[ilovesocks]

When I decided to get a laptop to use at college instead of my gaming desktop, I knew that it would help me to play less computer games (that's why I got it in the first place - to help me focus), but I had no idea that the effect would be this profound.

I really began playing computer games when Starcraft came out. Since then I've pretty much been playing them daily - a new single-player game every now and then (such as the Hitman series, Grand Theft Auto III, the Need For Speed Underground series and Most Wanted, Psychonauts, Evil Genius, Half-Life [2], Oblivion, etc.), supplemented with Counter-Strike for a few years, then Team Fortress Classic, then Counter-Strike Source. Every day. Along the way I acquired a Nintendo 64 about when the XBox came out (I'm a late adopter

), and Super Smash Brothers, Ocarina of Time, and Paper Mario 64 took some more time, too.

Every day.

. . . until I got my Sony Vaio TX850P. It's an ultraportable laptop, so it's not exactly rigged for gaming (does any laptop really excel at it, anyway?) - trying to do so with an Intel 945GM video chip and a 4500rpm hard drive isn't pretty, versus my desktop with a Geforce 6800, 2 gigs of RAM and a WD Raptor. The day I picked the little Vaio up from the university bookstore two months ago, my desktop went under my bed and I haven't gamed on it since. I quit cold turkey. Well, not entirely. I allowed myself to play whenever I really felt like it, and . . . I've never played for more than half an hour. I've tried GTAIII, Evil Genius, and Counter-Strike Source. I just don't have the "motivation" - maybe patience is a better word - to play video games anymore. They just don't do it for me any longer. In fact, the game I play most now is FreeCell.

And it feels pretty good! I've started studying ahead for one of my classes next quarter, I've been going to bed early (well, earlier - around midnight), I've been listening to music more (

), and I've been selling old junk on eBay. This doesn't mean that I won't get in some GBA Fire Emblem here and there or maybe pick up a Wii this summer (we'll see how many good games are around by then), but as for computer gaming, I might be done! My desktop wouldn't be able to keep up much longer, anyway.

Just thought I'd share my success(?) story. Now, I'm definitely not knocking video games - if you play good ones, they're great for your mind, and they're a heckuva lot of fun when you're really into them. But gamers, try giving them up for a week or two. See what happens. Especially if you start feeling like you could be doing something better.

 

[socrates63]

There's always what they "casual games" like Tetris that will run well on your machine.

And StarCraft will run great on it, too.

 

[discord]

You could probably play 1.6 on it but steam will be sloooow.

 

[soupy]

forum hopping and watching youtube isn't any better than playing something like World of Warcraft

 

[ap3rtis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soupy /img/forum/go_quote.gif forum hopping and watching youtube isn't any better than playing something like World of Warcraft

QFT. General internet browsing eats up more of my time than any game has.

 

[macky]

I pretty much gave up on hardcore gaming a few years back. I'd much prefer to watch a movie or listen to a cd these days. The only games I really have now are Halo 1 and 2 for my xbox (which serves mainly as a media center now), and Half Life 2 (not installed) and F.E.A.R. (Haven't gotten around to beating yet) for my PC.

 

[dhwilkin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ap3rtis /img/forum/go_quote.gif QFT. General internet browsing eats up more of my time than any game has.

Yeah, I'm the same way lately. Don't play games nearly as often, but mainly because games I'm really interested in aren't coming out nearly as often. The ones I do play, though, I spend a decent amount of time on.

 

[AlanY]

You may just be getting older. Most people grow out of games at some point. I stopped gaming when I started university. Some people were really into gaming at university, obviously. (It's not that I thought it was a big time waster, it's just that there's so much more to do... getting involved in clubs, spending time with friends, studying, etc.) But you just get older and there are more things to do, more distractions, it just seems weird to be spending so much time in front of a game. Most of my friends had either given up on gaming or really cut back by their mid-twenties. I'm not judging anyone. If you're still into games by your mid-thirties, more power to you, but for the majority of people who aren't really introverted and who have normal social relationships and work commitments, I just don't see it. It's sort of like 30 year old guys who are into anime. It becomes unusual at some point.

 

[EyeAmEye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovesocks /img/forum/go_quote.gif In fact, the game I play most now is FreeCell.

I know what you mean

I stopped most of my gaming as well as soon as I got a laptop. Not sure if it was really related to it, because I was slowly losing interest as I got older, but it probably aided in the process.

 

[Gamemako]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanY /img/forum/go_quote.gif It becomes unusual at some point.

Welcome to the new world.

That 30-year-old? Oh, you mean the average age of a gamer? Yeah. The gaming generation has grown up. Many of my mates online are older people -- a good portion married with children. We're growing into a society that refuses to be defined by age. People will do what they like to do, even if some rat-person fifty-something hillbilly tells them they should be out fishing with a bottle or two of Jack Daniels old number 7.

 

[Dimitris]

Welcome to the real world. Bear in mind that browsing around this site though can cost you even more money.

 

[SptsNaz]

Same here, except I still game sometimes cause I have a decent video card on my laptop (x1600). Much less than before though

I still waste too much time idling on forums and reading stuff on the internet though

 

[socrates63]

I definitely agree that people's priorities change with age. I certainly don't play games much, if at all, because of commitments to family and work.

But I'm not sure if I'd call it growing out of games as AlanY pointed out since I still have a good amount of interest in gaming. I don't follow the gaming scene as much as I used to but I still do have a enough interest to read about games... kinda living vicariously through gaming articles, I suppose.

I also found that the type of games interest me has changed somewhat as I've grown older. I have grown, so to speak, away from FPS to slower paced games.

With my current lifestyle and commitments, most of my gaming is done playing golf on my cell phone while I'm waiting for something.

One thing I wanted to mention in regards to the family factor. I have two boys, 6 and 3. Before I had kids, I had envisioned myself playing video games with my kids, but I have changed my mind on this and have done a 360. Kids, at least mine anyway, have an inherently high interest in video games and I don't need to encourage them for them to engage in the activity. Certainly, gaming is an activity that I can enjoy with my boys, but I decided to find other things to do with them and encourage them in other activies by being an example (e.g., reading, playing outside). I don't need to encourage them to play more but showing them that daddy loves to play, too. It's challenging enough to limit video games in kids' lives.

 

[lini]

ils: The lust for gaming might come back.

For myself, I'm almost 38 now and practically a gamer ever since early arcade and console times, then came the home computers (C64 in my case), then the Amiga and then personal computers (both x86s and Macs) - and since ~ 3 years my main pcs have been notebooks, while my remaining desktop serves as tv and vcr... The lust for gaming for me seems to come in waves, though: Sometimes there are simply much more interesting distractions in life (e.g. one's relationship partner - unless one's lucky enough to find one that likes to game, too -> then one might have a lot of fun together, for example solving funny adventures like "Day of the Tentacle", the "Monkey Island" series, "Ankh" et cetera...), sometimes there are no interesting games or the few interesting games aren't ripe to buy yet (as in "Sorry, Gothic 3, I'd really like to play you - but I'm not willing to buy games that are actually still beta anymore..." - apparently it's often enough smarter to wait for the "Gold version" these days, which is then both really done and cheaper, too...

).

As for gaming on notebooks, a machine with integrated graphics sure isn't the best precondition for modern, demanding 3D games - but recent implementations have at least reached entry-level DX9 card performance and will do the job for older titles. So, for gamers who want more choice and speed, I'd rather recommend to go for models with some middle-class graphics (e.g. GFGo 6600/7600/7700, RadMob X700/X1600) and comparatively low screen resolution (e.g. ~15" with 1024x768/4:3 or 1280x800/16:10). Otherwise I can't really complain about gaming on notebooks, especially as the graphics driver situation got a lot better in recent years, too. However, one might still experience minor inconveniences like unusable default keyboard mappings - and harddrive performance on notebooks always lags somewhat behind compared to desktop level as well, so load/save times are a bit longer.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[arnesto]

There's a time to play and a time to work.

It's just a matter of being responsible and getting your priorities in order.

Discipline, focus, focus, get back to work.

Actually I'm pretty busy most of the week with work and family obligations.

But after a while I feel like I'm not getting enough "me time".
I usually like to play video games or listen to music maybe an hour before I go to bed.
Something to treat yourself with, after all the BS I have to put up with all day.