DAOC- and its effect on my RL, over 4 years
- Thread starter [NO]Subedai
- Start date
? thought they were a exc guild.
D
Daivana
Guest
I quit some 3 years ago, don't know when exactly, only on these forums due to an urge to recap with some old friends.
My private life did suffer at many times when I was playing most actively, and I was eventually forced to grab a hold of things. Thanks to top AST's I got a ticket into one of Europe's top business schools, despite my more than broken history. Now I'm in my penultimate year of the Masters, attending parties in tux with free alcohol paid for by companies looking to employ us on graduation. The girls are beautiful, the parties wild and everyone is dead set on success. We live in the cult of the CV, to make a top career, earn a great salary while putting in 14hr days in the glassed buildings in London City. This is what society defines success as, it's socially accepted, but is it all that? Hell no.
Every day is a comparison to co-students, trying to get stronger grades and stronger merits for your CV; people pursuing additional masters in engineering or law; working double jobs; running charity projects to Colombia and what not. We're all guaranteed good jobs, that's not why, it's quite simply a mass psychosis; the need to pursue what everyone else is pursuing, a position with the absolute top bank instead of the second to top bank, not for the salary but just for the prestige of it. In a school of top students pretty much everyone feels inadequate inside, trying to best 999 other top students in every single aspect of what defines a succesful life. Fitness, parties, grades, languages, jobs, merits, girls. I'm one of them, and I wouldn't go close to any MMO for fear of loosing precious time, time which I track quarter by quarter on an Excel-sheet, compiling data on how I spend my days vis-a-vi how I could/should be spending them. Sane?
There are so many similarities, it's human nature. I've moved from one addiction where noone questioned the sensibility of 12hr game days, to another where noone questions the sensibility of 14hr study days; and will eventually move on to yet another where noone questions the sensibility of 14hr work days, and probably do drugs to keep up the pace. Yay.
As for my DAoC days, they made me who I am and I'm happy being who I am. No regrets. Career-wise I could have spent them much much better, sometimes I wish I did, but I shrug that off. Don't let anyone else have the power to set the agenda, to determine what should be meaningful for you.
p.s.
My girlfriend left me, and this country, to start a venture capital funded business in China. It didn't even strike me as the least bit odd for her to choose career over a relationship. It's just the first notch of many sacrifices this path in life requires.
My private life did suffer at many times when I was playing most actively, and I was eventually forced to grab a hold of things. Thanks to top AST's I got a ticket into one of Europe's top business schools, despite my more than broken history. Now I'm in my penultimate year of the Masters, attending parties in tux with free alcohol paid for by companies looking to employ us on graduation. The girls are beautiful, the parties wild and everyone is dead set on success. We live in the cult of the CV, to make a top career, earn a great salary while putting in 14hr days in the glassed buildings in London City. This is what society defines success as, it's socially accepted, but is it all that? Hell no.
Every day is a comparison to co-students, trying to get stronger grades and stronger merits for your CV; people pursuing additional masters in engineering or law; working double jobs; running charity projects to Colombia and what not. We're all guaranteed good jobs, that's not why, it's quite simply a mass psychosis; the need to pursue what everyone else is pursuing, a position with the absolute top bank instead of the second to top bank, not for the salary but just for the prestige of it. In a school of top students pretty much everyone feels inadequate inside, trying to best 999 other top students in every single aspect of what defines a succesful life. Fitness, parties, grades, languages, jobs, merits, girls. I'm one of them, and I wouldn't go close to any MMO for fear of loosing precious time, time which I track quarter by quarter on an Excel-sheet, compiling data on how I spend my days vis-a-vi how I could/should be spending them. Sane?
There are so many similarities, it's human nature. I've moved from one addiction where noone questioned the sensibility of 12hr game days, to another where noone questions the sensibility of 14hr study days; and will eventually move on to yet another where noone questions the sensibility of 14hr work days, and probably do drugs to keep up the pace. Yay.
As for my DAoC days, they made me who I am and I'm happy being who I am. No regrets. Career-wise I could have spent them much much better, sometimes I wish I did, but I shrug that off. Don't let anyone else have the power to set the agenda, to determine what should be meaningful for you.
p.s.
My girlfriend left me, and this country, to start a venture capital funded business in China. It didn't even strike me as the least bit odd for her to choose career over a relationship. It's just the first notch of many sacrifices this path in life requires.
knighthood
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2004
- Messages
- 1,812
Im lucky cos its quite the opposite for me, Daoc managed to pull me away from a complte bunch of ***** that i used ti hang around with, , most of which are now dead , in prison, or jobless losers , and had i stayed on the same path i was on with them , maybe id be on eof the above. I do manage to fit in a social life alongside Daoc , despite playing it ridiculous amounts of hours sometimes , tho i work Nightshifts, so generally due to the fact my proper friends all work normal times i dont get to see them during the week anyway as my sleeping pattern conflicts with thiers..
I go out on weekends tho, a lot, thankfully my work helps to help keep the fitness up to counteract all the pie munching during playing lol. As for marridge, heh, well sad as it is i havnt had a proper relationship in 4 years, tho im not fussed about that , to me marridge is a piece of paper anyway and i come from a broken family and subconciously it makes me deny itd ever work out. Ill prolly settle down one day, i dont want kids tho , but if i did itd be the End of Daoc for me, i doubt the Femme would put up with it anyway , but hey, Time i pull myself together and get it sorted Daoc prolly be gone anyway, q_q im not gettin any younger tho.
Still, the original post was very touching, and i do understand where hes coming from , ive seen and heard a lot of people ruining marridges and jobs /lives on mmorpgs , hell, wasnt there that jap kid who was so obsessed with WoW he played it like 32hrs straight or something and they found him dead at his keyboard ?
Mmorpg are evil, and yet we still play them too much , are we all Sadists ?
:/
I go out on weekends tho, a lot, thankfully my work helps to help keep the fitness up to counteract all the pie munching during playing lol. As for marridge, heh, well sad as it is i havnt had a proper relationship in 4 years, tho im not fussed about that , to me marridge is a piece of paper anyway and i come from a broken family and subconciously it makes me deny itd ever work out. Ill prolly settle down one day, i dont want kids tho , but if i did itd be the End of Daoc for me, i doubt the Femme would put up with it anyway , but hey, Time i pull myself together and get it sorted Daoc prolly be gone anyway, q_q im not gettin any younger tho.
Still, the original post was very touching, and i do understand where hes coming from , ive seen and heard a lot of people ruining marridges and jobs /lives on mmorpgs , hell, wasnt there that jap kid who was so obsessed with WoW he played it like 32hrs straight or something and they found him dead at his keyboard ?
Mmorpg are evil, and yet we still play them too much , are we all Sadists ?
:/