Zeros

I’ve enjoyed Spellforce 3 so far, but I haven’t picked up this expansion. My friend and I played half way through the original so far (purchased it this year as something to do together).

This has me excited to finish up and get the expansion!

I think any kind of online game can have pros or cons, but it’s only the matter of what games you decide to play that determines whether it affects you positively or negatively, and simply how you balance it. For instance, I find games with heavy RNG to be frustrating and stressful, but I find games like social simulations, puzzles, etc. to be more on the relaxing side. So the way I might deal with it would be to set a time limit on the frustrating games and spend other time playing games that I know would be better for my health.

If I ever go to a lake house, I would probably want to bring an underwater GoPro with me and just record stuff in the water. Seems like there would be a lot of fun things to do at a lake house, and fortunately the climate I’m in is suitable for it.

I love games like this from time to time.. what do you get if you mix pitfall and super meat boy .!!! Extreme puzzle fun !

Mental health will always vary from individual to individual, and I think it’s always important to find the game that’s suitable for you (if you get easily frustrated at a game, then just find another game).

I think anxiety and depression are the biggest issues that plague many countries today, and it’s so important to find a form of escapism. It might be inconvenient to fly over to a tropical resort or go outside to a music concert, but it’s sure easy to find games that reduce stress and other mental health issues. Video games get downplayed and undervalued very often, and I think it’s important to experience the fun of video games in this day and age as a form of relief.

I find that mobile puzzle games are excellent for people that don’t spend a whole lot of time on their phones. I’ve seen some of my friends play games like Block Puzzle and Candy Crush Saga, and these are the kind of games that you could spend 5 minutes playing, especially on a lunch break or when waiting in line at a store. Classic games can be fun as well; I’ve seen a lot of Solitaire lately.

Can’t go wrong with Apple’s app store or Google’s play store. I think Android devices have a bit more versatility since you don’t really need to rely on the play store at all, especially since you can just install APKs directly. But definitely a whole lot of games out there on iOS or on Android.

But one thing I will say is to stay away from Amazon Fire. It’s harder to find certain apps and games on a Fire Tablet than it is to find them on Apple’s app store or Google’s play store (technically you can get the Google Play Store on Amazon Fire, but it usually requires tethering, and I think you’ll oftentimes encounter games and apps that are just incompatible).

I’m hopeful that VR will have more uses out there, especially when it comes to simulations (which could lend itself to applications outside of gaming). But VR has felt like a slow progress lately; other than the popular MMOVR game VRChat and the somewhat odd and clunky Nintendo Labo VR kit gaining attention in the past years, I don’t really hear a whole lot of news about VR.

Cloud gaming’s definitely an alternative that exists. Not going to discourage anyone from it, but I think it’s just one of those things that’s overhyped in the gaming community, and I think it’s still a bit early for cloud gaming to really take off.

I think one of the biggest problems with cloud gaming right now is energy consumption, especially when you consider how much energy data centers would have to consume on a daily basis to fit the needs of “cloud gamers”. If cloud gaming were to become mainstream, it would probably create more strain on data centers.

But aside from that, I don’t want to grow dependent on cloud services. For several years, I’ve enjoyed playing video games as a product than as a service, and I continue to enjoy video game products to this day; a company could easily discontinue a cloud gaming service or maybe even disallow certain cloud-serviced games at random, so I’d rather not trap myself to a service that could do that.

I think using time management techniques is the most effective in breaking away from video game addiction. My favorite (though it’s mostly used in work management) is using the Pomodoro Technique, so you can break down your day schedule into intervals by setting a timer for how long you’re going to do something.