Does gaming ever affect your social life?

My husband is the one who has gotten me into gaming, so i'd say no it hasn't affected my social life. I've always been a homebody, but now that I have my husband I am more of a homebody. We could play games or mylot for hours without needing to go somewhere. In fact, we live in the country and I would be much more content just sitting outside for a bit then going anywhere really. Of course an occasional outing is fine, but then again just going to pick up groceries or a meal is the same to me!

Hello, tangurama. Gaming is just like any other interesting activity that makes you not wanting to do anything else. I can call myself a real gamer, for I have played them many years. But what I find now is that I act exactly the same when I play guitar. I just want to do it, and even eating can wait, as playing guitar is higher priority then. And gaming is exactly the same. You just have to tell yourself, that it's not good that way, otherwise you have to wait until game becomes boring and less attractive. Mindaugas.

Not at all. I used to play a lot but not anymore. But I wouldn't say it effected my social life back then either, maybe it even expanded it. I've made many real life friends through common interest in some game. Now I don't have too much time to play, I wish I'd have. I play Quake or Enemy Territory online from time to time but I lose motivation because I suffer against other players, even tho I'm better, just because I have a slow connection. Sometimes when I get some really good game I could literally play it whole weekend without doing anything else. But then I'd finish it and wouldn't touch another game for like 6 months. I can't say I'm regular gamer anymore.

Well, I don't go out that much anyways (I'm more of a likes-to-stay-at-home-all-the-time kind of person). So, I guess it didn't really affect my social life. If my friends wants to hang out, then I will stop playing to go hang out with them. If anything, everything else is affected. I'd play for long hours without stopping, eat less (or eat fast so I could continue playing), sleep really late, barely even pay attention when someone is talking to me, and get annoyed when someone asks me to do something. But I haven't done that in a while. I don't have any of the new-generation systems, so there aren't a lot of new games for me to play anymore. Of course, I still play old ones, but I don't spend as much time playing them as I use to.

It depends on how serious you take gaming. If the you're gamer and this is your life- you will not be outgoing person. You'll spend most of your time gaming and reading about gaming. Like other thing, to be good enough you need practice and reaching higher levels. And you need to spend most of your time in the virtual world. For me - I'm not gamer, but I love games. It's a hobby for me. It makes me feel different, it's relaxing and makes you use your brain. You need a strategy to reach the higher levels and that's the amazing thing :) And also the game world is different - I kinda like it! And now I remember the reaction of a professor of mine in the university while we were presenting him Farmville :))) He said : " Oh, my God... There are no virtual cows! How can you admire this? "

i feel the same as you tangurama when i play games. when i go out or go to school or something, i think about that game and i make (much) time to play that game. when i'm home i play as fast as i can that game and the time flies when i play it. brr.. it's also bad for my social life. a tip: try to 'choose' a game that isn't like a rpg or something. that sort games will make you addict.. choose a racing game or something. that's not that addictive and it bores me if i play it a hour or something. but it can be much fun!

I used to play a lot games back then but now its not that much. Yes I do believe that gaming can ruin your social but in my case it was opposite, in fact I made lot of friends while playing online games such as Counter strike and warcraft. So as we can see gaming can help you to expand your circle of friends, ultimately its how you use it.

Yes! I was in the very same situation before but luckily i managed to get over it. i used to be addicted with a lot of computer, online and facebook games but when i realized there are sites like mylot which i can make something out of, i left all of them. i realized i can make use of my time wisely than waste it on those games so i just dump all of them. it wasnt hard to do that at all. :D

Actually i don't really like playing games because I get bored quickly with games. But I play some games with my friends and it's just for fun. Until now I never addicted to some game and i hope it will continue so. I don't want game to effect my life and my daily activities. I think there are many useful things I can do other than playing some game and became addicted to it.

Games are the best way of ur time pass, thats what i have till now realized and m addicted to it. I play lots of games. Whenever m into the games i almost forgets to do anything else and goes down into it. Mostly i play strategy games and as all wee know how much these games cost time. Even one scenario can cost you atleast 1 to 2 hours minimum if you play without cheats. So due to this i often misses alot in my social life like my health, studies and all other things...

There was a time when gaming affected my social life. I would cancel night outs with friends, I would be late or fake getting sick, or lose some sleep just to finish a game I was playing. Now, I got more disciplined and just play for a few hours a week.

Yea it affects it badly but i stopped. when call of duty modern warfare 2 came out i would always be anxious just to go home and play it all day long till 9:00 p.m. i wouldn't talk to anybody nor go outside like i usually did to play soccer and i think i even gained 5 pounds ! people say games don't affect you but i find that a total lie, maybe they should stop making so many cool games ! lol. it's just that you feel this sudden urch to play and own people(since i have xbox live) and it's just something about it that makes me feel like i'm in another world

i agree it really does affect my social life. i used to be addicted to the sims game. i would stay up all day and night playing the game it was so fun. maybe i didn't care about having a social life because the game itself is like your already living life lol.

Haha, yeah there was a time when I got SO addicted to a game. It's true that once you get hooked, all your attention focuses on THAT game. One time I would spend the whole day just looking at the computer screen; my bottom was numb for the longest period! My social life did go down from there a bit, telling excuses why I can't go with them to where we would usually hang out, but it didn't last for long. Once I got over that, it was all good. I guess the main reason why I got addicted to a game was because there was nothing else to do at the time, but all things come to end.

When I was younger it may have but now it's not really such a big deal. It's quite easy to put down a game whenever I have to and go and do something else. I realize that the game isn't going anywhere and that there are plenty of things that I can do other than play games. There is more to life than that. It's ok to leave the house you know!

When I get addicted to a game I tend to play all night, and I don't get much sleep. I have played many different games over the years and I usually lose interest in the games after a while, but when I have just discoved a new game that I really like, I play a lot. I don't cancel the plans that I have made with my friends in order to play games. Sometimes I am tempted to postpone our plans or something like that, but I usually go out with them...and I go straight back to the computer when I return

Yes for me when i am on internet and i am on facebook with my favourite games or may be anywhere on any site i tend to forget the world around me.I just dont want to talk to anyone nor do i eat properly never go out though i dont have friends to go with but never even think of except for shopping, get a very bad backache as i sit on my bed with my laptop and that makes me horrible. There are so many effects on me, but i still just love to game over the internet it is something which keeps me off my depression and lonliness.

It never has, and never will. I think it depends on more how you are as a person, which is why people try to use gaming as a scapegoat for who they really are. I understand, some people prefer to be social, others prefer a more peaceful atmosphere by themselves, but don't try to pin the blame on something else.

Looking at a few years back, when i'm really addicted to games, you could say that i go out less. but if you ask me weather games affect me or not, i would say that they absolutely affect in one and other way. one thing i feel comfortable for that affection is that i can tell to all of my friend how amusing it to play certain games, say it Resident Evil for example. more amusingly, my friends seemed fairly interested.

There are times when I was younger that I felt I missed out on certain things because of video games. It all goes back to the whole safe zone deal. Video games felt safer than doing something social where you have to be alert. I found myself justifying not going out so i could just relax and play a completely non-productive video game.