UKTerrorist
Posted by Sunman^ at 15:09, 20/4/2005
Alive and kicking but is all as it seems.
Sitting here sweating profusely at the thought of writing another java class in a meticulously boring course, that I want nothing more to do with but feel out of necessity, that after 3 years I may at least get that ever elusive piece of paper…………….. Or I may not.
It suddenly dawns to me. f*** it I’d rather dabble in something that takes my interest.
So……without a hint of remorse, I willingly, with a smile on my face, close down each and every application that has the slightest attachment to that of java.
Instantaneously I feel the blood coursing through my veins, my heart begins to race, my muscles begin to beat like that of tiny pulses, which have now moved on and are flowing steadily through my bloodstream. The hysteria now at boiling point. I take a deep breath trying in vain to control myself, as my hand which seems possessed by another entity draws ever nearer to what seems to be a luminescent façade on my desktop.
MIRC
Immediately as if my mind were intertwined with it, it starts to connect. The stream of text signals the endorphins in my body to kick in and I feel more alive than ever.
What the f*** was all that about? Precisely the question I would be stating if I were the one trying to decipher what this estranged author’s seemingly nauseous mind was trying to convey.
I ask you to ask yourself one thing. Do you suffer the same enthusiasm as our beloved fictional character does above (No Honest its Not Me :D )
If so you could unknowingly have a problem.
Countless numbers suffer daily from the above addiction, GAMING. It’s a curse to some, a resolve to others. What ever category you fall into there is no doubt that once you logon to the web, run whatever game floats your boat you feel as if you’re the king of the world. (Albeit till you get randomly shot through double doors on dust2, BY KRITIKAL :D)
No this is not another cs dieing/living column.
I was just wondering. Is gaming getting to a point where it takes over our lives. Is it an irreversible infection?
<a href="http://www.computeraddiction.com/peter.htm">http://www.computeraddiction.com/peter.htm</a>
1. What is computer addiction?
Addiction to the computer and/or Internet is a complex problem which is developing due to the rapid spread of computer use around the world. Computer addiction, like other addictions, is the use of computers in order to change an individual's mood. Computer use becomes abuse when it interferes with one's work or school, or disrupts personal and family relationships, and becomes increasingly necessary in order to feel good.
Do any of you fall into the above?
I’ve also took the liberty to list some of the common symptoms associated with gaming addiction.
Psychological Symptoms
:Having a sense of well-being or euphoria while at the computer
:Inability to stop the activity
:Craving more and more time at the computer
:Neglect of family and friends
:Feeling empty, depressed, irritable when not at the computer
:Lying to employers and family about activities
:Problems with school or job
Physical Symptoms
:Carpal tunnel syndrome
:Dry eyes
:Migraine headaches
:Back aches
:Eating irregularities, such as skipping meals
:Failure to attend to personal hygiene
:Sleep disturbances, change in sleep pattern
With regards to the above symptoms I can openly admit to suffering from at least a handful of them a year or so ago when I was heavily addicted to gaming. One thing I stumbled on that was rather alarming and would directly indicate as to why gaming is addictive is the following.
<a href="http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/concerns/excess_play_videogames.cfm">http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/concerns/excess_play_videogames.cfm</a>
A 1998 study by Simon Fraser University, Video Game Culture, showed that one out of every four teens who plays video games feels addicted to them. Also, Studies have shown that playing games can trigger the release of the chemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, is associated with pleasurable sensations and has been linked with addiction.
Hopefully the above will spark to intellectual conversation. I in no way want to say the whole of ukt has a problem :D don’t get me wrong, just thought that I would bring something to the table to is normally overlooked. I would have gone on with numerous references but I want people to read this, hence not wanting to draw it out.
Regards, Daz.
Comments
The Anti-DoZ
16:53 20/4/2005
haha, similar to a column i wrote a while back but it's nice to see a couple of external references.
i've had several periods where i was playing games too much, the main culprits without doubt have been elite, frontier and cs. f*** me i've wasted some serious time on those games, but to be fair, cs and online gaming is far worse than a standalone effort as you have the critical interaction with other people, more specifically actually beating real people and not 'bots'. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
17:09 20/4/2005
[Edited by siLki at 17:12 20/4/2005] [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
BLACKLiGHT
17:11 20/4/2005
17:57 20/4/2005
Yes I am still about,
I guess this is a good opportunity for me to rant about my life and
experiences wrt cs+addiction,
I first started playing CS in 2000, when I was 17, I'd got kicked out
of home and had moved into my own flat and a friend of mine told me
about this game: half-life and he loved it, so I completed it in a day
and got bored, I got a phone connected and got onto the internet with
my 56k, started playing tfc er and I was majorly confused, this being
the first game i'd bought, ever, I then downloaded cs and found a
really good server, wrote down the ip and carried on playing there as
Zerokill from then onwards, mainly due to the fact I had a 0 for 40
score, hurrah for barrysworld, part of the reason I carried on playing
was that I found the game fun and after watching AS Jobbie play I was
totally amazed at how someone could be so good and win the rounds all
by himself, Jobbie is God :)
This was beta 7.1 and I knew nothing about ping, rates and interp, eh
hem, I had a 450 k6-2 with a cheapy agp 4mb riva128 I got for 15 quid
on a 14" monitor I bought for 30 quid which gave me the crappest fps
ever, anyways, I started getting into CS and neglecting my
college/a-levels, it seemed to be easy for me, a great escape, I
always wanted to be the best at everything I did and when I played
this I finally found something fun and playing on public servers
seemed cool.
I was recruited by a guy called ghost, he said, hey u want to be in
my clan, I said yes, and wahey I was in a clan, alas I was a noob and
when he left the server I realised I had none of his contact details,
in retrospect I can rofl at that :)
my first real clan was with some barrysworld admins, chet and rob if
I remember correctly, cool guys, but the clan never went anywhere as
there were just 3 of us lol, then I joined bravo2zero with will, who I
thought was absolutely amazing, sadly this was another 3 man clan and
we split lol, I quickly found myself getting bored and ending up
joining several clans at the same time, I joined another clan, leet
sheep destroyers, with some guys called THX Baal,duck, mystic G (rob),
sadly we split after our second game because we were utter newbs lol,
pretty funny actually, anyways fastly moving on, I met suspect
dangerous and I don't know how but I joined his clan, me on my 56k,
his clan was cool, people with funny names who I thought were gods of
CS, like daemonblade, lillymonster, tasha, severn and hollow g :) The
clan was fun, like a little family, I also met this idiot called
itchypoo, hum yes, I thought he was someone else, erm, carling from
LGL a BW admin, anyways, we got talking on christmas day 2000, sigh
yes, by this time I was addicted and i'd totally dropped out of
college, and we decided on making a clan, this guy called 4K purple I
think, had been bunnyhopping on our server and it got on our nerves,
so we made a clan called 6 kittens :) well, very nearly called flying
hampster s*** or 6 queers/6 queens by phil, eh hem,
Anyway, we started recruiting, or rather, phil did, I never remember
the order but, eventually we had 6 players, we used to fill the BW
publics and one day the server announced it was 'the 6K server' :)
eventually i had to make a decision between my fun clan 6K and my
leet clan, obviously I chose 6K ... sigh... whyyy oh whyyyy..... heh
anyways I moved into a new flat and we got by 512k cable and a gf2
and a 19" monitor and it changed my whole outlook of the game
entirely, CS became my every day obsession, 6K became a family and we
got much much better at CS, we knew all the best people, negotiator and some cool 4K guys, I found I couldn't let anyone else near my
PC for longer than 5 minutes, I had to be at it all the time, we had
matches to play, people to beat, I stopped going out and shaving, I
used to sleep at 6am after a day of gaming and start playing again at
6pm when I woke up, some days I had migraines yes, most of those
things described above, it took me a long time to realise that CS
wasn't important to me, my online friends were important yes, but CS
was just an excuse for me to avoid college, it was around summer that
I realised that a lot of people who play CS are drop-outs who haven't
got anything better to do, we were at our peak, 6K, we played 4K at
lan and we lost due to lack of lan experience, yes it sounds stupid
but playing on lan is so much more nerving, after that lan in july
2002 I said goodbye to my teammates and I felt bad inside for doing
it, we had such a good time together but it was for the best, I had to
finish my schooling and get my a-levels, and yes, I did do them, not
entirely staying free from CS, I did my a-levels for 2 years and got
offered a place at imperial college london, I finished with grades
AABB and i've taken a gap year before going to uni, i'm working, i'm
in my second job at the moment and I never even imagined I would be
working, I don't have the internet at home, I don't think I could cope
with the internet at the moment, it takes up my time and I get
addicted to CS, it makes me agressive and gives me a generally bad
nature, I have so many things to look forward to now, I'm moving to
australia in october and i'm hoping to study a science batchelors over
there, so my chances of returning to the uk cs scene are slim :) i.e.
500 pings, but I may play over there who knows.
Anyways, my point is, get on with life and if you can manage playing
cs as the same time do, but at some point CS will take over, so beware
and realise your limits, unlike me. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
18:27 20/4/2005
Game Dimension Online
18:38 20/4/2005
Anti-saviour of UKT
18:55 20/4/2005
digital heresy
18:57 20/4/2005
19:07 20/4/2005
20:05 20/4/2005
20:22 20/4/2005
20:53 20/4/2005
Best way i believe! :) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
RemOte.uK
21:08 20/4/2005
22:21 20/4/2005
Only problem is now that ADSL has just become available like within the last week or so, i should have it within a week, don't think it'll change that much though as CS isn't what it once used to be. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
23:56 20/4/2005
00:29 21/4/2005
01:57 21/4/2005
Sniper's Alley
11:46 21/4/2005
But I havent played much CS in the last couple of years and nothing has captured my enthusiasm really.
Nowadays I sit down at the PC and I think "FS what can I do now to stave off this boredom?" "I could play a game but I cba" "IRC - cba" "watch a film - cba" and then I end up reading the sports news and checking my e-mail with an almost obsessive compulsive frequency, searching for some sort of entertainment or interest from the machine, trying to ignore a deeprooted sense of frustration and despondency. I still enjoy games, but not like I used to. I will still enjoy them, but I don't get hauled in playing non-stop for a week like I used to - nowadays I dabble for a couple of days and unless it's a REALLY good game then that's where I get bored and switch off.
I got WoW but I haven't played it in 5 or 6 weeks, just got bored of it after a couple of days.
I enjoy getting away from the PC nowadays. The only online game I've been playing for the last few weeks is the LFS S2 Alpha demo and that's only 20-30 minutes a day probably, otherwise I very rarely talk on IRC now except in pms, I don't post in forums much and I seem to prefer watching the telly to sitting at the PC.
Especially when it's sunny outside like today. I'd rather be outside getting some excercise or working in the back yard than sitting inside staring at a screen. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
12:03 21/4/2005
yup, tis :-) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
12:34 21/4/2005
I do however play it from time to time when I'm bored, but honestly the only thing that ever made me not go away for good was this website for one, and two: friends. Other than that there isn't much else :] [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Super Breasts
13:48 21/4/2005
Took a 6 month break around this time last year and actually started getting on really well at work getting promoted etc.
Now work is really busy and I just dont have the time to play any games.
Unfortunately due to exams and ninjy moving to a new pub most of sb seem to be inactive atm and really suffering for it. Hopefully after the exams etc sb will become more active again. I doubt the clan will end up folding purely for the reason that it will be 5 years old next month, which I guess isnt a bad achievent in cs.
I still go to i series from time to time for a laugh and to catch up with old faces and am looking forward to the next one where Rush! and hariy's forehead dominate the whole event.
Most of my online time is now spent playing poker whilst on vent with Landen and jeditb***h. May aswell use vent seeing as I payed for it and put it to use! So far in the 2 weeks or so we have been playing I'm about $600 up which isn't bad I guess. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:05 21/4/2005
when i was younger i loved PC games, hence i played CS s*** loads, i still like games now days (any FPS game ill play) but im not 'addicted' can just as easily go off my PC and do something else, because i HAVE that something else in my life, where as young people generaly dont. Other than hanging round bustops smashing peoples cars up.
Dont see any problem with playing games when your younger, as long as you dont turn into some kind of hermit who doesnt go out (a stereotype i know but one which DOES seem apparent) just sits on computer all day, but as you grow up + get older theres simply better things to do with your time. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:06 21/4/2005
Super Breasts
14:09 21/4/2005
I'm sure there's better ones out there, but it's the one me and loads of mates are signed up to and we cba to find another. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:30 21/4/2005
14:32 21/4/2005
17:11 21/4/2005
I find myself coming home after a boring day in my last year of college and think what actually is there to do? No one goes out during the week and you have the choice of either sitting watching TV or going online and i know what I would rather choose. If there was an alternative to the game and other things out there i would give the game up but it’s quite hard when you realise there is absolutely f*** all else to do out there until it comes round to the weekends.
I have tried to give this game up and do not play as much as i used to ' thankfully ' but you cant help yourself sitting infront of the pc and going on the odd public or two when there is nothing to do. Maybe im just not fortunate enough to be living in somewhere there is always something to do. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
17:37 21/4/2005
21:43 21/4/2005
21:48 21/4/2005
00:03 22/4/2005
Super Breasts
00:51 22/4/2005
02:03 22/4/2005
I still have a quick blast on a public every now and then but my reactions aint what they were, still enough to get me banned from the odd server tho eh crappy :) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
classified
09:04 22/4/2005
At home i used to live in a small village full of old people, my only saviour was my ADSL, now I'm at uni, we play footie, go to the bar, cook together, play ps2 in the front room, play pool/snooker. I go out for meals and to the cinema with my gf and then when im bored and people are doing their uni work i play a pcw or something with my old clan.
It seems to work, however CS does make me want to smash my pc now :s [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
09:47 22/4/2005
sadface!
nar after thesew acon5 finals imma stop i think....
good times good times!¬ [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
11:25 22/4/2005
realis, oh yes, i've tried all the above, but news gets boring when ur saturated with the internet 24/7 and u have fa to do except refresh the bbc website, i've spent days cleaning and tidying, spent all of saturday completing d3 from start to finish, since i've not had the internet i've started buying all my favourite music (100 quids worth in the hmv/virgin sales) / dvds (100 quids worth as well) / software (100 quids worth) and i bought a new PC for 500 quid, well, I built a 3200+ athlon 64, nforce4 mobo, 200gb maxtor 8mb cache hdd, geforce 6600gt, 512mb ddr400 in preparation for my return to CS, 2 days after which my internet was disconnected rofl, sigh, tried everything and i'm still bored s***less :) though I now have legal versions of everything instead of being a pirate, it makes me feel good :) hopefully when I move to aus and I'm at uni i'll have somethign to keep my mind occupied and i'll be doing some sports like surfing :) so that's somethign to look forward too!
bong^ yeah, we were in a clan together, nD, that's another thing that p***es me off about CS, getting banned from publics constantly, sigh :) used to be good when I pld on BW cos I knew all the admins but after that publics were dull, anyways how're things going for u?
oh yeah and finally, I have to post something about my wife :) because she's p***ed off with me, she helped me so much throughout the past few years when I was down and couldn't cope with life, she stood by me even though I was in a tough situation and in the end she let me chose for myself what the right thing was to do, so I have her to thank for where I am, HOPE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY GODDAMN WOMAN :) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Super Breasts
11:36 22/4/2005
Was your attitude more than anything that p***ed me off.
"I cant be banned from here go speak to the cl of the server and see what he says" amongst other abuse,
I think you just caught me on a bad week, sorry dude. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
12:35 22/4/2005
Im doing fine b***h, im still living with the same g/f i was back then not a lots changed for me really, i just seem to have less time for gaming these days. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Super Breasts
14:53 22/4/2005
#sb.poker is where its at now baby! [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
classified
17:28 22/4/2005
22:13 22/4/2005
Super Breasts
22:31 22/4/2005
Although Choke|MaT*PokErPr0 would probably say I havent learnt hold em yet! [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
00:25 23/4/2005
Super Breasts
02:48 23/4/2005
Won $423 from $5 on monday which isnt too bad I guess. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
12:36 23/4/2005
16:07 23/4/2005
LOL Del I am EXACTLY the same [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
17:18 23/4/2005
01:15 24/4/2005
When i was in year 9, approximately 2 1/2 years ago, i played CS as soon as i came home from school until 11 at night, and sometimes stayed off school to play CS because i couldn't be arsed with school.
Now i play CS 1 hour a day at most, and thats if i've got nothing to do, this read made me realise that i'm still partially addicted and need to stop playing altogether... won't happen till i'm in college though because ive got that big summer and i24 and landed to get through yet :) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
09:52 24/4/2005
taStyhouse
22:46 24/4/2005
10:27 3/5/2005
02:37 20/11/2005