First off, and you’ll understand how much I’m really saying if you read further, I’d like to say I’m sorry to all the people I’ve lost touch with because of video games,
To
my friends,
my significant others;
both
I’ve spent countless hours farming reputation in World of Warcraft for rewards that mean significant, and sometimes totally insignificant, upgrades for my character. Well, that’s just great, but how much time did I really invest? I made enormous RL (“Real Life”) sacrifices with my time to become powerful in a video game.
At the worst of times, I made enormous RL sacrifices only to be moderately, and sometimes totally unpowerful in video games.
A friend of mine said that if he had invested the same amount of time in something else as much as he focused on video games, he would be the very best at whatever it was. To be fair, this individual is probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and he just happened to like playing games a lot.
I’ve taken vacations to play video games. Yeah, I did it for a year and a half. It was the most interesting vacation of my life. I dropped out of life and got to know people in the gaming community. It was amazing to play with some of the world’s best players because I could invest the time to get as good as I was. Teams were called “guilds”, and our guild was often number one in the world, and was consistently within the top 5 at all times.
One of the proudest moments of my life was being welcomed into, get ready…
Thundercats [hO]
Joining the Thundercats meant my character could wear their hallmark cape. It was black with gold trim, and as soon as I put it on I felt a rush of happiness that I can’t say I’ve had many things in my life rival. That cape meant I was deemed worthy to play amongst the best players in the world. I was a hero to many, and all my friends were happy for me.
I did however, leave almost every single friend I had made in that game behind in a guild that I had formed. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but they all understood and wanted me to go.
But, if I spent this much time helping others, writing (how ironic!), furthering my career, building up a relationship with God, I would have a much richer life, both in the present and future.
It’s amazing how many people enjoy video games as a form of entertainment and escape. I’ve seen this be just as bad as drugs in terms of their impact on health, mind, jobs, and relationships. For me, video games have been worse than any vice in my life as they are something I’ve never been able to truly let go of.
My fiance plays madden and nba live faithfully every night- but he makes time for his family
dude thats nuts…lol wow. i can imagine it. The awesome part is u came th the realization that its worthless. Ihave done the same for weeks aat a time ..drop off the earth…lol and stay on the internet….thank God for calling back to life. Life in Him.
Yeah, it was a pretty interesting and fun time. I still wrestle with WoW, but it is because of the friends I have in the game more than anything; enjoying things in moderation is a tough journey sometimes.
I can see how that would be a struggle, Wow is an incredible game, but God’s an awesome God ;D
Hi Jesse,
Thank you for the note, you blessed me in a way that was both surprising, and a demonstration of God’s power
Basically, I had started playing WoW again too much, and the fact that you commented on such an old article shows how God had a mind to reach out out to me over it
Thank you!
Hey Nathan, I don’t know why I came across your blog, but I am so thankful. You are a blessing and hope this kind of temptation is not the centre of your life anymore, but Jesus.
Hi Nini,
God has an amazing way of bringing people together at the right time according to his purpose
Your note gave me encouragement as I have been stalling on writing a book proposal I have been asked to put together by a publisher
I am still afraid of success/failure after having had an abusive childhood where the idea of self-esteem was pretty much non-existent, which is why videogames were such heavily relied on crutch in my life, as they provided escape, a sense of accomplishment, and did I mention escape?
Thank you again, God bless you for following his prompting on your heart!