Gamers, did you ever regret all the hours spent on playing?

I think it comes down to balancing your life. I think i totally understand that quote to some extent but i also believe in 'too much of everything, is never a good thing' phrase or i don't know if that's how the saying goes. Anyways if you know in your heart that you've had too much of gaming, you should stop and do something else, maybe something productive to ease the guilt you feel inside for 'wasting' your time.

 

No, I wouldn't say I regret all the hours I spent gaming but I regret the hours I spent on games that didn't really deserve it like Tera. I've been playing it for quite some time now but I don't really like it anymore as the optimization of the grpahics is really bad and even tough I assembled my pc with the latest gaming techonology i still have some troubles.

 

I regret nothing and in fact, I want to invest hundreds of hours more into gaming of all types. I think my biggest regret ultimately in my life will be there that there isn't enough time in the world to play all the amazing games out there, and that makes me sad.

Now in retrospect for some games I regret playing them not because of the time investment, but due to how horrible they ended up being!

 

I sometimes regret it, I sure as heck would have done better in school without staying up late playing video games and then when you get to school you are so tired that you can't pay attention. That is what WoW did for me in college, but maybe it was for the best.

 

I never regret a second of the time I spent playing video games. I love being able to have a good outlet whenever I feel sad, upset or just in need of something to do to keep my mind off of things. Video games definitely helped me cope with some of my problems.

 

I've regretted a lot, I can't lie. Could I have been a better person? Would I have pursued a different career choice (or a career AT ALL?) Would I be married with kids now, had I not sunk all this time? (Being 28) - Instead, I'm a Loner, always by myself, scraping by with minimum wage jobs and room-mates while working through some type of extra schooling. Stuff that should have been done ages ago, but I was too addicted to recognize I was letting my life slip away. Yeah, I'm a loser. Yeah, not everyone is like me. But the addicted ones are. And you know who you are; I don't have to point fingers. You feel like I do.

But if you're like me, you can't spend your life in regret. Or wondering what could have or should have been. Or you get trapped by it, unable to escape, only able to progress in a linear storyline.

Do I regret the time I spent on most of these masterpieces? Not one bit. Does the world? Yes. Does society? Yes. Am I wrong? Probably. But you know what? It was my life. I did what I wanted and it lead me to this pathway, so I can't blame anyone but myself. Do I? A bit, yeah. Do I let the grief take over? Never.

 

To be honest, I could've used the time spent on some games for better purposes, but hey... it was my own decision, and now can't revert it whatsoever. I don't regret anything, so to say, but... I think I could've done something of more productive.

 

Aye, it's not really regret so much as disappointment in yourself. Regret means you'd change it over; if given another chance, in how I lived my life, where I lived my life - I probably still would have been addicted to video games. I just wouldn't have let it drive my life, and instead just made it a good hobby. We all think we could have been doing something 'more productive' at one point or another, but it's not all that cut and dry, black or white.

 

Life balance is important. I'm not sure I regret playing the games, but sometimes I regret playing them too much. It's easy to get sucked into games and forget about the rest of the world and to even forget about your future. I often wish that I'd put half of the hours I used to spend gaming into something more productive, like writing or working, which would've made me more secure now. Because now I'm in a tough, stressful situation and I wish I could escape into a game...but I can't. If I'd spent my time more wisely back then, I could still be enjoying a reasonable amount of gaming time, instead of none. Now I have to settle for stealing a few minutes here and there on forums, living vicariously through reddit posts...sigh.

 

If you regret it then you never really had fun. It takes a different kind of emotional investment that you put into gaming that cannot be found with human relationships. I'm not saying one is better than the other but we all have different experiences of life and comparing the virtual world to the real one is quite unfair.

 

This is an interesting statement. Could you elaborate?

 

I have nothing against gamers, and we all go through that phase.

But to me, I did waste a lot of time. There are things that are just as enjoyable as gaming that actually can advance you in life, or at least earn you money.

I think too many people play games to escape life, rather than using that time to make their life better. Like they have a crappy job and just want to come home after and play a game for 4 hours.. well why not use that 4 hours to learn something so you can get a job you love.

 

I regret spending some hours playing. I should've been taking care of priorities.

 

I do regret some of my actions regarding playing hundreds of hours on just one game. But I do get happy when I play games and it's only one of the things that makes me happy.

 

I definitely don't regret the hours I put into a game. I mean, it's for my entertainment. It's all about balancing other aspects of your life with video games. Having responsibilities really cuts down on the video game play. Thus, it's harder to get some hours in with a job, children, and just general home responsibilities. Gaming is my way of escaping into a different world for a couple of hours and experiencing something different than reality. Why regret it when I got enjoyment out of the experience?

 

People often say, "I could have done X, Y and Z for all of the hours spent on games." but I digress. What else could you really have done that you didn't think of doing when you were playing games? So regretting anything you do coinciding games is a ridiculous notion to me.

 

I regret spending hours and hours playing Minecraft factions. I forced myself to build blocks and walls on a pixel video game which was not fun when I could've been doing or playing something a lot more meaningful.

 

I'd agree with that John Lenon quote fully. I don't consider any of the time I've spent on games to be time wasted; why would I, when I've gotten so much enjoyment out of games and found them to be so much fun? Seeing that as a waste would be about the equivalent of finding any other hobby a waste; what difference is it compared to spending a lot of time reading, or a lot of time doing any other combination of things that aren't considered productive?

The only time it is truly a waste in my opinion is if you're putting gaming ahead of important priorities. Putting gaming above caring for yourself, school / work, family, things like that. But if you can differentiate the time you spend on gaming from the time you spend on those things, then yeah - its just like spending time on a different hobby.

 

I definitely agree with John Lennon on this one. And I don`t regret a second that I spent gaming. It is not a waste of time, it is more like bringing you joy and happiness. And also, if this question is asked in regards to gaming, then the same can be said about reading a book or watching movies all day. Is reading a book a waste of time? I don`t quite think so.