LadyDay

I think games make me more productive in life in general. I spend a lot of time at home (due to illness) and I feel like games make me a more active participant in life, while TV makes me feel like life is just passing me by. I get more energy for doing housework, going for walks, meeting people etc when I've been playing a game than when I've been on the couch. I think it's because I'm and active participator in games, it somehow feels like I've "done something" or "accomplished something"., giving me a little boost to my self-esteem, which in turn gives me energy and stamina for participating in real life too. I don't think games have harmed me.

Could it also be a factor that adults simply have more money to spend on games than kids do and thus become a target market? Sure, parents spend money on games for their kids too, but most kids either get them for Christmas and birthday, or save up for them from their allowance, so as not to get spoiled, while adults pretty much can buy all the games they want. And then there's a big chunk of adults who don't have any kids to spoil, so they only spend their money on games for themselves (I don't have kids, which means more time for games and therefor ultimately more games bought than if I had a kid taking up my time).

As you say, I'll obviously say The Sims 4 is one of them. But right now I'm completely hooked on Planet Zoo. That is a beautiful and all around awesome game! In the style of the old Zoo Tycoon, from the same creators, but in a modern way. I highly recommend it! At least for people who like building things and micro-management.The graphics are amazing! You do need a pretty hefty computer to be able to run it though. I had to get a new one! (it was needed anyway, my old one was 10 years old and simply couldn't run newer games. ).

The Sims 4 preferably.

I would say an obvious one is The Sims. Relaxing, intricate building, nothing too challenging to rage quit over, nothing unexpected, at least unless you purposefully intend it to happen.

Wow, you've been through some things! That must have been more tough and painful than I can imagine. Nobody should be treated like that, let alone a child! I figure nobody ever taught you such things as empathy and caring about others, only the opposite.

Yeah. There are stigmas build into crowds. I hope you know by now that being different doesn't mean being wrong. 🙂

I'm fortunate that nobody have been deliberately mean to me. Things can hurt when they are coming from the community around you though, not from any one person in general. And it makes it harder, because there's not one person in particular who's clearly being a jerk and you start to think "can they all be wrong or am I really such-and-such?"

I think, besides the various simulation games, any game where you can create a character and their story is creative. I figure there are a lot of games like that. And as @The Blackangel says, The Sims series is the ultimate game like that. You build and micro-manage the whole lives of the character you've created and tell their unique stories. Meanwhile you can also freely build their houses, adding another layer of creativity. I figure a game like Minecraft is creative in much the same way? Building a world. (I've never played Minecraft and don't know much about it.

I hope we can both find a way of getting better at this self esteem thing. It's a bitch!

Woohoo, I bought the new computer! Specs: Intel i5-9600K / 3.7-4.6 GHz, ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 DUAL EVO OC 6 GB GDDR6, GIGABYTE H310M S2H 2.0, 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000 C16 , Kingston SSDNow A400 480GB, Thermaltake Smart RGB 600W 80+, Cooler Master 212 Evo Now I just hope I chose the right machine despite my lack of knowledge and that it runs whatever I throw at it great!

I got the self-esteem score of 2/30. I clearly need to work on this. @The Blackangel I'm sorry to see you have such bad self-esteem. I hope we can both get better about that. I thought people with sociopathy or psychopathy generally had big, inflated egos, so it surprises me. I learned something new.

They say the best things in life are free, but the second best are bloody expensive! 😄

It's hard to balance a budget and a demanding game! I could use being rich!

The one I'm looking at has the CPU Intel i5-9600K. I hope that'll handle it well too.

Thank you. I think I'll take one of the computers with that card then 🙂 You're a great help!

But that's not the "super" version right? It's new and from a reputable seller (store, not private). Anyway, it's a significantly more expensive computer than another I'm looking at with the same card, just without the "super" in the name. That one is definitely only 6 GB.

Thank you Stacey. I'm working on it. 🙂 You seem to show plenty of empathy towards me, and even pixelated girls, so you can't be completely void of it. 🙂

Thank you so much for the reply. Yes, it's seems to be a beast of a game! I've actually decided to go with a new computer anyway, it's not that much more expensive than an "as new" used. However, I'm looking at one that says it has the "ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER DUAL EVO OC 6 GB GDDR6". But as far as I can tell, from Google and the ASUS homepage, that graphics card only comes in 8 GB. So now I'm confused! The seller seems too busy to reply to e-mails right now, with Black Friday starting in 45 minutes. I'm getting stressed! Haha

You score for primary psychopathy was higher than 5.51% of people who have taken this test. You score for secondary psychopathy was higher than 12.67% of people who have taken this test. Seems I'm not a psychopath at all. Maybe some of my angelic ways are because I'm afraid that people might dislike me if I act, or even think, in a selfish fashion? And I lack self esteem a lot, so I ascribe other people more value than myself.

My characters tend to reflect and what I would do or wish I could do. So decisions also usually reflects my own moral judgement. But i do get the idea of playing as a character who is different than yourself. Heck, they always are in some way. In reality I don't have to deal with monsters that need killing, and in game I don't worry about the ethics of exterminating dragons. But yeah, my characters do tend to make the decisions that I would make if I were them.

I have severe social anxiety. I've never even tried to play games with or against strangers. I wouldn't dare to. For some reason I'm completely comfortable with forums, such as this, where I can communicate in writing, at my own pace, but I'd be completely paralyzed if I tried to play games with complete strangers. Walking down the street is challenge enough. I can't imagine these games helping with my anxiety unfortunately.

The more I think about it, the more potential reasons I can come up with for making excuses for it. Some about feeling guilty, some about wanting people to believe that they feel guilty. I know I'd sleep better next to someone who felt bad about making such a black and white moral decision, and having gone with the child-killing route. I could see why people would try it on a second play through out of curiosity as to what would happen. Yeah. I guess it's easy to be lulled into a feeling of being special and safe as a result of being "confided in". Or to just assume that somebody with the actual ability to seriously harm others wouldn't go around advertising it. I hope you don't feel unsafe and that you're completely free of people who try to take advantage of you! Can't be fun to have the thought in the back of your mind that you could, however unlikely, be on somebodies hit list! At least @The Blackangel said that some sociopaths in the end just "wants to bang the blue Yoshi". 😉

It seems to have already begun. I just bought The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt incredibly cheap. Now I just need a computer that can run it! 😄

I don't. I'm not bothered by however you play video games. It's a video game. Just curious. I appreciate the insights. 🙂 As for the snuff porn - I guess I'll piss the fuck off. Don't need to hear about it.