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Game Euphoria
May. 30th, 2010 01:51 pmToday, I picked up my last star in Super Mario Galaxy 2, after a week of effort.
It left me with a profound sense of calm. The final challenge, which itself took 50 minutes to complete, left me feeling I'd achieved something nigh impossible.
This feeling persisted until I read my play time: 29:25:41. Only then did I realize, I'd just spent thirty hours on a single video game in one work week.
I'm not sure why games do this, but my hypothesis is simple: game euphoria is highly addictive to me. This is the same problem I've had in the past with MMOGs, and why I swore off World of Warcraft before release. I maximize on the sheer enjoyment of play, at the expense of sleep and just about everything else. Spoilers and speedruns don't fix this problem, either.
Now, I don't intend to stop gaming cold turkey. My addiction is equally responsible for my greatest successes - why I became a programmer, how I learned to code, why I've been Slashdotted for one of my projects with Second Life, and why my problem solving skills are terrific, despite not doing my research. I simply need to give them a rest.
My conclusion is that I should avoid buying new games for a while. I intend to take the next weeks to relax, fall into a more regular schedule, and hopefully catch up with my art and writing again.
But before I do that, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on managing game addiction. Specifically:
What are your strategies for balancing enjoyment over time, instead of cramming it into single, long sessions?
How do you balance your library of new purchases with your (work, life, social) schedule?
And most importantly:
How do you balance the positive euphoria of achievement, without getting addicted?
--
Also, I'm way too good at Mario games.
It left me with a profound sense of calm. The final challenge, which itself took 50 minutes to complete, left me feeling I'd achieved something nigh impossible.
This feeling persisted until I read my play time: 29:25:41. Only then did I realize, I'd just spent thirty hours on a single video game in one work week.
I'm not sure why games do this, but my hypothesis is simple: game euphoria is highly addictive to me. This is the same problem I've had in the past with MMOGs, and why I swore off World of Warcraft before release. I maximize on the sheer enjoyment of play, at the expense of sleep and just about everything else. Spoilers and speedruns don't fix this problem, either.
Now, I don't intend to stop gaming cold turkey. My addiction is equally responsible for my greatest successes - why I became a programmer, how I learned to code, why I've been Slashdotted for one of my projects with Second Life, and why my problem solving skills are terrific, despite not doing my research. I simply need to give them a rest.
My conclusion is that I should avoid buying new games for a while. I intend to take the next weeks to relax, fall into a more regular schedule, and hopefully catch up with my art and writing again.
But before I do that, I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on managing game addiction. Specifically:
What are your strategies for balancing enjoyment over time, instead of cramming it into single, long sessions?
How do you balance your library of new purchases with your (work, life, social) schedule?
And most importantly:
How do you balance the positive euphoria of achievement, without getting addicted?
--
Also, I'm way too good at Mario games.
