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View Full Version : How much is too much?



linkzone
Oct 11, 2006, 06:52 PM
I was reading this article the other day that said that online games can be both good and bad. Good in that they let people play with a wide range of people. Bad in that they are very addictive. There were also remarks about how they remove some barriers like physical appearance. Allowing people with low self-confidence to make friends more easly. But that can feed into the bad, because they are so absorbed with being accepted that they forgo real life in favor for a fictional world. So my question is how much online gaming is too much? And where do you draw the line between casual gamer and overly obcessed? I know I played PSO for more than 200+ hours, but I still had real friends.

anmato145
Oct 11, 2006, 06:57 PM
Its easy to onling game and keep a real life. Too much is like the southpark episode about WoW... Playing 24/7, not sleeping regularly, saying f*** real life and just keeping your ass in the seat playing the game. I was also swept into online gameing when I was 13. I played all the time at home but I still got good grades in school n all. Its all about how much you can control yourself. When its to the point when you go "Why go outside when I can just stay here" Thats when you play too much. I Work now and im 20 years old, 40+ hours a week actually. I play games whenever I have free time its a good way to kill time. Great way to make a bad day go good http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif. And sometimes vice versa XD. Its all about the player itself.

Emrald
Oct 11, 2006, 06:59 PM
Fuck real people, internet is the way to go!...And I ain't trying to be funny!

ANIMEniac
Oct 11, 2006, 07:02 PM
well i pulled over 1000+ (slightly redundant) hours on pso over the course of 4 years and i managed to have a social live

Caydence
Oct 11, 2006, 07:03 PM
Sometimes it pays off. i sold my WoW character for 600 dollars http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Itsuki
Oct 11, 2006, 07:03 PM
Over what length of time did you play that 200+ hours?

I had this conversation with someone on PSU talking about burning out too fast. I personally think I've been playing too much. Any more than 20 hours a week (read: a party time job) is poking into "too much".

I'm at like 100+ hours in about a month, so its over my usual limit, and I'm only about level 45. I was talking to people that had only been playing a month and were talking about being burnt out because they reached 50 in 2 weeks. That means you would have to have been playing more than a full time job. Thats too much, you're not supposed to have that much free time.

But, if you don't want to admit to your problem, thats fine too. Its when it actually effects your physical well-being that you should truly seek help. I don't think people care if you're tied up in your room for that long, thats your choice. But if it effects your sleep schedule, your eating schedule, etc. It becomes an issue.

tyler2zelda
Oct 11, 2006, 07:09 PM
Nobody in my school really cares about me, and I only have like 5 friends... Nobody cares what I do,.

Nukei
Oct 11, 2006, 07:19 PM
Many people know me and I still play on the computer a lot...I think I'm lucky http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_eek.gif

Too much is when you get bad grades and fall asleep in class.

Caydence
Oct 11, 2006, 07:21 PM
On 2006-10-11 17:19, Nukei wrote:


Too much is when you get bad grades and fall asleep in class.




wow thats me!

adamgnome104
Oct 11, 2006, 07:30 PM
Shut up and let me pretend I'm pretty!

BluCast20xx
Oct 11, 2006, 07:38 PM
all i have is work and school.

other than that im gaming. I do have a group of friends that game every once in a while, as well as game for like 10 hours or more a day maybe.

Garroway
Oct 11, 2006, 07:57 PM
So the implication is that an over abundance of something can have harmful effects. I absolutely agree, however, I would think that it is up to the individual to determine when something does cross that line and become harmful. It's also reasonable to assume with this issue specificaly, that the amount of time that one might consider harmful can vary quite extensively from indivual to individual.

Numnuttz
Oct 11, 2006, 08:00 PM
best answer you cna get from me right now is watch teh South Park episode about WoW. it talks about the main problems some people face with onine games.

grimstone
Oct 11, 2006, 08:03 PM
your the best around

Sammy
Oct 11, 2006, 08:14 PM
On 2006-10-11 17:03, Itsuki-chan wrote:
Over what length of time did you play that 200+ hours?

I had this conversation with someone on PSU talking about burning out too fast. I personally think I've been playing too much. Any more than 20 hours a week (read: a party time job) is poking into "too much".

I'm at like 100+ hours in about a month, so its over my usual limit, and I'm only about level 45. I was talking to people that had only been playing a month and were talking about being burnt out because they reached 50 in 2 weeks. That means you would have to have been playing more than a full time job. Thats too much, you're not supposed to have that much free time.

But, if you don't want to admit to your problem, thats fine too. Its when it actually effects your physical well-being that you should truly seek help. I don't think people care if you're tied up in your room for that long, thats your choice. But if it effects your sleep schedule, your eating schedule, etc. It becomes an issue.



Wow! You can reach 50 in 2 weeks? I'm so gonna try that.
Besides there's no point to try and decide what's good for us. We do what we just can't help but want to do.
My opinion on this is to do what you want to and hold no regrets later.

Trinitystar
Oct 11, 2006, 08:21 PM
Im a stay at home mom, It was not that I wanted to be I had a real good job as a police officer and the depression that I have had all my life hit me I lost my job and have been unable to work from then on sadly. I have gone from Ms.All Arould to hardly leaveing my home, online became a big part of my life and I play alot more then most ppl I know to the point, I get up log on and stay on til im about to pass out. I do think I am the type of person someone can say plays way to much but if it gets me out of bed and keeps me from crying all day about what I have no idea lol then I feel it's good for me.There are some days I can't even make myself get out of bed so gaming has helped me in that part.

Bleemo
Oct 11, 2006, 09:13 PM
On 2006-10-11 18:14, Sammy wrote:
Wow! You can reach 50 in 2 weeks? I'm so gonna try that.
Besides there's no point to try and decide what's good for us. We do what we just can't help but want to do.
My opinion on this is to do what you want to and hold no regrets later.


This is what killed that Chinese guy playing Diablo 2 way back when. The one that died from an epileptic seizure from playing the game every day for almost a week with extremely little sleep.

BUT HAY you know, I'm just keepin' the thread goin'.

Sevenfold
Oct 11, 2006, 09:16 PM
Real simple. Play games, have friends, go out and get drunk with your friends. I feel so balanced now! w00t!*

CrazySwayzee
Oct 11, 2006, 09:21 PM
On 2006-10-11 18:21, Trinitystar wrote:
Im a stay at home mom, It was not that I wanted to be I had a real good job as a police officer and the depression that I have had all my life hit me I lost my job and have been unable to work from then on sadly. I have gone from Ms.All Arould to hardly leaveing my home, online became a big part of my life and I play alot more then most ppl I know to the point, I get up log on and stay on til im about to pass out. I do think I am the type of person someone can say plays way to much but if it gets me out of bed and keeps me from crying all day about what I have no idea lol then I feel it's good for me.There are some days I can't even make myself get out of bed so gaming has helped me in that part.



Praise Videogames, Woohooooooooo!

seriously though, it's interesting how videogames can ruin some people lives and make some peoples lives much, much better.

on one hand, "some" gamers spend hours toiling away getting to the next level

on the other hand MMO's "pretty much" eliminate discrimination. as well as give shy, sad and stressed people a cure to their unjoyable day.

many a-times have I brought out the ol' Grand Theft Auto when I was extremely stressed.

Bleemo
Oct 11, 2006, 09:22 PM
On 2006-10-11 18:21, Trinitystar wrote:
Im a stay at home mom, It was not that I wanted to be I had a real good job as a police officer and the depression that I have had all my life hit me I lost my job and have been unable to work from then on sadly. I have gone from Ms.All Arould to hardly leaveing my home, online became a big part of my life and I play alot more then most ppl I know to the point, I get up log on and stay on til im about to pass out. I do think I am the type of person someone can say plays way to much but if it gets me out of bed and keeps me from crying all day about what I have no idea lol then I feel it's good for me.There are some days I can't even make myself get out of bed so gaming has helped me in that part.


I know a lot about your situation, and I know many are in the same boat as you are. We all here know that there is plenty of joy in playing online games, enough to help us live socially at least. Your story is a touching one that is easy to relate with.




On 2006-10-11 19:16, Sevenfold wrote:
Real simple. Play games, have friends, go out and get drunk with your friends. I feel so balanced now! w00t!*


I like this man! He knows what he's talking about!

Sammy
Oct 11, 2006, 09:32 PM
On 2006-10-11 19:13, Bleemo wrote:
This is what killed that Chinese guy playing Diablo 2 way back when. The one that died from an epileptic seizure from playing the game every day for almost a week with extremely little sleep.

BUT HAY you know, I'm just keepin' the thread goin'.



I won't die that easily.
But I don't even know how much I do sleep a day... Continuosly I sleep about 6 to 4 hours...but I fall asleep throughout the day. I just can't sleep at night.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sammy on 2006-10-11 19:33 ]</font>

CherryLunar
Oct 11, 2006, 10:31 PM
I moved after my graduation from Highschool. So I currently have NO offline social life other than the occasional "hello how are you" to classmates. I'm not exactly looking forward to forming a social life either since I know that this stop in VA wont be for very long. And anyone who moves often out of state/country knows how hard it is to make new friends and keep in contact with them.

Online games are also stress relievers. It's kind of nice to be surrounded in a totally different world of fantasy with people you probably would've never met under any other circumstance. The mild competitive nature in the air in these games are also a bit fun. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

I can understand where the bad lies though. Some people get stranded too deep in this fantasy world. I've fallen victim to this once before myself. But you live and you learn. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Pikku
Oct 11, 2006, 10:55 PM
I got 2 best/close/sexy friends in real life (Both girls) that I hang out with all the time. Sad thing is that (Even though theyre gamer girls) I wont see them on PSU ; ;.
Even though Ill hang out with them still its sad to know theyll stay behind on FFXI while I move on to PSU but yeah.
Other than those two most of my life (And I got into online gaming in 2000 with PSODC so that wasnt long ago) I didnt have much friends o.o
(I know its not because Im ugly or anything because Ive heard weird things from "Cute,hot,sexy,penguiny,bunnies,and adorable" when people describe how I look o.o;;;;

linkzone
Oct 11, 2006, 11:00 PM
From what Im reading. Half of you got yourselfs balanced between real life and the virtual world, and the other half... Well at least you think your happy. Thats all that matters. As for myself I got about 200+ hours on PSO in alittle over a month before I lost the game. Damn those stupid gamecube discs. I got to lvl 110 or so. But I still got 6 hours of sleep and managed to have a social life. Heck my friends played the game too.

mogshaz
Oct 11, 2006, 11:07 PM
On 2006-10-11 19:13, Bleemo wrote:


On 2006-10-11 18:14, Sammy wrote:
Wow! You can reach 50 in 2 weeks? I'm so gonna try that.
Besides there's no point to try and decide what's good for us. We do what we just can't help but want to do.
My opinion on this is to do what you want to and hold no regrets later.


This is what killed that Chinese guy playing Diablo 2 way back when. The one that died from an epileptic seizure from playing the game every day for almost a week with extremely little sleep.

BUT HAY you know, I'm just keepin' the thread goin'.



Just as a side note: You have a better chance of dying from being hit by a meteorite, Rectal trauma, or dying at a carnival than you do being killed by a video game. So, if you can somehow stay up a week straight ( would have taken a break on the second day) playing Diablo 2 then stop doing that but otherwise Game on!

Tystys
Oct 11, 2006, 11:09 PM
I'm really not worried about being addicted to an online game. Believe me, I maybe a dedicated gamer, but saying "FUCK LIFE" over a video game would really just ruin me, O_O

Blackwaltz-R
Oct 11, 2006, 11:27 PM
The problem is alot of these games are developed into misguided time-sinks which was fine for the avid gamer of yester-year who were the most important demographics before gaming became more mainstream. The majority of players who are getting addicted are those who are new to gaming culture who get sucked in like a sub-urban kid to hip-hop and/or rap music lol Then theirs the fact that the majority of people on the internet are pretentious and indulging in social situations online can get addicting hense the popularity of Myspace and other such sites. The internet as a whole is a cop-out means for people to whore themselves out do to some desire to develope self-validation like spastic posters on internet forums. *cough cough*

Sexy_Raine
Oct 11, 2006, 11:49 PM
How much is too much you ask? When your console or PC explodes after playing PSU for 5000+ hrs, then you'll know that it's too much.

BlueDagger
Oct 12, 2006, 12:04 AM
Well, back in the PSO days, I think I might have been playing just a little too much. But there were also people who playes ALOT more then I did, so I don't know.

Now, though, I probably wont play as much as back then. And in the other online games I play, I have no people on my friends list! Not becuase I can't get any, but becuase I don't want people bothering me all the ##%#@$%@ time!! I'm just not very sociable online, especially with the way people type...


"lawl wutz fantisy ster onlne???"



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BlueDagger on 2006-10-11 22:05 ]</font>

Phalynx
Oct 12, 2006, 12:19 AM
Well I dont know how you can die playing a game, like the asain guy who died of exaughstion after 3 straight WoW playing days. What I dont understand is how you do that, how in the fuck do you not say, "man, im tired", or even "holy shit, I dont feel good, maybe I should stop this". Seems totally bizzare that someone could manage to do that to ones self. Thats where in lies the problem. That kind of lack of self control has nothing to with the game but a serious mental issue.

Slitz
Oct 12, 2006, 12:23 AM
Uhm, I can buy a video game, and I'll play almost as much as possible.
It's not that I don't have a social life. I mean, I have alot of great friends, and a gf in which I love very much, but I live just a little out of reach from most of them. It takes me 30 minutes to walk to my closest friends house. (Age15, can't drive..) I'd definitely see my gf more often if her mom wasn't such a judgemental bitch all the time, and assume I'm a "Disrespectful Wigger."

The fact is, there's sort of a barrier around alot of my social life.

And I simply use Video Games to pass time, during those long, boring days.
I could easily sit and play a video game for 10hrs straight. I still manage to get up when ever I'm hungry to get something to eat, or drink. I sleep when I get tired. It's not like I'm chugging Coffee, struggling to keep my eyes open, obsessing over the game.

It's just a decent way to pass time.
I usually hang out with my friends on weekends, anyway.. O.o;;

LiqourSiCC
Oct 12, 2006, 12:30 AM
hmm. i never really got into playing games for a whole day. that is until i got pso!. i woke up and the xbox was already on!. hahaha, yeah those were the days.. but i stopped like in the 8th grade.(10th now) but im about to be addicted to my 360 once psu comes out and then i get to make online friends maybe. its probably more easyier for me to make friends in real life than in a game since everybody online likes to be mean to a little sophmore.. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

Phalynx
Oct 12, 2006, 12:33 AM
The worst part of online games is the fucking egos people develop to compensate for there pathetic lives, you just gotta find a good small group of people, they do exist.

Slitz
Oct 12, 2006, 12:51 AM
On 2006-10-11 22:33, Phalynx wrote:
The worst part of online games is the fucking egos people develop to compensate for there pathetic lives, you just gotta find a good small group of people, they do exist.


lol
This isn't Diablo II, FFXI or WoW, anymore.
Fortunately, PSU will be FAR less populated, if it's anything like PSO was. PSO did have it's assholes; Me being one of them, later on in my Phantasy Star experiance.(Hi, Vega1-1! ;D) But that was only a select 10-15 people. The rest were either them f*cking non-stop beggers, or just your average gamer.

w/e, it'll be easier to make friends, then in most games. ;P

EC_Subbie
Oct 12, 2006, 01:35 AM
Too much for me was playing FFXI in all of my free time outside of class and work. That was anywhere from 4-12 hours a day depending, so I quit and vowed to never go back to a real MMO. Now I stick to games like this, online fps and any kind of game I can pickup and play then stop when I want to.

Ceravic
Oct 12, 2006, 01:45 AM
Final Fantasy XI is a game that requires way too much free time for anyone to play really. Its a horrendous timesink, and like EC said, you can play anywhere from 4-16 hours a day on it. But even just basic things take up so much time, its really not worth it in the grand scheme of things. Heres a brief insight to how much of a rediculous time sink it is, for very little pay off.

One of the bigger aspects of "end game" in FFXI are 6(well 3 monsters, but 3 harder versions of them that are named differently) mobs known as the "Kings". They are Fafnir, and his high quality version Nidhogg. Behemoth, and his high quality version King Behemoth. Adamantoise and his high quality version Aspidochelone. Each of these are a 21-24 hour pop time, meaning to camp them you have to watch them die one day, record the time of death to the very second of death, and then 3 hours earlier make sure you have an alliance there waiting. Thats only half the fun.

Once you get your alliance there, starting at the exact 3 hour mark previous to its time of death, there is a 30 second window to where he may or may not pop. You prepare, and spam to claim for it, or botters load their bots. Whatever need be. When that window passes, there will continue to be 30 second windows every 30 minutes with a chance of him spawning. If he hasn't spawned by the last window, which falls on the 24 hour mark of when he was killed before, then he will be forced to pop on that window. Then, your server's local bot LS will probably claim, kill, and brag.

Now, the thing is that yeah, its once a day, but aside from Fafnir, the non HQ versions of the mobs drop shit. So usually people only go after their high quality versions, which have a window of spawning during every 3 hour window from 2 days to 10 days after they are killed.

Basically, 3-4 of them spawn a month, and people sit there for sometimes 9 days in a row to kill trash mobs that are easy, warrant no challenge and warrant no good items. In the end of things, you've wasted...lets see. In a given month, if you're like some people who make sure to attend every king camp every day, so lets assume each one pops on average 2 hours into window.

2 hours x 3 camps = 6 hours.
6 hours x 30 days = 180 hours a month.

For what? Nothing. FFXI is an addiction, and its ridiculous. Theres your lesson, I hope to play with you all in PSU and have fun, because its a concept I forgot during my last three years on FFXI.

EC_Subbie
Oct 12, 2006, 01:55 AM
Yea, I never did HNM either...didn't see any appeal in just standing around. I spent most of my free time doing pvp (I loved ballista), fishing and doing missions/helping others.

Ceravic
Oct 12, 2006, 01:58 AM
I just actually quit the game finally last night. I got into HNM and had been for the last year, but never got into the whole botting scene, so I mainly just would camp and lose. It got frustrating. Also, THF isn't very useful for much lol. Ballista is fun, but Sleepga and Horde Lullabye make it not fun. I had all my missions up to date (including the HELL that is Apocalypse Nigh) because they were fun too. I am really having high hopes for this game though.

EC_Subbie
Oct 12, 2006, 02:01 AM
Ah...recently quit, that's something I still haven't been able to get my brother to do (he's got a 75 Bst, over 5,000 hours.. o_o) Well have fun with the withdrawl http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I actually missed the game for a week or so, remembering my LS members and good times.

Ceravic
Oct 12, 2006, 02:03 AM
I have been reading KI and my LS website during the entire time I got online lol. Thats why I registered here, to tempt me away from it. And yeah, thats another FFXI hook. You put so much time into it, you feel bad getting rid of it and having it all for naught. I'm at around 8000+ hours(351 days playtime) and a big part of me wants to log on now >:O but I can only waste so much of my life.

Losodo1976
Oct 12, 2006, 03:06 AM
How much is too much? Hmm, the first week I'll play a stupid amount, then it will taper off...

The good thing about PSU is that it's not one of those life-sucking MMO's. For me, it'll be just a quick, fun game: toss it on for an hour or two then it's back to the guitar, work, etc...