Written by DaveWrong on June 30, 2007
Confessions of an MTGO Addict
Hello. My name is Dave Wong and I have something I’ve been meaning to get off my chest for some time now. You see, you have to understand, I was young at the time and all my friends were doing it. You can kind of say that I was pressured into it, social coercion from my peer group. At first I just watched, hung around after class and spectated. But then my curiosity got the better of me and I just had to try it. It was a few cards at first, but before long it bloomed into a full blown deck.
Enough excuses. Deep breath.
I play Magic: the Gathering.
Whew, it feels soooo good to have this heavy burden lifted off my shoulders. Mind you, it’s not quite a revelation considering this is a Magic article written for a Magic strategy website, which is frequented exclusively by other Magic players. But you see, for the longest time, this hobby of ours has been my secret pleasure. I hoarded boxes of cards in the deepest darkest crevices of my closet, afraid that some agency, in black shades and black suits, would break into my home at any moment and discover my hidden cache. I’d be led away in handcuffs on the six o’clock evening news, an Inquest magazine draped across my face in order to avoid embarrassment.
I’ve been playing Magic competitively since I was fifteen. I am 22 now, so it’s been almost seven years on and off. It’s survived high school, Yu-Gi-Oh!, five years of University, and even a couple of girlfriends. I’ve been the casual player. We used to spend countless summer nights slouched around a kitchen table in my buddy’s basement, playing free-for-all until the five in the AM, fueled by Mountain Dew double gulps and sour skittles. I tasted my first taste of sweet, delicious victory when I won the first large tournament I ever attended, Saskatchewan Provincials (now called Champs). Ever since then I’ve been hooked. They say that once you’ve crossed over into the dark side, that is, becoming the ultra competitive tournament player, you can’t go back to the light side. You literally become a different person. Every loss is analyzed and dissected infinitesimally where before you would’ve simply shrugged your shoulders. I’ve gotten so upset once that I wanted to put my fist through an opponent’s face, on more than one occasion.
That leads me to the point of this article. If you’re looking for hot new block tech or draft strategy, this won’t help much. Sorry. Ditto if you are hoping for Magic theory. I feel that it’s all been covered before, and written better elsewhere by someone else. (Seriously, there’s nothing new written any more. Everything is simply the same theory reiterated in simpler terms.) No, this is somewhat of an introduction as well as a personal piece. I am going to relay some of my experiences playing Magic and hopefully some of you out there can relate.
You see, I feel that Magic has become so engrained in my routine and life that it’s become more than just a hobby or activity. I’ve become emotionally invested. And this really, really sucks.
Roughly three years ago, I started an account on Magic Online. I was disappointed with the community/scene in Saskatoon. I felt like I was in a rut. I played against the same opponents each week, which included some of my friends, but mostly a lot of losers. (Yeah, I am being a hypocrite). At first, I did a sealed online because I was curious what all the commotion was about. Of course, I lost and I was upset that I wasted thirty dollars for literally digital nothing. I swore off Magic Online completely for several months. In times of complete boredom, I would occasionally log on and play some casual games with all common decks or maybe beg for free commons in the /free room. But eventually, I found myself wanting the competitive edge back. The scene in the city completely deteriorated and being a college student, I found myself with lots of free time, especially late at night. So, one night I started drafting… and drafting. And eventually, after six drafts in a row, I finally went to bed.
I was addicted. There’s an indescribable rush I experienced as I won draft after draft, watching my rating slowly move up. In six months, I had finally mastered all the hotkeys and play nuances, leading me to a lot less misclicks and a rating above 1800. Over the next few years, I played Magic almost exclusively online. Sure, there were a few Regionals tournaments, some Champs, and even one appearance at Nationals, but for the most part I would rather sit at home and draft than attend a local FNM.
I didn’t realize it then, but Magic Online had become a problem. It was having an adverse effect on my social life as well as my academic. I would skip class in order to play in a Premier Event. Instead of going out, I would cancel engagements with friends, simply because I was in the middle of a draft. At first my friends were patient with all my jerkish ways. They would sit around my apartment and wait an hour for me to finish a draft before we would go out. Of course, eventually they just stopped putting up with me.
Obviously, I only have so many words to describe two years of my life. It wasn’t as bad as I am stating it now. I did have spans of time where I quit because I was bored with drafting or I was busy chasing a girl.
But Magic Online would never completely go away. I would always come back to it. If school was too stressful, I would take a break and start drafting. If I haven’t gone out in a while and I was bored, I would start drafting. Two summers ago, I had nothing to do at all and I did roughly sixty Kamigawa block drafts. I would wake up, turn on my computer, and start drafting while I brushed my teeth. Two or three drafts later, I would get dressed and go to work, then come home, and do two more drafts. This cycle repeated itself for several weeks. Eventually my friends pulled me away from my computer and I managed to redeem my summer.
But the damage was already done. Each release of a new set online would lead to a solid week of non-stop drafting. Wake up, draft, go to work, come home, draft. Whenever someone tried to point out that I had a problem, I would reason with ‘well, it’s only one week, so leave me alone’.
This has been the exact situation repeated until we come to my current situation. Right now, I have about six different MTGO accounts, each one with a rating above 1800. I own almost 30k cards spanning the different accounts. Why do I have so many accounts? After a while, I started to lose interest, when my rating peaked around 1850. I desired the thrill of seeing each match bounce my rating up two digits at a time, so I would create a new account each time a new set was released. I played it like my friends played MMOs, like WoW. My rating was like my experience level, and each win was like defeating my enemy and gaining more experience points. I can even direct any readers to my Livejournal, where I posted three draftcaps a day during Ravnica block season, stopping when I hit seventy. (I stopped posting, but still drafted. Ugh.)
Magic Online wasn’t just devouring all my time and responsibilities. It was also causing me to be emotionally exhausted. At first, when I would lose a draft after a string of wins, I would take a break, go for a walk or maybe call it a night. Then eventually, I slowly became more upset and depressed when I lost, especially if it was to someone with a much lower rating than mine. I felt like I deserved to win, that only my loss could be attributed to my opponent’s good luck. When I had amassed a large reserve of tickets and packs, I would do several drafts in one sitting consecutively. I had gained something like a gambler’s addiction. If I lost, I would get terribly flustered and upset and immediately start drafting until I won again. This would often lead to more losses as my judgment was clouded and I was on tilt for the rest of the night. I was repeatedly going to bed angry and stressed out. I’ve thrown my chair across the room because I clicked through an attack phase. My opponent won with exactly zero seconds on his clock and I swept everything off my desk and threw my keyboard.
The question never posed itself then, but it’s present now: Why was I letting something like a game, a hobby, affect me in such an emotional way? The more I thought about this question, the more depressed I became. Work and school was either monotonous or stressful, and I never fully felt like I had any control in my life. I would draft as an escape, but it was only just displacing the stress. It was entirely the reverse of why I started to play Magic Online in the first place.
As I am writing this, I am on a huge losing streak. Over the last three days, I’ve lost eight “8-4 fast drafts” in a row, including two tonight. I’ve had friends over, watching movies and playing video games in my living room as I am drafting in my room. It’s almost embarrassing when I come out to see them, and I am shaking because I am so upset. I try to explain why I am feeling so angry, but being upset at a game is so hard to elaborate.
Anyways, this is my confession. I know that a lot of you who are reading this aren’t at the extreme end of the spectrum as I am. As pathetic as it all sounds, to some degree, I hope that some will relate to this on some level and maybe share some anecdotes or give some advice to me or others. I want to part with something uplifting and inspirational. Magic isn’t a waste of time. Some of us are outcasts and we’ve used it as a means to become part of a community. We’ve made friends, went on road trips, and created ridiculous stories, both bad beats and god draws. But there is a negative side as well, even worse than the social stigma attached to playing a collectible fantasy card game. I want to quit, badly, but as we all know, I can never seem to get away from the steely talons of this harsh, cold mistress named Magic Online.
Dave Wong
Bozo on 2007-06-30 02:22 EDT Nooob.
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Shyft- on 2007-06-30 02:35 EDT Suggestion : /wrists
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HUNGTACTICS2 on 2007-06-30 02:45 EDT wow. this almost scares me from joining mtgo/drafting
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Delicious on 2007-06-30 02:56 EDT i know the feeling man. MTGO used to be my escape too. but then i realized i needed to get away. i went straight cold turkey. it sucked, but it worked. i have faith man
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HUNGTACTICS2 on 2007-06-30 02:59 EDT i did the same thing for a game called dota :/
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Splattt on 2007-06-30 03:00 EDT BANNED.
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ant900 on 2007-06-30 03:02 EDT ok someone needs to delete that. It totally fucks up the article
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CPal on 2007-06-30 03:06 EDT yeah plz... I want at least to read it... :|
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SarcasticRat on 2007-06-30 03:08 EDT BANNED
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Splattt on 2007-06-30 03:08 EDT BANNED.
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center on 2007-06-30 03:10 EDT well that sucks maybe you should give it up cold turkey or this is a fake article planted by the heads of magic-league to but a bad image on modo or not.
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Splattt on 2007-06-30 03:14 EDT BANNED.
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Delicious on 2007-06-30 03:17 EDT i know the feeling man. MTGO used to be my escape too. but then i realized i needed to get away. i went straight cold turkey. it sucked, but it worked. i have faith man
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SarcasticRat on 2007-06-30 03:21 EDT BANNED.
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Shagrath on 2007-06-30 03:40 EDT Hey... i know that feeling... i broke up with a girl.. a relationship of 3.5 years.....but at least i have a decent ranking irl and i am in Nats xD
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CookieCutter on 2007-06-30 04:31 EDT Lawl.
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Lenin on 2007-06-30 08:05 EDT [by HUNGTACTICS2 on 2007-06-30 08:59 CET
i did the same thing for a game called dota :/]
zomg you have to tell me how you did that. I'm totally hooked to DotA. Maybe If I start MTGO I will be able to quit dota.
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Vlada on 2007-06-30 08:08 EDT Interesting article, i know many people who finished in same way, mtgo in some moment can be like drug, and it take to much time for nothing, i especialy laugh to people that won coupple of tournaments and think they will from now on earn money on mtgo...its not poker...
MTGO main purpuose shoud be to stay in shape, and test for GPs/PTs nats (PTQs too ofc)
NEVER FORGET THAT
and last but not least, DONT PLAY TO MUCH, you will get burned out, and instead of developing your play skill, you will get only worse, cuz u get adiccted and you just want to play more and more, and you get tired and start playing sloppy.
On this theme could be talked a lot, but this is ml, to much idiots around, so i will save my breath, and any1 who is normal and want to talk can find me and other people in #jajaja
GL HF
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Vesuvian on 2007-06-30 09:39 EDT You clearly need to fix something. When a game starts affecting your life negatively, it's no longer a game, it's a problem.
My suggestion: Don't play magic online, just play paper magic. Magic is fun and you shouldn't quit it at all, but MO makes it too easy to be obsessed. I just play paper magic, which 1. is more social and 2. limits the amount of times you can play. I only play when there's drafts available to do. This keeps it under control but still lets me play magic. Plus you'll actually get some physical cards for your money and not just digital ones.
You need to fix this before you lose your friends to something as silly as a card game.
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KeySam on 2007-06-30 10:28 EDT All those comments just quit mtgo, makes me a bit laugh(in an sarcastic way). I know what your feeling, but i dont use mtgo espaccaly as an escape, i use everything as an escape... Let it be TV, a game, a good book... that all doesnt matters. I know that just quitting isnt easy, hell ists hellish hard. I cant realy give you and advice to realy stop such things, cause i always get back to this kind of things... What helps a bit is, making a plan, and everytime you make something else you make a cross at "the good" site and everytime you play a game mtgo "the bad" site. The more the crosses on the bad site grow the more dissapointed you are and the more its likely for you to just make a break... Its not the best solution but it helps a bit, at least me...
I wish you gl with this...
KeySam
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kendiggy on 2007-06-30 10:55 EDT Hey dude, I'm notorious for getting angry and breaking shit. I'm on my third keyboard in two years and I need a new one, several buttons are missing. The screen on my monitor is just barely hanging on by the bottom of the frame. In my old apartment, you can see many holes in the walls in the upstairs room and my old roommates will tell you many stories of me screaming at the computer.
If you're looking for a way to not get angry, I'm sorry, I don't have one for you. But I can tell you a few ways I've learned to cool off. First, stop. Walk away. Get a glass of water, have a smoke and go for a walk around the block. Do multiple laps if you have to. DO NOT have a beer. That will only lead to more problems. Sometimes browsing through forums and responding to threads, basically writing, takes my mind off of why I'm angry and can sometimes make me laugh.
One of the best things I can do for you, though, is tell you where this comes from. There are many situations this behavior can manifest itself from, but I'm going to bet it comes from seeing your parents react to stupid shit that way growing up. In many cases, their anger was directed at you. You were put down, made to feel inferior, all because they were angry at something. Those feelings carried themselves over to school, where you put yourself in predicaments making it easy for the other kids to tease you, resulting in you continuously feeling inferior to the people around you. You were always trying to be the nice guy, but nobody ever appreciated it. But winning takes it all away.
I know how it feels. I've been there too. Many of us have been there. That's why we're here. When you win, you feel like a champ. It makes you feel so much better about yourself. You get happy about it and brag to whomever will listen, sometimes even yourself. Then you win again. And again. And again. It's like you're on a cloud. You couldn't be happier. Your self-esteem is sky high. Then you get paired in the finals against this guy who's rating is 1635. You think to yourself, "I'm gonna smash you." You take your opening hand, too slow - all four-drops. Mull, no land. Mull, one land. Goddammit. Mull, two lands and a couple four-drops. Fine, I'll make it up in games two and three. You shrug it off. Game two, you smash him, your superior drafting and play skills simply overwhelm him and the inevitable has happened - you won game two. Now for the finishing blow - game three. You look at your opening hand - four lands, two drop, three drop and a piece of removal. Keep. Draw for you turn, land. Draw for your next turn, land. Damn, six lands already. Frustrated, you do the math to figure out what the chances are of you drawing another land next turn. You draw for your turn - whew no land, but wait! It's a Prismatic Lens! Godammit, that dosn't help. Now you'r getting nervous because the board position is in his favor and he had the Rebuff the Wicked for your removal. Draw - guy. Sweet. Slam him down and pass the turn, what does your opponent have? Cradle to Grave. SONOFABITCH!!!! Okay, you've got a Sulfurous Blast and a Firemaw Kavu in here. Not to mention all the burn you picked up in the third pack. If you draw one of those, you're golden. Straight 3-4-1. Draw for your turn. Land. Fuck. Draw again. Land. Man, now you're pissed because Sulfurous Blast kills you, and Firemaw may not cut it. Your defeated. By who? This little 1635 twerp! Inconcievable! I must draft again!
And the cycle repeats itself. Only, this time, you've lost in the first round. That's the worst, because you get nothing, not even a consolation prize. Now you're angry. You slammed your mouse a couple of times, even punched your monitor. Your knuckles hurt, but your pride is black and blue. You join another draft queue. This one is taking FOREVER to fill. Godammit! And now modo is getting laggy. The Trading Post window won't close and it won't move out of the way. WTF. A few more slams of the mouse and it finally closes. You can see the queue still hasn't filled. So, you open Minesweeper, your time-killer. After a few random clicks, you've got the puzzle on its way, you're figuring it out, you know where the next bunch of mines are, you're doing fine, but because you're mouse has been slammed so many times, it's a little touchy and you mis-click into a mine. SONOFABITCH!!!!
Check your queue, it's full. Sweet. Lets get this thing going. The problem is, you're so frustrated, you can't keep track of what you think your neighbor is playing. You first-picked a rift bolt and got passed an empty the warrens, but now there's no more red and no consistent colors coming at you. Your neighbor could be in anything. You check his rating: 1586. Godammit! What are you doing in the 8-4 draft! You suck! You shouldn't be allowed to live!
Finally, you've got a decent GRW deck, nothing impressive, but the mana-base is gonna be ugly. Alas, that becomes your downfall as you proceed to draw all your white cards and no plains in game one, all your red cards and no mountains in game two. Then the violence begins. The screaming. The weird looks from your roommates. "It's just a game" they tell you. They don't know. They could never know. It's not just a game, it's my life. I must win.
This is unhealthy. When it gets to this point, give your bank card to someone else so you can't buy more packs. If you have the number memorized, get a new one and give it to someone else. Someone you trust, obviously. That's the best solution I can come up with.
I must thank you for writing this article, it really did help me knowing there is someone else out there going through the same thing I am. I hope what I wrote helps you in some way. There are some that will read this and will think we're crazy, and in a way, they're right. But they still don't know how it feels and it doesn't help to criticize us, if that's what they're planning on doing.
MTGO is, essentially, gambling. There are plenty of support groups out there for gambling addicts. If you feel the need, join one. Unfortunately, most of the gambling addicts are addicted to poker or slot machines. So you won't really be able to relate to them. But it will help some. I encourage you, me and anyone else out there who feels the need to use the m-l forums to talk about their problems. The rest of us are here to listen. At least, I am.
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_SeBaS_ on 2007-06-30 11:45 EDT vlada is like u...jajajajjajajjajajjjaaj
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Ro on 2007-06-30 12:00 EDT That was fun to read. Gl kicking off ;)
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Trotsky1 on 2007-06-30 14:01 EDT Drafting is the best.
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CPal on 2007-06-30 14:17 EDT Well I see this article interesting, for the persons who doesnt play MTGO maybe they can found it, sick or something... but is not. Sometimes if you dont control yourself you can fall into that. Like me at the beggining I expent every dollar I had drafting... Like the real problem sometimes are the drafts. Thats the thing I play mostly... but well you need to control yourself and check how much can you expend and all that things.
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DaveWrong on 2007-06-30 15:22 EDT Thanks for all the comments. Most of them are actually supportive/constructive, which is surprising since my friend says that everyone just flamed him on his article (Three Trick Angel, anyone?). I am new to the community, so I don't know what 'BANNED' means, but I assume they said something really asshole'ish.
I'd like to respond to each comment, but it's easier for me to just make a blanket statement.
First, this isn't an article fabricated by ml to discourage anyone from trying/playing mtgo. It's neither the site, nor my intention to do so. Lots of people who actually play magic online are casual players, or people testing for PTs/GPs/whatever, which explains why the room which consistently has the highest population is the casual/tournament practice room. It can be fun if you just wanna try out a new deck idea, or play some random Momir matches.
Second, I haven't played Magic Online in a few days, since I've written this article. People are suggesting that i quit cold turkey or start playing paper magic, but it's not that simple. I have completely deleted MTGO off my computer in the past, but eventually I will be bored and redownload it. Paper magic involves a gathering of like-minded players, which nowadays is proving to be a hard thing to achieve.
I think right now the best course of action involves just committing myself more to my work and school or maybe finding something else that's productive or more fun (like girls).
If it wasn't a difficult problem, I wouldn't have used the word 'addiction'. It's not a money issue, as I haven't paid for cards since Coldsnap release last summer (I just trade cards for tix, or I borrow from a clanmate til I win enough to pay him back). It's more of a time issue, as between work, sleep, school, and a social life, I rarely have enough free time to myself. When I do have time off from these commitments, I would rather spend them than waste the hours on MTGO.
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Wiley on 2007-06-30 16:59 EDT Yeah I have to say I relate with this article, I went through drafting withdrawl one time, I really had a problem. I would go meet people in alleyways, and they would inject me with a load of draft in exchange for money, or sexual favors if I did not have any
It all started off with me smoking draft outside with the cool kids at lunch, during high school, but I guess it just got worse from there.
I blame this problem on peer pressure, and violent videogames
also, unban me
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kendiggy on 2007-06-30 17:55 EDT Isn't this why you're banned?
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Wiley on 2007-06-30 18:11 EDT except it's a joke, I'm not even ridiculing the author of this article which I actually find to be quite good, so I don't see what your problem is with the above-mentioned post or me in general
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mufl0n on 2007-06-30 18:29 EDT "also, unban me"
hahahahaha
maybe its mtgo a-dick-t ?
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MotC on 2007-06-30 18:48 EDT Ok im honest here.... I am a mtgo addict too. I don't draft tho. I play alot of 8 man constructeds and PEs. Not on my normal account that most people know me by. I dont play on that account. I keep hidden in the darkness. So yeah.
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tiejaz on 2007-07-01 00:00 EDT Hey Dave Wong, if you don't want to play MTGO anymore, i'll take your account. I promise I won't get addicted.
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IanRobbins on 2007-07-01 00:25 EDT I had a problem like that with warcraft III, The solution if you want to stop is to uninstall magic online from all your computers ect. I smashed my warcraft III CD, havn't ever wanted to play since.
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Omegaman on 2007-07-01 01:00 EDT So I just wrote a 2 page response in this little fucking window and when I go to post it I get a 500 internal service error and my post gets deleted. GFG magic league.
David, I empathaize with you and I have some thoughts for you. Tomorrow when I'm less ridiculously pissed off that this fucking site ate the post that took me 20 minutes to write I will rewrite it.
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Paskins_Appr on 2007-07-01 01:19 EDT nice move koen
but...
WOTC is better
you are over anyway
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MC_Kejml on 2007-07-01 05:56 EDT Great article, ty kendiggy for the comment, because its true.
Seems like all the normal people on ML haven't died yet.
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Fanboy on 2007-07-01 06:54 EDT I've had frustrating moments in trials...but i never get emotionally upset...unless of course i get worked over by some unethical bullshit. Lets just say I've never gone to a tournament without cursing a fat kid, who cheated me, to choke on the chicken he brought to the table...(fuckin jack garret...)
But yeah...if it's every day and every loss...you gots a problem. I get addicted to games...but i catch myself and transfer hobbies and every time i get to focused i make sure to keep changing or going back to ones i havent picked up in a while. I used to hunt down arcades for Soul calibur 2 players just to get my fix of dominating someone.
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Tird_Ape on 2007-07-01 13:41 EDT Great article, ty kendiggy for the comment, because its true.
Seems like all the normal people on ML haven't died yet.
Normal people are on here?
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Nath on 2007-07-01 14:53 EDT hum...the point of this article being...?
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ChristPunchr on 2007-07-01 15:11 EDT ROFL@ addicted to mtgo.
EQ or WoW are so much more addcitive. If you get addicted to mtgo, you are so unimaginably weak. As in gets hooked on crack after you try it the first time etc etc.
Also, uninstalling something and then breaking the cd doesn't work too great when the game only requires a subscription(ie: an account) and some patching. Breaking the CD does not do anything for grown individuals that could always...buy a new one(zomgjajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaj).
At least the article was well-written though.
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Meatwarz on 2007-07-01 16:01 EDT Emotions are always bad in a competitive game, it only disturbs you and makes feel worser..the right way is to understand your mistakes and the thing, that every game gives you expierence and with every game you become better and better, no matter if it was win or lose. This may sound rather demagogysh, but not going mad after lose makes you better and going does not.
About addiction - it is very individual..some people are more addictive to their hobbies, like fanatics; others less..just do it the way you feel comfortable. This is the game, that is supposed to be fun.
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Blah234 on 2007-07-01 19:05 EDT Heh
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Minoru_Asagi on 2007-07-02 00:43 EDT 0.0...
I am person of few words so it will comment :
Now if I have seen everything it…
And to think that the addiction to World of Warcraft was something very heavy…
See ya later!!!!
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HUNGTACTICS2 on 2007-07-02 10:54 EDT lenin. what i did was i had my dad break my cds, my headset (for ventrilo and talking to friends when i didnt play), and basically that worked cuz i didnt ha ve a job or anything to get a new set etc
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snubkiller on 2007-07-02 13:31 EDT I'm just hooked on alchool...
Magic is too boring to make that to me, try to do the same at poker and see if you can get rich xD! Then if you do, buy a girl (hot one) and have fun.
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ShadowS on 2007-07-02 18:17 EDT I have gotten very mad at videogames as well as very addicted.
I played an MMORPG for a good 1.5 years of my life where I accomplished nothing but wasting my mothers time/money. Glad I can see that now, at least.
I have yelled at both poker and MTG for screwing me out due to luck factors. Neither of which I play for money, mostly because I know how mad I would get if I did so. Losing in texas holdem with the best hand and bad luck can really drive me utterly insane, I hate having 0 control over a situation.
But I have managed to quit that MMORPG, and see it for the waste of time it was. The game itself, was fun. The way I played it, was dumb. I love having a social life and good friends. I think whats important here, is if you work, you have to have weekands. Those weekands have to involve you getting out, and having fun.
To deal with my poker/magic situation.. well, I simply stopped playing poker and magic in general. I like to design magic decks, and I like to play mindmaster (a format where these random factors don't happen), but I don't think I can stand to play too much of the normal formats. I can either scapegoat with the luck factor, or yell about it. For some reason, when I lose in a game where there isn't a luck factor, or much of one, I can deal with it alot better. I just know I need to improve, and that I can handle. So I guess the point of this is to do whatever works with yourself.
I found kendiggys reply pretty insightful accually. My parents have never showed they were proud of me, my mom gets mad very easily, and she has always told me I am *not* able to do things. No support, ever. Despite the fact that I have been able to win most things I really try and, and the many hobbies I have and success's I've achieved, I think that physcological aspect always plays its part. It's also hard not to be jaded about it, because you wonder how much better things could have been with the correct emotional support that you never recieved. But moving on isn't about regrets. While I feel that will always be a part of what makes me, I'll do my best to make it not break me, either.
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ShadowMaster on 2007-07-03 13:01 EDT Don't give up on life. I had nearly the same problem with a game called World of Warcraft. I spent countless hours completing meaningless quests and gaining experience points. Sure I was in a community of people with which I had a lot of fun but WoW was eating away all my free time. I have skipped school or played ill just to be able to level up some more and catch up with everyone else. I quit WoW in February, right after I hit level 70 (max) under the increased level cap introduced by the expansion pack. Since then I've logged to the game 2 or 3 times but I'm not interested anymore.
Now I have a job for the summer and I'm going to be a university student in October.
I haven't played magic the gathering for over 2 years now, not played like I used to at least. A few months ago I purchased a Magic Online account only to ditch it after 30 minutes of playing. It was so boring. I don't even have money for tournaments. I prefer spending them on real cards rather than digital copies. I don't care if they can be redeemed or not, I'm just not wasting my money for virtual property. I like to collect all kinds of stuff and it just doesn't feel the same when you do it online.
My advice is to spend more time with your friends and limit the amount of time you spend on Magic Online.
Thanks for sharing and good luck!
~Teodor
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Streakz on 2007-07-03 19:51 EDT must suck to be addicted to modo, good thing i never fell in that hole
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tyrcho on 2007-07-04 16:03 EDT Dave, I share some of your addiction, even if it's not that severe.
What works best for me is to always give the priority to 'real life' events : practise of sports helps a lot, since it is competetitive too, having a nice girlfriend, meeting people for a meal and a game, poker without money ...
And I use the time I have left for all my game addictions : it has been WoW, Dota, Mtgo, MWS, so on ...
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Memmy on 2007-07-04 18:18 EDT Well this Article is very interesting and really relates to what my life has become.
About 6 years ago i began playing online because i loved online games, rpg's etc. The first that came my way was Runescape.
Runescape is a very addicting game seeing yourself as a medieval soldier doing quests to help people by finding their lover, to defeating dragons. I began by my cousin telling me he was a level 22 in the game, i quickly got into the game getting around 20 more people mostly friends that i was close to, i played 90% of the time i could until my parents got sick of it. They have threatened to take away the computer, throw it out, they have taken specific wires, cancelled our internet connection etc, but i never stopped. finally after 2 years of consistently playing runescape, i got to lvl 57. This is where your start becoming a contender as your almost halfway towards the final goal level 126! i finallyquit and thats when i first got into magic.
I began downloading appr, and mws, and playing mtgo casually but not very successfully, so i rarely played it, this was when it was a hobby. After i while i began to miss runescape, so what did i do i went back and began playing it.
This was the heart of my addictions, as i played as much as i could all the time until now it takes about 10 hours of working on one specific skill to level up, then about 10 skills until it finally changes your level, i quit for the last time when i reached level 72.
I began playing normal games, like counter-strike trying to ease my game addiction, i played that for about 1 year finally giving up because i couldn't get very far.
I came back to Mtgo, and M-l and began playing, finally realizing my mistakes in runescape, and began playing competitively casualy with rogue decks as i hadn't explored the site so much to know of netdecking. my rating dropped horrendously.
I quit yet again began playing another game, World of Warcraft. this game was the most addicting out of them all i played non-stop for six-months until it finally began to lagg my computer. then it got boring i quit again.
This is where i am now, back on with mIRC, running m-l, meeting great friends, having my own channel #Uefa, and now i rarely play in trials, and minis, maybe 3 a week, trying to keeep my addiction from returning. I try to start something new every week to keep myself from leaving whether its making another script, or making adjustments or joining new websites. I like it here as its easier to control my addiction, also my anger management issues, i rarely have some but they do occur, i usually do 100-1000 laps around my kitchen, and living room as they are interjoined, and ive done this so much their is an indent in the rug as where i walk, when i walk around i tell myself what i could have done to stop this problem, then at the end i finally burst out calling the person an ignorant cheater or w/e in my head until finally i realize i could have won. then i go back on and wait for my chance for revenge. i rarely ever see the person again and when i do i usually have forgotten what happened the last time we faced each other.
Thats my story hope it helped some of you, ive been used by many games, and a good current player in m-l, and a good game i suggest everyone join is www.xperteleven. i play it aswell as this game, its like counter-strike only your a soccer manager, the good thing is is theres a game every 3 days, keeps your addiction from going over the edge.
Hope this helped in some form or another.
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snoopster on 2007-08-04 22:35 EDT sandler has this addiction
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chavo123 on 2007-09-08 06:13 EDT i wont read the whole article, but for me its stupid to pay real money for something virtual, like a game, program, or whatever...
and i saw some dudes playing the mtgo of wizards... and it sucks (thats what i think),and its sucks more just cuz the same game can be played for free, for example with magic workstation or something like it.
