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0 pointsbaldfat12y ago0 comments

I played video games since 1976 with typing in code from books and magazines. Some programs were on tape and took 30 minutes to load.

In the late 1990's I wrote for websites strategies and even won several tournaments and won hundreds in cash and some perks. I even attended the first World Cybergames as a MVP.

In that time 1993 - 2003, I went to college, went to 7 semesters got a 3.95685 gpa (I could scream still why I got a B+ in my last class). I also started a non-profit organization gave almost 100,000 pounds of food to poor children in Florida. Started a record studio in 2000 and helped start two bands' careers that ended with them touring the world and landing on MTV. I ended up thousands poorer but it was a good experience and learned I am not the personality type to sit behind a mixing board and computer.

My Rules)

1) If someone asks me to do something in real life that I am doing on the computer, real life wins and I do it. So anyone says let's play basketball I play basketball.

2) I worked out 6 days a week for 20 minutes to 1.5 hours.

3) I volunteered about 5-10 hours a week.

4) I read about 2-3 books a month (Altered between fiction and non-fiction)

5) I did not watch tv or movies (instead of doing passive entertainment I always want to do active entertainment)

All of these went out the door when I got married in 2003. My wife HATES video games :) So now I play very sparingly. I started playing board games and those = video games to her. So I love my wife, kids and life so I choose not to annoy her with playing video games. I feel like I am less accomplished without games. I felt that they propelled me to always be an active person mentally. I missed them but I am guessing I will not be a active video game player in the future. Video games benefited my life.

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lusr12y ago

I think the following separates you from the average games player and makes your story (interesting as it is) out of place:

> In the late 1990's I wrote for websites strategies and even won several tournaments and won hundreds in cash and some perks. I even attended the first World Cybergames as a MVP.

That's a productive career and time well spent; it is a fact that not everybody can have that outcome. (This reminds me of all the guys at school obsessing over football; the effect under discussion is not limited to computer games.)

For the average game player, time spent playing games is time not spent working towards some other achievement. This is precisely why I pretty much stopped playing games years ago and focus on spending my free time on other goals.