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| Dealing with a video game addicted friend | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 29 2010, 01:19 PM (2,395 Views) | |
| browland1 | Nov 29 2010, 01:19 PM Post #1 |
 
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Just a little story I thought I would share... Recently, I got back in touch with someone I used to be rather close friends with but haven't spoken with since 2005. We didn't have a falling out, rather things got busy and time just passed. During the time we were friends, I knew that he had an addictive personality and it took several forms; he was a compulsive shopper (especialyl clothes) and a sex addict. I kid you not, he once spent $500 on prostitutes in one weekend. The most destructive habit was definitely his video game addiction, and this was a big problem back around 2003 to 2004. He bought himself a Playstation 2 and delved headfirst into Final Fantasy XI and he was hooked from day one. He would literally spend days playing, often sacrificing sleep, eating and personal hygiene so that he could devote more time to the game. He hit a rock bottom of sorts when he dropped out of school and quit his job. He had excuses for both, such as not liking his course of study and not liking the job, but the amount of time spent playing the game escalated to the point where he rarely left the house and it was clearly in the depths of a serious addiction. On the few occasions I did see him, he was raving about the game and how awesome it was, and when I tried to offer him some friendly advise, he would disregard it. He ended up losing his apartment and moving back in with his father, whom he never had the best relationship with. Fast forward to last when I received an out-of-the-blue friend request from him on Facebook. We started talking and he was going on about how he has a good job, a great girlfriend and he's now back in school. I was elated for him and we decided to meet up for a drink and it was good to catch up; it was like the good old days. Today, on his Facebook wall, he has posted about starting to play World of Warcraft. Knowing his proclivity for getting addicted to gaming, my response was a (mildly put) "oh crap!" Let's just hope that he doesn't go down the same road he did before, since we've seen what video game addiction does to people. Does anyone have a similar experience with friends being addicted to gaming? It's a tough addiction for people to understand, but it's very real and I had a front-row seat to the train wreck it caused in someone's life. |
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| Chronosousa | Nov 29 2010, 01:56 PM Post #2 |
Level 3
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Yeah, i know all about it...i ben a wow addic my self, back in 2008. i did holde my job, BUT i raid from 1600 to 2330 in the weekdays and all day long in the weekends... I then got a GF, and it was here i knew i have a problem... i was lying alot why i could not be with her.... saying i had to do "stuff"... and when i did spend time with her...i was thinking on all the loot i was losing i was mad that i had to use my time on her :O!! After that i KNEW i need to stop, or i was going to lose her.... is a long story, how i quit WOW...but i did it.... i will be geting the new WOW-cat on the 7....but i do have my worries hehe 
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| Kharnivore2099 | Nov 29 2010, 03:02 PM Post #3 |
Retroverdose
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I have a friend, my best friend in fact, that just plays video games all day. It's not an addiction, its just his main hobby. He dosent really care about getting a well paying job and he doesnt really go out much. But the thing is, he(and me included) doesnt see the point in spending years in uni getting a degree you cant really get a job with, getting in lots of debt anf having to spend years getting out of it. He doesnt like going to the pub/bar to drink as he prefers being at home AND he has a wonderful girlfriend that also loves videogames too. Now most people, more so his parents, would say he has a problem. I on the otherhand see that he is happy doing what he's doing and i, in turn, am happy for him. Just weird how a point of perspective really tells 2 stories. They want him successful and happy, he just wants to be happy. Im not really sure what this has to do with the topic, but its the closest i have to an (not so much an)addiction story. Thats a real shame to hear about your friend browland, im glad he got his life back together though. WoW doesnt sound like the best game for him though. 
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| Creater521 | Nov 29 2010, 05:42 PM Post #4 |
Over 9000!
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Well I don't have somebody in my life like that. And it is pretty hard for me to do that anyways becuase I have boling saturdays,baseball monday-wednesday. And basktball thursday. So I dont have alot of time on my hands as you can tell. |
 http://www.youtube.com/user/Creater521?feature=mhum
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| stratamaster78 | Nov 29 2010, 06:40 PM Post #5 |
Level 6
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I think my best friend has a major COD addiction. It is hard for me to understand because I have never really got into the franchise. I have played the campaign on Modern Warfare 1 on PS3 and it was a really good game but never really made me want to play it like he does. He mainly plays online on Xbox Live, which is obviously where most of the addictions form...playing online with others. He stays up all manners of the night and somehow functions on 3-4 hours sleep. He nods off at odd times during the day but somehow keeps the cycle going. He is 33 years old and married, has a REALLY important job, and goes to college. Amazingly he keeps it all going but I feel like he is burning the candle at both ends big time and at some point something has got to give. It started with Modern Warfare 1 and has continued to Black Ops. I literally cringe when a new installment comes out because I know that is less time that he will want to hangout. From probably 9pm to 4am he will be sniping kids all night every night trying to increase his kill/death ratios and world rankings. |
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| KingJames88 | Nov 29 2010, 08:41 PM Post #6 |
Ds Games!
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I've never had to deal with a video game addicted person, however for many months I had a problem when it came to buying ds games, hunting for deals every day, using anything to get games cheaper liked used games, e bay bucks, utalkback surveys, amazon price drops, swagbucks, and so on. There were some months I bought around 15 games just because I felt I had to get the game cheap while I saw it cheap or I'll never find it on sale again. Now that i have a good majority of the ds games I wanted, I just search for price drops/sales for the select few I still want. |
 >>My DS Collection Here<< 194 games and counting! | |
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| GZKane | Nov 30 2010, 05:20 PM Post #7 |
Level 2
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I didn't know it was possible to get addicted to video games till I watched that show intervention. I thought it was about drug addicts and alcoholics but there was one episode about this guy addicted to video games. It was pretty interesting to watch. |
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If You Care, Check The Links And Add Me Youtube: Geezuzkane Youtube Channel Twitter: Geezuzkane Twitter PSN: Geezuzkhrist119 IF MY POSTS DON'T MAKE SENSE, I APOLOGIZE. I'M POSTING WITH MY CELL. THANX. | |
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| VirtualBoyGamerShow | Nov 30 2010, 06:46 PM Post #8 |
The Virtual Boy Gamer
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Having an addiction to anything is never good. Having an addiction to video games is the worst. I do have a story. I had this really smart friend. He was extremely smart. He got good grades on everything, and studied for everything. He was a wiz at getting good grades. Then, he got a Sega Dreamcast for his birthday, which came with Sonic Adventure 1. He was addicted to it. He loved it, and then he got into different games. Eventually, he got a bunch of game systems, and would spend all of his time playing them. I was happy he got into gaming, but his grades slipped. He was getting A's, then he was getting C's and D's. He was like this for a couple years. He has gotten better. But, he's not putting in the effort as much as he used to. I felt bad for him. He's getting by though. He's passing his classes. But he is not putting in as much effort as he used to. He's just into gaming. Eventually, he got kind of a temper, started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and we haven't spoken in a couple years. |
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Used to be So1001. But still, I'm...The Virtual Boy Gamer Reviews, Collections, Game Talk, and all that great stuff! | |
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| browland1 | Nov 30 2010, 08:28 PM Post #9 |
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@so1001 - your former friend sounds a lot like mine; once very bright and dedicated but is now treading water and barely making any effort. I hope my friend's WOW playing doesn't spiral into a full-blown addiction like FF XI did, so fingers crossed on that one. The worst I have ever done was call in sick to work when I got hooked on a game. This happened recently with Fable 3. I was playing non-stop and I suddenly realized it was 3 am and I had work the next day. After thinking for a moment, I decided to keep playing and I did it straight until 8 am, at which point I turned it off, called in sick and went to bed...only to wake a few hours later and play some more. I don't do that often, but I am conscious to not make it a habit. |
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| matt456p | Nov 30 2010, 09:03 PM Post #10 |
Otherwise known as Matt
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I think a lot of you know about my past li'l (AHEM), problem. It wasn't NEARLY as severe as pretty much all of these stories, and I didn't need to seek help or anything like that, but I certainly put myself in a bad situation. I spent WAY too much time on the internet: If I didn't check this forum, gaming news, Youtube, and to an extent Twitter everyday, I couldn't think about anything else. I didn't care about getting out of the house and really didn't think about it at all, and when I did think about it I just shrugged it off. I kind of accepted my "fate," but at a certain point I was just sick of it: I couldn't stand my life anymore. I then just focused on being friendlier to people and forced myself to go to things when invited. It worked, and I've honestly never been happier. I'm consistantly going doing things with friends, and although I may not have reached a Jesus status at school, I'm happy with my... standing. Once again my problem wasn't NEARLY as severe as pretty much anything here, it's just my way of relating to this. Awesome that your friend fixed everything Browland1! |
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I'm Matt. You may know me. My Twitter - matt456p My Personal Blog - Station456 My Comics Blog My Whatever Else Blog - Station456 Productions | |
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| stratamaster78 | Nov 30 2010, 09:34 PM Post #11 |
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Level 6
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I will mention that I did get pretty addicted myself to a game in the past. It was the year 2005 and had just finally purchased the original Xbox. The first game I bought was KOTOR. I could not stop playing that game. Everyday I would get home from work and play 6-10 hrs until I went to bed. I had to beat it 100% on 'Light Side' and 'Dark Side' modes. I had to collect every item, armor, cloaks, lightsaber crystals...etc. I had to complete all sidequests.....I obtained and finished everything possible in that game. It was so bad that I must admit I pulled the calling into work sick a few times card so I could keep playing. It was bad. 
Edited by stratamaster78, Nov 30 2010, 09:34 PM.
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| browland1 | Dec 1 2010, 12:21 AM Post #12 |
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I've been with my current company for 7 years, so I can get away with occasionally calling in sick when the gaming bug strikes. But it could easily become habit, so I do need to be careful about that and not allow myself to fall into disrepute with my employer. I get hooked on things rather easily and I never want to wind up like my friend did. |
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| blakesgameroom | Dec 1 2010, 06:39 AM Post #13 |
Game Collector
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yea i used to be a major addict. thats why i had to quit online gaming. ive just gotten back in to the online part and i notice i still crave it. i think im gonna try and put it off for another 4 months like ive already done before. addoction is hard to break my friends. |
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Check out my Youtube Channel at Blake's Game Room<-------Click I'm willing to Buy, Sell, or Trade video games. Just pm me. | |
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| sonicguy25 | Dec 1 2010, 09:07 AM Post #14 |
Level 5
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I'm not really that into MMORPGs, so I'm not too worried about getting too addicted to gaming as in playing for extreme amounts of time and loosing life. Hope your friend does well, browland
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Check out my YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/sonicguy25 Add me on Xbox 360 and PS3! GamerTag- sonicfan94 PSN ID- NESgamer94 | |
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