Have video games ever become an unhealthy obsession for you?

[marvelvscapcom2]

Hello Everyone

Although many practice moderation with their favorite things. Some just lack that level of control.  And sometimes it's really hard to get a grip on your life as the line blurs between what is best for your game life or your actual life.  By unhealthy I mean many different things.  Their are 3 main things video games can be counter intuitive to if you are as obsessed as some. I have been obsessed to unhealthy levels before. Sometimes it can be hard to try to balance real life with games every day and often times fail as the digital world is my favorite.  I will get into that more later.


Money



 First one is video games can become an unhealthy obsession if you are spending excess amounts of money on them which leads to missing bills or car payments, not eating right.  Or just being broke.  Or if it counters business ventures, high paying jobs. and loses you chances to become financially comfortable.


(I have on occassion gaven up my food money to buy more games as a kid.  My dad would give me money for food, a allowance.  Sometimes I deemed video games to me more important than my food.  Sometimes I still do but usually can afford both lol.)

Friends and Family




  Video games can become unhealthy if they get in the way of you socializing with friends, family, going to social gatherings.  Being in social situations.  Since so much of the game consumes your time and happiness.


Health



  And of course for the definition of health as in fitness healthy .   That is espeically effecting Americans and youth quite a bit.  Sitting in one spot playing video games can really make you fat and have horrible cardio or heart problems as you age.  But mostly if you combine gaming with lack of exercise and bad diet.

(I do know many gamers who struggle with this one a lot.  If you don't want to share your story you don't have to.  Just know I support you and hope for the best for you.   ) 


Have you had any of these 3 ever become worst due to video games?  I think I have seen some talk about spending a lot on games before.  I don't think it's bad because it's something you love and some people spend more on jewlery or clothes    



Have you ever gotten carried away with your love of video games?  Spent hundreds of hours binging them and losing grip on reality?  Becoming financially irresponsible because of them.  Missing out on oppurtunities because of them ect...?   


Thanks for sharing .   

[bikingjahuty]

i don't feel like it ever ventured into unhealthy territory for me since it has never resulted in significant disfunction in any particular area of my life. However, there have been months where I found so many great deals that were too good to pass on that I ended up going way over budget for what i had available to spend on things like video games (essentially my disposable income) and had to part with some of those deals to balance out what I decided to keep. The closest I ever came it being unhealthy was a couple of times where my credit card bill was super high, which I had to purge far more of what I initially was planning on keeping than I would like. But these problems were easily fixed in the confines of the hobby and what I was finding anyways.


I have seen this hobby get very unhealthy for some. I have a good friend who is also a collector who was probably spending $5000+ a month of games and was buying just about anything he could as long as it was a decent price. He hunted for games nearly everyday, all day, fitting in work, his family and other things when there weren't any games to chase, which was rare for him. I think the breaking point was when he went on a nice vacation with his family and he spent the whole time hunting for games instead of enjoying his vacation. I don't know the full extent of it, but I'm aware of a couple of times where he ran into serious financial trouble as a result of his collecting habit and had to ironically sell a ton of what he had acquired just to pay the bills. I think he is prone towards obsessive behavior since I've seen this same extreme behavior in other hobbies of his, and I feel like game collecting was just the next thing for him to dive in 190%.  I've seen other people do what he did to a lessor extent, but he is by far the most unhealthy example I've seen in terms of game collecting.

[tcxs]

I was once completely obsessed with World of Warcraft.  I'm pretty much a console gamer but every once in a while I'll see a PC title that would interest me and that's what happened with WoW. 

I just recently decided to minimize my collection and just focus on PS1, PS2 and PSP.  I really enjoy the minimalist approach to collecting as I am just getting games that I really like a lot and I know I will play.

[pizzasafari]

I've never really had anything better to do with my time or anything more more worthwhile to do with my money so it's never had a chance to be that for me. Although, when I first got into World of Warcraft for about a year or more of secondary school I was getting 5 hours of sleep per night so that I could get up at 5am to play it before school. Then if I didn't want to stop playing I'd pull a sicky, my mum always used to use a thermometer to check I wasn't lying so I'd eat loads of crap food out the cupboard to give myself a sugar rush which would increase my temperature and make it look like I was telling the truth. Worked like a charm. I got so many days off.

[kashell]

Nothing unhealthy, but there have been times when I take a mental health day to just have time to myself to game and "treat yo' self."

I know that there are extreme stories out there about it being unhealthy.

[ignition365]

Oh yeah, for sure I'm sure.  I know I spend more on video games than I should, I'm not in debt or trouble or anything, but I'm certainly not saving up as much as I'd like or should.

[98dgreen]

I played Skyrim for way to long when it came out.  That's about it.

[hoshichiri]

Nah, I don't think games have ever become unhealthy for me.

There are times where I've felt I've spent too much money on games, but it's never been at the expense of bills, necessities, or savings. Usually it's just a 'I probably should have saved more than the planned amount instead of buying a game', or 'I should've bought something else instead of another game.'


As far as socializing, I think games help me talk to people just as much as keep me from it- and the situation matters. I don't think playing a handheld waiting at the DMV instead of chatting is bad, for example. Plus, I've struck up many a conversation about games with classmates/coworkers/customers/other shoppers over the years, aside from people met at gaming events- it works out.


Health is the only one that, at surface level, seems like an issue. I am certainly a fairly sedentary person with my gaming habits... but here's the thing: if/when I don't game? I sew, and craft, and read, and watch movies & Youtube. I'm a sedentary person in general, really. Removing gaming from the lineup isn't gonna result in me taking up jogging or anything. Yes, I need to exercise more... but it's not a gaming problem, it's a 'me' problem.

[burningdoom]

Pfft.

You know what's an unhealthy obsession? Cocaine. Hookers. Sadomasochism. Nickelback.

If video games are your biggest concern, I'd say you're doing okay.

[redblaze57]

Pfft.

You know what's an unhealthy obsession? Cocaine. Hookers. Sadomasochism. Nickelback.

Alcoholism, heroin, Crystal Meth, Creed...

[chrismb]

I definitely spend way too much time playing video games lol

[betelgeuse]

As a kid I would skip lunch and pocket the cash to save up for games, though I never risked going hungry. (Elementary school days. $5 used nes games. Yes please)

High school days my friends would drag me away from the console to get me outta the house.

Before I moved out of the parents home, every penny was spent on entertainment (games, movies, parties).

I had an addiction for achievement points when the 360 came out, but that stage is gone now.
At this point it’s all in moderation. Bills and saving come first.

[kypherion]

When gaming and game collecting is my only hobby I'd say there's no real unhealthy obsession, but I definitely spend a lot of my time playing video games. Other than browsing the internet/social media and listening to music it's all I do.

[mizzach86]

I don't think gaming has ever become unhealthy for me.

When I got my first job at a Mickey D's I started buying a lot of games because I had extra money for the first time in my life. Before, I had to wait for Christmas or my birthday to get money to buy games, but with a job I could buy games regularly and I bought A TON of PS2, GameCube and Xbox games back in that era. I still saved money though and never went into debt.

As far as socializing goes, I've never been a real social person so gaming is something I naturally gravitated toward growing up, though I did have some friends who also played. The only significant times I can remember playing non-stop was when I got Ninja: Shadow of Darkness for the PS1 and played it literally all day, from 8 am to 5 pm. Another time was when I first got Metal Gear Solid 2 and played it from the afternoon I got it until 3 in the morning. These days I can't play games for that long, I have to stop and take a break after an hour or two hours if its really engrossing.

Working out is another hobby for me, so health-wise, games have never affected that too much.

[turf]

Nothing unhealthy, but there have been times when I take a mental health day to just have time to myself to game and "treat yo' self."

I know that there are extreme stories out there about it being unhealthy.

I’ve taken those “mental health days”. Believe it or not, I’m more productive after I take a day to save the world and decompress a little.