So I was out in San Francisco for the last few days doing a boot camp and there was some big Microsoft convention where they were SPAM the new Xbox. I know this because I saw all these fucking nerds walking through the airport with their brand new video game system, trying to get through security with these things.

Listen guys, put the fucking video game controllers down. Go outside. Do something. Enjoy the world. Maybe talk to some girls... Do something crazy!

I get why you like to play them... but they are giving you a false sense of accomplishment. Hearing all these nerds at once talking to each other about the stupid fucking games they play and how fucking PROUD of themselves they were for whatever goofy ass game it was they beat or did something in.

My guess is that these guys who just got this new Xbox are going to be completely cut off from the world for the next 3 months (minimum) because they are sitting around, playing games, and will become even more socially retarded. Go out and make some new friends!!

Alright, instead of just ranting about what I think of playing video games, I'll actually make this more like an article...

Why are video games ruining your life? Here it is...

False Sense of Accomplishment:

As men, we are driven by challenge, attaining goals, competition, all that shit. Why do you think virtually every guy likes sports so much? It's competitive. And playing video games gives you ALL of that shit. And these video games now are so fucking real, that when you do something in the game, you feel like you ACTUALLY did something. Instead of playing like a child, use that drive and desire to go build an empire for yourself in real life.

Loss of Social Skills

If you don't use it, you lose it. The way some of these "gamers" are socially retarded, they creep me the fuck out to be around... And I'm a guy! No wonder you creep out girls!! If all you do is sit around with your stupid headset and talk to people who you think you're "friends" with, good luck thinking you have what it takes to pick up on the social cues girls are giving you. If you can't do that, you can't get laid. Plain and simple. Get out there and make connections with people. Real, meaningful connections. You'll get alot further in life.

Time is Money

We all have 24 hours in a day. When people complain to me how broke they are, I listen. And if you listen for long enough, people will tell you exactly why they are broke. And what I've noticed with guys who are "gamers" is that they tend to spend ALOT of time on video games.

If this applies to you, I encourage you to try this... Put the video games down. Get rid of them. Give them away. Smash them with a bat. Whatever. And do something else with your time. Something useful. Like I said... Build an empire for yourself. Take that time you're wasting on video games and apply it to something that will help you build that empire. Give it 60 days and really commit to it. See what you can accomplish.

strongly agree, even thought some games training some skills, like management.

Like I said... Use those "skills" to really build an empire for yourself. The best training is real life training... Not in a video game. That's like saying playing a video game about picking up girls will help you get good at picking up girls.

If you want to get good at management, manage some people.

just to clear a point out, at age six you can't manage some people and even at age 18 less likely but you can manage small reality, like a chess game develops some certain skills, other games makes you deal with problems and develop certain skills, memory games, hard strategic games works similar as chess, i understand your spirit i have brother stuck at those games with no social life...sad.

I agree entirely. Not that someone can't play games as a side hobby (I still do from time to time, and that's actually what I spent most of today doing - but I'm recovering from two incredibly intense crossfit workouts the past two days, and reading half a textbook on the stock market while also writing programming documentation).

It's all about what you can do to better yourself. Look at ways the world needs improving, ways you need improving, and go out and do them.

I can't agree more Majikal. To be honest, 2 years ago, I was a gaming ADDICT. Most of my time I spent online gaming with "friends" whom I've never seen in real life. My senior year was getting ruïned, skipping classes, home troubles, loss of social contact, feeling alienated in class, thinking about gaming alone, and when I could do it again, gaming at night and getting caught, to the point I was so addicted that my mother took away the Laptop I played on. But that didn't stop me, I just found other ways to play in sneeky, or other games on the phone or whatever it could be, THAT''s how addicted I was.

It were dark years back then, and it was my way to escape the troubles of real life. I isolated myself, didn't care about anything anymore, wether it was girls, school, money, enough sleep, being healthy. Nothing mattered to me anymore. I was alone, I had nothing else anymore (at least I thought), my relationship with my parents degraded day by day. Until..... I failed my exams......

Thát was the moment that I realised what I was doing. Thát was the moment I realised something was terribly wrong with me. I remember a night where I stared at the ceiling from my bed for 4 straight hours, thinking about everything I've done that slowly destroyed me. From that moment on I decided that I would no longer be that guy anymore. That's when I got serious about pick-up.

It was 2 years ago almost. Since then I've improved so much when I left it all behind. I'm not proud to tell you this, but believe me, there is no future in gaming too much. It has no benefit at all to be honest than losing focus on reality.

Gaming on Xbox, Playstation or whatever the f*ck it is, It does not get you laid (yes there are exceptions, but these are rare, just look at the amount of guys vs girls playing online games). It makes you lose focus, it isolates you and you lose social contacts. DONT DO IT ANYMORE.

Wallie

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This is a much more serious topic than a lot of people realise. My ex-girlfriends brother is the pinacle of a gaming addict, he pre-orders everything, spends (no lie) on average between 13-16 hours a day playing games, doesn't have a job because he's said "I don't want one, I wanna play my xbox, it makes me happy" even though he has bouts of clinical depression due to loneliness. It's really sad because he's a good kid that's nearly 20 years old but is going absolutely nowhere in life because of his addiction to games. He even buys games that he KNOWS he won't enjoy, he buys them because he wants to get achievement points.

All that being said, I don't think it's a bad thing to have a game every now and then. For example having just finished a long day at work and just wanted to chill out for half hour then why not; or having a lads night with some mates, get some beers and pizza in and just have a good time, set up the Xbox and have a mini competition just for fun. There's nothing wrong with that, as these machines are here for entertainment, it's only when these things start to affect other areas of your life that you need to take notice and say "hang on, did I actually just get my weights out, ready to work out, but decided to play Call Of Duty for 3 hours instead?" (an exact scenario that used to happen to me a lot in fact)

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Musterion's Journal

i disagree. it's true maybe if it's just you playing alone, like mining gold etc on WoW or trying to beat a candy crush level for a week. but if it's a game of mind and you play against other live people than i'm all for it!

best example probably would be online chess. the competitiveness is very real and the sense of accomplishment is very real as well. to me, playing chess helps in other aspects of my life, too.
i tried martial arts where i fought other guys for real, obviously it was good for me too, but surprisingly the board game gave me a lot of the same benefits. and chess and pickup are very similar in nature when you think about it.

Hey Magick... Cant you say the same things about going to the bars and pulling girls home?

This is an interesting debate.
I'll be straight up: I used to write tons of articles for a European videogame website as I used my passion for writing and the creativity of the games industry to do something productive. I used to be game obsessed. Literally spending hours on Wii, DS and my PS3 - so I turned to reviews/features to give it a point and to help me grow. Those days have completely gone though...

And why?

Literally because I realised it was a waste of my time and I began to VALUE my time. As rewarding as the writing was it just encouraged rabid fanboy debates. I still enjoy gaming now and then as a way to switch off but it's now hugely reduced (and saves me a fortune).

It is interesting that gaming has exploded onto smartphones/tablets and now I see more girls gaming. I recently broke up with my girl of 5yr and one factor was being CONSTANTLY plugged into her phone on social media games. I'd rather we were doing something social together and when/if we game I found the Nintendo games good for this with friends. You can also get high emotions and even physical interaction going with Wii Sports/Mario Kart 8 etc.

But yeah -- balance is SO important, as with all things.

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Actions speak louder than words.

When Pokemon X/Y came out I got NOTHING done for like an entire month.

When Pokemon ORAS comes out later my work is going to suffer so damn much. Again.

It's a damn blessing that I don't play any other games, though.

The last time I touched a video game controller was around a month ago and I was really drunk, and the time before that was probably around 2 years ago for around 30 minutes.

I suffered addiction to online video games when I was 12-15. Good thing it stopped at that age because I had to go to university at such a young age. If it wasn't for university, I would've probably lived my teenage years as a loner.

Problem with video games is that they provide you an exit from reality. You start "leveling up" and feeling powerful the more you play. Guys you have to know that the same thing applies to real life. The harder you work, the more powerful you will be too. I'd rather spend 7 hours per day socializing with strangers and strengthening my public relation skills and reading books instead of sitting near a console for hours to achieve what I call fake and unrealizable power.

Now I understand that many people just love video games, but I personally suggest that they monitor their gaming hours. Trust me, hitting the top scores is all fun and makes you feel good, but not for long, not until you realize that THIS second is the only second you'll ever be that young, and your seconds are ticking.

Great post.

When all my work colleagues are talking about previous night's gaming tales, I just stick on my ear phones and listen to self help podcasts/Audiobook and other things that educates me and betters my life.

Games are so much fun, so easy to fall down that hole. Glad I gave up before i got too deep into the online gaming world.

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ha, the irony. you just described how I've lived the past 6 years of my life. Closed in, constantly just played games, thought about nothing else. Unbelievable how I was...I also used to be consistently angry at everything in the world and what usually started that anger was the damn game.

Now that I'm approaching girls nearly everyday to "level up" my game and better myself, I have come to the truly sad reality of how far behind I let myself become. But I've still got lots of life left to get the girls I want, the friends...the **LIFE** I want. I strongly agree with putting the controller down and going outside.