Going through a period where gaming is making me sick

[cbrunny]

Scurvy... yarr.

 

[ibex333]

Some really good input in this tread.

I will say from personal experience, when gaming is making you sick, stop playing for a while. I didn't keep this simple warning in mind, and when I was 14 years old, I played like a maniac at least 8 hours every day. Without going into details, I paid for that, with constant headaches and panics attacks for he rest of my life.

Now, many many years later at 32, I am a different person and I step away from gaming if I feel sick. I still play games every now and then, but games are not my life anymore - they are what they should be, a SHORT DOSE of distraction, entertainment, whatever.

It is extremely important to not forget physical activity for a computer gamer. From personal experience I know how difficult tat can be. Exercise makes me sick to my stomach, I hate it, it disgusts me, it always reminds me what a lazy, repulsive slob of meat I have become. Every time I get up to do it, I get a strong urge to just relax, sit down and turn on the computer.... Exercise is so so difficult, it hurts like hell, and yet it still needs to be done, and when I actually do it I feel so much better in the end and I look great.

I noticed, that with age, it's not really so much that gaming becomes less interesting, it's more of a realization of all the wasted time and energy that could have went toward finding a great girl, landing a better job, doing better in college and all those other "real life" things. Every time these thoughts hit me, I start feeling cheap, pathetic, and gaming sort of becomes really dull, boring and lame in general.

The most damaging games to my health are without a doubt first person shooters. Especially games such as Call of Duty. The motion sickness is immense, and headaches are usually quick to follow. IF I ever play those, I play for 30 min or so, then get up, take a break and come back. Somehow, games like Stalker or Deadspace didn't ever cause any motion sickness at all. Different games cause different reactions in people and its very important to recognize your symptoms and step away from the computer.