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

[mze]

I've been playing far too much since i started with CS in yr 2k or so. Kind of developed apathy towards studying, life or anything that way.

Going uphill now though since i got job, not playing all day long at least, just during guildgroups, still not very interested in socializing for some reason, but been doing stuff with friends during weekends so thats kind of an improvement aswell.

Getting tad stressed with college + work + driving course + the "job of getting some alts ToA-d and the BM rp-es", sometimes.

Don't really regret any of the time i spent on DAoC, just wish i could arse myself to do other stuff i want sometimes... i.e going to gym or studying more etc., ah who am i kidding, didnt study one bit during first 2 years of college, kind of a natural sponge picking stuff up on the way, not going to turn into a bookfan overnight again, tho i once was that.

Guess i am doing what i like, prolly gaming for a long while, just wondering how games will turn out in 10-15 years

 

[Deepflame]

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..

There's something horribly wrong with that math.
48 months x 12 euro if you pay per month = 576 euro.
16 tri-months x 32 euro if you pay for 3 months at a time = 512 euro.
8 half-years x 60 euro if you pay for 6 months at a time = 480 euro.
4 years x 110 euro if you pay yearly = 440 euro.

What you did was count the year price as a month price..

 

[Fana]

I dont regret starting to play mmorpgs really, but i do regrett playing them excessively. But then again i do most things excessively - or all things that keep me from doing what i should be doing anyway.

Always had a very hard time making friends irl. Never know what to say or whats expected of me etc, and have rather pronounced neurotic tendencies, which leads to me simply avoiding irl social events where i dont have a predefined role as much as possible. Also had heavy acne as a teenager which added to my social insecurities alot. Pretty much stoped making new friends after the age of 16 or so, and just stuck with the handfull i had, mostly people i played pen and paper rpgs with etc (yes i know, very stereotypical etc).

So with little in the way of social skills i started University and moved to a new city at age 20. Did do fairly well for a while, and tried really hard (for me anyway) to force myself to go out with the people i was studying with etc. Not drinking any alcohold didnt help either though (i hate beeing among drunk people). Started training excessively instead to fill my spare time, and was pretty much a sports addict for about 2 years (2 sessions a day of gym, running, karate etc). Then i got involved with a girl for a while but it ended really bad and i got very depressed. School suffered because of this and because i started to question if what i was studying was really what i wanted to do. Also physically burned out on sports (started to suffer damage to kidneys and ligaments etc).

Enter DAoC.

Got introduced to it by one of my few remaining irl friends and got into it with a passion. Played all days and thought it was great - could interact with others pretty much without my social insecurities hindering me: there was always a goal, always a role and predefined expectations, always something obvious to talk about etc. Got addicted ofc. Lost contact with my irl friends, didnt go to Uni, and cut back heavily on sports - the usuall story.

Now, at age 26, im rather tired of computers and gaming in generall, but i simply dont have much else to do - i wish i actually *wanted* to do something else, but i just cant summon the energy for it - i still get bursts of energy on occasion when i pull myself together and go to the gym regularely for a couple months or study enough to pass a course etc, but it always goes away again and i end up in front of the comp again. Probably because i have no social network irl that will support my time away from the comp. Its a wicked cycle really.
Mmorpg's have given me a sort of social life i didnt have before, but at the same time they have taken away what social net i did have irl before i started them.

 

[Deepflame]

Mmorpg's have given me a sort of social life i didnt have before, but at the same time they have taken away what social net i did have irl before i started them.

I solved that by getting my friends to play DAoC. Now we have long, endless discussions about DAoC whenever we meet, occasionally something about uni, but mostly about DAoC, some awesome moments in rvr, latest fancy item, next expansion, stuff like that.

 

[Light]

sort of regret a part of starting where at one point i was spending way way to much time playing and effected social life, relationship and work (always tired) - this was over the span of probably 2 years ... and during that time i knew really i was playing too much but wouldn't admit it

now i really only play when i don't have other things to do and have a good balance but i do have to watch it because for me yes i think it is addictive

had some good times in game tho and has been good to interact with different people of varying nationality etc

now and again tho i still end up staying up just that bit too late in game and end up knackered the next day ;>

 

[Cadiva]

Don't regret playing DAoC, don't regret starting to play online games at all either.

Started with text muds back in the late 90s after pen and paper RPGs, met my ex-husband through playing a text mud (together 7 years, married for only 2 though - whoops!) and met my current partner though DAoC.

It's not a case of being addicted to DAoC and that being the root of all problems. People with addictive personalities would have been addicted to something else if it wasn't DAoC.

I was fairly addicted to the text mud I played.
Now, after being so involved in a game where your actual playing experiences were affected by other people's actions (ie your city was razed to the ground or you lost all the commodities you'd been saving (gold, silver, wood etc) or you were killed repeatedly back to newborn) then playing a graphic game where your playing and enjoyment isn't really affected by other people just doesn't give anywhere near the same level of addiction

PS I am still best friends with the girl I was best friends with from the age of two, I still see most of my old school friends, I've held down a job as a journalist with the same newspaper group for 15 years (swapping between three different sections of the same company including working in London for two years), I have my own flat which I've got a mortgage for and, best of all, I've met some of the best people I know through playing online games.
My other best friend, the best man at my wedding, I met through playing the same text mud as my husband.
Just because the people you play online games with aren't in the same town/city/country etc, doesn't make them any less of a friend than the ones you see in real life imho.

This weekend I have 14 people coming to visit for a weekend meet, they are all people I've met through playing online games. Two are coming from Sweden, one from America.
I wouldn't trade the time I've spent playing any of the games I've played for one minute.

 

[Afran]

I am hoping that the addiction is finally starting to wear off.

Won't ever happen Cho

 

[Morchaoron]

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

well, one that is like daoc but instead of targeting and pressing your qb button, you swing your own sword, aim your own spell and dodge and block their attacks manually... the more skill you spend in a ability the more acurate/damaging it becomes etc.
Same idea, more advanced control...

 

[Speedr]

Well i started out playing CS and Legend of Mir about 5-6 years ago on my 19th birthday to be exact, got hooked onto the damn things...so i stopped them both. Soon after though i dropped into the net cafe and Gilead and Tusk got me playing Euro DAOC beta and that was the end of it. Was playing 4 nights a week, done crap in school and suffered for it. So i played retail for a few months and quit, went on to play yet another game , Neocron

I got hooked into that one also for over a year, went back to Legend of Mir, stopped that and played some pirated versions of the servers for about 6-8 months and said thats it. But oh no, started to play SWG then for over another year, in a well respected rebel PVP guild on Chimaera but had to stop that also, then after recovering my social and sports RL i went out and bought a fresh copy of DAOC + SI , played up till about june this year with TOA and Catacombs and am now finished with them till later in my life when i have some time to dedicate to one.

Now however, i am doing another year in school [ almost 25 now ] am practicing TaeKwon-Do and free of the dreaded online gaming [ i keep myself content with MGS3 and Final Fantasy games on PS2] .

Thats basically my story

P.S. i remember also having a stint playing Ragnarok Online Beta

 

[bult]

I kind of regret my most active period of DAoC and i feel that i missed out on quite alot that happened IRL that i now regret. But now i have had almost a year long break from daoc and i dont play that much anymore. There is however no way of knowing for sure if i would be better off had i not started playing mmorpgs. Some of my closest friends before my daoc period are in alot of trouble now and are involved in prety heavy crime, thier "gang" is responsible for taking another persons life and many of them take all kinds of drugs. So i wonder now did daoc ruin my social life or did it save me from something far worse? No way of knowing.

mmorpgs is alot of fun but the days kind of "blur" together, you loose track of time

 

[Righthandof]

i dont regret starting at all. spent lots of hours of my free time, created a very poweful character, had fun with my friends.. and can stop if whenever i want(thank god)..
i just hate 1 thing, the time i spent with doing master levels. thats the only part i didnt like.

 

[Gamah]

MMORPGs ruined my life.

I started dealing drugs to pay for the 24accounts, after my spell inside (ofc i threatened a guards family for pc/daoc access) I started to murder people while I was stabing them to death I would chant daoc moves and tried to mimic them..unfortunatly for the victims I would get angry when my moves were blocked by a ribcage or such.

After rehab (I became an acid user to enhance the daoc experiance) I found the nearest netcafe I could find and played daoc for 145hours straight. Doac made me quit my job aa a Professional Jiggalo/Dancer and turn to hard drugs to give me that every edge in game. I took speed to stay awake, and steriods to make sure I had enough power to push down the keys.

I would say daoc has had an adverse effect on my dating, now I speak about nothing but daoc and I am forced to use ryhipnol in order to get laid. I enjoy it though and sometimes I spell my daoc charicters names in seman on the wall. I started wearing cloth armour irl, my chest guard (Bra) and my "boots of Stelletos" were my favorate items, during sex I would chant doac lyrics and demand the girl I was with to "Evade" so I could use my "penitrating thrust" move.

MMORPGS touched me in a way a father touches his child, deep and sticky.
but I still <3 daoc.

 

[Sinnica]

I regret starting to play MMORPGS, but there is no need regretting really, just go on with life and take the lesson from it

 

[Tiques]

There's something horribly wrong with that math.
48 months x 12 euro if you pay per month = 576 euro.
16 tri-months x 32 euro if you pay for 3 months at a time = 512 euro.
8 half-years x 60 euro if you pay for 6 months at a time = 480 euro.
4 years x 110 euro if you pay yearly = 440 euro.

What you did was count the year price as a month price..

Or maybe he is danish, as 12 euro = 90 DKK

 

[Deepflame]

Or maybe he is danish, as 12 euro = 90 DKK

I see.. From the tone of his message I thought he wasn't sure what the total yearly price was and took a guess. Oh well..

 

[Huntingtons]

i dont regret starting at all. spent lots of hours of my free time, created a very poweful character, had fun with my friends.. and can stop if whenever i want(thank god)..
i just hate 1 thing, the time i spent with doing master levels. thats the only part i didnt like.

you know, thats the same answer every drug addict gives ;o

i know im an addict (lol we're a bunch of AA's -.-) dunno if i can quit, but i dont have internet access so that's not a bother, besides goa fucked my shaman over royaly and i cba to return to him.

 

[Outlander]

I regret starting. Made me a lazy fat fuck.

 

[Belomar]

you know, thats the same answer every drug addict gives ;o

If you're looking for true addiction, take a look at Gamah; trying to laugh away this most serious of issues might be a telltale sign.

 

[Graendel]

I don't regret it. I'd like to compare playing DAoC to being a really big fan of soccer. You spend lots of time in front of the telly or at games to watch whatever team play. It's time-consuming, one could say unhealthy and at the same time fun.

As much as I really hate sports fanatics, when I compare what they're doing to what I'm doing at night it's easier to sympathize. We've all got hobbies and we all make sacrifices for them.

 

[Healer McHeal]

tbh, i started with UO back when i was like 11 :/ screwed up alot of things, i got it sorted when i got older and realised though, quit that, then bang, daoc beta comes along , although i didnt let the game get the best of me the second time round, i still play ALOT, but if i have anything i need done IRL i go and do it, tbh, i'd rather play daoc then go out to pub half the time, most drunk people just annoy me, and the friends i have in daoc i wouldnt have wanted to miss at all tbh, some of them ended up really good friends.

 

[Darzil]

Don't regret it.

Most of the time I only play casually when I'm too tired to do Gardening or other stuff around the house, the time I used to spend watching TV.

I play a lot more now that my wife and more of my friends play (I used to mainly play when my wife wasn't home, as she came back from work later than me). As the friends are spread all over the country, it means I spend more time with them, and have started having camping weekends and the like with them as a result.

I treat agreements to be in groups, or organise raids as seriously as in real life, as I still see these as agreements with real people. When I'm planning my activities, though, I try to work DAOC stuff around real life stuff, rather than the other way around.

I'm close to cured of non-online gaming, though. Only played a little bit in the last 3 years or so.

Computer gaming generally got me into computer stuff generally, then out of my old job into computer support, and now into contracting. Can't really complain at that !

Darzil

 

[Gamah]

If you're looking for true addiction, take a look at Gamah; trying to laugh away this most serious of issues might be a telltale sign.

I have no "Issues" I have not played daoc in 6 weeks, and I don't care, I have other things like a job and girlfriend to fill my time now.

I dont give a shit what personal vendetta you have against me (and yes I saw your comments about me whilst I was banned) But the fact is you now play daoc more than more than me, so have fun in your pointless persistant world whilst I get on with life.

You can see my quit thread here http://www.prydwen.net/showthread.php?t=4262 where I openly admit Daoc fucked up my life. But you should know that I don't give a shit what some geek from fucking Sweden (With its crap economy and highest suicide rate in europe) thinks about me.

Ciao for now.

 

[Gamah]

hmm drunken post, but still I agree with what i said

 

[Xxcalibur]

playing daoc or no u seem to be not a normal dude

 

[Brite]

your fucked up head fucked up your life gamah, not a game, and i see your soooo busy you have no time at all to spare to even post and are too busy getting on with life and as for abusing people who still play just because they still play basically? lol, if you let the game take over your life so much then maybe you shouldnt play, ill miss the fights we had ingame, but wont miss you as a person im afraid, only rare occassions where you where intresting to talk to most other times just firing about out in all directions, dont expect to get far in life unless you change your attitude

 

[mirieth!]

I don't regret it. I'd like to compare playing DAoC to being a really big fan of soccer. You spend lots of time in front of the telly or at games to watch whatever team play. It's time-consuming, one could say unhealthy and at the same time fun.

As much as I really hate sports fanatics, when I compare what they're doing to what I'm doing at night it's easier to sympathize. We've all got hobbies and we all make sacrifices for them.

i listen to all my team's games on the radio while i play not sure what i would do if i could afford sky sports channels to actually watch the games though, i would be torn!

 

[Gamah]

your fucked up head fucked up your life gamah, not a game, and i see your soooo busy you have no time at all to spare to even post and are too busy getting on with life and as for abusing people who still play just because they still play basically? lol, if you let the game take over your life so much then maybe you shouldnt play, ill miss the fights we had ingame, but wont miss you as a person im afraid, only rare occassions where you where intresting to talk to most other times just firing about out in all directions, dont expect to get far in life unless you change your attitude

Yes, thanks for the pep talk..maybe next time you can use some grammar so my eyes dont hurt? :|

I maybe won't take my life advice from a student who spends all his time playing DAoC and supports Oldham FYI I am nothing like IRL what I am on these forums, fun that you wanna base my apparant "attitude problem" and judge me without knowing anything about me. Probably one of those people that sits on a sofa and takes the piss out of all the people who are different to him as they walk along the street. Brite you have NO higher ground over me, you are not some groovy guidence counciler..you're some nerd who spends his time playing a computer game, same as me and many others here. I don't (and you might want to write this down) care what you think, what you say and what you do. If you don't like me thats your business I could not care less, honestly..I don't seek friends on the Internet I have plenty IRL and I don't crave acceptance on the internet unlike you seem too.

 

[mirieth!]

MMORPGs ruined my life.

I started dealing drugs to pay for the...

i actually believed that part

 

[Belomar]

Well, I'm not the person debasing this thread. Did I touch a nerve?

 

[Gamah]

Well, I'm not the person debasing this thread. Did I touch a nerve?

If that makes you happy, believe it, oh no I am debasing the thread..Belomars world is ending