I think we all have some strong obsessions. For instance Marley's is to find every small imperfection on our carpet (a lint role, her hair, pieces of paper) and consume them. She is actually searching now; however, my watchful wife has vacuumed and Marley will settle into relaxed disappointment. Her desire for pristine floors has not lead to a specific demise we are aware of yet.
My obsession is video games. It has been since the first Nintendo...or even Atari. To my parents dismay, I preferred staying in with games instead of going outside. Newer generation games with more in depth stories and graphics have prompted even greater desire to play. That is until we had lived in Switzerland for more than a year. We do get out, just not as often as in the US. It is a lot more family oriented, relaxed time here. Given my family I can interact with consists of Leah (an avid Pinner and Flicker user), Marley (with her carpet eating) and Monty (a turkey lunch meat beggar and restless, curious wanderer) I have had time to capitalized on my obsessions. I have taken the opportunity to prove my dominance at Halo. (Supportive credentials: www.halochallenges.com [my gamertag is Simkin 42], scroll down to the top 10 list on the right). I have played a lot of hours of Halo in general since its introduction 10 years ago this year. I think the counter is up to 150 continuous days of playing just for the three games that track time! The other three got just as much play time if not more, but they don't have counters...so I estimate about 300 days of Halo playing. As a reference, if you work 8 hours a day for 4 weeks every month with weekends off, you will have worked about 2000 hours per year. I am at more than 7200 hours of Halo, alone.
I think I had yet to get bored of it, because I was always with friends who also played a lot of video games which led to discussions of strategy, new goals and in general socializing with friends. Since we have gotten to Switzerland, that has decreased significantly. I have spent the christmas break playing non-stop. For those that don't know, the makers of Halo actually put a limit on how much you can play per day which will count toward your overall stats. You have to play a lot. I have hit the so called 'credit cap' everyday of break and rolled my clock forward to some Australian time zone to be a day ahead of this cap so I could keep playing. And it is official: I have reached boredom with Halo. I am about 2 months from the highest available rank in the most recent Halo and I don't know if I will get there. If I do, I vow retirement. Although early retirement may be a better choice because it is turning into a frustrating chore.
So this is how I defeated my obsession. Constant, addictive playing without socialization through a peer support group has led to the realization of boredom. Had we stayed in the US this day may never have come because I know a lot of people who have played more than me there. Thank you for the detox Switzerland?
My obsession is video games. It has been since the first Nintendo...or even Atari. To my parents dismay, I preferred staying in with games instead of going outside. Newer generation games with more in depth stories and graphics have prompted even greater desire to play. That is until we had lived in Switzerland for more than a year. We do get out, just not as often as in the US. It is a lot more family oriented, relaxed time here. Given my family I can interact with consists of Leah (an avid Pinner and Flicker user), Marley (with her carpet eating) and Monty (a turkey lunch meat beggar and restless, curious wanderer) I have had time to capitalized on my obsessions. I have taken the opportunity to prove my dominance at Halo. (Supportive credentials: www.halochallenges.com [my gamertag is Simkin 42], scroll down to the top 10 list on the right). I have played a lot of hours of Halo in general since its introduction 10 years ago this year. I think the counter is up to 150 continuous days of playing just for the three games that track time! The other three got just as much play time if not more, but they don't have counters...so I estimate about 300 days of Halo playing. As a reference, if you work 8 hours a day for 4 weeks every month with weekends off, you will have worked about 2000 hours per year. I am at more than 7200 hours of Halo, alone.
I think I had yet to get bored of it, because I was always with friends who also played a lot of video games which led to discussions of strategy, new goals and in general socializing with friends. Since we have gotten to Switzerland, that has decreased significantly. I have spent the christmas break playing non-stop. For those that don't know, the makers of Halo actually put a limit on how much you can play per day which will count toward your overall stats. You have to play a lot. I have hit the so called 'credit cap' everyday of break and rolled my clock forward to some Australian time zone to be a day ahead of this cap so I could keep playing. And it is official: I have reached boredom with Halo. I am about 2 months from the highest available rank in the most recent Halo and I don't know if I will get there. If I do, I vow retirement. Although early retirement may be a better choice because it is turning into a frustrating chore.
So this is how I defeated my obsession. Constant, addictive playing without socialization through a peer support group has led to the realization of boredom. Had we stayed in the US this day may never have come because I know a lot of people who have played more than me there. Thank you for the detox Switzerland?
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