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Anyone have any neat hobbies?

P

pX

Golden Member
I'm finally quitting DAOC (dark age of camelot, MMORPG) after a few years of playing. At first it was fun, then it really became an obsession, it took priority over pretty much everything else in my life (work/school/relationships/health). I quit 'officially' a couple of weeks ago (disconnected internet from my apartment). Now I am left with just a huge hole in my "productive" time. I've read several books in that time, but how is reading books any more beneficial than games?! I'm looking for a hobby that will actually benefit me or someone that I can really get obesessed with. I have been searching the web at work for a list or something, but can't find anything even close to an idea of what to do with myself. What do you do in your free-time that is not "just-a-waste-of-time"?
 
In my spare time I:

Evening Grad school/MBA
Golf
Game (BF2, MVP Baseball, Madden) but not too much
Work on projects at my new house
Basketball
Read

That's pretty much it...
 
It's all a waste of time, but MMORPGs cost you money and don't really increase your knowledge, physical ability or social interactions.
What I do:
Theater
Work on the house
Piano
Kayak Surfing
Climbing
Cooking
Tap dance
 
In my spare time I:

workout
fish
watch Movies
play paintball
hang out w/ friends
get girls/spend time with g/f
drink
play video games
listen to music
Internet surfing
read books/magazines
go to car club meetings
travel
camping
go to car shows

I think I covered the major bases
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
It's all a waste of time, but MMORPGs cost you money and don't really increase your knowledge, physical ability or social interactions.
What I do:
Theater
Work on the house
Piano
Kayak Surfing
Climbing
Cooking
Tap dance
Click to expand...

I beg to differ on the social interactions part. I've made online friends. So what if they might be bots. 🙁
 
Try to get in really good shape. You can spend as much time on it as you want, and it's probably the best thing you can do for both your physical and mental health.

How you go about it is up to you. You can do cycling (my choice), running, gym membership, hiking, or other various sports.
 
You just need to learn when an mmorpg starts taking too much time. Then you don't have to completely destroy your hobby while at the same time, not allowing your hobby to destroy your life. I learned this lesson with Everquest and it has stuck with me since. I quit WoW 2 months ago, after my guild got to the point where we were raiding MC every week and it was cutting into my ability to do anything else. Being able to identify that point is the key.
 
Originally posted by: Toasthead
umm reading books is WAAY more productive than online games.
Click to expand...

If it is light fiction then I would have to disagree. Heck, any fiction I'd disagree. But that's a different discussion.
 
Originally posted by: skace
You just need to learn when an mmorpg starts taking too much time. Then you don't have to completely destroy your hobby while at the same time, not allowing your hobby to destroy your life. I learned this lesson with Everquest and it has stuck with me since. I quit WoW 2 months ago, after my guild got to the point where we were raiding MC every week and it was cutting into my ability to do anything else. Being able to identify that point is the key.
Click to expand...

The thing is that if you want to "be the best" in an MMORPG like everquest/wow/daoc etc you have to play a ton. And, heh, I really can't imagine playing any game if I didn't want to go for whatever the "best" was. I think any of the MMORPGs I've personally played (just daoc, wow, and guildwars) would take a lot of time if you wanted to be really really good (gw not sooo much, but there still is a big gap between "powergamers" and casual players imo). Too much time at that.
 
I've never really understood why people dismiss videogames as a waste of time, while they'll spend hours and hours reading, playing instruments, etc.

Somehow these hobbies are more acceptable than videogames, even though they do nothing more for you than what playing videogames does.
 
Originally posted by: pX
The thing is that if you want to "be the best" in an MMORPG like everquest/wow/daoc etc you have to play a ton. And, heh, I really can't imagine playing any game if I didn't want to go for whatever the "best" was. I think any of the MMORPGs I've personally played (just daoc, wow, and guildwars) would take a lot of time if you wanted to be really really good (gw not sooo much, but there still is a big gap between "powergamers" and casual players imo). Too much time at that.
Click to expand...

That's just the thing, I was one of the best. First horde member on my server to get my blue set chest piece. I got to 60, I saw the end game, and then I picked my time to leave. I didn't settle for playing 1 hour a day and getting to level 20 in 3 years, I just realized when I had seen all the game had to offer and moved on. There is a certain point when you should be able to ask yourself "have I seen enough?".

I'd say I could see everything GW has to offer in probably a month of casual play and then I could drop it. Instead, I dropped it at level 12 because it bored the hell out of me.
 
I've got a bunch of little things I am going to start doing when I get back to school (working out again, go on a diet to get my precious 6pack back [30lbs], getting up early to work on school stuff) but nothing to really fill this DAOC void. If my GF wasn't there I'd play something like 8 hours a day on weekdays during the semester! I was totally hooked, when I wasn't playing I was usually thinking about the game or doign planning (templates, organizing raids on boards, thinking about play style, analyzing logs of duels etc). I loved the planning parts and everythign about the game (and still do). But really, in 20 years I am going to regret all that time. If I could find something to really throw myself into like I did with this game I really think it would change my life. If I found some business idea or some sport or anything that would beneift anyone IRL to just go crazy about I think that would be a really big deal in my life (not just now, my whole life).
 
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