Do you regret starting playing mmorpg games? / How has is changed you?

[Sollac]

my affair with online gaming started about 10 years ago.....

small game called starfleet command on gamespy.....met some nice peeps, including one of my best friends(whom i have spent Xmas's with in US).

This progressed to SFC2 and SFC3 and one day a friend of mine showed me the DAOC website.

I don't regret online gaming, every now and a gain I get earache from the missus, about abount of online time compared with about of time spent helping with chores.

But she also understands its a hobby, that dont cost much (when compared to drink, drugs, smoking) so shes not that bothered...just normally once amonth it annoys her, but we all know what thats about!!!!

I mix my IRL with Gaming and have a good balance, have friends who think im insane, and other who have joined the game and are still playing( even after leaving that all come back)

no regrets, well not yet thou....just too many Buff Bots for my liking so no one about to talk too like there used to be.

 

[Shike]

you really like em young dont you Narko?!? :touch:






(tis a JOOOKE before anyone goes crazy.. )

 

[ophone]

My problem isn't the fact that I play much, but the fact that I smoke a lot while playing, just as I smoke a lot when I do other sit-on-my-arse activities like reading, working in an office, sitting in a pub and watching telly.
When I do other activities, where I am moving my body, I smoke far less.

 

[Belomar]

I've been thinking of making a post like this before, nice one, Blejs. I suppose that the main thing about all this is that it takes some courage to admit to yourself that you are addicted and playing too much. Many of the people who claim they don't regret starting to play the game are probably deep inside uncertain whether that's true or not. On the other hand, other people are perfectly happy playing the game and has struck a nice balance between RL and DAoC that fits them, and that's the important thing.

For myself, I do believe I play too much, but I am happy to see that I am managing to step down gracefully this last year or so. In the past, I have played too much for my own good, spending time in-game when I should have been focusing on RL stuff instead. In fact, my last relationship probably took some damage from my gaming, but it luckily was not the deciding factor which ended it.

These days, I play DAoC 3-4 hours four days out of seven in a week, the rest are devoted to my (new) girlfriend and work. I find that is a rather nice balance. The main problem I have right now is forum addiction instead, and that can be a bitch to shake. We'll see how it goes.

 

[WiiWii]

The main problem I have right now is forum addiction instead, and that can be a bitch to shake. We'll see how it goes.

let me know when u find a solution :worthy:

 

[Lethul]

i dont regret it, its a cheap way to have fun for me. i personally think i manage to balance rl/daoc quite well. altho if i say i will play with my ingame mates (usually a couple of days in advance) i will do it even if a irl friend asks if i wanna go to a party instead, they are my friends aswell and i cant just leave them then (besides i like playing ;P). same if im going to a party and they ask if i wanna rvr im gonna say no cause it got other plans.
i dont agree with the other guy who said daoc mates arent as valuable, i have meet lots of people through the game which also meet later irl and are irl friends with a few of them now.
ofc there have been periods where i have played to much but i always managed to get other stuff sorted aswell, now im playing even less (3-4 times a week tops, daoc that is). i feel like i could quite anytime i want, dont feel addicted at all anymore, but i still like to play, i love being with my guild so i have no plans to quit anyway. i will probably quit quite fast if the game starts to get boring for me tho

 

[[NO]Subedai]

Regret it really. While daoc didnt effect my gcse's, i did pretty crap in my Alevels as a result of it. Although that doesnt really matter due to circumstances i am in. I have a very addictive personality so a mmorpg like daoc can kinda suck a person like me in. While i have enjoyed daoc alot and i wuld say its the best game i have ever played i think i wuld have had a better 2-3 years of life without it. I still have all my friends and its not like daoc has taken them away. But thereh ave been times when ive been asked to go out and i rather play daoc, which is stupid. those times stopped long ago, and now i just dont find the game interesting so ive quit game and sold a couple of accounts for 300quid. Good money really daoc has perhaps held me back on stuff i wanted 2 do, and its only now that i really am starting travelling around the world, while if no daoc it culd have happened earlier this year for sure.

 

[Huntingtons]

I play too much, or i did... generally using the internet too much. Said no to too many parties, friends and stuff but im balancing up again (i hope). But on the other hand i've met people who i wouldn't miss for the world.
as Lethul said, if i said i have a daoc appointment i wont cancel it for friends unless it's very important, and on the other hand i wont say no to friends (anymore) if im playing daoc less seriously. And my friends know that.

 

[Bahumat]

some of the younger people who put off studying for daoc may not realise that if you say to an employer "i have a rr8 char" its not gonna help you get a job

school -->daoc but most ppl wont realise it till its too late and their grades suck

 

[Adoctor]

I don't regret it at all really. I've been playing computer games of some sort for the last 19 years and I damn love them.

I wish that there was things like DAOC when i was younger and had more time.

My wife doesn't really like me playing, but she watches her shit (and i mean utter shit) soaps which I can't stand (I would like to firebomb the entire cast of fucking corrie and emmerdale). So she can't really give me any aggro about playing games (plus she knew i played alot of pc games before we got married etc).

Now a days, I don't play as much as I would like cause of my daughter. She's the only thing that can/will stop me playing games.

 

[Bahumat]

its only now that i really am starting travelling around the world,

i wanted to travel round the world but i cant find my portal merchant

 

[Shagrat]

I'm just glad I didnt get into mmorpg's until my late 20's tbh. Bit of Ultima then onto DAOC.

There are sooo many better things to be doing in your late teens/early 20's then being sat in front of a computer screen for hours every night.

There's a lot of experiences your going to be missing that you'll back on and say "f%&k, i should have done that" and when your older you wont be able to do them.

Like I said, Im glad Ive been out there and seen and done loads of things, now I've got a wife and 2 kids and DAOC is a nice way to kick back and relax for a few hours in the evening when the kids are asleep and wifeys watching some garbage on the beeb like Casualty, or Real Life Car Accident Massacres on Discovery Home and Health........

 

[danmrman]

I dnt regrent starting the game's but i have started to thing about other things i could be doing if i wasnt playing them, when my GF and friends are at uni it gives me something to pass the time, but i get so use to playing it tht when it comes down to when they are home from uni i still seem to play it to much and not spend enough time with them.

On the other hand staying in and playing daoc saves me alot of money that i dnt spend on Drinking.

 

[Ezteq]

My bf got me in to DAoC when i was 22 and that was the 1st time i'd ever really learnt how to use a pc let alone play games (i used to struggle with sonic on me master system lol) and the things i loved about daoc was 1) the people and 2) the mythological element, stuff like that has always interested me.

Tbh i found the whole thing facinating and seeing as my bf was the only friend i had (i didnt know anyone in this town, neither did he) i didnt have any RL commitments that it could interfere with, then i got ill and spent a vast amount of time indoors, i was signed off for about 2 years and daoc really helped me if it wasnt for the game i wouldnt have had people to speak to and would have got really lonely.

But then the game started to bore me and i'd nip on just for a chat with guildies but cba to play in the end i quit and havent gone back if i wanted to i would have its not liek im fighting the urge lol i keep up with a lot of my on line pals over the net and ofc FH is a great way to keep a beady eye on things, i can sort of understand when folks get pissy about people spending too much time on line but then as some people have mentioned previously if you dont go pubbing or watch soaps or have any other hobbies then why not and tbh folk who go out clubbing every night blow all their money and end up with liver damage at age 30 can hardly say theyre better then gamers.

never regret playing can honestly say ive met some of the best, nicest, funniest people ever on line and i wub em all!

oh and p.s i suspect i may have been playing too much the night i was sleep daocing bf told me i was pointing and yelling in my sleep "ADDS!!!! ITS A PURP!!!! A PURP!!!!!"

 

[Jaem-]

I don't regret it at all, I wasn't into playing games before my other half got me to play DAoC, gave me something I enjoy doing on the computer, infact it made me want to start a career in computers and after a couple of courses as well as help from my other half I've become a geek with a nice engineer/helpdesk job.

I can see myself still stuck in a dead end low wage waitressing job if I hadn't gotten hocked into DAoC and computers.

 

[Gear]

I was playing computer games since I got my hands on a 24K Spectrum back in 80-81. I don't think I wasted anything of my RL, education wise, life-style wise and job wise I've been doing just fine. For me it's a kind of entertainment. If it wasn't for games, I'd just be going out every night and probably have an elcer by now

GFs find it annoying, but I'm not really influenced that much.

And yes, RL >>>> any virtual reality life, unless you have a guaranteed income whereby you can fuck off everything and not work at all for the rest of your life

 

[Crookshanks]

I was playing computer games since I got my hands on a 24K Spectrum back in 80-81

24k? I thought it only came in 16k and 48k variants (until the "plus" series at a wopping 128k!)

I share a lot of the sentiments with the people above. I often feel SO relieved that I didn't get hooked on proper mmo's until I'd finished uni - I dread to think of the damage it would have done (I was into netrek at the time but the university were keen on banning it so playtime was restricted thankfully!). Now all I've "lost" is a few years spent making lots of friends in different countries all over europe. Do I regret it? Not really - I'm not a big fan of going down to the smokey old pub so playing computer games with virtual socialising has been great.

The only things I do regret is spending hours and hours grinding out characters which I've then subsequently deleted, or spending hours and hours getting LGM crafters pressing one button repeatedly over and over. I'd love DAOC to restart as a new game now - with me knowing what I do about it so I could choose a character on day 1 I liked and stick with just the one character for the whole game.

Anyway I've recently weened myself off DAOC for <glances at the clock nervously> 3 weeks now, although I keep getting urges to renew and come back just to chat with old friends. Thankfully EQ2 has been keeping me entertained without quite such an "addiction" as DAOC had - probably because I still don't know many people in game. I think the recent prydwen problems associated with the possibility of having a naked character should I renew, combined with the fact that you "have" to have 2 accounts (which means two lots of subs, and two pc's to play) and the fact that the game isn't perfect are enough to keep the credit card in my wallet.

A phychologist wrote a report about mmos and their effect on peoples lives. He concluded (iirc) that mmos were not "bad" for you unless they affected your daily work, at which point you could be classed as "addicted". I've always thought this test sounded true, and save the odd post midday at work and the odd thought now and again about "what shall I level up tonight" I've tried real hard to keep the two seperate.

 

[Gear]

24k? I thought it only came in 16k and 48k variants (until the "plus" series at a wopping 128k!)

Well i can't be 100% sure, it's been 20 odd years since then I'm talking about the one with the rubber keys

 

[Morchaoron]

Planetside?

also, i was thinking about a mmorpgfps not a mmofps ;p

But i did play beta which lagged like hell (and thats one thing you DONT want in a fps) so i never really tried it again

 

[Marchus]

Well, I dunno if it would have been better if I wouldn't start daoc. I was always thinking what would have been if I not break my leg and not start playing that much with computer games. It's harder for me to get friends now, to speak with some1 (yeah, rly 0o), etc...

I decided in the summer to stop playing with Daoc, but I was rly bored (cos I cut my finger more then a month ago, and it's still in bandage, and couldn't do anything outside for long), so I started to play with daoc again. Now I have school, so I am learning, and trying to get some IRL program too, tho it's hard cos not much friends, and the people in my school are mostly learn_addicted -p.

I hope that with more RL, I will forget DAoC -).

 

[klavrynd]

cheaper then rl and equally depressing ... choice easily made tbh

 

[Cozak]

also, i was thinking about a mmorpgfps not a mmofps ;p

But i did play beta which lagged like hell (and thats one thing you DONT want in a fps) so i never really tried it again

Ah, my bad, thought you leveled up skills and ranks etc on that.

 

[Hamro]

cheaper then rl and equally depressing ... choice easily made tbh

rofl

 

[Deld]

I do regret starting and I don't regret it. As I live in the middle of nowhere (read:field) I have basically nothing to do so when I was 14 or so I started DAoC. Played it pretty much for 3 years solid. I used to play it excessively over summer due to sheer boredom. The only reason I used to play becuase I had nothing else to do, it wasn't even that I liked the game. I got addicted to RvR though and when your addicted it doesn't matter if you like what your doing I suppose. Anyway game developments, such as ToA, made me realise I couldn't really give a toss about the game anyway so I quit, haven't played in a month or so, all my accounts are closed and I don't miss it. However as you can see I still read the forums and I still like to watch DAoC movies, dunno why but I just like em hehe.

I suppose the biggest gripe I have is it affected my revision for exams. I've never been the most hardworking person ever, perhaps DAoC affected this, unsure. But let me say this, I always look for alternative things to do than the thing I need to do, I am a procrastinator and with DAoC just being there I can honestly say I have never revised properly for any exam I have ever taken. For GCSE's I didn't study at all even though I had study leave for about 2 months, I just thought more DAoC time hehe. Nor for A Levels did I revise. I still got OK grades though and now I'm in my last year at sixth form I plan to finally give a damn and revise and now that DAoC I think the sky's the limit

 

[Oldbone|Ramble]

Nah dont regret it, Im 26 now and started with daoc beta, didnt play at all before that.

Same as many above, I either played HC or nothing, got rr11, artis, ml's and so on in 11 months wich kinda says alot, altho I feels nice to have retired now, rl is a blast.

 

[Fink]

I dont regret playing mmos but im so glad I quit doac years ago. I got that shite out of my system and now if i do play an mmo I realise that its not worth the time and effort as you will never beat it.

Life is much better when you dont spend 10 hours eating pizza, argueing about the zerg and generally wasting your days away.

 

[Yeppy Kinkster]

My RL started going downhill when I started playing TFC when I was young, use to sneek down to play it on computer at 2:am. Then I stated AC.. *POOF* my social life gone, moved to DAoC and it just got worse and worse. DAoC affected everything, like my family, social life, education and just made me extremly tired all the time.

But now, I aint really played games since December .. and Woaaah is life good! All the friends I lost due to DAoC, i've regaine. I got a part time job, doing good in college, I go down the pub all the time.. bassicaly doing all the things a young one should before becoming a real adult.

But I don't regret it.. I met alot of people from different cultures and so on. Thanks DAoC!

Must admit... ToA saved me! the piece of crap that it is.

 

[living]

I would like to have all the money back i used on subscription :-/

Must be a fortune by now.. 4 years or so.... thats 4x12 = 48months (never missed one :-/)..

too lazy to tjeck subscription prices but lats say it's 90.. so 48x90=4320.. OMFG!.. and thats not even counting in extra account, buffbots and for the games themselves..

 

[ElemenT]

Playing DAoC (only game I played online for a long time) hasn't changed me one bit really... I combined it with going out, working from 9.00 to 16.00 and my girlfriend with ease.

You just have to get your priorities (sp?) right and you can do all that just fine, I did anyways.

On the other hand, ToA + girlfriend made me stop though, and I understand her... she rather did other things then watching me play a game, and my girlfriend is much more important then a silly videogame.

She loves Sims 2 now though.

 

[Ocalinn]

Gotta play, don't have time to write anything.