"there is another world, there is a better world..."

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28 August 2007 @ 09:10 am

I think that playing so much City of Villains is making me stupider. Certainly, my thoughts are becoming less interesting to me. Even listening to NPR while I play can only help so much. I need to increase my outside stimuli and decrease the hours of gameplay. Fifty plus hours a week is way too much. But should I just let it go on at this pace and wait for inevitable burnout of interest in a couple weeks? Or should I try and cut it down to twenty (or even ten) hours a week?

I don't think I have a particularly addictive personality, but I am a creature of habit. I like not having to make decisions, being able to leave myself on autopilot for a while. I find that doing so gives my brain more time for creativity. So I just need to reprogram my habits regarding the game, which essentially means reintegrating some of the behavior patterns I've neglected since I started playing.

Tags: coh

Listening to: Jellyfish - "Now She Knows She's Wrong"

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theballadofyoko on August 28th, 2007 02:21 pm (UTC)

um, it's better to burn out than to fade away?

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assmonkeydiary on August 28th, 2007 02:27 pm (UTC)

I think Kurt Cobain quoted that line in his suicide note, which raises the point: It's certainly more interesting, but is it healthy?

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theballadofyoko on August 28th, 2007 02:35 pm (UTC)

I suppose it isn't healthy, but obsessions rarely are. For me, the only way of clearing it off the table, so to speak, is to overdo it-- and then I'll never do it again. Hmm... maybe you don't want to do that, either.

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gloriamunty on August 28th, 2007 02:27 pm (UTC)

Fifty hours??

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assmonkeydiary on August 28th, 2007 02:30 pm (UTC)

Um... yeah. Pretty sad, eh?

I can't help but imagine what sort of progress I might make if I was able to put that kind of dedication into my writing.

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ghibli_geek on August 28th, 2007 02:49 pm (UTC)

Or me into drawing, or painting, or printmaking, or sewing, or making anything, instead of sitting in front of a computer screen, grinding it out in Azeroth.

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assmonkeydiary on August 28th, 2007 02:54 pm (UTC)

It's just so easy, isn't it? These games pretty much guarantee you a certain level of satisfaction and enjoyment even when you're not doing well. Art makes no such promise.

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donutgirl on August 28th, 2007 02:51 pm (UTC)

I say play to your weaknesses:

Lately I've been writing/editing for half an hour, then rewarding myself with a sitcom episode. I find tv shows work better for reward than aimless web surfing or reading or whatever, because they're so self-contained, so I'm less temptd to try to "stretch" my reward sessions.

Any chance of using the video game as a reward for either writing, or something else you want to accomplish?

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assmonkeydiary on August 28th, 2007 03:07 pm (UTC)

That's a really interesting suggestion. It could be quite brilliant if it works. It would definitely involve some complicated re-writing of my brain programming though.

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professormortis on August 28th, 2007 04:34 pm (UTC)

I have a friend from college who had her boyfriend set up one of those parent software things on her computer that would limit her to a specific amount of aimless web surfing-this was to ensure that she spent enough time on her thesis. Maybe something like that?

My current system is trying to limit myself to 7 hours of TV, movies or internet a week, plus whatever rewards I earn for doing positive stuff I want to do. The rewards are dished out via www.chorewars.com . So far it's fun and semi-effective.

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assmonkeydiary on August 28th, 2007 04:42 pm (UTC)

I don't so much like the idea of the nanny program. I'd rather fail at strengthening my willpower than submit to something like that.

On the other hand, I like how you're limiting yourself to a certain amount of movies/tv and rewarding yourself for being productive.

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professormortis on August 28th, 2007 04:48 pm (UTC)

My problem is really more movies than anything else, so a nanny program wouldn't help me anyhow, but there is a certain appeal to it, but yeah, I think it feels better if you can free will it.

Then again, while I have accomplished more this last week (first week doing it) and Chore Wars is fun, geeky, and almost like a game, but I still ended up watching/surfing 10 and a half hours of stuff this week, and I only "earned" an extra 1 1/2 hours-hardly a success story. :)

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professormortis on August 28th, 2007 04:49 pm (UTC)

P.S. The ability to make it so that you're not guaranteed a reward is nice too...and finally that's one smokin' pic. Thanks again sir.

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zantimisfit on August 28th, 2007 03:24 pm (UTC)

When was the last time you slept?

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assmonkeydiary on August 28th, 2007 03:29 pm (UTC)

Hehe... I make it to bed by 1:00 on weeknights. It's the sitting at the computer all day on the weekends that bothers me.

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