My friend is giving up games for a while because he wasn’t happy with the fact that he wasn’t putting in any time into his other hobbies such as painting, writing comics, or reading books. He was a bit of an extreme case as he said he has put over 300 hours into Black Ops multiplayer and has multiple times done 12 hour sessions on Skyrim. So have you ever thought that you should give up gaming and spend time on your other interests?
First of all I don`t think I have thought to give up gaming to spend time on other interests. But then I`ve never played a Call of Duty for 400 hours or done 12 hour sessions on Skyrim. It`s taken me almost 2 months to clock up 14 on Arkham City!
I think I have a decent balance between the things I do. I usually play games late at night when my wife and son are fast asleep. I couldn`t live with myself if I was playing games every weekend while they were sat in another room! While I don`t think it`s bad to dedicate that sort of time and attention to video games, I think it`s bad to dedicate that sort of time and attention to any one thing. Think of all the men in England who watch every premier league game at the weekend, then go to the pub and chat about the game, go to work and chat about the game, look forward to the next game and ignore the rest of their life in the process. Actually TV is a pet hate of mine. The amount of people who watch an insane amount of whatever`s on when they crash on the sofa is terrible. People who carefully select what they watch is a different matter, which is why I think the more recent long book form of US TV dramas is great. It`s even greater that they come out on DVD.
So it`s not looking like I`ll stop playing video games anytime soon and thinking about it reminds me of the time the mother in law asked me if I was going to graduate from games once the baby was born. The amount of swear words that went through my head! Especially coming from someone who vegetates while watching either Japanese propaganda on TV or talentless "tarento" jump as high as they can to stick themselves to the Velcro wall!
Some of the best memories I have of being at home with my dad are when he chipped in to play games with us. I can`t wait until my son`s a little older and we can play a game together. It has to be better than ignoring him while I slouch on the sofa. Actually, that`s something that has changed about my attitude to gaming...I`m adamant my son will do his homework, and do other things before he spends hours playing a game. And I`ll be careful about what he plays. Even now I don`t want to force games onto him and the one time I played an action game with him on my lap I felt incredibly guilty! Cars, sports and Mario...OK. Shooting and killing...Not so much!
VP Dad
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Check out the website www.vanillaplay.com where I nicely co-ordinate some of the best U.K deals and bargains on computer and video games while also, occasionally, being helpful to people who don`t know much about games.
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