If you are or were a video gamer

[Sabrina]

For how long did you use to play? I’m wondering because my seven-year-old son has been obsessed about the same game (Splatoon and Splatoon 2) for aproximately six months, and could play the whole day, if he has nothing else to do. He also watches a lot of videos of other people playing the game, and talks about it 80% of the time.

 

[Gritches]

I used to play video games up to the point of human limitations. For days at a time, at the expense of everything else. My ambitions, my money, my mind, my health - nothing else mattered.

No substance I have ever shot, smoked, or snorted has even come close to matching video games in terms of addictive power and the ruinous effects thereof.

It sounds like I'm being overly dramatic, but this is actually quite a tame summary of my past relationships with video games.

But mini-rant aside and more on point, I was stuck on World of Warcraft for six years. I had three years played on one character, that's over 26,000 hours of actual play time. I played so much because I wasn't popular IRL, but I was in the game.

Then I found about girls and had a choice to make. I believe I may have created a sonic boom with how fast my priorities changed

 

[Andrew206]

I still play video games. I used to set aside one day (Sunday) for playing video games. I would play for 8 hours every Sunday. Now I play 1-2 hours every Sunday, and approximately 1 hour every day for the rest of the week.

 

[Catalyst]

I would become obsessed with certain games until I had finished them, and if it had multiple endings, until I got all the endings. Of course, I played RPGs that had endings, so there was that. I also played various adventure and action games with my brother. My in-laws take care of my children and limit them on what they can play and for how long, but I swear when I saw them my oldest son would talk about nothing but Minecraft, and all the videos he saw about Minecraft. I was into Minecraft for several months too, but not to the extent he is. I was ecstatic the last few times I saw him and found out he does indeed have other interests (drawing, in this case).

Side note: My husband, who was diagnosed with ADHD, was addicted to World of Warcraft for YEARS. If he didn't have to work, he would play it non-stop. He'd research aspects of the game to make sure he was making the best of his character too. And of course, the best gear, so he had to go on these scheduled raids with his guild. It was a horrible obsession. When he finally took a break and realized how much of his life he had devoted to this game (which took a lot of nagging from me and one guy who was his RL friend pissing him off in game) he didn't even try to play in moderation. He just gave it up. He knew if he got back on, he would be addicted all over again. That was back in... I wanna say 07. He recently got back into it, with a vow that he would only set certain times to play. I don't live with him anymore so I don't know how much he's kept to it, but he only plays with his roommates now. I got into it for a while back in the day, and recently played for a few weeks with his roommates, but even I'm not into games as much as I used to be.

I actually buy games a lot (trying not to) and don't play them nearly as much now. Sometimes I'll get obsessed over a game for a few days. I think a few weeks recently, but just because I was playing with a friend. But I've mostly outgrown games. It only took til I was... 30? Maybe a little earlier than that?

 

[clg114]

For how long did you use to play? I’m wondering because my seven-year-old son has been obsessed about the same game (Splatoon and Splatoon 2) for aproximately six months, and could play the whole day, if he has nothing else to do. He also watches a lot of videos of other people playing the game, and talks about it 80% of the time.

My youngest son, who is a Aspie, was the same way at that age. That is all he wanted to do, so I limited his time. He is now 35 and still plays video games. He changes games a lot. He will play them until he beats them and then trade them off for something else. He's got his girlfriend playing to.

 

[Misery]

For me it's my main hobby. I have nothing but free time, all the time, and can buy whatever I want, so I do these alot. However, I dont always sit still so well so my sessions are usually a couple of hours long... doing something like 8 hours at a time would never occur to me. One way or another though, I still spend a good deal of time doing it. The nice thing is, over the years this has improved my reflexes and mental processing speed drastically, among other things, so I sure dont regret any of it. I'm much faster than most people that are half my age.

I'm not too good at sticking with one game at a time. Usually I'll have about 4-5 games that I'll switch between at random depending on my mood. And then every now and then I'll switch one of those out with something else. There are some games I come back to often though. Binding of Isaac for instance, I'll always come back to fairly often, and Steam lists a total of 439 hours having been spent on the PC version of it. It's a favorite of mine.

For a bit of context also, I'm 36, though you sure wouldnt know by looking at me. Note that age actually does not really play a role in gaming anymore. There was a time when it used to, but that was a couple of decades ago. These arent considered toys anymore (and havent been for a long time), so you get people of all ages playing these. And yes, that includes elderly players, too. This goes for both mature games, as well as family-friendly games like Splatoon.

I'm familiar with that game, too. It's pretty good. Chances are, the reason he plays it so much is that it's an online multiplayer competitive game. Something like this takes alot of practice to get good in. Also, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it (or gaming in general) may be a special interest of his? For many on the autistic spectrum, we can get REALLY obsessive over our special interests. Those interests can be... anything. Heck, I've seen someone that was obsessed with vacuum cleaners (no, really). As long as these obsessions dont carry a major chance of injury, they're typically a good thing for us, I think. This particular hobby can improve a variety of mental skills. It can also lead to an interest in computers and related technology (seems very common, actually).

Watching videos of others playing games is also very common these days. Think of it as how alot of people watch other people play sports on TV. You arent participating, but you still like it, and are probably still having a good time. It's really a similar thing. I do it alot, too.

I do suggest keeping an eye on how long he plays the game for in an individual session. The main reason I bring this up is things like repetitive motion injuries, or that sort of thing. I have that. I developed it a few years ago. I'll put it this way: It's the sort of pain you DO NOT want to mess with. Many people wont encounter problems with it, but after my experiences I seriously think it's good to take precaution. Playing for a couple of hours in a session isnt really going to hurt. But if someone is frequently doing like, 8 hour sessions? They're putting themselves at risk.

Not to mention that having more than just one hobby is a good thing too... which is something I wish I'd realized earlier. Gaming is my main hobby, but nowadays it's not my only one. Maybe try to encourage him to try some new things, so he has more choices on stuff to do at any given time? Dont be surprised if that doesnt work though.

Oh, and one last thing: Be watchful of signs of addiction, which is very different from what I call "autistic obsession". Certain specific games in particular are dramatically more likely to cause addiction (Splatoon isnt one of them). Typically, the games that do it are of the MMO genre, such as World of Warcraft.



Anyway, just some thoughts on that.

 

[Suzanne]

I have games from Bigfish and they are all to do with searching for items and are very interactive. Nearly finished with a series of Sherlock Holmes and before that, was playing a game Jane Austen and again, it was find the object and interactive. I own the games and either paid a very small amount, of got free credit and thus, most of my games are free.

I admit that I do get addicted with them, but I guess being an adult, and being aware of priorities, does cause me to be in somewhat control. But have not been so well and having to slow down and what a great excuse hehehe

The truth is, depending on the game, it can actually improve the brain. I have to use my brain to work out puzzles which gives me a sense of accomplishment when I have worked them out.

I never get involved in distructive games or supernatural games and there are many; so I have to sift through the rubbish, to find decent games. I do admit the graphics are so compelling that it is easy to get addicted.

 

[pjcnet]

Depends on the game, if it's an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) then it's not unusual for people to play them for years, this is because they're more than just a game, they're an entire community where people make friends, enemies and sometimes even get married (in role play), also these games are usually huge and new content is often regularly added to keep veterans interested, there's also often special events, for instance new special rewards and quests at Christmas when you will find main city hubs all decorated Etc. Some MMORPGs have open world PvP (player Vs player), others only allow Co-op (cooperative gameplay), although most still have optional PvP games and tournaments (not everyone enjoys PvP and sometimes they even have different servers that allow or don't allow it in the open world), they also usually have dungeons where teams of people get together to try and get rare items by defeating difficult bosses, some of the hardest dungeons can take months of practice to fully overcome and each team member needs to for fill a role working together. I for instance played LOTRO (Lord of The Rings Online) for a couple of years, I was a member of a guild (a group / team of players) that was so serious about the game they used to have regular online meetings via Skype with proper agendas, a formal code of conduct and even a complaints procedure, I became one of the guild officers for a while. It wasn't unusual to meet various long term veterans within the game and even though there's bound to be lots of autistic players, it's not especially a game for autistic people, in fact like in the real world most people are NT.

Some people also get addicted to games like Call of Duty WW2 and will play them online for a long time, well until the next Call of Duty release which is usually once a year. Online PvP games and also online co-op games that involve playing against or with other people can keep people interested for a ages in the same way as a competitive sport can have very long term interest, like a sport you can improve with practice over a long period of time, there's also a great sense of competition and people can also make friends and rivals Etc. A friend of mine plays virtually nothing but Call of Duty and buys the new version released each year at midnight when there is late night shop opening (there's also new maps released at various points throughout the year), often people rush home to try an get a head start over many rival players and will then play all night until they drop (the longer you play the better you become and you also get upgrades including better equipment and perks while you level up). He's played different versions of the game for quite a few years now and he is NT.

Another type of game people spend a long time playing are games where you can build, these are often survival games like Rust which again is online similar to an MMORPG, but people create their own content and stories (a sandbox type game). In these type of games there's an infinite amount of enjoyment as you can build new bases and buildings, plus you can make friends and rivals Etc. Even offline sandbox games can create a fair bit of long term interest, similarly a child could play with Lego for quite a few years as they can build an infinite number of things.

It's not as common these days with so many online games as I've mentioned above, but sometimes people can play any popular game for a long period of time, even quite simplistic offline games, but there is usually some sense of competition involved, E.g. you are trying to beat other high scores or are involved in online or even very occasionally real life competitions.

I'm not too familiar with Splatoon or Splatoon 2, but I understand there is online co-op gameplay and tournaments so it therefore also has the potential for long term interest, again you can almost think of playing it as a sport. I've taken a quick look online and I see there's also people advertising for guild / team members to play together for instance. It's quite common for people to become addicted to such games and to play them for a long time, even for many NTs, but whether it's healthy or not is an entirely different question. I think it could become an issue if it's played to such an excess that it prevents a child doing important things such as school work and it's not great if they're barely getting any exercise (it's not just children that get addicted to such games however, although some games have higher proportions of younger players).


PS: For anyone thinking about playing LOTRO, it has a much more mature user base on average than many other MMORPGs, but even though it's sold as "free to play" there's lots of restrictions for free players, pay to win elements and I spent quite a few hundred pounds playing over a couple of years to play the game well, and I always could have spent a lot more. It's now quite an old game so the graphics are only average, although there's been numerous expansions and countless updates (the game is absolutely huge).

 

[onlything]

For how long did you use to play? I’m wondering because my seven-year-old son has been obsessed about the same game (Splatoon and Splatoon 2) for aproximately six months, and could play the whole day, if he has nothing else to do. He also watches a lot of videos of other people playing the game, and talks about it 80% of the time.

There was a time I would play most of the day for years. Then it switched to books, then back, then to different games. A form of escapism, all in all. I switched to design and programming in the end but I did spend years on gaming and reading only, though I've always been more of a solo player than a co-op.

 

[xudo]

I'll still quite happily play for hours. The longest I can think that I played a single game for more recently was Minecraft and I played for 8 hours solid.

EDIT: I also play some co-op games, and will frequently play for 4+ hours. It's more limited because of other people having stuff to do or whatever.

 

[vangelis]

Literally thousands of hours spent on the various pokemon games over the years - all day at weekends sometimes. Also play Nancy Drew type mystery games on PC for hours at a time and enjoy rally driving style games such as Dirt series or Sega Rally, can do them for several hours non-stop. Love Zelda, also Pharaoh on PC have stayed up most of the night on more than one occasion with this one.

 

[owlet]

That sounds like my nephew, who his parents suspect has ASD. He loves Splatoon and got a Switch for Christmas, so now they have to regulate his play time carefully or he'll spend hours on it - he also talks about it all the time (he likes Minecraft too, but not quite so much these days).

I tend to get very absorbed into certain games, but it really depends. If I get into one, I can happily spend the whole day playing it without realising how much time has passed. I also tend to get very into the mechanics of games and work them out down to the smallest details.

 

[Mr Allen]

I still play for about 2 hours a day 7 days a week, on Xbox One.

Started gaming on the ZX Spectrum in the early 80's.

 

[Marcus]

When the original Star Wars: Battlefront came out in 2004, I played that game non stop for four years, I didn't care about the sequel. (And I still don't, the original Battlefront is my all time favorite Star Wars game.)

My original Xbox actually burned up because I played that game so much, but I still play it all the time now on my PC. I don't care what anyone thinks, I'll never get tired of it.

 

[Alis1998]

As a child I played alot of diffrent times and also there was alot of time involed in them. Right now I still play video games but it is more a hobby. I do only find one console the most enjoyable tho, and that is the gamecube. Other consoles are for me less intresting. I kind of think it has to do with the way im familiar with.

 

[granolaturtle]

For me it's my main hobby. I have nothing but free time, all the time, and can buy whatever I want, so I do these alot. However, I dont always sit still so well so my sessions are usually a couple of hours long... doing something like 8 hours at a time would never occur to me. One way or another though, I still spend a good deal of time doing it. The nice thing is, over the years this has improved my reflexes and mental processing speed drastically, among other things, so I sure dont regret any of it. I'm much faster than most people that are half age...

Shortened your quote to keep it from taking up too much space, but everything you said is basically my thoughts on it. Video games are like a lot of other hobbies, you can lose yourself in it or use it as a positive part of your life.

My special interest video game of choice right now is the Elder Scrolls series. It's really fun and I think positive for me because it encompasses multiple mediums and genres. I can read stories set in the Elder Scrolls world, I can write fanfiction, I can mod, I can play the games, i can view art and make art, I can be part of geeky discussions online and maybe one of these days I'll go to a convention!

There definitely is a difference between addiction and our special interests. My special interests are woven into my life, sometimes being more prominent, sometimes less. But I don't miss out on things I would otherwise do because of my special interests. An addiction, however, can do that.

MMOs are particularly vulnerable to causing addictions, I think part of it is that it doesn't allow you to pause. I can play skyrim for long sessions (like you said around 8 hours) but I'll get up and walk around while playing, pause, listen to music, maybe read a bit and return. So I guess it isn't 8 hours of straight playing, but it's still video game time, just with reasonable breaks.

Of course, I don't do 8 hour play sessions all the time. Thats on the long end of the spectrum, like that's the very longest my sessions will get. And as I said, I take breaks.

The only game I try to limit exposure is CK2. That's a game that can get me playing for hours and hours on end WITHOUT breaks. Love it to pieces, but it is what it is.