As a grown man, I just don't have the time to be addicted to games. I'll almost always kick back in the game room for an hour or so in the evening though 😉
Back in the early 2000s I knew a guy from college who was addicted. Me and another friend would visit him at his home and he would always be sitting in front of a monitor playing computer games. He was obsessed with Everquest, and later World of Warcraft. He would be talking to you while playing (rarely taking his eyes off the screen). If invited to go out he would often refuse or told us to wait so he could finish a raid or that his guild needed him to help them finish some quest. He seemed to place more importance to his online friends than those close to him. I don't now what happened to him but it's the only case I know first hand.
I loved EverQuest and was also very tight with the friends I made playing it. Eventually I realized I was going nowhere in life and went into the USMC to pay for college. I'm an engineering manager now and still do a fair bit of gaming and play MTG regularly.
I was addicted to League of Legends for a long time. It's really strange how I grew up with video games my whole life, had a healthy relationship with them, knew about video game addiction and how it could consume your life, and still fell into the trap anyway. Queueing up definitely felt like gambling with the long depressing loss streaks that go with it. It was starting to affect my mood and my everyday life and made me a more bitter angry person but I still played out of compulsion. Thankfully I was still young with a good support network with a bright future and no health issues, that definitely made quitting much easier for me than some other people in the same boat but it was still a huge challenge. I bought a PS4 to play games in a more healthy way, found what are now my favorite games of all time, discovered the joy of collecting and fell in love with retro games, and now it's a fulfilling hobby that I really enjoy.
Good subject to cover. I feel that the addiction / fomo is alive in the live services games. I can feel it when I play them and I can see how my children get with it. It's the aspect of constantly unlocking the next item / reward that must trigger a response like a gambler trying to hit that next home run. I must ask though Brett, where can I find that shirt?! I love the 84Goji design. (in most shots)
My middle school aged son is totally addicted to video games. He would be on all day long if I let him. However......... He is addicted to the Social aspect of gaming. The only games he will play are the games that he can be "mic'ed up" with his friends with. I bought him a PS5 last year and he doesn't even bother playing new PS5 games. He uses the PS5 to play older games like Fortnite, Roblox, Rec Room, and Dead By Daylight about 90% of the time. And when he plays those games he is always on the mic with school friends. My son is definitely a hermit though. He doesn't really have any friends that live close so he pretty much refuses to go outside to "make up his own fun". If I kick him off the video games all he does is grab the nearest tablet to watch his favorite RU-vidrs. Then, the times I take him to his friend's house all they do is play video games the whole time 🤦♂️ During the summertime, we will take all the kids out to the local pool to purposely get them out of the house and away from electronics. But as soon as we get back home he's jumping back on video games to socialize with his classmates. He is definitely addicted to video games but I really don't blame him. If I had video games this awesome when I was in Middle School I probably wouldn't have left the house either😂.
One I am pretty addicted to right now is the new Texas chainsaw massacre game. I have played some similar games like dead by daylight before, but they haven’t hooked me quite like this one. I’ve been playing it pretty regularly for the past eight months, but that time may come to close soon some of the issues the Games been experiencing recently, don’t get Ironed out. But given how much I’ve played it, that may be hard to do.
I work with a dude who does NOTHING except play video games. He shares an apt. with a roommate who literally takes care of him. Cooks for him,buys the groceries......even had to help the dude get a credit card. Dude is 35. No drivers license. No social life. No girlfriend. Bad hygiene. Hasn't cut his hair in a decade. He's living the life!😂
