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Comment by xapata | Hacker News Reader

Keep in mind that one's personal experience may not be representative of the "average" person.

> single-player games

I get obsessive about some games. A completionist, one might say. And when I've achieved what I want to in the game, I suddenly wake up and realize I haven't been outside for a week and I've ignored my friends, family, and colleagues. Worst, the guilt of that realization can be so overwhelming that I am tempted to ignore it and simply start another game that takes over my consciousness.

I've observed similar behavior in some others. It was most obvious among World of Warcraft (WoW) players when I went to university. I knew more than a handful of WoW players who dropped out of school because they found their in-game social circle more important than just about everything else in their lives. Rather than studying or going out, they needed to be present for the next raid (WoW session).

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> I've observed similar behavior in some others.

You'll observe that in more than just porn and games, you'll observe it in life in general. In fact for a lot of people that's the definition of a mid-life crisis: Suddenly waking up, realizing that you've been wasting your life slaving at a job you don't like, to make money that pays for things you don't own which you only have to offset how shitty your job makes you feel.

If your doctor told you right now, "you have exactly two weeks to live", would your life be unchanged for the next two weeks, or would you suddenly wake up and think "Holy hell, what have I been doing for the past age(self) years?"

Man, if only instead of buying a Jet ski these poor souls would find socialism.

Or, you know, call their parents to say "I love you" before they lose the option to.

Why not both? :D

you'd be too hungry to drive the jet ski

Seems unlikely. < 1% of the US population is engaged in agricultural pursuits. Distribution is about to get self driving cars.

Maintaining a jet ski in San Francisco salt water teaches a lot of wisdom actually.

Key word, maintaining.

Obligatory Fight Club reference, "what would you wish you'd done before you died?"

> In fact for a lot of people that's the definition of a mid-life crisis: Suddenly waking up, realizing that you've been wasting your life slaving at a job you don't like, to make money that pays for things you don't own which you only have to offset how shitty your job makes you feel

Another obligatory Fight Club reference.

> “ Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. ”

I feel like this is just describing the human experience. We go through cycles of obsession and focus, and then a realization that our obsession and focus has kept us from other parts of our lives. We adjust, and then repeat the cycle.

It could be video games, but it could be lots of hobbies, or work, or a new relationship, etc.

Some things in modern life are a bit easier to obsess over, more like alcohol and other drugs than other kinds of hobbies.

What is new is the tight, software-driven loops of dopamine release and conditioning feedback that Facebook and others have developed and exploited.

Facebook is the optimiser, each second of your attention a paperclip.

I would say WoW, Facebook, Reddit, HN etc all use that little bit of dopamine hit to keep people “playing” as long and as often as possible.

I say that have started play WoW again after several years off and dumping Reddit this evening.

Both of the can be enjoyable places and there are some really good Reddit communities, but it can be be just as addictive.

Yeah, I consider reddit/hn to be more of a waste of time (for me) than videogames. Still, it's easier to browse Reddit than progress in a videogame.

I have similar experiences with single player games sometimes. Though after, I might go weeks without playing anything.

That is one reason why I have always avoided MMOs. I may obsess over a single player game for a few weeks, but there is always an end.

Completionist is a good term for that. I gave up online games when I realized how much of a problem that is for me. My hard rule about games in general now is that I only play them with other people in the room.

I have a similar problem. I realised while playing GameThatCannotBeMentionedBecauseOfNoDisparagementRule that reaching maximum level in Magic or Archery skills on real life versions of those skills would make me a pretty good stage magician or archer.

I never did end up learning magic tricks or real archery, but I did go onto Duolingo and learn German. Kaj Esperanto. Και Ελληνικα…

I've done this with League of Legends. I find that it corresponds very closely with times in my life when I am depressed[1] about some other aspect of my life. When I feel out of control, and the game provides a stable environment with known rules, where I have a great deal of agency to impact the outcome. It's a trap, if course; in real life, ignoring problems is (usually) not a good strategy for resolving them.

On the flip side, though, when I'm not playing as part of one of these sessions, I like my relationship with the game. Especially, it's a great way of keeping in touch with a friend long-distance, which is normally something I struggle with[2].

[1]: In the colloquial, not medical, use of the word.

[2]: Somewhat, I also put less effort into long- distance friendships by choice; putting in lots of effort to keep in contact with someone who I wouldn't otherwise interact with becomes a chore and I don't get as much out of it. Since I would still be gaming otherwise, this doesn't become a chore, and regularly using voice chat makes it even better, compared to a game like scrabble where it's just text. (This part not being unique to League, of course; any other real time team game would do the same).

WoW isn't single-player, is it? I think GP was commenting on the fact that spending some time alone (with video games or otherwise) won't necessarily tear society apart, as long as it's done in moderation.

Single-player in the sense that one typically plays physically alone even if virtually together.

If it wasn't video games it would be something else.

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