Kinky_Geeks's profile . Kinky_Geeks group posts
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| Sorceror |
"It divides the world neatly into two categories - those who are addicted and those who have never tried it" - John Barris, A Scanner Darkly (possibly misquoted slightly).
I myself have been an addict for thirty years. I've worked out that numerically my addiction is the second largest by number in the world. In parts of the developed world I think it may be pushing for the number one slot. I'm a computer game addict.
The quote from "A Scanner Darkly" is used because highly unusually in relation to matters relating to addiction I believe that computer game addiction is under recognised. Not merely that but that for most commercial games the level of involvement required, unless possessed of iron will, requires addiction.
As comparables figures grabbed of the internet suggest that approximately 25% of the population smoke, and 4% are alcoholics. Drug addiction will be far lower since with the exception of cannabis I suspect that the percentage of people who have even tried the drug will be lower than 4%. Official figures suggest computer game addiction running at 10 - 15% of users - and I suspect amongst 10 - 15 year olds use - via PC, console, hand held, or mobile - will be near 100%. So clearly second place - quite an achievement for something that cannot be ingested directly but relies upon its impact on the body's own chemical producers.
My argument is this, and relying solely upon games which I have had substantial experience in playing, to progess them to completion or the final level takes in excess of 50 hours of gameplay - Elite, Settlers, Civilisation, Alpha Centari, Baldur's Gate, Total War (EVERYONE I've played anyway), the UFO games (Enemy Unknown, Terror from the Deep, Apocalypse, Aftermath, Aftershock, Afterlight), Tropico 2. Even shorter games require dozens of hours - Dune, Command & Conquer, Starcrft, Pirates, Railway Tycoon 3.
Fifty hours is what I officially play football in a year. What else could you do in 50 hours ? Learn a language well enough to function on holiday with it ? Pass two or three grades of a martial art ? Redecorate one or two rooms in your dwelling ?
And man I've put some SERIOUS time in. Doom and Doom 2 completed. Starcraft, and most of the expansion. Every one of the original X-com trilogy. The Samurai Total War completed at least twice. Rome Total War completed and well on with a second faction. Barbarian Invasion (the sequel) beaten - at less than a third of the time of the original due to easier victory conditions. Baldur's Gate... Baldur's Gate. The eta on the 2nd part alone was 50 hours. For all three parts nearly a hundred hours. And I went all the way through to the final battle twice. All this pales besides Alpha Centauri. Beaten with all seven factions. At the highest level. Twice for each faction. At least. And once reach (at least) at the highest level for each of the seven factions in the Alien Crossfire expansion. I own probably in excess of 200 games. And probably at least 50 I've never played.
"People think it's all about misery and desperation and death and all that shit which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn't do it". Renton, Trainspotting. Of course the comparisons with heroin become very strained very quickly. Relatively few fatalities occur directly as a result of computer game addiction. One attributed death somewhere in South-East Asia, a fatal child neglect - and a beheading where the deceased had "stolen" a valuable "in-game" sword and met a rather ironic fate. Computer games of course are legal and their availability (even post Virgin and Woolworths) is ubiquitous - all the big supermarkets now sell some form of software. For the PC games they are also amazingly cheap. A fabulously structed game that could occupy you for 50 hours or more could be obtained for £5.00 (or £3.33 (ish)) on a 3 for £10.00 deal).
And the moments... Elite, the first time I, and the rest of the planet, fully realised what computer games could do. Settlers...beautiful (at least for the time) graphics, gameplay that would still hold good today, and the incredible feeling of watching a game where NONE of the civilian little people involved were directly controlled by you and just went about their own "lives" according to the prevailing circumstances. Alien Breed, a top down shooter of the Gauntlet type that is still, arguably, the best "Alien" game ever with a lethally taxing difficulty curve. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - in my view the best of the "Civ" games. Imagine a chess board sized 100 x 65 (ish) with different properties for each square and you've still only delved into 10% of the complexity of the game. Add to that a brilliant narrative and some actually exceptional philosophy and the fact that no two games are ever exactly the same. Starcraft - some of the best cut scenes I've ever seen in a game and a game in the squad combat levels was about as technically well balanced as they get. The X com games - for all their flaws a chance to be Commander Straker from the "UFO" TV series. The Star Wars coin op and Rogue Squadron - although nothiing ever matched the first experience of running the trench in Star Wars (and I'll be damned if I start calling it Star Wars Episode 4, yada, yada, yada) they came damned close. And finally Baldur's Gate - the one that actually delivered. Together the three parts of Baldur's Gate are probably the finest experience in computer gaming - like every Ray Harryhausen film rolled together into one amazing epic.
And like any long standing addict I am totally dismissive of any "shit" that isn't up to the mark - for example those "adventures" (bollocks to that I say) which rely solely on finding items on a still picture. Thus regressing the entire industry to pre- Pong which at the very dawn of the computer game age had stuff that moved. "Hidden image" games are made by programmers who can't programme for people who should never be allowed near a computer game and sent back to their "spot the difference" puzzle books
But "better than life" ? Well... no contest. Computer games win hands down.
So - why the post, why the change ? I'm too ashamed to talk of the dark side, the stuff that I've lost due to computer games. Mainly thirty years of life when I could have done so much more instead. Although I'd guess ("einmal ist keinmal" - "once is never") without computer games I'd have been on anti depressants or an alcoholic for a chunk of those thirty years.
So first an invitation ... I'd be fascinated to hear of others' gaming experiences - the good and the bad.
And secondly a declaration of intent - despite now living under the administration of a government more unstable, incompetent, and meglamaniacal than most C.G. adversaries and lacking the equipment (primarily a sniper rifle and a replay button) to have any meaningful influence thereon I'm resolving to give the real world a trial for a year, to see whether my Samson like strength is recovered if I purify myself.
Wish me luck. And tell me your stories...
S.x.
Edited lots of times - I'd written tons and it did need the editing.
Edited Sat 30 Apr 11, 9:38 PM by Sorceror
| 30 Apr 11, 7:53 PM Eclipso UK(LS), 13 mths  |
I'm pretty sure that there were dinosaurs 30 years ago. | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 8:18 PM Rubberwitch UK(HA), 4 yrs |
well, there were if you picked up Isle of Dread | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 9:47 PM Sorceror UK(HU), 9 yrs |
According to Wikipedia mainly Dragons (Dungeons and Dragons hand held), giant apes (first release Donkey Kong) and frogs who were getting squashed crossing roads and rivers (Frogger). The dinosaurs may have, ironically, come later. S.x. Edited 30 Apr 11, 9:58 PM by Sorceror | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 10:04 PM Aibe_J UK, 16 mths |
Several years ago I walked into work - on a day off - to talk with a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a while. I must have looked haggard as I had just finished playing a 30 hour Elite session and that was because I got bored with MoHAA and the expansion packs. Dude, why are you still playing that? You need to play this.... Enter stage left : Eve Online Oh boy. Time sink? I don't want to think of the hours of ... just one more little bit, let me finish this, I'll be right there, the weather will be better tomorrow, Oh, it's light outside... ad infinitum. Ooops? Nahhh, afk, bbiab.
A | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 10:12 PM Sorceror UK(HU), 9 yrs |
There was an earnest Panorama episode on computer game addiction which noted with concern that one addict had "played for nine hours solid". I thought "wimp" - I'd done at least fourteen. If allowed sleep and meal breaks I could be talking days. S.x.
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| 30 Apr 11, 10:21 PM DominantMind UK(N), 15 mths |
the consensus reponse to this was that it isn't classical addiction - there is no chemical dependence in the body, so there is no withdrawal if you stop playing. Tall, Dark and Handsome are all words... ad libitum | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 10:25 PM Sorceror UK(HU), 9 yrs |
I'm very sceptical about this. I strongly suspect that computer gaming produces chemicals in the body and that te body can physically crave the chemicals. It may be closer to a classical "addiction" than is acknowledged. S.x. Edited 30 Apr 11, 10:27 PM by Sorceror | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 10:30 PM DominantMind UK(N), 15 mths |
I'm definitely not an expert - but I think it falls into the same category of suggesting that you can be addicted to sex, gambling, etc. It may well be a compulsive behaviour, and you may well get a endorphin high - but those chemicals in an of themselves are not addictive. When I take a break from gaming (for work, holiday, etc.) - I certainly miss it, but it's not that hard to find something else to distract me (sex, a good book, exercise, etc.) If gaming was truly addictive you wouldn't be able to go cold-turkey that easily, and it would also affect far more people than the limited amount that get written up as scare stories in the media. Tall, Dark and Handsome are all words... ad libitum | |||
| 30 Apr 11, 10:31 PM Eclipso UK(LS), 13 mths |
I can't believe I just posted that like a huge dick. I also play Dungeon and Dragons, played the first release of Donkey Kong and spent about two years on Frogger as a child, so I don't know why I'm acting like I'm 11 and my whole life is about the pure awesome of Ben-10 | |||
| 1 May 11, 11:32 AM Rigour UK, 21 mths |
I remember seeing a report on the local news about this new arcade game from Japan, they were in an arcade which had these old school ping pong games, not the video pong but a little cage with paddles fixed inside with long handles so you actually played a sort of shortened version of table tennis. I remember sitting open mouthed and thinking I will play Space Invaders it is my only purpose in life. Remember scouring every chippy and seaside arcade that summer and only finding some kind of space ship in a maze game, it took the edge off. Then my mate got an Atari 2600, man it was good, space invaders on your own telly and more. I remember someone getting an Intellivision when they launched, I think he went through every local kid one by one inviting us round for a go, he was an unbearable show off twat but I saw a 3D football game, in 1980!!, I've never liked football games but I had seen the future. I remember Saturdays being being all about going to work in the paper shop then spending the rest of the day with my wages going between the local Kwik Save and the Chinese take away clutching 10p coins.
My game playing kind of peaked in the early 90's, we had a Mega Drive after being advised "playing Sonic is better than speed" I had a PS1 then later a PS2 and got a real thing for driving games, loved the early Driver series and The Italian Job but having a family started to take up more and more time and game playing waned. Oh I remember having Spider Man dreams for ages whilst playing Spider Man 2 on the PS2, still one of my favourite games. These days it's just the occasional borrowing of my lads Xbox and games like Red Dead and Assassins Creed. I know it's not a proper physical addiction but I know myself and I know once I sit down that's pretty much it for the day, I'll play till my eyes bleed, so like many things in life I try to keep it as a treat now but god do I love video games. More hedonism NOW |
and it had proper controllers you could hold for hours on end not those horrible rectangular things we'd put up with. Then a mate told me to get an Amiga as all the Sega games I played came out on that months earlier at half the price. Got one and found out I could go down the market and buy a biscuit tin of discs for a tenner, sleepless heaven.