"Cinebar;c-17713602" wrote:
Of course, or we wouldn't all still be here after twenty years. But admitting we have a problem is the first step to recovery.
It used to be a joke on older forums and some of us would say we were Sim addicts but some of us knew it was the truth and not really a joke.
We sometimes said it was because we couldn't get out as much as we used to do or do the things we used to do either due to aging or health problems that kept us at home and or seated etc. But it started long before any of that for some of us.
Years ago I have missed work (had to call in) because I played for too long into the wee hours. I have missed dinner often and started eating at my desk. I have skipped a shower because there was something I wanted to get done in the games. When I was worried and or troubled by something I would play the game and ignore the problem and or say it helped me think, maybe so, but it was actually just escaping putting off whatever I didn't want to decide. I have let down my pets before by not taking them for a walk, or played for so long they got older (short life spans) while I was too busy playing. I have become secluded before and no longer talked and or called friends or family. A virus had nothing to do with how long this things have happened to people.
But what does anyone expect when games are built to make sure you become addicted? In TS4's case it's advertised as 'your safespace', that Maxis has your back...then act surprised when people actually believe it and become addicted.
In other cases games are built to make sure you release endorphins, which we all release and get addicted to and just at the right time or place in a game that release keeps players returning for more. In other cases manipulation of young minds who don't know how marketing works keeps them addicted and why they may be disappointed when what was promised doesn't pan out.
It's not exactly people's own fault not all of it, not when developers of games admit and it's documented their games are built to make sure you release those endorphins and stay addicted. But if we let it happen too often then yes, we have to eventually admit we are Sim addicts.
Years can go by and when you are closer to the end of your life than the beginning maybe it's a good time to ask ourselves what do we regret that we could have been doing while we were too busy playing a game. It can be an awakening when we actually ponder that. I no longer play games like before since I finally snapped out of it. TS4 helped me to snap out of it, perhaps because of something someone said over at Maxis, that we would buy anyway, no matter what, whether it was later on sale, and or a few months etc. They didn't have to worry about the core buying, you know that was like a shock to me, I had to admit sometimes this was true, and it made be strong enough (thanks Maxis) to break my addictions. The first sign of addiction is (denial) defensiveness and excuses.
I agree with you as I spent a lot of my time and money too on these games from the start and now don't play as much as I used to. I'm in self-isolation though and feel as if I need to keep in touch with the outside world and my family hundreds of miles away rather than playing in an immersing type of way.
I have sound off, the TV on in the background, mobile phone at my side, a Kindle and a copy of the Fortean Times which just came this morning in the post and reducing the game by pressing the Windows key once in a while to do something else whilst playing. It's getting that sort of game with me as I'm getting older. It's difficult to obsess about anything now when you can't remember what you did a couple of minutes ago!
I don't regret what I could have done instead though. I've done all I wanted to do. Being alone was good training for the current situation.
