Bad experiences and video games.

[Jordan O'Hagan]

Hi. Much like most of you on this website I am a gamer and a fairly heavy one at that. this lead me to try and focus on getting the amount of time I play during the day down, which lead me to find that I tended to play most of my games after a bad experience in my life and my hours varying depending on the experience, this also included on how my mood felt during the day.

So I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience or noticed a similar trend, as I would like to gather some research together on the matter.

It would also be helpful if you could include conflicting cases like good experiences and time spent on video games so I may get a wider range on the matter.

*disclaimer* this is definitely not a anti-gaming topic and i have no intention of putting a spin on the data collected to make it anti gaming

Thank you all

J.O.

 

[Bobic]

I actually play less when I'm feeling depressed or whatever. I instead choose to do that which requires the least amount of effort and attention; watching TV. This is usually accompanied by some form of comfort food. Games take too much effort for my depressed mind.

 

[Wickatricka]

I play when I'm bored... Isn't that what the "game" is for...

 

[Episode42]

I actually play less when I'm feeling depressed or whatever. I instead choose to do that which requires the least amount of effort and attention; watching TV. This is usually accompanied by some form of comfort food. Games take too much effort for my depressed mind.

I do the complete opposite, i play more games when i'm depressed. I find that i can more easily be sucked into a game and simply close my mind to the rest of the world. I used Fallout 3 to overcome a severe bout of depression last year, hence i've played it through about 5 times.
That's not to say i don't play games when i'm happy, i just play less or different games.

 

[RGman]

Well, for most people gaming is all about escapism. It's a way not only to experience other "worlds", but sometimes to just get away from this real one. I'd say that what you do is pretty standard for gamers, but that doesn't mean that i'ts a healthy way to relate to games.
There is nothing wrong in using games for escapism, but you should pay attention to the dosage.

 

[Confidingtripod]

I play without thinking about mood, though I play better and enjoy it more when I'm in a good mood, my friend however is the opposite, he plays and goes into an over-compeditive bad mood until he finishes playing then shrugs it off immediatly, for me its a pass time, for him all his stresses are released during play.