(Reposting from my Mastodon account, because I think peeps will find it useful)
Upon reading about the way loot boxes mimic gambling I stumbled upon https://gamequitters.com/
Since them, I’ve been musing about how much compy/tablet time I’m using when I could be producing or practicing something lasting.
My argument for playing single-player games is that everything I take in is grist for the mill (inspiration for art or writing). I feel like if I stop, I could overfish my creative well. But I also don’t want to waste my time as a watcher and not a doer. And sometimes social media and seeing everyone’s art saps energy.
The most MP game I play is Armello, but I think I’ll delete it [EDIT: since this post, I did that and deleted a few card games that I was spending too much time on].
I think Game Quitters is very savvy though–that factors that make people turn to gaming (or other not-so-productive behaviors) are:
- sociality
- challenge
- a steady sense of progress
- (and my husband added) validation.
- And I’d add fear.
I could use more of IRL sociality. I feel like writing and art give me plenty of challenge and a sense of progress but other psychological things make me feel like I’M NEVER GOOD ENOUGH so there’s that, too.