To think or not to twink...

[Jimjam]

Originally Posted by SiouxNation [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What sort of things do you think people come here to escape?

Autism, sobriety and the 21st century.

Please like and share if you want to see more comments about escapism.

[skarlorn]

Originally Posted by SiouxNation [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What sort of things do you think people come here to escape?

I personally used EQ as an escape when I was physically ill and unable to socialize normally. Or when I was a poor college student. Mostly, EQ fills a void for people who lack a community IRL; people who find their community through MMOs are the ones who play for years and years after achieving the usual 'goals.' This game gets you hooked when you love watching the guild chat feed and you have a few close friends on your list with whom you chat for hours every day. It feels like you're missing out on life when you don't log in.

At least in my experience [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

PST for details on how to escape this.

[solleks]

"This game is like a black hole it sucks you in a ***** you up" - Brad

Jk it's super fun come autoattack with the freaks!

[SiouxNation]

How do you find a community in the “Real world”?

[solleks]

Any other of the numerous meaningless human activities should probably do the trick. If that doesn't work you could try getting an app on your cell phone, I hear they make those

[d3r14k]

Originally Posted by SiouxNation [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How do you find a community in the “Real world”?

This may not be any better than EQ by many people's standards but:

I found a pretty good subset of friends by going to my local game shop and playing Magic: The Gathering. It's a fun community to be a part of. It's similar to the situation skarlorn referenced in the sense that it is really an escape for most people, but it's face to face so I guess maybe that makes it better? I'm not sure, but I know I'm grateful to have used it as a vehicle to meet several people I wouldn't have met if I've have stayed in my office at home.

[skarlorn]

Face to face is better for mental health. I did something similar by creating a D&D group and participating in that for 6 months as a form of oxycodone to the heroin of EQ.

Your first step to freedom is logging out of EQ and not logging back in for as long as possible. Do not message your nerd friends. Your EQ friends are the hooks that drag you back into the pixel.

As you continue not playing and not logging in, your life will become very boring and bleak. You must go through this withdrawal period as your neurochemicals are too out of balance for you to experience pleasure through normal means. This is where you'll probably fail.

Eventually, the agony and boredom will drive you to start looking for other outlets/ways to interact. The absolute worst thing you could do here is start drinking and doing drugs. The best thing would be to join start exercising 5 days a week and meditating for 10 minutes after you wake up and before you go to sleep.

Keep talking to people. Go outside. Make small talk. All of this will slowly re-wire your brain to experience a level of pleasure that you currently only get through the RNG lottery of pixel paradise.

If you have the money, go to a tropical paradise for 4 weeks during this process. When you return, the challenge is not to log back in. but let's face it, if you're an EQ addict your life is probably in tatters.

It may be hard getting started, seriously EQ is a boring game so you'll thank me later when your dick is 10 feet long and you can bench press your ten daughters

[gizmo]

A lot of these replies sort of hinge on how compelled you feel to treat the game like a hobby and strategize about gear and quests and goals.

There’s a lot of little communities that welcome with open arms people who are enthusiastic and not jerks (aka nice people). That Meetup website comes to mind. If you’re not interested in some kind of financial success or notoriety there’s a pretty exhaustive list of stuff available that I’m sure you can find groups for. Hiking, camping, fishing, college classes, working out, karaoke, book clubs, bible study, creative workshops for writing or painting, community gardens, biking, cooking classes, pottery, environmental cleanup, volunteering, underground (aka not successful) music/poetry.

It’s not quite as easy as /ooc’ing LFG but it’s not as hard as people who’ve never tried make it sound.

[skarlorn]

Originally Posted by gizmo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

underground (aka not successful) music/poetry.

solid dunk dude

[solleks]

I mean by definition this game quite literally is a hobby.

And skarlorn you are coming back buddy, you're timer is almost up.