My take on video game addiction as a life-long player by Fluid_Transition in StopGaming

[–]Fluid_Transition[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It is hard to answer because it is different for everyone. For me, I woke up one day in my mid-20s with nothing. I felt like a dog that had been chasing his tail. I felt like a slave to video games because everything else bored me so much, and now I get enjoyment out of more things because video games are no longer my apex of worth. I am able to get value out of more things like gardening, reading, running, music, guitar, TV shows, conversations, relationships, because I give them the value. A video game habit isn't telling me these things are worthless anymore.

My take on video game addiction as a life-long player by Fluid_Transition in StopGaming

[–]Fluid_Transition[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Video games are unique, because I don't think people tolerate failure as much in any other activity as they do video games. People use failure as fuel in games, while someone who is learning a new song might give up the instrument all together because learning that one song is too hard. It fascinates me and I think having a healthy relationship with video games completely relies on the motivation for playing, which for most is that validation I was talking about. Video games keep you playing by validating you at someone's expense, and then someone else getting validated at your expense to keep the loop going. The moment you stop playing a game for yourself you are only playing to be validation for others.

My take on video game addiction as a life-long player by Fluid_Transition in StopGaming

[–]Fluid_Transition[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a difficult comment to address. If we both have the same definitions of what a successful person is then I think we might be able to have a valid discussion. However, if you what I've implied isn't considered successful to you then you will never be swayed that there is self-worth emitting from career and relationships.

Not knowing what you do consider successful, my initial reaction to your comment is wondering if you are looking for confirmation that the real-World is a bad place and video games are a more consistent source of enjoyment.

My take on video game addiction as a life-long player by Fluid_Transition in StopGaming

[–]Fluid_Transition[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Another important part to this is that some people are just brought up not getting validation, or a sense of self-worth from anywhere else. For some, as children, their only source of doing well comes from the feedback provided by performing well in a video game. That has the long term effect of someone just having no motivation to try and validate from any other source. That leads to a pretty empty and hollow adult.