How to stop playing video games?

College Confidential Community
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<p>Agreed^
Except it sucks cuz i dont have xbox live cause my internet sucks right now. But im getting new internet soon. </p>

<p>So now im actually looking forward to the Orange Box (if u dunno what it is, it's comin on Xbox and Pc. It consists of Halflife 2, half life 2 ep.1 and 2, Team fortress 2, and portal. But yeah, if u preorder on pc u get to start in the beta (just opens today sometime this afternoon) so after school im playin that. its gonna be insane)</p>

<p>Seriously OP. If you are gonna get obsessed, actually play a good game. Not just some crappy free online game. Its probably something stupid like runescape or somethin.</p>

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<p>Here's an idea: sell your console. That way, you're ridding yourself of the habit while making a quick buck.</p>

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<p>Thanks to all the people who replied!</p>

<p>jacob456: Nice suggestion. I'm probably going to take up singing in college, but I don't know how much of a time commitment that is.</p>

<p>It'sGr82BeAGator: I think I'll do that, but then again, I've wanted to create a similar game for several months now and I've never gotten around to it...I'll just have to see if I can summon the motivation :) A game is a large commitment, and of course I would be creating it for free.</p>

<p>Shrinkrap: But I can quit anytime I want! :p</p>

<p>michuncle: MSU's game design program sounds very interesting. I might have to consider transferring from Caltech to enroll there. Thank you for your suggestion.</p>

<p>Relentless355: Yeah, if I were to do that, there's a significant chance I'd abandon the first game to go play a similar game (a harder one, which would take even longer to beat). Maybe I'll eventually discover something more interesting to binge on...</p>

<p>wilmingtonwave: But I don't like sports, or concerts! I do have a girlfriend, whom I know from chats on AIM. (She sympathizes, but thinks I'm wasting my life and should be reading science books instead.)</p>

<p>Maybe if I started playing Madden it would get me into sports.</p>

<p>InquilineKea:</p>

<p>"can you reliably exhaust all of the game's material"</p>

<p>Unfortunately, no; that's one of the key things that makes this game the best one I've ever played. It's also the reason people still play it despite its questionable interface.</p>

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<p>So whenever I play the game, I should force myself to eat dog doo and whack myself over the head with a ruler. I guess that could work. :p</p>

<p>"But a drastic change in environment could"</p>

<p>That's precisely what I'm hoping for. I'm going to try to quit cold turkey for at least the first few weeks of college so I have time to get to know new people (since freshman year is the year people make most friends). But I am a pessimist and suspect I will return to the game.</p>

<p>"potential/latent/unrealized interest"</p>

<p>Perhaps I will discover a passion for sports, or concerts. =)</p>

<p>"it's easy to learn in an hour or two"</p>

<p>I did. That was the problem. (<em>recalls reading frantically through the textbook from 3-5 AM the morning of the test, getting the question right, and forgetting the material the day after</em>)</p>

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<p>marge_sherwood: I did get a job last summer (bioinformatics research). It was very sedentary, involved computers, and after three weeks I still didn't know the name of the guy who worked next to me. (Chalk it up to me hating people.) But hey, it sure paid better than flipping burgers :D Of course, all those hours querying databases were exhausting, so as soon as I got home, I'd turn on the computer and play the game instead of actually making friends and talking to people. (It's very relaxing! Unlike hanging out with people, which, as an introvert, I see as tiring.)</p>

<p>I think if I get another job, it will involve sitting on my bed proving theorems. Might give me some nice credentials in case I want to go to grad school and not just be a programmer for a small company in the middle of nowhere.</p>

<p>steevee: Good idea. Though that would of course require me to think of life goals beyond "beating the game with one hand tied behind my back" (variants of which have been my main goal for the past year). I recently realized that life lacks purpose and I might as well amuse myself.</p>

<p>Maybe my goal could be to create a new game :)</p>

<p>And of course if I made the game inaccessible, I'd probably find some way of outwitting my constraints (as I have for various other things.)</p>

<p>peter_parker: The problem is it's difficult to define "pathetic," and I never really had much of a purpose in life to begin with (save getting into college, but now that that's over with, there isn't much else to do). So basically, beating the game has been a large part of my life-purpose for a while :D</p>

<p>Oh, and for whatever reason, I really like the people who play with me. Most are friendly and act educated (even if they really aren't). And several of them donate considerable chunks of their freetime to maintaining the game, an effort I find very admirable...</p>

<p>slugger255: I've never tried the Halo games. Heard they're good though.</p>

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<p>I'm confused. Khelly: Are you still in high school or have you started Caltech ?</p>

<p>A short list of game development degree programs: <a href="http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/educationfortechcareers/tp/GamingPrograms.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/educationfortechcareers/tp/GamingPrograms.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>An interesting article about being a game developer: <a href="http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2000/Summer/art01.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2000/Summer/art01.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I start college on Sept. 24th. Caltech has this weird quarter-system thing.</p>

<p>Thanks for the articles! -- though the sorts of games I'm interested in coding aren't the types people would pay me to code.</p>

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<p>omfg dude you have to get to playing madden with your friends. I'm still in high school and in the mornings before school on block days we just madden it up like no other....that's the only game i ever play nowadays, but yea man...drop this source code game unless it's your passion, and play some madden</p>

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<p>I recommend playing a game that will frustrate you/tire you out. For example, I love to play StarCraft and WarCraft III, but after an hour or so of winning I'm usually exhausted from the mental effort. I can then take that exhaustion and use it to relax with music or take a nap.</p>

<p>On the flip side, if I lose a few matches, I'll be p.issed as hell and won't touch the game for a few hours or more. I like to take all that fresh frustration and anger and go for a run.</p>

<p>If you play a hard game, and play to win, you won't be able to play for hours on end. It's the easy, mind numbing, and comfortable games that will get you addicted (e.g. WoW).</p>

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<p>Oddly enough, the game I am hopelessly addicted to is notorious for being diabolically difficult :)</p>

<p>As in, it usually takes years to win the game for the first time. I'm actually a good player (i.e. have been playing for far too long), and I only win 2.47% of my games. What's sad is this is a source of pride for me. :p</p>

<p>But then again, maybe that's why my game is so much less popular than, say, WoW.</p>

<p>Maybe I should go find a harder game that I'll never be able to win, like Dungeon Crawl or mathematics. Winning occasionally gives me too much hope.</p>

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<p>This game sounds like it needs my playing.</p>

<p>What is it?</p>

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<p>OK MAN WHAT GAME IS IT..... </p>

<p>and your from caltech?? HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET IN SUCH PRESTIGIOUS COLLEGE????? :D</p>

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<p>open source game that's hard for multiplayer... hmm is it strategy game like wesnoth?</p>

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<p>Im just gonna give my opinion here...</p>

<p>I know videogames are very addicting and I love them too. However, to stop playing them is really tough but its a great character-building thing to do. When I play a lot I tell myself, "Ok, no gaming today" Its very hard but I eventually manage it and find differetn cool things to such as sports, read (amazing isnt it?), or just hang out with friends. Once I did that a couple times it really taught me self-discipline and that I think is very important for a college education. I still play games a lot, but just on occassions and I dont feel that "obligation" to play games.</p>

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<p>I had that problem, but when my parents catch me playing games for too long like 2 hours on their standards, they take it away and put it in their trunk, if it's a downloadable game just block the website so that you can't go to it, or just control yourself, I get bored of playing games by the first couple of hours because it's so repetitive, but if you don't get bored then just delete the game and block the site so you can't dl it anymore.</p>

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<p>what is the problem on playing video games, people can play video games and do other activvities as well. For example in my case, i play golf, basketball and even play video games on my free time. so i think that people shoulndt stop completely but do other activities as well.</p>

<p>Alejandro Lopez</p>

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<p>i think that you dont have to destroy the game. You can just control what you want to do and be able to play only certain times a week , this way having fun but in a contoled.</p>

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<p>I think that a way t[o s top playiong video games is by goin out more and meeting more people. If the people yo0u hang out with are the same as you then why dont you talk to them and change that of instead of playing all the time video games you go out and do different stuff with different people. One friend of mine had that proble, the only thing he did was to play videogames, but know he has a girlfriend now he plays only in some ocations 9when being at a house and there is nothing more to do or things like that.</p>

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<p>I had the same problem.</p>

<p>Yanno what I did?</p>

<p>Got rid of my gaming computer.</p>

<p>'Nuff said.</p>

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<p>uinstall or if its a console sell it or give it away or better yet get a hammer and kill it =)</p>

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<p>I just leave my game consoles at home so I am never tempted. Then again, my alternative strategy was simply thinking about how I'm in college and don't like being stuck in my room playing games alone like so many anti-social kids I know.</p>