Just Another Story Concerning a Popular Obsession

[Stranger of Sorts]

[HEADING=2]_____Just Another Story Concerning a Popular Obsession[/HEADING]It may surprise you to learn that despite popular belief, I was once cool. But I, like so many others, fell into the trap of obsessing over controlling some lights on a screen. I faced the consequences for my choice a while ago, yet only recently I've realised the full extent of what I have lost. I didn't acknowledge it at the time but before I established myself as a "gamer" I had a pretty excellent life compared to what I have now. A form of nostalgia goggles? Maybe, but there are definitely some more separate, more worrying, factors.

Let me go into a bit more detail. I've always been a bit of an obsessive, my parents still tell me that whenever I got my hands on a new toy I would play it to death. When I got bored I would move onto the next toy and then the next. When I picked up my first game, Age of Empires, my parents saw that my attitude to such things coupled with the addictive nature of games would probably lead to me ending up like another WoW recluse that the media love to tell us about. So I was limited, two hours a day was the most I could hope for, two and a half if I was sneaky about it. And this limitation remained as I bought my Playstation 2.

[HEADING=2]They thought I would[/HEADING]

[HEADING=2] end up as another WoW [/HEADING]

[HEADING=2]recluse[/HEADING]​

The free time that was not spent playing video games was used obsessing over them or, when I got bored of that, going out. I'd become something of a fascination at my school, I was a nerd and therefore liked by most but then I had the social skills that can only be obtained by spending too much time outdoors. In fact, I guess you could say that I was obsessive about that as well. Always wanting to be the first to do something as is the case with a lot of people making the painful transformation into adulthood. I was the first guy with a proper girlfriend, first to kiss and first to meet new people.

So my parents saw that I had a great social life and let the limitation on gaming slacken more and more until it was non-existent. Big mistake. And like the obsessive I was I felt compelled to fully explore this new found freedom and became increasingly engrossed by it. Life meanwhile, just couldn't compare to this technical wonderment that I was experiencing. As a result my social life started to slide: I didn't answer phone calls, I started making up excuses and I neglected my girlfriend at the time to the point at which she left me. I didn't care though, I was beating Dr. Nefarious in Ratchet and Clank 3 and slaying Collossi.

So I was, slowly but surely, forgotten.

But then, a year later, I became bored with my hobby like I did with all my toys and then I started to miss my social life. I started talking a lot more in school and tried calling some old friends, no one picked up though, all I had was old numbers. Nevertheless I managed to get in with a group of people, though to my dismay I was no longer top-dog. Since none of them had heard of me before they all thought that I was a recluse and, depressingly, I had been.

[HEADING=2]I didn't care, I was[/HEADING]

[HEADING=2]beating Dr. Nefarious [/HEADING]

[HEADING=2]and slaying Collossi[/HEADING]​

After meeting a few of my old acquaintances they kept saying things like "Hey, remember when you were cool?" Apparently I'd changed for the worse and was no longer the fun loving, obsessively crafted person I used to be. What's worse is the things that came when they knew that I wasn't going to flip if they analysed me too much. "You know, a year ago people at my school could only be cool if they fancied you." That one hurt, I didn't even know about that before.

Even more worrying for me was the recurring dream that I started having, every night I would fall asleep and meet someone significant from my past, and each night I'd be telling them that I'm sorry and why I haven't been seeing them. One night it was the most beautiful girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, another night it was one of my old best friends that I slowly lost touch with. We can't talk to each other now, he's a different person and so am I.

However.

One day I'm with a few of my new "friends" (I don't see them as friends, I'm from a completely different social tier and have nothing in common with them) and we meet some girls that none of us have really met before, it was a bit of an experimental thing. Anyway, a few hours later one of these girls' head was resting on my chest, much to the astonishment of the people around me.

Later they asked, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Practice."

They laughed... I did too...

Jonny knows that it's all very well being good at something, but there's no point if you rarely have the chance to do it.

Please leave any comments concerning what I've written, though please go easy I'm not really in the mood to defend myself right now. Have you had a similar experience? Or know someone who has? I realise there are a lot worse stories out there.

The borders were a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Previous Article = Uncharted 2 :: a Love Affair [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.198335-Uncharted-2-a-love-affair]

 

[5w4tt]

Nice to see that you got somewhat nice ending after all.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Your "old acquiescences" sound like they weren't there for anything but to leech off of your status, the bottom feeders only complain when the shark abandons them... it's probably for the best that you shattered the whole thing by becoming enthralled with video games and then once done with that, came back at social life at a different angle.

Anyway, on the subject of video game obsession:

Video games are not inherently addictive, there's no chemical dependency... only the human mind pushes the addiction in a realm of entertainment built on ideas.
That's my opinion on that.

Ending talking about the social life part of your story:
You got away from what sounds like a very boring life of being mobbed by fake-friends wanting to get in on the "cool" and now you're just "normal".

That looks like a good ending to me.

 

[Stranger of Sorts]

Your "old acquiescences" sound like they weren't there for anything but to leech off of your status, the bottom feeders only complain when the shark abandons them... it's probably for the best that you shattered the whole thing by becoming enthralled with video games and then once done with that, came back at social life at a different angle.

Anyway, on the subject of video game obsession:

Video games are not inherently addictive, there's no chemical dependency... only the human mind pushes the addiction in a realm of entertainment built on ideas.
That's my opinion on that.

Ending talking about the social life part of your story:
You got away from what sounds like a very boring life of being mobbed by fake-friends wanting to get in on the "cool" and now you're just "normal".

That looks like a good ending to me.

Maybe, as long as it goes well it could well be a good thing but it can just as equally go badly.

I tried to steer clear of using the word addictive (I used it once I think) but tried more to say obsessive. I realise there is no addiction there but it's become such a staple in my life that it's my default position for when I'm bored.

Thanks by the way.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

The only thing that's apparent to me from reading this is that your friends were not such great friends, and you therefore felt it natural to replace them with video games.

But whatever. Grow up and realize how useless it is to be perceived by others as "cool."

 

[Stranger of Sorts]

Grow up and realize how useless it is to be perceived by others as "cool."

Oh, I was never cool and never tried to be, I always tried to be myself. I may have failed however.

What many don't realise that cool does not equal conform. The coolest people are different and unique, they put little effort into what they do and they do it well.

Analysing what "cool" is is harder than I thought, someone should bring this up in off-topic.

It's an interesting thought though, maybe video games was a replacement.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

Grow up and realize how useless it is to be perceived by others as "cool."

Oh, I was never cool and never tried to be, I always tried to be myself. I may have failed however.

What many don't realise that cool does not equal conform. The coolest people are different and unique, they put little effort into what they do and they do it well.

Analysing what "cool" is is harder than I thought, someone should bring this up in off-topic.

It's an interesting thought though, maybe video games was a replacement.

Yes yes, you seem to be one of those mysterious people who "never tries to be cool" but ends up accidentally being totally cool and getting all the chicks.

I would define "being cool" as existing and interacting naturally and comfortably in a social setting. Any social group has "cool" people-- it's not merely the "different and unique" people, though that may be your own personal qualification for coolness.

 

[Stranger of Sorts]

Yes yes, you seem to be one of those mysterious people who "never tries to be cool" but ends up accidentally being totally cool and getting all the chicks.

I would define "being cool" as existing and interacting naturally and comfortably in a social setting. Any social group has "cool" people-- it's not merely the "different and unique" people, though that may be your own personal qualification for coolness.

Yes that's totally ri--- wait a minute...

I was cool as a matter of circumstance. I think I am the same person now but now I am not cool. Mysterious? No, but lucky? Yes probably.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

Yes yes, you seem to be one of those mysterious people who "never tries to be cool" but ends up accidentally being totally cool and getting all the chicks.

I would define "being cool" as existing and interacting naturally and comfortably in a social setting. Any social group has "cool" people-- it's not merely the "different and unique" people, though that may be your own personal qualification for coolness.

Yes that's totally ri--- wait a minute...

I was cool as a matter of circumstance. I think I am the same person now but now I am not cool. Mysterious? No, but lucky? Yes probably.

This suggests to me that your friends changed-- perhaps they "grew up", whatever that means (no offense intended), and you stayed the same, which created the distance between they and you.

And yeah, it is very, very lucky. Most of the time, when people are true about who they are, they aren't perceived as cool-- they're fucking weirdos, and this is especially true the younger you are (I think there is far more room to be a weirdo when you're an adult). It's no secret that conformity is absolutely one of the factors that determines how a certain group perceives you, so if you don't conform and aren't lucky, you'll be like me and the rest of the nerds that everyone hated.