Whats wrong with gaming?

I loved this shit

I’ve been a huge fan of the Diablo series ever since I was young. I was keeping up with the release status of Diablo III, but after I got into uni I decided that I wouldn’t bother getting it, since I know I would be really addicted to it.

During second semester, I got addicted to a game called Thirst of Night. It was not that great, but it sure was addicting because events in the game happened in real-time. A building would take hours to build, troops would go marching and I’dhave to check their status 8 hours later. I told myself that I would just play between studying, and it really wasn’t too much time consuming gaming involved, since it was a decision based game, I could just make a bunch of decisions and ignore it for an hour.

But I didn’t. I checked up on it every few mins, and started climbing the ranking system. Eventually I was part of a respected clan, and I made it past their cut, multiple times. I started checking up on themduringclass. I drew the line there. I realized that it was taking over, and I had to delete it, so I did, and never looked back.

A few months went, and I never touched any games. RIM updates the playbook, and I get two free games. I spent so many consecutive hours playing Asphalt 6. I’m not even a huge fan of racing games, but man was I addicted to that. I am thankful that the game actually ends. I unlocked every car, every city, got all the stars and shit and I finally put the game down.

I haven’t gamed since then. I got pretty good at resisting the temptations, and my self-control was strongest after I read How To Quit Gaming FOREVER – Kingpin Lifestyle. This shit was golden. I have no idea how I came across it, but it really cuts the crap and gives real and useful information.

I’ve only been craving playing Diablo the last few days, and I was thinking about one of my friends who said “I don’t have time to play StarCraft so I just watch videos of it”. So I watched a few Diablo III gameplay videos but it didn’t satisfy my craving. It just strengthened it, because it reminded me ofwhy I liked the game so much! I forgot about how simple it is to play the game, the huge fun-factor behind leveling-up, and the jaw dropping graphics. I resisted a few days and then…

I finished my first Java II assignment.

I did great too! I actually had code that was efficient, and very closely matched to the professors official solution. It was a great learning experience, and it did develop my skills.

I should celebrate! Whats something I’ve been craving…

And that’s when I downloaded Diablo I. I decided I’d start from the beginning. I learned my lesson from Thirst of Night, and Asphalt 6, so I told myself that I MUST match my study time with my gaming time. For every 30 mins I play, I study for 30 mins. Simple and makes sense right?

Well right in the middle of a boss battle is not a moment I want to have to pause the game. But I did 🙂 But I kept thinking about it while I switched to study mode. My productivity was much lower than the day before I started this schedule. I find glancing over at my timer every few seconds while I’m studying, anxious to when I will start gaming again.

I tried switching it from 30 mins to one hour, so that I could really settle in into study mode. At one point it worked, and I was doing well, but still not a real solution.

What else can I try? I could delete the game, and just forget about it. But I really wanna flex my self-control muscles. I can flex those muscles either by sticking to the schedule no matter how tempted I am to play longer than 30 mins, or I can flex it by picking some sort of rule.

Naturally, we all have certain times of day where we are least productive. I find that I am most productive while drinking coffee, least productive after a large meal, and mixed productivity during the night. If I can figure out times where I am least productive, I can just stick gaming into that time slot.

It’s gonna be hard to find those time slots.

Okay, how about I just game my ass off for like 4 hours, “get it out of my system” and then start studying?

I’m going to try that right now: 5:42 pm