The Benefit Of Hindsight

Last week I posted an entry asking whether I could last a week or not without gaming. My answer was no and I explained why I thought I couldn't do it in the post. Ever since posting it however, I have been thinking about it and whether I was entirely honest about it or not. Let me elaborate.

I mentioned in the post that even having just one day away from playing games would be hard for me and now that I've thought about it, I'm not so sure that is entirely true. Actually no, it is true, but not in the way I outlined before.

You see, when I was typing that post I was thinking about gaming as a whole (as in not just playing them, but reading about them, discussing them and so on) and yet I was writing as if I was referring just to the act of playing them. Hindsight has allowed me to see that I could have wrote that post better than I did and as such, I felt that I should clarify (in a way).

When I say that I would struggle to last a day, 3 days or a week without gaming I don't necessarily mean playing them. What I meant was that I couldn't last that amount of time without gaming as a whole. Now obviously playing the games is the main part of our hobby and as such, I was right when I say I couldn't last that time without playing them. But really I was including other aspects of our fine hobby, such as reading a gaming magazine or catching up on the latest news or things like that. Basically what I'm trying to say is that if I were to be disconnected from gaming as a whole, not being able to play them, read about them or talk about them, then I would absolutely not be able to last a set amount of time without gaming.

However, if it was just the one aspect of playing games, then I do feel that I'd be able to last at least a little while without doing so. It would still be hard, don't get me wrong, but if I was at least reading about them, or discussing them (and as extension, thinking about them) then passing the time in which I couldn't play would be a lot easier than passing the time where I was completely disconnected.

So with this in mind, does the answer to the question (am I addicted to games?) change? Yes and no.

I am addicted to games, but I think I am more so addicted to gaming as a whole rather than the act of just playing them. I mean at the end of the day, we can't and don't play games 24/7. If we can last those hours where we're not playing them, then we (or rather I) can certainly last a day or two without playing them too. I can't however, last for that amount of time without being connected to our hobby as a whole in some way, shape or form.

Make of that what you will.