I'm a pretty normal 18 year old kid. I've played hockey since i was 4 years old and loved every moment of it. I've always kept my grades up to par in school and will be attending a big 10 university next fall- HOO HOO HOOOOSIIEERRS! I'd like to believe i have a great group of friends with whom i can share my interests and trusts... Yet, theres something my friends dont know about me, something you can sure as hell believe ill be keeping to myself for quite some time.. Well, forever, to be exact.

I have spent nearly 2000 hours of my life playing a single game. 2000 hours, or 83 days, or 2.78 months or- i think you get the point. (Believe me, most players at the IM+ level have well over this amount, some ranging beyond the 5000 hour mark). Countless times i've had my parents ask me to join them for a movie, or to go out for a bike ride or something of the sort, and yet they're always fed the same answer: "i'm playing this game, i cant leave right now!" Time after time, like a stone at the bottom of a motionless pond, the response has been the same. Now, I'm going off to a college that is four and a half hours away from home, and i wont be seeing my parents, or any family at that, more than 3 or 4 times a year. Yet, when they were there, i ignored them. And for what? This game i am so "dedicated" to?
Now, dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash on the game or the people who play it- i mean, shit, some of these guys i know better than my pals in "RL." And i love em. All I'm saying is, and I'm sure plenty of you all can relate, that when i look at my steam community page, and see the ugly white letters next to the TF2 symbol, "2000 hours played," i get pretty damn discouraged. I think to myself, god damn, the things i could have done with my time. Ive read, dont go quotin this here clown, that it takes about 10,000 hours of repetition before we "master" an activity. Well shit, ive played this game for 3 years and managed to rack up 2000 hours; if i practiced my game in hockey with the same frequency as I've spent playing TF2, after nearly 14 years i figure i'd be chillin on the top line with Claude Giroux on the Philly Flyers, smoking a season finale blunt and enjoying some smooth jazz. I'll keep dreamin i guess...

Anyways, my parents always say, Ryan, you really need to give up on that stupid game. I look them in the face, and oh boy do i agree with them, i feel like should have quit playin long ago. But, as you guys well know, it aint always that simple. Throughout the years, I've made friends i cant say i wouldnt absolutely love just kickin back and enjoying an ice cold vanilla coke with. There's been laughs, theres been competition, but most of all, theres been friends. To the outside eye, its just a stupid video game. To a member of the community, its a hell of a lot more than that and I'm damn sure you all can relate.

Honestly, the lure in the game is a real tricky thing, its somethin that sneaks up and bites yah on the ass when you arent lookin. Its a tough thing to do, give up on something youve devoted so much time to, but sometimes yah just gotta call it quits. After nearly three months of raw time spent plopped down, cool ranch doritoes on deck, playing this game, i think its about that time. This is in no way a commendment for those who continue to play this amazing game competitively; its more of a journal of my thoughts and reccolections from my time spent in the game. Anyways, if youve stuck with me through reading all this damn garbage, i just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for hearin me out, and thanks especially to those ive played with that have made this game somehow playable for so many hours.

fun things are fun

I can't imagine what this post would look like if you played professional Starcraft.

However, how is it any different from (for example) people who spend countless hours a day playing a musical instrument? Besides the fact that playing videogames probably isn't a great way to improve posture and eyesight..

<3 stampeed

Don't play a comp game in College please!!!

I assure you that you will have a lot more fun getting drunk and meeting people then you will ever have in this, or any, game. Have fun in your undergrad years, then afterwords have fun with a hobby. But in your undergrad years, your "comp" should be meeting new people, studying, and having the time of your life.

And I read this moments after submitting my team's signup application to UGC :/

I think I know the feeling, though, despite having comparatively few hours at about 300. I'm looking forward to hanging out with friends and the fun of a good, competitive game, yet apprehensive, wondering how much time this is really worth. Part of me wants to go whole-hog into this and shoot for invite, and part of me wants to forget it altogether, just make video games something I do for maybe a few hours a week, and get my life together. I'm stuck at a sort of median point, though. Telling myself I'll only need to play for 4 or 5 hours a week for the weekly game and a scrim or two.

I'd like to put it off for a year or two but for all I know comp TF2 won't even be around that long. It's gotten a bit of a publicity boost lately, I know, but it's not exactly thriving. I love this game and don't want to miss this opportunity.

Congratulations on making the difficult choice. I wish you good fortune in the life you've chosen for yourself.

Zigzter wrote:

I can't imagine what this post would look like if you played professional Starcraft.

However, how is it any different from (for example) people who spend countless hours a day playing a musical instrument? Besides the fact that playing videogames probably isn't a great way to improve posture and eyesight..

cool ranch doritos are awesome.

play the game as long as its fun.

<3 tf2.

DontTellDave wrote:

Zigzter wrote:

I can't imagine what this post would look like if you played professional Starcraft.

However, how is it any different from (for example) people who spend countless hours a day playing a musical instrument? Besides the fact that playing videogames probably isn't a great way to improve posture and eyesight..

Oh creating music or learning someone else's is always better than getting good at a video game. Which do you honestly think you would be more proud of in ten years? Getting good enough to play at LAN or good enough to fill a venue?

Zigzter wrote:

I can't imagine what this post would look like if you played professional Starcraft.

However, how is it any different from (for example) people who spend countless hours a day playing a musical instrument? Besides the fact that playing videogames probably isn't a great way to improve posture and eyesight..

Fzero wrote:

Look...If you're spending as much time in games as you would in a part time job, you're going to be in a lot of trouble when you grow up. I look at my friends list and see people with 60-90 hours in two weeks and I actually feel a little sad for them. Just because it means they are likely to only playing games and never experiencing real life.

The worst sex will always be better than the best TF2 game.

Why would you feel sad for people doing something they enjoy?

Live your life the way you want, let others do the same.

i feel you stampeed

i'm leaving for some of the same reasons next season

hope you enjoy college, it's fun

having spent a year and a half in college doing the socializing, partying and drinking thing and another year and a half playing competitive, I can honestly say I have way more fun spending time with friends online playing tf2.

I still go out and do things, sports and get-togethers with friends, but I will always chose to be at home in mumble with good friends over being at a party watching a bunch of strangers drink themselves retarded.

You just have to learn how to do things in moderation, I didn't know how to do that when I played wow in high school and decided to drop it, but as long as you have enough self-control to keep up in school and social life, there's no problem with spending a few hours a day doing something you enjoy.

my folks and friends go out on friday and saturday nights so it fits in with my schedule. I pretty much only play during scrims, and once in a while i get to pug. Pugging is fun, especially with the quantic guys but during the week days i need my sleep for school the next morning and weekends I have work so I don't get much time to play :[

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

Find a balance and enjoy everything life has to offer.

I'm at a weird point in my life. I play about +/- 15 hours a week. My actual competitive playtime (not leaving TF2 on overnight on accident) is about 800 hours spread over 2.5 on-and-off years.

Being a 23 year old guy, I'm at that phase where I'm at a full-time job after college and I'm always finding myself bored during worknights (like most adults). I've found that TF2 is a great way to kill time when you need to be sober the next morning - so therefore I'll be on most weekday evenings MGE'ing/scrimming/w.e. This is the reason why I came back after stopping in order to enjoy college graduation and to try to do okay on my thesis project (it earned a "B").

This new-found behavior has left me in 3 minds:

1. Accept who you REALLY are - a young professional by day and a game junkie by night. Embrace this, while remembering to always stay in touch with family and good friends. Consider this your hobby and go to some LANs and shit - many people your age and older are just like you in today's world. However, make sure to continually advance your own career and care for the people around you in need. Don't let TF2 destroy the other parts of who you are. "Competitive gaming is part of who you are. Enjoy it and try to stay balanced while doing so."

2. Kick the habit, you have to act like an adult at some point - you're missing out on cool people that you can wander and meet. You're 23 and it's probably going to be 1.5-2 years (25 then) before you play this game at a high level. You washed up when you stopped playing to finish school and should have buried this axe. "TF2 is an addiction that must stop." You're single (and you're 23!) and not ugly enough to scare ALL of the girls away, Ryan.

3. Enjoy the tide while it's here - there's no need to quit now since things haven't come up but do NOT hesitate to do so if things change. TF2, or competitive gaming for that matter, is temporary and will emotionally terminate at some point, so don't worry. "It's not all of who you are - it's a phase in your history."

I'm torn between #1 and #3.

As much as I want to play at a high level in TF2, I could never turn my own family/friends down on a responsibility/promise to nurture my gaming ability. An example of this? I remember in college I missed a match (and consequently got abandoned for ditching my TF2 team with one evening's notice) because my friends in college at the time wanted me to go to an NFL preseason game with them.

I'm a total fucking nerd, but I'll likely never get to the absolute top because I'm going to try to strive for balance. I like to play all the time, but when real life calls I will almost always answer that over tf2. I don't have the heart to look my mother in the face and figuratively say "Sorry, I'm too busy gaming to help out with the dishes from the neighborhood party." or tell my grandfather "Nah, I'm not going to get up early to golf with you since I'm gaming all the night before and will sleep in until 2 pm to compensate. I know I've golfed since childhood, but fuck off". That'll be the day I uninstall Steam from my computer.

(I'm probably going to take online classes during the weekends for a design/construction based certificate to pair up with my degree. It won't force me quit since it'll be 6 hours a semester due to the cost of it all, but it's another thing from real life that will bar me from ever being great at this game :P)

Tell me about it! Family and school first always!

Radium brings up an all-around identical opinion to my own, I'm 22, and i work with the military, I also have a wife and daughter, i have time to spend tf2'ing, and i truly enjoy spending time with the guys online and shit, but i would never turn down anything career or family oriented for a video game. And for the people who DO turn it down, who cares, live your life as you wish. Their is no right or wrong way to do so, unless you are miserable, then you know something has to change.

I plan on always playing video games, and hopefully playing comp to any degree i can muster with the time i choose to put into said games, but i do it out of enjoyment, not out of need for the game.

ive been home alone a lot ever since my dad died because my mom had to pick up extra jobs, my brother is out in college and my twin sister is constantly over at her friends houses. playing games is just a way to cope with the hard times and i feel like i'm immersed in a second world because i'm a completely different person online, i'm a lot more talkative, i have friends, and i'm actually okay at doing things online unlike the real world. i matter much more to online friends than i ever would to anyone outside of it

The average American spends 2.7 hours a day, everyday watching television.

That equates to 2000 hrs of television in 2 years.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm

Just think, the entire US population could be professional chain saw ice sculptors, or puppeteers, or fluent in Korean had they spent those 2000 hours doing something not so wasteful like watching tv.

Spend your leisure time however the fuck you want, the rest of America does.

Edit: I guess my bigger point, to Stampeed and anyone feeling like him. I sense from his post some hint of regret, like the time he spent tf2ing was a bit wasted and could have been more productive. Sure it could have been more productive, but so can the rest of population on the time they spent watching 3 hrs of tv last night. I doubt many of them self reflect and wish they maybe hadn't watched American Idol.

Do what you enjoy is the bottom line. If you feel you spend too much time on one leisure activity, then do something else. But don't feel guilty about your gametime, unless you think everyone in america should feel guilty about their tv time.

I wish I had played more tf2 in college. My GPA would have been higher and I would have more functional brain cells.

I'm in the same boat, except I've been at community college the past 2 years. Community college sucks ass. Literally 0 community.

From my experience, life is far more enjoyable when I don't play TF2 during college. I've gone 2 semesters without any TF2, one when I just MGE'd and one where I played on a team (Explosion), and the amount of fun I had definitely went from without>casual>competitive.

During the times I didn't play any TF2 I obviously had far more time to hang out with my friends and meet people, and so... I hung out with my friends and met people. My GPA was also higher during these times and I just felt I enjoyed life more.

Then again, having stayed on campus, playing TF2 was stressful for me, as people who have played on a team with me know; there is always like 6-10 people in my room. So in the end it just wasn't worth it for me.

If you go to a community college or if you live far off campus/don't know anyone at your school I would recommend playing games in order to pass by the downtime, but if you live on campus/have friends at school, I think you'll definitely have more fun if you uninstall the game until summer.

After 1000 hours of playing this game and multiple seasons in different leagues, it's safe to say I really understand the meta game and how to play each class at a decent level. On paper this game is incredibly easy but playing the specific roles down to the text in the book is hard.

I dabbled with a lot of things in life(wrestling, street racing to name a few) and once I broke it down and saw what can make me better I kind of lose interest in it. Maybe I'm just a quick learner, idk. But video games always held my attention no matter how much I look into it. I use to use it as a "way to escape" in high school. I guess what attracts me now is the competitiveness of the game.

I no longer have my manager job at a fancy department store; I now work 30-40 hours at Lockheed Martin on the air base, have college and I still manage to play TF2. I see my friends often and go out with my girlfriend too. What's the key to it all? Moderation and knowing your schedule. I haven't perfect it, I do get stress time to time because I forgot a homework assignment, missed a scrim, or something else. To me that stress is saying to perfect my time management more.

We all have our reasons for playing this game or any game in general. Of course we could use the time to learn Japanese or become the next da Vinci. We rather sit at home and play this game. No matter how much we bitch about it, we still ignore that call from a friend or family member to play TF2.

I'd reccomend managing your time (ie only play at night on weeknights when you have to scrim or match etc) so you can hang out with friends and meet new people. I imagine it's a lot easier to do this if you dorm so you should be fine OP.

Value is perceived, there's no "better" or "worse" way to spend your time, it's entirely subjective. If you want to spend less time in tf2, do it since that's what you want. If you enjoy playing tf2, do it, since that's what you want. Life is basically without meaning, so just do the stuff you like, doing stuff that doesn't make you happy is the only thing that's "not worth it."

which university?

Anybody who tells you you're wrong for doing something you enjoy is, plain and simple, an idiot. Are there more useful ways to spend your time? Sure, but would you be? What would you be doing instead of TF2? Hanging out with friends? Watching a movie? How much more productive is that?

I can understand how it feels now that you're leaving for school - but how much of your time was spent with them outside of the game? For every time you said you can't go to a movie, how many times did you go to a movie with them earlier in your life?

Like everything in life, playing games is just about balance. When all of your work is done, it's your personal time, and you get to decide how to spend it. Don't feel bad about what you do to get enjoyment out of life, if you like playing TF2 instead of sitting through two hours of a movie, then go ahead and play! If your roommates are going out to drink, but you have a match coming up, figure out which you'd enjoy more. I don't even drink alcohol, so partying for me is always 50/50 - I know I'll have fun playing a game of LoL or TF2, so I stick around I do that most of the time because I enjoy it more.

If you go to college and find out you miss Tf2, or that going out every other night to drink isn't as much fun as you thought it could be, maybe you go back to playing it. Or maybe you find a nice girl and group of friends, and decide to split the week between them. There's almost nothing black-and-white in life, so all you need to do is pick which times you do what and you'll enjoy your life without question.