It helps to turn that energy into something else. I took that drive and turned it towards exercising, reading and working. Best thing I ever did.
I stopped immediately, and haven't looked back. I really enjoy single player games, but something about WoW's core loop just... pulled me in. I couldn't do it in moderation.
I'm giving the creators here the benefit of the doubt that this is just a side effect of trying to create great experiences for their users. Not so with casual free2play games which are clearly designed to drain your wallet.
Either way, they don't really enrich your life, except for a handful of indie productions they're not art like movies, they're the equivalent of capeshit but designed to make you watch it over and over again. I would like the ten thousand hours spent playing Counter-Strike back now.
Obviously some games really are insidious; I don't think it's fair for that to dictate an entire genre of activities.
Obviously, all activities evolve and change over time but these are more like your grandma's pie recipe versus industrially optimized Lays with a hundred million dollar ad campaign to make sure you'll appreciate all the hard work put in by the chemists. One you can do in moderation, and it's self-moderating, the other you're better off just avoiding.
Outside of engaging, I learned invaluable life skills through mmorpgs as a child. I never got addicted, but it instilled the ability to research, plan, and withhold short term gains in favor of long terms gains. Plus I learned how markets function, how to avoid scams, the benefit of teamwork / friend groups, etc.
It also led me to create my first website and forum, which was undoubtedly the first stepping stone for my entire career.
Lol what? Marijuana is not addictive. Also, a variety of low-potency products are now readily available to address your grievance in states where the market has been legalized. ;)
I've been playing Subnautica and it's a great way to just escape and dive into a exploratory virtual journey. There are no microtransactions and there's an endgame to work toward.
It has cut into my reading time but I don't mind too much. Before this game, I was playing PubG and that game was just stressful and definitely Counterstrike-like in terms of competitiveness. I only played with a friend and it was fun to have the social interaction but after awhile it just got old. The new map freshened things up but it severely lowered my patience level to the point where it's hard to play a more laid back genre due to the quick turn around.
Anyways, my point is that not all games are the same. If you want to dabble in the hobby you can easily avoid the games that are built to keep you coming back. Or just cut them off completely and pick up another hobby.
As a person who loves both video games and marijuana, I disagree with you. But, I think there is a lot of wisdom in what you say.
Modern video games put a lot of work into making the same parts of your brain light up that gambling does, and we have discovered that you don't need a real material reward to get people addicted.
Some people are vulnerable to this type of manipulation. I find video games, and gambling, extremely tedious for the same reasons.
I mostly stick to the tiny indie stuff.
> It's a lot like marijuana today. We're way past pong and some ditch weed. These are very potent products engineered to flood your senses and highly addictive.
I live in Oregon where weed is legal and things are regulated. They say how much THC and CBD are contained in the product and you can choose what product you want and how stimulated you want to be. Personally I like a high CBD strain that will mellow me out.
But, I resent the whole "smoking marijuana is a moral failing" narrative. I've got a great life and work hard. I choose to smoke weed. It's not a big deal.
Some people choose to drink alcohol which is possibly responsible for 5% of deaths worldwide, but nobody is calling for the outright banning of alcohol.
Also, not sure where this information is coming from, but I encourage you to do some additional research and re-evaluate your position on weed. It's the same THC and CBD it has always been, but in higher quantities. And people have discovered after a certain point the drug is too intense and aim for a lower THC %, sort of like the difference between spirits and beer.
> I would like the ten thousand hours spent playing Counter-Strike back now.
Yeah that is a LOT of time playing a video game. I consider myself an intense video-game player and I do not think I have ever played a game for that many hours.
If someone is gaming and their life is fine, then it's no problem, but if they are failing school, dropping out of college, struggling to keep a job, or getting divorced, amongst other negative factors, then it's something they should be able to seek professional help for, and removing gaming for a 90 day period (what I personally recommend) has been shown to help immensely as a 'reset'.