I Thought I would share...

[Yolan]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5- ... ed_p1.html

http://kotaku.com/5384643/i-kept-playin ... -addiction

Read and discuss.

[changuringa]

First of all I'll just say that both articles condemn the fact that these addictive games take advantage from your addiction by making you pay, this does not apply to H&H where you may choose to donate or play for free, I don't think anyone benefits from you not being able to stop playing and that makes it better than the games named.

The first one is really accurate describing how games like WoW are "intentionally designed to keep you compulsively playing, even when you're not enjoying it?" I'm sure this is mostly true but at least doesn't apply to me playing H&H, I actually ENJOY doing the same shit over and over and if someday it gets tedious I'll just drop it knowing that everything I wasted was time (instead of time AND money).

The second one is just sad, its about how this addiction can affect your life and I really identified with the guy so I feel a little bit like shit right now.......thanks

[theTrav]

Meh, it's like any of life's pleasures.
They have a potential to be damaging and it's important that you are your own master rather than being enslaved by your primitive needs and wants.

I've seen harmful addiction in games, drugs, sports, sex, just about anything you can think of.
It's also not something that lends itself well to generalization either, there are no hard and fast rules. I've seen people indulge like crazy and then come out of it and be fine. I guess the key thing is that you keep a sense of perspective and maintain the ability to make rational long term decisions.

Sure, giving up on everything to live in the world of games sounds like fun, but neglecting your body will hurt your ability to enjoy it, lack of income will hurt your luxuries, your gaming rig, and possibly put you in a bad position going into retirement (where costs increase and luxuries become more important).

Games are probably more compelling than most other media types, and deliver more pleasure, and are therefore easier to defer in favor of, but I don't think that makes them bad. Just means the individual needs to exercise more will power.

That reminds me. Don't try to lay the blame at the feet of the evil designers and game publishers. At the end of the day all decisions are made by the end user.

[Yolan]

First of all I'll just say that both articles condemn the fact that these addictive games take advantage from your addiction by making you pay,

Certainly does seem to be a disturbing trend with some games. However, I like that the analysis goes beyond something purile like saying "games are bad".

"The terrible truth is that a whole lot of us begged for a Skinner Box we could crawl into, because the real world's system of rewards is so much more slow and cruel than we expected it to be. In that, gaming is no different from other forms of mental escape, from sports fandom to moonshine... The danger lies in the fact that these games have become so incredibly efficient at delivering the sense of accomplishment that people used to get from their education or career. We're not saying gaming will ruin the world, or that gaming addiction will be a scourge on youth the way crack ruined the inner cities in the 90s. But we may wind up with a generation of dudes working at Starbucks when they had the brains and talent for so much more. They're dissatisfied with their lives because they wasted their 20s playing video games, and will escape their dissatisfaction by playing more video games. Rinse, repeat."

this does not apply to H&H where you may choose to donate or play for free, I don't think anyone benefits from you not being able to stop playing and that makes it better than the games named.

In a way, I agree. Certainly I don't suspect the devs of malevolent intent in this fashion. Although they are certainly malevolent! However playing an MMRPG like Haven and Hearth is quite a lot different to playing older types of games (esp. single player). You can't just turn it off and come back a few weeks later and pick up where you started. In a way, you have to live some of your life online. Hey, I love H&H, and the craftsmanship that goes into it. But I know the power and beauty of these constructed worlds can be dangerous to those of us who feel little satisfaction in our day to day lives.

The second one is just sad, its about how this addiction can affect your life and I really identified with the guy so I feel a little bit like shit right now.......thanks

It is a pretty sad story. I dare say many of us can identify with it. But it does kind of end nicely. Notice how he managed to work his enjoyment of games back into his life in a more constructive way? Also, sorry if this brought you down, maybe sometimes feeling shit about what we are doing is a time to think about other possible ways of living. It's not easy being self-reflective, but its v. important to try to be if you don't want to look back ten, twenty years from now and think about how you wish you had lived differently.

EDIIT:

Games are probably more compelling than most other media types, and deliver more pleasure, and are therefore easier to defer in favor of, but I don't think that makes them bad. Just means the individual needs to exercise more will power.

Yeah, simplistic computer game bashing is lame. Heck, I can still remember the magical feeling of exploring the world of Ultima 7 as a 16 year old. I wouldn't want to deny that experience to anybody. But what worries me about how things will go from now. Delayed gratification/vs quick and easy bits of win. So many things in our collective life seem to be moving towards the latter, which is a recipe for never really growing up.

[DatOneGuy]

This is accurate and I've read it many times, however due to the lack of payment it doesn't have much to do with HnH.

Another thing to consider is the ways you can gain LP in HnH compare it to KoreanMMO: Kill more monsters, kill more monsters, kill more monsters.

[Yolan]

BTW, I would like to now offer the following couple of blog links as a pick-me-up for people feeling a bit bummed from the first two.

http://www.calnewport.com/blog/

Some good concrete advice on doing well in your personal projects. I don't agree with everything he has to say (but then I am a philosophy grad), but its pretty approachable, and lots of good ideas.

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about

If you are learning a language, or thinking about it, I can't recommend this blog site enough. Reason my Japanese is moving into fluent zone after several years of stagnation is because of this advice. Very entertaining, and probably applicable to a wide range of endeavors. Heck, after reading this blog I ended up with abs! Huh?

[DatOneGuy]

If you like blogs, here's a pretty fun one to read: http://www.mxac.com.au/drt/

[Onionfighter]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5- ... ed_p1.html

http://kotaku.com/5384643/i-kept-playin ... -addiction

Read and discuss.

Good articles. That's all I will say for now, this game has made me stay up way too late.

[Grog]

Meh, it's like any of life's pleasures.
They have a potential to be damaging and it's important that you are your own master rather than being enslaved by your primitive needs and wants.

I've seen harmful addiction in games, drugs, sports, sex, just about anything you can think of.
It's also not something that lends itself well to generalization either, there are no hard and fast rules. I've seen people indulge like crazy and then come out of it and be fine. I guess the key thing is that you keep a sense of perspective and maintain the ability to make rational long term decisions.

Sure, giving up on everything to live in the world of games sounds like fun, but neglecting your body will hurt your ability to enjoy it, lack of income will hurt your luxuries, your gaming rig, and possibly put you in a bad position going into retirement (where costs increase and luxuries become more important).

Games are probably more compelling than most other media types, and deliver more pleasure, and are therefore easier to defer in favor of, but I don't think that makes them bad. Just means the individual needs to exercise more will power.

That reminds me. Don't try to lay the blame at the feet of the evil designers and game publishers. At the end of the day all decisions are made by the end user.

this

and - like in any other addiction - the addiction is more a symptom, than the problem itself (at least in most cases)

[Brickbreaker]

Nice article.

Some of you are saying this doesn't apply to H&H. But in a way... it does.
Even though H&H doesn't make you pay, it still makes you want to keep on playing.
The only point you would tell yourself to stop playing is when you've done most of your daily tasks and there just isn't enough content in the game left for you for that day.
1 way the devs of H&H keep you playing is for things like decay, cheese, wine etc...
As stated in the first article, MMO developers make you keep coming back in order to keep the stuff you worked so hard for from disappearing.
As for repetition, even if it's not as bad in H&H it's still there. Farming and building walls are a good example of this.

Anyway my biggest worry for H&H is not so much the addiction, but permadeath. It's psychological impact is too much for it to be healthy.