I Have Been A Long Time Gamer, But I Want To Quit and Play The Violin. 13 months ago

I’ve bookmarked this page because I find it to be very inspirational.

My story’s kind of strange. I’m 26 now, turning 27 in a little over a month. I haven’t really played video games since 2003 and even then I could barely pick up my Playstation 2 controller. What’s been my vice has been a little M.M.O. called City Of Heroes. This is the only game I’ve played since I owned my Playstation way back when.

The past four years I’ve played City Of Heroes off and on. In fact, there were periods of spans of months to a year where I haven’t played, but my problem with it is that whenever I get stressed out or want to run away from my real life problems, I turn to this game. The same thing happened this past semester with school. I got stressed out because it was my last semester at community and I had to make a huge life decision in (most likely) uprooting and moving to New York to finish my art schooling.

I ended up sabotaging myself and dropped my classes at the tail end of my tenure at community. I became so stressed out with the potential of a major life change that I just retreated back into my shell that is my bedroom and have been playing C.O.H. almost exclusively for the past two months.

The crazy thing is, I have so many other interests and many life goals, and most people would not figure me for a video game addict of sorts because I don’t fit the stereotypical mold at all. Most of my friends are real working musicians in bands that are either signed or will be signed to major labels, artists with graduate degrees, or other types of people involved in the arts. I’m an artist of sorts myself and also a singer and guitar player. I keep thinking, “If only these people knew why I was such a shut in and antisocial.”

I know video games are bad in excess; I think video games are bad in general for many of the reasons the other posters have explained. All they seem to do is stifle me at the most crucial moments in my life. Right now I have an opportunity, probably my last, to work with a decent musician to get a band going which would be my last shot. I realized that I can’t let this opportunity slip away. That, and that my painting, singing, and guitar playing have all been suffering because I’ve been off in fantasy land not trying to get out of my depression and finally make my life better.

This is it though. I know it is. The spans in between playing (which has become a chore and a habit anyway) have been very long. I hadn’t played in almost 6 or 7 months since I recently played again and I was sick of playing after the first week. I’m glad that this feeling of disgust and disinterest has finally come. Now I can work on what’s most imperative, moreover, what’s most important in my life. I feel I finally have the coping skills and the fortitude to see things through.

I am tired of seeing my friends get ahead of me in life while I lay in a stagnant pool that is my own life. I am tired of seeing my friends do all of these amazing things and pulling things off that quite literally only one in one million can. It is no wonder why I’ve been losing connections with people this past year.

Good luck to you, every one of you. There is so much more to life than sitting in front of a monitor all day. As for me, I’m going to meet the challenges of my life head on. It’s the only way I’m going to find happiness in this life. 2 years ago