The Joy of Gaming: More About The Gamer Inside Me

Am I addicted? Why won't I quit gaming?

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“Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock-n-roll”— Shigeru Miyamoto.

I have been a games lover since I was a kid.

Until I got my first PC, in the summer after I finished the third elementary school class, I had the chance to play some phone games on my uncle’s (rarely), or we used to have those Sega Genesis consoles.

The first night spent on games was on one of those. Now, I understand why they were breaking so fast.

Anyway, the gamer inside me was born once I got the PC.

I don’t remember so much from those times. Of course, I was playing Miniclip games and flash games. Of course, I used to play shitty games because I had a 128 MB ram and 32MB VGA video card. Imagine my enthusiasm when a friend told me I was playing without any drivers installed.

He installed them.

I could finally play Fifa98 and Spiderman.

Imagine we were four siblings.

But our sister was still little, so we were three willing to play on the computer. Sometimes, we were four because a friend (who had only one game on his PC) was joining us.

Anyway, we used to play for one hour each. They remember that I was the one who played more than one hour in every turn, but they lie. You can have my word that I was fair with my time, haha!

Even so, I wasn’t aware of any effects of gaming.

All I can remember is I had good grades. I was the top student in my class throughout primary, middle, and high school.

Oh, wait, I remember a friend who was visiting his grandmother only in the summers complained once about how the PC made us quit those outdoor games (it was once because he liked to play WWE with us).

You can call it an effect of it.

We weren’t addicted, because we used to go a lot outside, so don’t worry.

We had a normal childhood.

Also, we didn’t have internet. We only played offline games.

Oh, I realize I have a lot of memories regarding this. But I will keep it for another post.

The period with the fewest hours of games was in high school because it was in another city.

I wasn’t coming home too often.

I had the most hours of gaming during college. In college, I started to play League of Legends.

It was an online game, so this is when my life as a gamer started.

Also, my addiction, haha!

The addiction brought me sleepless nights, bad moods, mediocre grades, the loss of the scholarship, a mess in my room, disorganization, procrastination, college frustrations, and so on.

But let’s not dramatize it.

I still had a social life. I had a job. I played football a lot. I played guitar. I talked with some girls. I participated in a lot of choirs and music contests. I met my wife. I got engaged. I visited the US and worked there. I got married (during my master’s).

So, it’s not that bad, haha!

Okay, okay!

I admit that gaming was a problem at the beginning of my relationship.

Stupid things I have done because of gaming

The most stupid thing I did in that period was that I played all night right before the days I had a lot of work.

My gaming sessions ended at 6 am. I would take a fast shower and go to the shop to buy a croissant and a Red Bull to be sure I wouldn’t fall asleep at work. Trust me, those were hard days. Fortunately, such days are history, haha!

One of the marathon gaming sessions was from 2 pm to 9 am (Sunday to Monday — playing League of Legends).

Another one was from 10 pm to 1 pm, playing Pokemon Emerald (this is shocking because I was already married and Dimitrie was six or seven months old. I am still amazed that my wife didn’t say a word. The session ended with the uninstallation of the game).

Turning back to stupid things, another episode was when a girl told me she could stay outside only for 20 minutes. I told her it wasn’t worth it. The truth is, I was in a game, and I didn’t want to lose it, haha!

Another one was at the beginning of my relationship with Loredana. I joined her on the vacation with her family. I took my laptop with me so I could play some games. Imagine that! After the vacation, because of this (and other reasons that are not relevant here) she wanted to break up with me.

Crazy, I know!

Long story short, in the first two-three years of League of Legends, I was pretty addicted.

As you know, I have never stopped playing League of Legends.

And guess what? I don’t have any plans to do so.

Gaming helped me with a lot of things.

1. Because of games, I improved my English. I learned a big part of my English vocabulary words because of gaming. Also, my fluency in speaking and understanding English improved thanks to those uncounted game tutorials (mostly related to League of Legends).
2. Gaming helped me get through some things in my life.
3. Gaming made me open a YouTube channel.
4. Gaming made me start writing on Medium. Yeah, you read it correctly! My first post on Medium is related to gaming.
5. Gaming is something I do when I want to relax.
6. I play games for stress relief.
7. Some of my best friends are League of Legends players. So we play it together. This is our beer.

I am aware of the negative impact of gaming.

I won’t ever deny that gaming has a negative impact.

Of course, I will emphasize this. But as with everything we do, moderation is the key.

If I went to the gym non-stop, it would have a negative impact, wouldn’t it?

If I ate non-stop, it would have a negative impact, wouldn’t it?

I repeat, I know moderation is the key.

This is why I know how to keep it under control. I play two to three matches of League of Legends daily. Sometimes, only one. Sometimes, none.

It depends.

I know my priorities.

One of them is my family.

There are days when I play more. For example, if I am home alone.

I am aware of the negative impact because I had to do with it.

So, the meaningful conclusion here:

“You don’t know what you fight with until you fight it”— Lucian.

Now, I know what is better for my kids. If gaming is something they like, I know how to educate them.

Also, I will help them climb divisions in League of Legends. We will play together, in the same team. Imagine that. I can’t wait for it. Hopefully, Riot Games will live long. And hopefully, they will like League of Legends.

Anyway, gaming is ok as long as it is kept under control.

Keywords: Balance/moderation

End of the game — final thoughts

Yes, there is joy in gaming. I feel it. This is why

I won’t quit gaming (this is my conclusion now — I don’t know what the future brings).

I have plans to climb to Diamond. Regarding this and point 4 of how gaming helped me, I have BIGGER PLANS.

I revealed more than before about my gaming experience.

I would love to hear your thoughts about it and also about your gaming experience, if there is any. If not, why so?

Takeaway:

The treatment for something addictive is having priorities and knowing how to balance things in life.

• Thank you for reading!
• Thank you, Giovanni Foglia, for inspiring me with your story title.
• 🎮You may subscribe to my YouTube channel if you are a League of Legends enthusiast!
• 📖Take a read on this, too: I Have Reached Two More Medium Milestones.