well i mean, you can get your mind off from anything with anything eg reading books manga doing music, whatever but games only ever gave me any kind of stimulus or push to shove or revelation or anything. they make you physically numb at worst though, i actually measured this recently.
i feel like i'm getting to the place where i'd like to be slowly by thinking my life and problems through. i have been doing this for past 4 years and it's probably the single most benefiting thing i've ever had done to myself and to my life.
i started doing it at civil service as i had this supposedly mind-numbing job where i would extend my arm and let the reel in my hands unravel into the bin... so while i waited it to unravel (with occasional pull to the reel), against the generalization i first started thinking random stuff and let my mind go it's way... then as days went by, i at some point started to take the initiative to think about life and life phenomena's and yeah, my own life problems... and sometimes, to get the conclusions/what was bothering me in something, i needed to think REALLY hard (as in it was physically straining a lot and i'd be really tired at the end of the day from the mental effort). but i've kind of slowly become good/better at this (so it's an actual skill! you can learn it which is good) so when i know that something is bothering me or i've noticed something, i just need to drop computer (internet or games otherwise, like get physically off from computer) and go for a walk. and i'd start thinking things by myself like i always do absent-mindedly but now i know how my mind works so i can idk just face the issues and more efficiently get to the core of issues and find revelations.

being someone who'se gone through suicidal depressions several times, once deciced to do it due to reality of things, multiple really bad life situations (even now)... idk, i think the 'reflectioning' as i call it nowdays is pleasant and i feel pretty good just facing my fears and problems head on. i'd be dead by now without it.

i'm just sort of trying to tell that i said the essentials in my first post, ne? like i honestly think that games are bad for you, for the most part.
you can't tell this to anyone who identifies himself as a gamer because how COULD you hold a prejudice and declare all games in such a way! but i can't help feeling this way. i've seen so much better stuff out there from the gamer circles (plato and the cave...kobold *plato shrieks as kobold leaps from darkness unto him*) and while i think all of us even smarter guys see some kind of attracting thing in this whole strange freaky THING where you navigate in artificial space (isn't this what the catas post were about long time ago?), it's like trying to praise a medium entirely built on so many wrong ideals that it's like... trying to desperately praise artisitical merits in Bollywood movies or something similiar. the qualities ARE there but it's between the garbage entertaiment cultural shit, deep into the mix... somewhere in the mix, between the inhuman clank and clonk and autotuned michael jackson robot, is jackson's soul squirming in capitalistic wheels...well, enough with humorous imaginery.

games like space funeral et all are good and there's some rare games where you gain a good experience (artistically? why make division anyways) but i'm have been starting to suspect that in an alternate universe, games would look vastly different and would differ in content likewise and idk be more healthier? like we've gone through this convo before partially in space chat and i honestly think that with imagination alone you can really kind of see different ways to make this alien object called "VIDEO GAME"... i don't think it's exaggarated that the best 'games' would be possibly done by some of the people here in SW, there's just enough outsider view to the whole ugly thing. but idk, the whole ambition of being Memorable Artist is really damaging/bullshit culture and ragnar's probably the most saniest/healthiest person in the whole forum and the forum COLLAPSES unto itself andto (mayhaps a new eng word...) a black void.
 
EDIT like i DON'T want to overrun the gamers in this forum or this topic alright?? but i'm kinda trying to relate my own experience's. i like some older games a lot and the boardgames just are hella fucking good than any real games (maybe beat'em'ups with a good game/good mechanics eg sf4 or dota but those are much less satistfyign substitutes for a great game mechanics these games offer) and i'm obviously interested in more artistic value in them BUT i've kept up with modern games! i somewhat know pretty well what have been appearing till last year (ended our subscription for this good finnish gaming magazine) and i still kinda know what are up and coming... and it's all been really boring.
 EDIEDIT im just vomitin this article here.... BAAARFFF!!! http://tjfixman.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/why-screenwriters-fail-at-game-writing/ i don't say if i agree or not but some insight into the job
EDIEDIT quiippp... spit, gag gag...-blllleeeuurghhh. b-bAARRFF!!!
"This past weekend we attended the Reubens down in Las Vegas. Tycho could not make it but I went down with Robert and our ladies to see what it was all about. On Friday the girls hung out on the strip while Robert and I went to check out the panels. The first one we walked into was something like “how I got two million dollars in free advertising!” Robert and I sat down and almost immediately we were uncomfortable. I’m not going to say the guy’s name because the entire focus of his talk was how he is able to get free publicity all over the place. I’d rather not give him anymore since I think he is a shameless monster. He showed some videos of himself on various local morning news shows circa 1989 and explained that you should always be trying to tie yourself to local news events in order to get on tv. He told us all a story about how “excited” he was when Elizabeth Taylor died  because his wife’s family had some photos of the actress as a young girl. He ran to the papers with these on the day she died and used them to promote his animation business. It was at this point that Robert and I stood up and walked out. " 'this rules' ~ velfarre check

Outerlight is one of the few game dev companies I've seen do anything interesting within the past few years, but they were fucked over by the publishers in the exact same way Ghost described above. Ubisoft, after tinkering with Outerlight's latest game and ordering the development team to make it "sexier, and more teen spring break", then decided to not advertise its release at all and sell it for $4, rather than $10 or $15. this made it impossible for Outerlight to turn a profit, and effectively forced the company to go under

as the dead spirit says 'the spirit is dead'

I still enjoy games, but typically only those in which I'm interacting with actual, live people. Diablo 3 with friends, physical board games (eurogames rock), even Modern Warfare online, etc. Anything that involves some kind of social exchange beyond sitting in a dark room for hours playing some mediocre jRPG like I did in high school.

yes.  basically unable to give a flying fuck about rage or diablo3.  i recommend european board games.

Agreed. Diablo 3 was a total disappointment.


I got myself a decent gaming PC and a PS3. This summer was supposed to be "The Return of the Videogames", but instead.. I find myself raging all the time. FF13 totally sucks. Sure it looks and sounds pretty, but everytime I play it I have to stop once in a while, just in case I might puke.