Over the last several months, I've been playing videogames too often. They're fun as an occasional break from school, from work, but when it becomes the focal point of your life, you know it's a problem. I wouldn't call it an addiction, per se, but it might as well be. I've experienced addiction before, and I know the signs. I can't just say 'I'll only play for a few minutes' and then go through with it. More often than not, I end up playing for the majority of a day, then get angry with myself for wasting time.
I attend one of the most expensive universities in the country. My mother is paying for my tuition out of pocket, and neither she nor I can afford to waste that investment. If I put as much time and energy into my schoolwork as I did these strategy games, I'd be at the top of my class. I'd write essays that could become part of the American canon, and conduct ground-breaking research in cognitive science.
So for my readers out there, as much as for myself, I'm swearing off of video-games this semester. I'll uninstall my steam account, and wipe every game I've installed on my computer. And I'll hold myself accountable; If I slip up, I'll tell you. Because whether or not you respond, I will be ashamed.
I mean, hey; people die every year from too much gaming. Do I wanna end up like that?
I attend one of the most expensive universities in the country. My mother is paying for my tuition out of pocket, and neither she nor I can afford to waste that investment. If I put as much time and energy into my schoolwork as I did these strategy games, I'd be at the top of my class. I'd write essays that could become part of the American canon, and conduct ground-breaking research in cognitive science.
So for my readers out there, as much as for myself, I'm swearing off of video-games this semester. I'll uninstall my steam account, and wipe every game I've installed on my computer. And I'll hold myself accountable; If I slip up, I'll tell you. Because whether or not you respond, I will be ashamed.
I mean, hey; people die every year from too much gaming. Do I wanna end up like that?
Hey Cam,
ReplyDeleteI've been there. I looove video games. I'd play them all day. Every day. Going cold turkey might work -- certainly deleting your steam account, etc. will heighten the barrier to playing 'just for a minute or two'. Other barriers, like going to the library to study makes it harder to play for 'just a minute or two'. I was not much of a physics person in college, but I spent *a lot* of time in the physics library. Largely b/c the books on the shelves were extremely un-distracting. As it was, I might have flipped through a physics journal from time to time. A few minutes looking at those equations were usually enough to get me back to writing my Shopenhauer paper (yes, I actually took an entire semester course dedicated to him - the title of the course was, "Shopenhauer").
In the long run, however, I hope you look more to 'redirect' your passion rather than squash it. It's much easier to become *more* passionate in something else (like cognitive science) than to spend a lot of energy becoming *less* passionate about something (like video games). I still love video games. I just love my wife, kids, job, other relationships, and some other hobbies *more* than I love video games.
And at the end of the day, I know lots of video game programmers, graphic artists, and one of my former classmates is named Seth Schiesel - check out his writings here:
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/seth_schiesel/index.html
Who knows, maybe your passion for games will lead you to take over Seth's job one day...
Best of luck!
Alexi
Thank you, Alexi. I like these suggestions; I'll give them a go as I start prepping for midterms (first Cog midterm is on the 23rd, then a Calc midterm on the 29th).
DeleteHey Cameron. I love video games too, and what's worse is that I have friends who love them too. For a while I was frustrated because my best friend would still find time to practice Chinese and Japanese to a point where he's better than everyone in the class even though he seemed to have plenty of time to play games. I realized that he did not spend all his free time playing games as I thought, but instead spent it practicing languages because they are his passion in life. Then, only if he had extra time later, he would play video games.
ReplyDeleteI still struggle to not waste so much time on video games too, so I'm going to be right with you trying to control the habit. I think your friends advice for redirecting your energy is great, and I hope it works out for you.
Also, Alexi your friend has an awesome job! I would totally love to be able to do something involving video games for a living while, hopefully something that makes enough money for me to live. Even though I don't usually go to the Times for my game reviews, his writing is great; I totally know all the games he has written about and he does a good job. I really love to see people making a living doing what they love, especially in the case of video games.
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