Autism, Asperger's, and gaming.
 

This isn't something I tell many people and this is the first time I'm really going out there to make a comment of it, but are there others that play the game and have been labeled as Autistic? I recently have been exploring the idea of having Asperger's. A counselor had suggested I look into it and whole crap man, lots of things have clicked. I'm in my late 30's and this has given me a better understanding as to why my brain works the way it does in logical and social aspects.

I'm lucky in a way that my form of Asperger's is very high functioning in that I have a stable career in a field that had become my focus at an early age. What I do is almost second nature to me but the social aspect can sometimes become overwhelming to me. In real life no one would get the impression that I'm as aspie but internally it's obvious. I'm really good at masking.

It seems like games such as this are a great way for us to cope with the social world while still having the protective anonymity of being remote. If we get overwhelmed it almost nice to pretend to be someone else. If the game becomes too much I can just log off. Ever since my teens I have used games to cope with things and it all makes sense now.

If there are others it would be cool to form a guild. "Aspies of Norrath" or something. Speak up if you're an aspie, know someone, have questions, or just wanna comment on it.

Hey there! While I'm not in search of a guild, I wanted to applaud you and support you for this post. EQ helps many of us-- regardless of affliction, live struggles, situation, etc-- have fun and "get away" from the troubles of real life. We have your back!

The guild was an afterthought. Just curious about everyone's experiences and if there's others like me.

This is all unclassifiable bullsh*t.

I lol’ed

Yes, but for some reason I watched it all the way through. It was about as riveting as the below video.

https://youtu.be/H2A1qYpp4HA

I was misdiagnosed as an aspie when I was younger. Turned out I was bipolar.

EQ (and especially emu drama) helped me manage my emotions a ton by forcing me into social situations I had no control over and I developed coping skills.

Using MMORPGs as mental health treatment is a great idea; by having them in front of a computer, they are no longer a threat to society and may even learn to handle things. It's a weird concept that really hasn't been explored.

These message boards made it easier for me to be trans irl. They used to be a real good discrimination simulator. Now some random redneck can scream fag out the window of his pickup truck and it doesn’t register as a threat anymore. I used to have anxiety kick in fight or flight constantly at the very idea of people being mean to me. Thanks to the posters here that noticed I needed help overcoming a RL vulnerability and worked tirelessly to help me cope by roleplaying haters. <3