Balancing your life between virtual reality

photo credit: Tor­ley

If you are any­thing like me.  You have indulged your­self a lit­tle to much in the gam­ing world.  When I was deployed to Iraq back in 2004–2005 I had a very poor inter­net con­nec­tion and noth­ing to do.

I remem­bered how much I enjoyed play­ing Everquest when that game first came out so I started search­ing for a new MMO genre game to play.  World of War­craft was still fresh on the shelves with great reviews and a unique look­ing style.  I placed my order and a few weeks later (mail moves slow in com­bat zones) I was set­ting up my account online.  Then it started.…

I do not know what is so intrigu­ing about the game but I became so in love with that game it became an addic­tion.  All I would do in my off time would be to play that game.  I formed some unhealthy habits with the swing of a sword at my key­strokes.  That mas­sive hours being played con­tin­ued up until early last year when I started real­iz­ing what I was miss­ing out on with my fam­ily and every­thing else in general.

My wife is a very sup­port­ive per­son and would play with me but the hours sit­ting behind a com­puter were not healthy.  So since I real­ized that I have been grad­u­ally turn­ing my gam­ing expe­ri­ence into a quick break from real­ity rather than an all of my real­ity. Here are some of the things I did to help reg­u­late my time I spent in the game world.

• Do not care — Just like find­ing the abil­ity to care about the things you do not want to do and do them.  The exact same prin­ci­pals apply for the oppo­site.  Find rea­sons why you shouldn’t care about hop­ping online until late night raid­ing that dun­geon for some new gear.  It is not that impor­tant, the game will be there tomorrow.
• Real­ize what is impor­tant in your life — Just like any blog, rela­tion­ship, and any­thing else.  Any­thing impor­tant in your life requires main­tain­ing and a com­mit­ment to keep it from fail­ing.  Don’t let some­thing like a game run your life because if you do in the end that is all you will have.
• Bud­get your time — If you decide to con­tinue play­ing as a release from life or just because it is fun.  Set up a sched­ule.  Work with your sig­nif­i­cant other a good time you can sit down and have you time.  Maybe two hours out of the day or after work 3 days in the week and the rest of the time spend doing some­thing use­ful that will improve what is less mate­ri­al­is­tic in your life.
• Be healthy — Sit­ting behind a com­puter for mass amounts of time is never healthy.  I am try­ing to keep you from spend­ing that mass amount of time swing­ing that sword but if you do or not.  Stay healthy, don’t sit there drink­ing red bulls and chain smok­ing until that tumor gets in the way of your game time.  Eat and drink healthy (this shouldn’t be done just at game time) or else open a win­dow and get some fresh air.  Get up and walk around some, do some dishes or something.
• It is not real life — Remem­ber that the game is just a game and should be treated as such.  Don’t let it run you.

I have played World of War­craft on and off since 2005.  To me this game is like crack, it does some­thing that causes my brain to just want to play it.  I still play but I do my best to say I need to get this done for my blog first, I need to go through my reader first, I need to call my par­ents first, etc.  Notice I didn’t say my wife and son.  They are inte­grated into my day so much that I will adjust my sched­ule and quite pos­si­bly not play the game that day if need be.

I fig­ured I will tell you what I tell every­one else about the game if you are won­der­ing any­thing about it.  Don’t buy it, don’t let your kids play it.  This game is a addic­tion for many peo­ple out there, not just me.  Mar­riages and lives have been ruined for the inabil­ity to reg­u­late game play.  Other than that the game is out­stand­ingly fun!

Tell me what you think on the sub­ject.  You can also apply this to any hobby or mate­ri­al­is­tic activ­ity in your life, just not a game.  What you do in life is what defines you, design­ing a great game is an accom­plish­ment.  Play­ing the great game is not so great (sports is dif­fer­ent in my opin­ion) when you recap over your life.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plu­gin.

Tags: balance, Internet, living, overcome, reputation