Has gaming ruined your life?

As I should be going to university this year, providing I get the grades I need, I decided that this summer I would go with my family on holiday to Spain for the last time in the foreseeable future. I have been making some early preperations, downloading the games I want to play while I'm there, putting them on disks and so forth.
I will also, like previous years, bring not only my laptop but my psp and ipod.
But now I begin to question my actions. What happened to the days when I could go on holiday with nothing but my clothes, a camera and a bit of money to spend?
You would think the environment around me, the sightseeing and cheap alcohol would be enough to keep me satisfied. Has the enjoyment of gaming turned into a compulsion....a requirement to get through each day no matter what I am doing?

A previous year when I went on holiday I cleared 4 or 5 playstation portable games and also managed to get quite a few hours of WOW under my belt.
Hell when I should be revising (I am just a few days away from my last exam) I have played over 40 hours of Terraria and between last night and today I've got to level 23 on WoW (without even aiming to level up).
That just shows how my love for gaming has evolved into something further. I am not even sure if I have a control over it.

Admittedly I am not even the kind of person who aims for high scores in games or plays on the hardest difficulty for the sake of it. Hell, most of the time I am not even aiming for completion. Gaming for me is just escapism. Explore new worlds, play around with the game mechanics and just get sucked into it.
Well, it has become a major part of my life as much as life itself. And I'm sure I'm no the only one here in that boat.

Sorry it was such a long read. EDIT: I also just realised how depressing it sounds. That wasn't intentional. Look: a smiley face see that? :) :)

Please tell me if you are in a similar situation or not, how you deal with it, your views, etc

Gaming takes up a lot of time in my life. But ruin, no. I like gaming, and I see myself as a gamer. I have always done it and will probably always game. But it has interrupted some of my other things sometimes... such as school for example.

Well at this moment I have no time to focus on gaming. There's a lot of stuff I plan on doing soon. That's why Uncharted 3 will be my last game for the PS3. But I will start gaming again next-gen though.

lol, fuck no. I never take gaming very seriously. Personal life comes first. I wasn't born on this Earth to play videogames.

It doesn't sound depressing. I actually have the same problem, I sometimes believe gaming has consumed my life but its just all in the head just find something else to do, tell your parents to hide it from you. For me I just ride my bike and forget about gaming.

yeah kinda i spend all my time at my computer watching porn and playing BC2

I only time when it almost ruined my life was when i got addicted to halo reach before my exams and made me got behind in homework ALOT almost to the point i couldn't do exams.

Mikenuge wrote:

yeah kinda i spend all my time at my computer watching porn and playing BC2

+1

LOL

There was a point in time where I was gaming way too much. Now I don't game a ton, but I am on the computer quite a bit, working on my site and whatnot.

Lol i clickedm quote instead of edit...

Well when I'm not gaming I am on the internet. It's not just a gaming addiction but a technology addiction

I mean I don't notice gaming affecting me in anyway, I don't feel addicted but then again deep inside I know I am lol
I mean if a friend wants to meet up I used to be happy to go out but these days I just dread it. For some reason I would rather laze around and play games than go out drinking. What's wrong with me? xD

Lykos wrote:

Well when I'm not gaming I am on the internet. It's not just a gaming addiction but a technology addiction

I mean I don't notice gaming affecting me in anyway, I don't feel addicted but then again deep inside I know I am lol
I mean if a friend wants to meet up I used to be happy to go out but these days I just dread it. For some reason I would rather laze around and play games than go out drinking. What's wrong with me? xD

BLASPHEMY!!

The infidel should be burned at the stake.

I don't really do much at all on the weekdays, go out on the piss the odd time (student nights, hot birds AND cheap drink), maybe go to the gym, but I'm mostly on my laptop, watching Sky Sports News or playing FIFA 11.

But when it comes to the weekend I have to go out on the piss. I've had so many memorable nights with my mates I be freaked if I missed something.

Lykos wrote:

Well when I'm not gaming I am on the internet. It's not just a gaming addiction but a technology addiction

I mean I don't notice gaming affecting me in anyway, I don't feel addicted but then again deep inside I know I am lol
I mean if a friend wants to meet up I used to be happy to go out but these days I just dread it. For some reason I would rather laze around and play games than go out drinking. What's wrong with me? xD

Lol don't feel ashamed. Thats how we lazy fucks are.

Stoney wrote:

Lykos wrote:

Well when I'm not gaming I am on the internet. It's not just a gaming addiction but a technology addiction

I mean I don't notice gaming affecting me in anyway, I don't feel addicted but then again deep inside I know I am lol
I mean if a friend wants to meet up I used to be happy to go out but these days I just dread it. For some reason I would rather laze around and play games than go out drinking. What's wrong with me? xD

BLASPHEMY!!

The infidel should be burned at the stake.

I don't really do much at all on the weekdays, go out on the piss the odd time (student nights, hot birds AND cheap drink), maybe go to the gym, but I'm mostly on my laptop, watching Sky Sports News or playing FIFA 11.

But when it comes to the weekend I have to go out on the piss. I've had so many memorable nights with my mates I be freaked if I missed something.

Haha yeah I mean I do end up going. I wouldn't let myself not go because I end up having a great time. Sometimes end up getting into trouble or once in a while getting caught by the fuzz or whatever
But the thing is I usually have to really motivate myself to go out. I really have to force myself just to leave the house. It takes a lot of self-persuasion lol

Only thing that gaming did is just enrich my life even more. I grew up playing video games but I never let it get in the way of life. Sometimes I don't want to go out with my mates not because I wanted to stay home and play video games, it is because I wasn't all that interested in what they wanted to do. I don't like going to clubs but I rather go to a pub and chill and talk to mates for a while. Movies, concerts, cars, birthdays, conventions, pubs and hey even arcade gaming I'm all in for. If someone asks me "Wanna go to the snow?" my bags are already packed. The only time I will play video games is when I have nothing else to do. I prob play about 2-3 hours a day and sundays I prob play around 6 hours in 3 sit downs.

^ Pubs > Clubs fer sure

The first tri of my sophmore year I gamed too much and my grades showed it, I usually get all A's and B's but I had a couple C's and some D's. I just put my priorities in order and all works out.

BUMPLOL

Ruined, no, but fucked with? You know it. Those damn WoW raids man... those damn WoW raids. I joined a guild a long time ago (when I played) where our raid times were when I usually ate dinner so those 3 week days I would skip dinner and just eat later.

Yeah, that worked for about 2 weeks. Quit that guild so hard.

^
lol jesus man.
well I have to admit it's affected my grades and my sleeping pattern too. :S

yup... oh well...

Yeah my sleeping pattern is fucked from gaming, too. It's a pain in the ass to reset too.

^ + rep for truth

Yeah I'm starting to get back into a good pattern but it's still not great.
The last year or so I've been going to bed at 12 at the earliest and then I'd usually play psp or listen to music for another 2 hours or so. Some nights I would be up alll night and have college the next day.
Other times I would lie in till midday.

Now I'm trying to force myself into a better routine.

Ihsahn wrote:

Yeah my sleeping pattern is fucked from gaming, too. It's a pain in the ass to reset too.

Same here, going to sleep at 6am at waking up at 3pm sucks so hard.

Was even worse when I got 999. It fucked it up something fierce