What do you think of this article?

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http://kingpinlifestyle.com/how-to-quit ... deo-games/


Personally, I think if you have a lot of ambition for self-improvement, it's a hindrance and a distraction, much like anything else that doesn't directly contribute to your ambitions.

But prolonged"screen time" does give you that "numb and dumb" feeling in your head. That's why it's a hindrance.

The first half was rubbish, the second half had some merit. More of a biography of his gaming life than useful advice, but I suppose bits and pieces of it was useful.

I didn't read the article but what if video games help my ambition, like I play a lot of sim type games and maybe one day would like to get a pilot license and I love playing oldschool rpgs like Might and Magic and Planescape Torment. For the older games I keep track of stuff in a notebook, its pretty fun. I do a lot of other stuff too, like read, paint etc. I guess people think you're failing life if your ambitions aren't about becoming some suit with a high paying job. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, duh. I eat very healthy and exercise too.

edit - okay I read the first paragraph and it deeply offended me:

"Video games are without question one of the hardest and biggest obstacles to overcome when you first get involved in a journey of self-improvement. " What THE hell? Really? What about drinking, drugs, a purely sedentary life style etc? I know games contribute to the latter but you can exercise and like games. The person who wrote this article has never smoked or known anyone with a severe substance abuse problem. That's SO stupid and ignorant. And wrong.

HA HA I KNEW IT. Ex-reformed "nerd" who blames his social blunders on video games wrote the topic. Sorry you don't have other hobbies pal, but don't push your s**t on us. I love his list of alternatives that he says are BS because I do all things, aside from visiting friends. I also drink lots of water because I'm a health freak and GASP GASP GASP I LIKE TO RUN AND JOG and not because I'm some reformed geek but because I LIKE doing it.

He has some points, like..one or two but I call complete BS on that article and it reminds me more of a livejournal post. I love reading but believe reading anything outside of "literature" is just as productive as playing video games, eg; it isn't. Do I read a whole lot of literature over fiction that's more fun? No, though I force myself to tread at least one true lit. book a month. The whole article strikes me as someone who has a very boring view on life.


"Now there’s ONE last core piece to this puzzle. On there own, all the pieces I’ve talked about thus far are important and do a lot of damage independantly, but this last piece is the real x-factor: all good games are SOCIAL. "

So all classic games made before the advent of the fast internet we have now are complete s**t. Alright.

Last edited by NeueZiel on 08 Aug 2012, 3:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have to agree with NeueZiel I read the list of stuff at the beginning of the article and, none of it appealed to me. I think the article writer's mistake is that all people want/need the same things. I'm pretty introverted so if I weren't playing video games I'd probably be doing somethig else that is also just as introverted like reading tons of fantasy/sci-fi books or drawing/painting. I've found that video games particularly MMOs are a pretty cost effective form of entertainment for me. If I wasn't playing games it's not like I'd be hangin' out at the gym or picking up chicks at a bar. That's just not my style. However if video games where getting in the way of something else I enjoyed then this would probably be good advice.

I could really go on and on about how wrong this guy is. Why? Because I am the person who enjoys video games, that paints, that reads, that jogs (FOR FUN NOT TO HAVE SEX), plays board and tabletop and likes stuff like tennis/chess/ping pong etc. I have an eclectic range of hobbies and this guys article is just so ignorant. I do agree if all you do is play video games you will get this bad burnt out feeling and feel kind of ill, I sort of did that for a few months during Burning Crusade but that's the worst I ever was. The author makes so many assumptions and talks about video games like they are tobacco or alcohol. I've seen what drug and alcohol abuse do to people. Too much of anything is bad, even good things. I was at one point in my life where I ran too much simply because it made me feel good and I was hurting myself so I had to go easy on it.

I really hope the comments troll/flame the hell out of him, geeze, anyone can get paid to write articles on sites nowadays. I guess he thought he'd get a bunch of hits by being controversial. I honestly can't read his whole article because it strikes me as very ignorant and now I've just seen a part about picking up girls. Oh yes, I reformed myself by being becoming a scummy PUA that views relationships as games of wit. Yes, my problems go deeper than a mere video game addiction - the author.

All I can say is that you shouldn't let one thing dominate your life to the point it makes you neglect getting sunlight, quiting video games won't make you automatically healthy and if you truly enjoy playing games don't quit. Most people don't like being lonely but having sex and being in a relationship really means nothing if you aren't happy. There's nothing wrong with playing video games because they make you happy, why deny yourself something you enjoy, assuming it isn't hurting others or yourself. I like to binge read, eg; get a ton of novels and do nothing but read for days on end but that's just as healthy or unhealthy as gaming since its usually Neil Gaiman stuff, sci-fi or fantasy. Me reading about fighter jet schematics for fun isn't going to get me a job with Boeing since I haven't taken engineering courses and don't even know if I would want to do that. I guess according to the writer of the article I should just do productive things and my entire life is a waste because I'm not giving back to our cannibalistic, superficial society.

"You need to find some type of lifestyle activity that you LOVE. Something you are PASSIONATE about. Find this and you’ll seriously never have another desire to play video games. Eventually your life will get to a point where you straight up just don’t even have time to THINK about playing video games. I’m extremely busy, and this causes me not to DJ as much as I want, so if I have any free time, I do that! But I also don’t always do it by myself. I have a few friends that share that same passion so we hang out and do it. DJing allows me to escape from life temporarily and to relax. It’s also a ton of fun, I can see constant measurable growth, and at the same time, it’s always challenging. See a pattern here? I’ve covered all 4 pieces! Now I’m at the point where playing video games just seems completely ridiculous to me."

Translation: I am a colossal tool and deprived myself of something I enjoyed instead of developing discipline to balance my life and interests and am a boring person. Watch as I rack up hits and make tons of money off this sensationalist article. Hahaha DJ, it would be ironic and funny if he ended up becoming addicted to amphetamines since you see that a lot in the whole club scene and no I'm not doing the same thing as the author by generalizing a group of people, just making a point. I'm finished ranting. I've seen better articles talking about why games are bad that I didn't agree with yet made good points, his reminds me of some kind of livejournal post.


edit - This guy must screen his comments, nothing negative at all. Again I know everyone is thinking "Well Neueziel is clearly just an addict to games and is raging hard." No, actually. In fact it has bothered me at some points with how people play video games SO MUCH nowadays but I still just feel really irritated by the article. Its so one sided, I'd love to hear his opinions on tabletop, board games, chess, roleplaying or watching sports on tv. Actually no, I wouldn't be interested in his opinions because he would pull something out of his ass saying how this promoted more growth.

It really is autobiographically more than anything. Everything useful he said was common sense anybody should know. Also reading up a bit on this guy he seems to be some type of PUA (pick up artist) that teaches others how to get dates. I'll end my big long rant with this: don't let something consume your life but what makes us grow and is beneficial to who and what we are is incredibly subjective. I'm not saying this should be an excuse to play World of Warcraft 15 hours a day. This guy acts like its impossible to find meaningful relationships with someone if you play games. Well, if you do play WoW 15-20 hours a day you -do- have a problem but chances are if you do quit you'll just do something else addictively. Don't quit a hobby just so others can like you, be true to yourself. The author of this article thinks video games are the worst time waster possible but really in the end for 90% of us all we do is consume anyway. Be it media, resources, oxygen. It doesn't matter. If you want to make a difference go help others, join charities, help at an animal shelter, soup kitchen, join the peace-corps. You dropping one habit and say, becoming a DJ like the author means jack s**t, especially if you DJ dubstep music .

I do agree that we should all create though. Video games, movies and books all inspire me to a big degree, that's really why I play them.

On a side note I had a friend I went to trade school with many years ago that was into the DJ scene that I ran into again last year. Back then he had a young hot wife. I was slightly jealous of him. When I saw him almost 10 years latter I came to find out that the DJ lifestyle had ruined his marrage. Sure he got a lot of girls but, he hadn't had many meaningful relationships. He had finally found a new young girl that he planned to marry but, was hoping to get out of DJing in order to make the relationship work. Now reading this article maybe I should have suggested he pick up Gaming as a way of getting away from the DJ scene. I guess anything can have a downside.

What a crock. The guy ID'd himself as a PUA, so you know this is BS. Also he hates fat people. My brother used to be fat, now he's spends all his time trashing fat people. You'd think someone who knows what it's like to be fat would be more sympathetic. Only an idiot gets addicted to something, and only a benighted douchebag like the guy who wrote that article speaks addiction for someone else w/o all the facts.

I play video games, a lot, always have. I'm not addicted, I just like gaming, have nothing better to do and want to avoid a**holes like the guy who wrote that article. Except we have the internets now which lets a**holes like him into my gaming. But yeah, I'm not an addict, and I don't appreciate some knuckle-dragging, PUA a**hole telling me I am.

Stopped reading after the first sentence. What kind of BS is this guy trying to pull?

He's PUA scum pretty much. It would be one thing if the article yet another misguided adult complaining about video games or maybe someone citing problems associated with people who game a lot. His entire article was very unprofessional and I instantly write off any dude who is a PUA.

I liked the part where he said you're the same person after playing video games.

NeueZiel brought up a VERY good game, namely Planescape: Torment. This game has been one of the biggest literary inspirations for my own works. This game's plot is stuffed to the brim with thought-provoking philosophical conundrums (What can change the nature of a man? ), and all kinds of mind-bending metaphysics (You can cause one guy to exist just by telling a bunch of people a fake name, and as a result of so many people believing that guy exists...he does! You can convince a version of yourself he DOESN'T exist, and he disappears! And by the Gods, don't get me started on portals. f**k those things!).

That strange, enigmatic, imaginative world has continued to capture my thoughts time and time again whenever I find myself daydreaming (which I do quite a lot of).

There's also the fact that video games have demonstrated the ability to improve hand-eye coordination faster visual recognition ability. Really, this guy knows jack s**t about video games. He's a....shall we call it a "newfriend".

I think it's down to the individual rather than the games...
If he's blaming his addiction on the substance rather than looking at himself then it's no wonder he's getting blasphemy from those commenting on his article.

If I had to work 9am-5pm I'd want to relax. By relax I mean play my PS3 or any other game system I have.

I exercise and eat as healthy as possible and when I'm not doing that, I'm gonna game my heart out. In this day and age, it's kinda impossible to not play some sort of video game.

I don't have an addiction, I just play until my hearts content

I skimmed over it (tl;dr) and it made me think that there is no reason for me to quit since I am pretty much asexual and don't want to leave the house. If I didn't play video games I'd be doing things like watching tv, reading, or making puzzles all day.

Also he says that the best games are social. I don't like social games and play the mmorpg I play like it's a single player game. I almost never talk to people in it and hate activities where you need a partner or group.

"I think we can all agree that they are also a major cause as to why you lack the skills necessary to attract women, network, and live the life you WANT to live, instead of the one where you are stagnant, procrastinating at home night after night."

I'm not interested in attracting women (or men), networking, and I do want to procrastinate at home night after night.

I didn't read the whole article but I see no reason for anyone to stop playing video games. Gaming is one of my special interests but I also have many others, such as: art, law enforcement in the USA, robotics, human psychology, biology and nature.

I can't see any real connection between playing video games and suffering from an inability to chat up members of the opposite sex. Nerds usually aren't very good at dating and coincidentally, many also like playing video games which is probably the reason behind this common misconception.

As long as it doesn't completely dominate your life, I see nothing wrong with playing video games.