Forums » The Lounge

What has gaming done for you?

    • 1595 posts
    December 15, 2015 5:56 AM EST

    Legion this is a very deep discussion you have made, well done sir!

    • 1595 posts
    December 15, 2015 5:59 AM EST

    Tom you seem to be in a very dark place right now. I mean, it seems that is a recurring issue but I feel you have left things unsaid and deliberately toned down the negativity. Shoot me a pm if you want to talk mate

    • 51 posts
    December 15, 2015 6:31 AM EST

    Well...gaming has done a lot in my life for the past years. My dad introduced me to gaming since I was 7 (My first game was "Counter Strike") Ever since then It trained my reflexes to be a little bit faster but not more flexible for I was obese during those years.. RPG games came into my years a bit late for first, I wasn't into that much fantasy and role-playing stuff and second, I was a "fanboy" for 2 shooter games (COD and TEAM FORTRESS )so I played a bit of RPGs when I was a bit older.  RPG games...well Those Games opened up my mind a bit. I tend to help other people (Maybe because of  Generic Fantasy game quests) I learned to answer witty comebacks in return (High /IntelligenceCharisma characters helped me on this) and also I tend to have a more open world ( I mean is, before, I really didn't care that much about the people and the world that surrounds me so I tend to think I'm the coolest or I'm the guy who saves the day, but after I played more games, i tend to think "I'm not the only one who does that" or Maybe I need a bit of help".  and after countless hours of gaming experience I realize that the world does not revolve around me, I'm just a person that revolves with it.Gaming really changed something in my mind and i'm happy of the results)

    (Sorry for the long,long story. This thing just keeps on spinning in my mind and I know my other reasons are a bit "weird" or "strange" but those things are the truth)

  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    December 15, 2015 9:34 AM EST

    Nah, tis finals week and I haven't slept properly in days. I couldn't allow this discussion to go without pointing out the problems at the heart of gaming culture, specifically video games.

    I think gaming can be good. But not all games are created equal. DnD or MtG, or any game really that has you get together with other people in the same physical location to play together has been far more enriching and has taught me more than any MMO or single-player video game.

    If you want to stimulate creative thinking, play chess (MtG is essentially more complicated chess), or a narrative-based role play game, or even poker.

    Skyrim is pretty damn fun, I love this series lore, and I enjoy playing games by myself or when I'm alone to pass the time. I'm not going to say video games were the best use of my life or they taught me anything I couldn't get more effectively from not playing them. They're entertainment. I enjoy it, but sitting and watching classic films for my entire teenage years provides me with absolutely nothing in terms of real life skills besides references people make in other media to them.

    As others have stated reading further in the comments, they agree. Video games provide escapism. That's what I went to them for, but you eventually have to come to terms with reality. Actually, on second thought I can't be so harsh on video games. Most people before our generation used booze to escape from their humdrum existence.

    • 700 posts
    December 15, 2015 10:58 AM EST

    Having used both means of escapism, I can say I prefer video games to escape existence when I need to. Sometimes it's as simple as escaping the day-to-day and sometimes it's a tool that I need to stop myself from ruminating on something that will eat me from the inside out if I give it the foothold to do so. It used to be easy enough to just throw in Battlefield 3, get lit, and blast Lady Gaga until such time that holding the controller properly was a game in itself, but that showed to be...unhealthy? Yes, that. I haven't picked up BF3 since then, but it is a hard game to enjoy sober.

    Anyway, I see where you're coming from with D&D and MTG, the former which I've never played (though I'd like to) and the latter which I've been playing for a few years. I admit, it brought me and a lot of my friends closer together and we've shared a lot of experiences together that we would never have gotten experience otherwise because these are the friends of mine who I never got to play video games with. So now we have a game to laugh (and bitch) about together, in person, and it's reminiscent of the couch co-op days for me. 

    I only caught the tail end of those days and haven't done nearly as much as I'd still very much like to even now. Sometimes the game is just an activity to facilitate the discussion of some deeper issues and almost becomes a therapeutic tool. So for what it's worth, I understand about games that get you together with people in the same location rather than through a cable and behind a screen. 

    My take on single player games is that they give us all that we desperately need at certain junctures: alone time. Sometimes a friend and a game are exactly what I need and when that time comes, I have a couple mediums to choose from. But sometimes all I need is to retreat into my own world, to be alone, and to work things out on my own. That often means loading up Skyrim or Fallout, and working through what ails me. 

    Escapism is...can be, a good thing. I think when life hits a point where you're tearing yourself down at every turn and festering in the remains, video games can ironically help reestablish a connection to reality by giving you an outlet for all those emotions. It's a temporary escape from reality, but also an escape from your own mind that, if left unchecked, can do more harm than good in the long run. At least, that's been my experience. 

    • 700 posts
    December 15, 2015 11:10 AM EST

    Dude, that's a pretty cool thing to get out of gaming. Existential insight? Hell yeah! Do you have any games or characters that stand out as being particularly helpful for this? I'm guessing that the high Intelligence/Charisma is Fallout, though I'm not certain which. 

    • 694 posts
    December 15, 2015 11:27 AM EST

    Sounds like gaming is a very welcome distraction indeed then, Mirric. It being super fun is an added bonus. If you ever want to drop me a line and unload some things, please do.  

    • 694 posts
    December 15, 2015 11:39 AM EST

    A Goddess, huh?? That's a new one! ...I'll take it. 

    Glad to see you feel the same. I mean, I guess I just feel like for the time I've invested I've gotten much more enjoyment than just the actual play time. Discussing it with others is another return on that initial investment. To me that definitely makes it worthwhile! Oh, and you'll of course also have to keep us posted on how any development and progress of your own games are going. 

    • 700 posts
    December 15, 2015 11:43 AM EST

    I can definitely see video games helping improve language skills. My vocabulary exponentially increased just from playing Pokemon Blue as a child, so I can see how some video games a high schooler might play would help improve language skills. That "computer literacy" sounds like more than just knowing all the keyboard shortcuts...:P

    Glad to hear you keep in touch with old gaming mates, though. You guys still play together at all? 

    • 700 posts
    December 15, 2015 12:09 PM EST

    Thanks, Phil, I thought it would neat to have a place to share gaming experiences as a whole because of how deep it runs through our lives. I figure it's good to appreciate the person and story behind the avatar because sometimes it's easy to forget that we're all far deeper being than what we present here. Not to get too sappy...ahem.

    I'm sure I can expect a lengthy and beautifully written chronicle from you? Eeeehhh? :P 

    • 288 posts
    December 15, 2015 12:55 PM EST

    Well, we gather together to drink and eat pizza mostly.

    This summer we went to a PC club and played several hours of Broodwar "for old times' sake". It's getting harder to find such PC clubs, however, because nowadays almost everyone has a home PC and internet.

    Computer literacy generally means knowing how to operate DOS and Windows, mostly, how to install programs, how to deal with errors, set up your internet connection, etc.

    • 700 posts
    December 15, 2015 12:57 PM EST
    True! When the extent of our hunting and gathering is done by looking for the meat department in Wal-Mart, it feels good to indulge some of those aggressive instincts in a safe place like video games. I'm a calm dude, but if you put me in a reactive sandbox world with an arsenal, you might think the opposite. Because sometimes it's just fun to blow off steam by flying helicopters into traffic.
    • 694 posts
    December 15, 2015 1:39 PM EST

    It's a temporary escape from reality, but also an escape from your own mind that, if left unchecked, can do more harm than good in the long run. At least, that's been my experience. 

    I'm really glad you brought up escapism in this context. Based on the sort of responses that have been left in this thread alone, never mind my own personal reasons for turning to gaming, I think there is a potentially dangerous, self-destructive tendency to ruminate on things that really are better left alone. You can only turn things over in your mind so many times before you're not doing anything positive anymore, and it's just needless suffering. Gaming may not solve those real problems, but it can be an immersive distraction which keeps you from doing further damage. That's not to say it ought to be a permanent solution, and that those problems should never be addressed, but it can be a helpful thing to have in the toolbox.

    I can say this confidently, because that's how I've successfully used it. To be completely candid without getting too personal, this exact need for escapism is the reason I picked up Skyrim in the first place this past spring. I knew the game was huge and immersive, and had been putting off playing it for precisely that reason. It wasn't a game I could knock out over a few days and I had shit to do. I didn't have the time to be sucked in. That wasn't the case some months ago now. I needed to stop ruminating on some bad shit that was no longer in my control. I tried so many things to distract myself, or change my frame of mind. Nothing was keeping me from turning over those damaging thoughts again and again that I really needed to leave alone.

    I turned to Skyrim because I needed a head space that was radically different from where I was at the time. The relief was immediate, and frankly, exactly what I needed. My days were easier. The painful things that plagued me for months on end didn't dominate my thoughts anymore; instead I was focused on character builds, creativity, a sense of community here... all these things were such a better use of my time and energy. I allowed myself the time to get it lost in it all summer. It didn't change the real life circumstances, but it granted me the relief to think about other things which eventually lead to accepting the real life stuff and finally moving past it all.

    Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm usually fairly private, and not type of person to share much about myself. But I'm putting this out there because I think that others here have felt the same kinds of things, and used gaming in the same way. I think if what you need is relief from self-destructive rumination, it can be helpful and serve a valid purpose. I don't think it should be done non-stop, all the time, every free hour of the day… but a few hours here and there to relieve stress, or to get through a rough patch, an immersive and creative activity can be exactly the right thing. And I feel no shame about using it as such. For me, it really is about striking the right balance, which is what I said in my initial response to this thread. It's one of the things that helps me restore balance to the days that are stressful and chaotic.

    • 288 posts
    December 15, 2015 2:06 PM EST

    I used World of Warcraft in a similar way back in 2006

    By the way, while it is not possible to totally escape from reality, it is possible to constantly live in a world/worlds of your own, keeping connections to reality to a sanitary minimum. Of course, not all people can do that, you have to be an introvert and a "dreamer" type.

    • 273 posts
    December 15, 2015 2:33 PM EST

    Other than consume my life?  I feel gaming has given me the ability to live out my dreams of being in a fantasy world (You know, the places where stuff actually happens, unlike this boring blue dot), it has also kindled a desire to make my own games so I can bring the same joy I feel to people similar to me.

    My first gaming console was the Nintendo DS Lite (I'm sorry,  I wasn't born in the 90's D:) and my first game was (I'm a little embarrassed to say) Ben 10: Defender of Earth. After that was New Super Mario Bros and soon after that, Pokemon Diamond.

    My favorite game overall is Skyrim (I have 584 hours on PC alone)

    I think the most memorable gaming moment for me was beating the Elite Four in Pokemon for the first time, I'll never forget the sense of achievement I felt as my Infernape obliterated Cynthia's last Pokemon.  

    • 404 posts
    December 15, 2015 2:38 PM EST

    it helped me with the names of tools and what they are used for. helped me with story ideas and character designs..

    • 133 posts
    December 15, 2015 3:35 PM EST
    Games have actually influenced my life a lot. As well as improving my reflexes (thanks Halo) and even helping me learn new languages (looking at you Assassins creed) gaming has thrown me deep into the world of storytelling.

    Be it from books, comics, TV, Movies or the games themselves. They've inspired me, boosted my creativity, educated me. They have definately influenced who I am as a person aswell.

    Over all I'd say games have taught me:
    History knowledge, great reflexes, good aiming, strategic planning/co-op or single player tactics, never surrender, save the girl, how differentiate good from evil, morals, philosophy, planning ahead and how to know when you've gone to far with a list! :P

    Not to mention the hours of entertainment and the awesome communities.
    • 177 posts
    December 15, 2015 5:54 PM EST

    @Edana, Matt Feeny, Karver & Ry Williams

    Thank you guys so much! I wasn't exciting such a positive response, but it is a good surprise! And I agree Edana, gaming is given a really hard time in the media, while I feel it is a positive force overall! Hell, if I'm going to be honest, without gaming and my girlfriend I would probably be dead or tweaked out in some alley!

    @Legion 

    First, thank you! And second, weeeeeeell, it's interesting that you ask! While I don't exactly have the full consoles anymore (I still have pieces of the PS2) I do have some rather interesting stories on how I lost them! 

    As for the PS2, it met a rather grisly fate. One day I was talking to my former friend Jimmy at the top of the stairs of my apartment building, right after playing some games on my PS2. We were having a rather...heated conversation, stemming from me expressing some rather...unconventional ideas. Eventually we started cursing at each other, and I said "Fuck this argument, and fuck you, I'm going inside." So I started to do that, but eventually he got up to follow me, walking right for my PS2, He soon told me, "My game is in there, let me take, god damnit." And, thinking back, he had a good point. Despite this I insisted he get the fuck out of my "home" , but then he picked the PS2 up. We started to tug and tug on it, and me, being kind of a butch, managed to match his strength and come to a stalemate! And Jimmy, being the crazy person he was, threw the PS2 out my window and ran away! I went down and picked them up from the street, and still have them in my closet!

    As for how I lost the Game Cube...well it's a bit of a darker story. You see, there was this guy named Frank. Frank had a long history with my family, as he ran drugs with my grandfather (Who was a dealer), he was my Mom's former dealer, my Uncle's dealer and even my grandma's former dealer from time to time. And to top this all off he was a murder, pedophile and white supremacist. Overall...not a very nice person.  But, despite this, Frank has something I was hooked on. PCP laced weed. It was my favorite drug and I was addicted, and he had the cheapest prices in the area as I had a "friends and family discount" as he called it. One day I was dying for a fix, I had recently failed an exam, this girl I had been hitting on got and boyfriend and things were overall sucking, so I went to see Frank.  What I did not know is when I got there he would be high on cocaine. I got to his apartment and things went as usually, I kncoked he let me in and gave me a hug (The  fuck always flirted with me, and I hated it) and I sat down on the couch, trying to avoid the musky smell of that place, with my wallet out. He said he would get the stuff and went into his bedroom...but he was gone for longer than usual. After a few minutes he came out with a fucking 9mm. I was horrified, I was so afraid he was going to murder me or rape me or something.  He shoved the thing in my face and said that I owed him tons for my "Hippy shit", and he was going to kill me if I didn't have enough. I was basically crying, as A. He demanded way more than I even owed him and B. I didn't have enough. I started begging him to give me another day, and to my surprise he did. So, I went to Walmart, stole some watches and shit with my friend, and went home, looking for shit to sell. And then I saw my Game Cube . I didn't want to sell it at first but after some weed and a talk from my friend, I decided too. Then I went to the pawn shop, sold the stolen stuff, my Game Cube and some other bits and bobbles and paid back Frank.

    Suffice to say, I avoided Frank after that. 

    • 295 posts
    December 15, 2015 6:02 PM EST

    My job involves a certain amount of stress and the community that surrounds my profession is very small, everybody knows everybody, and sometimes, while they are not inherently awful people, they can be a tiring group. Emotionally draining. What I do involves that I channel emotions and sort of give my all and that's also tiring. 

    Gaming, for me, is a nice way to shoot the breeze with others or pass the time in a relaxing manner, hehe, barring any bugs I may encounter. It is also a nice outlet for other forms of creativity. Straag Rod would not have happened if I hadn't picked up Skyrim two years ago. 

    • 51 posts
    December 15, 2015 7:16 PM EST

    Well, I really don't remember any specific characters that helped me with that but, yes, That High intelligence/Charisma character was a fallout character named "Baramir" ( a fallout 1 character to be exact)

    The game that really stands out for me is the dragon age series  and the fourth elder scrolls game "Oblivion". Those games really impacted how I thought of life and the world around me... so yeah, those were the games

    • 558 posts
    December 15, 2015 8:25 PM EST

    I would just like to mention that I was the 420th viewer.

    That is all.

    • 700 posts
    December 16, 2015 10:08 AM EST
    Whoa, those are interesting stories, to say the least! I certainly hope no unfortunate fate befalls whichever next-gen system you get. I saw you won the Fallout 4 giveaway, though I don't know for what system.

    And, fair warning, sap incoming,(this is not my MO and a largely foreign sight on these forums) but for what it's worth, I think it's pretty wonderful seeing all the positivity and strength your exude after having experienced all you have and I think it was really brave of you to put yourself out here like this. So I think I can speak for most if the Vault when I say I'm glad you're here, as a part of this community.

    Sap over.

    I need to find somewhere to be snarky to balance this out.
    • 394 posts
    December 16, 2015 10:18 AM EST

    What has gaming ever done for me?

    Well, there's the drains...

    • 1595 posts
    December 16, 2015 4:46 PM EST

    It seems that many gamers aren't the most psychologically stable people and gaming fulfils an emotional need or the chance to escape some dark tendencies. Or simply a virtual distraction from the very real shit life can throw. I wonder if this is something unique to the medium thanks to it's ability to suck one in for many hours for weeks at a time. The only comparison I can draw from other forms of media are marathoning tv series box sets.

    • 288 posts
    December 16, 2015 5:00 PM EST

    You don't need to be psychologically unstable to dislike reality, Phil.

    Nor is psychological stability a definite trait for all "realists".