gamers, playing fun little adventure games on a console or something. That does seem like it'd be less destructive on ones life than 5 hour sessions of CSS.

    Should say, being that I'm classing this as a NY resolution, it may only last about as long as the hangover does in 08 - I am hoping to make it stick though
     
  2. Orca

    Orca What's a Dremel?

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    I think I can easily do TV, I hardly watch it nowadays be it terrestial or Sky. Games would be difficult for me though, big props if you can keep at it. It's perhaps my main mode of entertainment at home so without that it would literally mean there's nothing to look forward to besides Internet. But you can only do so much surfing, right?
     
  3. Delphium

    Delphium Eyefinity enabled

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    Gave up TV years ago, I saw the light and saved my brain from being savaged from the brain microwave.
    Games however, I only quit a game to start up another :blush: hehe
     
  4. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    i didnt give up gaming.... i'm not old enough for that yet. but i did give up tv... it was the easiest thing ever to do, i used to live in switzerland.. the tv programm there is miserable at best... i moved to the uk (no, not becuase of tv programm lol), guess what? the tv prgramm is no better.

    i'm not really a hardcore gamer though.. sure, some of those weirdo politicians that try to get games banned would surely categorize me as must have no life cause he plays so much, but i dont really have a problem putting a game down for some rl activity.

    i think gaming can go along with having enough time for rl stuff (yes, even proper gaming on the pc, not console rubbish) aslong as you dont over do it.

    will i quit gaming one day? yep.. the day when there will be no more pc games released and everything will be console only.
     
  5. Kipman725

    Kipman725 When did I get a custom title!?!

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    heh I gave tv up years ago when they stopped showing stargate and startrek TNG... nothing else worthwhile. There is some good TV for example two years ago I saw an excelent adaption of sweany tod and I have seen a few episodes of the tudors program but tv forced you to scedual your life around your entertainment which I refuse to do!

    *one day I will quit gaming as the number of good games coming out in the past few years has been decreasing rapidly but I still have to play all the good games already out.
     
  6. specofdust

    specofdust Banned

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    TV per se I gave up a fair while back. Without even meaning to. I just moved into a room that didn't have space for a TV, and found I never went through to the livingroom to watch the television. It was just wasn't worth my time. But I continued to work my way through good TV shows, ones that I actually enjoyed and felt were worthwhile, just watching on my monitor whenever I felt like it. Not doing that means a lot of my meals (the ones I dont eat with family) are more boring. Still, more time.

    I'm hoping to take up a fair number of new hobbies next year, but I'm also just wanting to read a lot more (philosophy and literature), learn to use nix, maybe learn to code in python as well. All of those things need a fair ammount of time dedicated to them and in past when I've tried to say, learn to code, I'd do 20 minutes, get bored, and go game. I figure if I remove the sources of simple, very easy reward from my life (I.E. games) then I can get bigger better things done that where I actually achieve something.
     
  7. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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    I know people who actually had to give up gaming because they were seriously addicted to it, but I've never been there myself. I'm a pretty hardcore gamer and have literally locked myself away to play on occasion, but I've also always been self-aware enough to know when it gets out of hand. When that happens I don't quit, I just do something else.
     
  8. specofdust

    specofdust Banned

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    Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near there tbh. I've played MMO's before and so I do know what it's like when it's getting out of hand, but these days I didn't game obsessively, it was just my primary pass-time.

    This isn't about being worried about playing too much, rather just about realising that playing CSS or Crysis for 5 or 6 hours on a lazy holiday day, although perhaps mildly enjoyable, isn't the best way to spend the time. Oddly, the more I think about this the more I think "but gaming must be fun otherwise you wouldn't have done it for years" - still though, I think giving it up could be for the better. I imagine a lot of people here think similarly to myself, that TV (as in, regular old television sets) is a big waste of time, and that most people who have that as their main passtime are wasting that time. I'm starting to think that PC gaming isn't much better :eek:
     
  9. adam197

    adam197 What's a Dremel?

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    I was addicted to CS:S a few years ago. Starting university forced me to stop though, and it probably has been one of the better things that's happened to me. There's a lot of rewarding activities not involving computers in this world. Good luck.
     
  10. chrisb2e9

    chrisb2e9 Dont do that...

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    i gave up tv and games for a year, that ended about a year ago. when I moved i didn't bring my pc with my so i was without a pc for a year. wasn't that bad, i found other stuff to do. I just cant remember what it was...
     
  11. dragontail

    dragontail 5bet Bluffer

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    Do it, you'll thank yourself later down the line. However, you'll need to find a new hobby or something. And yes, it can be done.
     
  12. specofdust

    specofdust Banned

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    Oh I know it can be done and I'm not addicted to anything - not even close - , I've found the last few days remarkably easy. I feel a little more bored at times, but only because I want the easy endorphins from games. There are other better things to be doing. It's just an interesting wee experiment to see what I come up with which is more enjoyable.
     
  13. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

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    Never bothered giving up games although I've gone through dry spells where I just couldn't find anything I wanted to play.
     
  14. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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    I've never gone out my way to give up either, but i do have other hobbies which take up more time. My rc planes in the summer tend to eat up what ever day light is thrown at me and in the winter i tend to try largish linux projects, my last was getting a completely passive machine to boot of the network and this Christmas i've been playing with mythtv, i doubt i'll use it much but my other half likes the tv. I guess i've always been of the second mind set, i enjoy gaming but prefer a big project running over a few weeks or months.
     
  15. Thacrudd

    Thacrudd Where's the any key?!?

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    Tv isn't a prob, it's mostly garbage (except Mythbusters), Games are a different story. That's like asking a football fan to give up watching football. When I was 16 through 20 years old I didn't play games much I spent my time "partying" *ahem* on a daily basis. I stopped that and went back to gaming, which is much better for me and my health. Don't ever give it up, just limit yourself if you feel you're over doing it. I have been drug free since and I can honestly say games helped me out of that hole in my life.
     
  16. Jake4d1

    Jake4d1 lol wut iz dremul?

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    Same here.

    I also haven't watched TV for about a year now, except the times when I sit down and watch a movie with family, friends, etc.
     
  17. Firehed

    Firehed Why not? I own a domain to match.

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    Long since given up on TV, bunch of mind-numbing crap. There are a couple decent shows (BSG, Mythbusters) out there which I'll grab from bit-torrent on DVD, but otherwise it's dead to me.

    Gaming I've only just been getting back into. I did very little while I was at school, and not a whole lot before that. But there are a lot of gamers at work so I'll play with some of them.
     
  18. lockdown

    lockdown What's a Dremel?

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    No, i haven't think of quitting gaming because I'm a true gamer. I think that gaming right now is a lifestyle it will just keep changing and it will never run out.
     
  19. Major

    Major Guest

    Going to try ad give up gaming after Christmas, I've even cancelled my order on my 8800GTS and spending it on a new bike. :)
     
  20. Jaguar_Infinity

    Jaguar_Infinity Just some guy

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    I often work away for a couple of months at a time and when i'm away im in the middle of nowhere. I find that when im there and i have no TV or Computer i can quite easily live without it but if i have it there i get glued to it. Same with the internet

    Im a computer adict. If its there i cant help but use it at the expence of other things, if its not there i can get on with other things and not miss it so much
     

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