video games as self-contained worlds to hide out in

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Does anyone ever get obsessed with games as self-contained worlds?

As a kid I always loved dioramas and action figure playsets that were complete environments in miniature. I could get pretty obsessive about such things—especially after I discovered D&D and the related miniatures.
Now, any video game that has a big, detailed, complex world that I can walk around in interests me. I personally prefer fantasy and SF worlds to gritty crime drama stuff like GTA, but I try most open-world games. Skyrim is my deadliest weakness; I thought I finally had gotten over it, but then the recent special edition on PS4 got me going again.

Now, I DON’T like online games with other real people running around in the game world, acting like jerks and being silly and doing the kinds of things human players do. Real humans make terrible NPCs, they spoil it for me. I’m also not so much into sim or god games where you’re looking down at the world from a distance; I want to be in it. And if I can design my own character that’s a huge plus.

I don’t know if it is an ASD thing, but for decades I have chosen games to play based on the kind of world I wanted to take refuge in at the moment. In the old days before online game downloads, I would sometimes spend HOURS in EB Games or Gamestop (or Babbages… if anyone else remembers them) studying the screenshots on boxes to see if a game had a cool, interesting world in it that I could take home and dive into.

And during many times in my life when I felt completely unable to handle real people, I sought refuge in those worlds and the company of their scripted inhabitants. I guess I still do, though less than when I was younger.

they give me great relief, even though I prefer and only play large, multiplayer first person shooters (like battlefield 1). they are self-contained worlds as well, and I tend to play on my own (rather than as part of a squad or team). It is a great escape for me, and really helps me disconnect my brain and calms me down.

I love the Animal Crossing series, where each copy has its own unique village and randomly-selected villagers, sometimes I feel closer to the villagers than I do real people.

I hide out in Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Curtain Call, Pokemon Explorers of Sky/Super Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon X/Moon, and Rune Factory 4 the most. I love fantasy RPGs with loads of treasure to find and open-world places to go. I once played Dragon Quest IX so much that I stopped playing because I knew it so well.

On the subject of NPCs: Welcome To Corneria.

My hideouts are Pokemon X/LeafGreen/Crystal/Alpha Sapphire, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts Unchained Keys, Animal Crossing GameCube, New Leaf, and Barbie and The Three Musketeers. Heck, when I was little, I thought the characters from Pokemon X were actual people, just online, and that it was just fate that we ended up together. (I also have a giant crush on my own rival! *blush*)

I played DraqonQuest IX a lot when it came out. I got really attached to my little guys and training and dressing them up for different jobs.

^Me, too! The problem was that I got my characters' Sword and Shield skills to 100 about halfway through the game, and as a result of gaining several other useful skills, all of the bosses seem weak.

I'll add and say that I personally have found what OP is describing is why I believe gaming is great for anxiety / depression. Its seems gaming in general is a great escape if you look at personalities like Boogie2988 but such details treads on being off topic.

I love open world games too though, life sucks and gets better in Tamriel

My major hideout was World of Warcraft, but I had to stop that because I was sinking too much real money into it. I was also using a rotation-helper, which Blizzard don't like, because it made game-life somewhat easier. Lastly its community definitely has a toxic aspect to it, although not as bad as LoL and DotA 2.

Currently I don't have a game-world to "hide in". My personal interest in video-games has started to decline somewhat in recent times. Might have to do with age, or maybe it's because video-games in general are no longer very appealing.

I remember Babbages before EB bought them. I like sandbox games these days. Like irl my playing habits have followed a similar path where in I interact less and mostly avoid contact with humans.