Games You Regret Spending Time On?

Kirun · Jul 1, 2023

EQ: I still hold a ton of love for the game now(to the point I go back every few years and do the TLP thing)and I have insane nostalgia regarding that period of my life/the game itself - to the point that I can play TLP and it'll evoke memories of certain songs, certain life moments, etc. based on what dungeon/overland zone I'm in. Plus, I made some life-long friends as a result.

However, I really fucked up my personal life due to it. I allowed it to ruin my education(and I was an extremely good student) to the point that I convinced my mom that I needed to drop out in 9th grade because a GED was "just as good"(which is actually pretty true nowadays). I never went to college like I probably should have(I've since worked my way into a solid career, but I could've had it much, much easier). It was the start of me ballooning into the size of a land-whale(387lbs.+ at my heaviest) and fucking up my joints permanently(I've since lost 200 lbs. and maintained it for the past 7 years, but my knees are pretty fucked). Just a lot of personal life damage that I regret, despite really enjoying the game then and even now, years later.

Mass Effect 3: I should've left well enough alone and just pretended like a 3rd game never existed. I STILL get gamer chills when I hear that The Faunts song hit from the first one, during the credits. One of my all-time favorite gaming memories. The 2nd one continued on the first and while I didn't care for how "companion" focused it was, it still left me with really good taste in my mouth. Then 3's ending, Kai Leng, etc. completely fucking demolished all of those years so badly, to the point that I legitimately hate the franchise now. The ONLY redeeming quality of that game is the way Mordin went out. It was amazing to me the amount of damage one game did to one of, if not my favorite franchises ever. Yes, I know they went back and "fixed" some of the story shit with DLC, but that game left such a fucking sour taste in my mouth I never even bothered playing it, watching a YouTube, etc. Fuck 'em.

Other than those two, I can't really think of any others that I genuinely "regret". Like others, if I'm no longer enjoying a game I just quit and move on to something else.

Gravel · Jul 1, 2023

Kithani said:
I definitely spent more time on WoW/EQ and Dota 2 than I would have liked looking back on my life, but at the same time I’m pretty happy with how my life has turned out so far as I shitpost from the couch with my wife and dogs watching baseball so I dunno.

I enjoy watching pro DOTA2 but I haven’t played in like 7 years once you realize it’s just a game and it’s not like you’re ever going to go pro it changed my perspective on it (lol)… not that I ever planned to be a pro player but like who really gives a crap about your MMR at the end of the day.

Was going to say the same. EQ really ruined my formative years. Yeah, everything turned out fine and I'm happy with where I'm at, but I shouldn't have spent high school playing video games.

And same with me and DOTA. I haven't played it in forever. Heck, I never really played it much cause I just sucked. I do still enjoy watching it occasionally though.

Edit: Shit, just saw Kirun's post above. That's my story too. Told my mom I wanted to drop out in 10th grade, but she was a dropout and said fuck no. But I basically did terrible through my senior year and ended up enlisting. Luckily I wasn't a tubbo. But otherwise, yeah, game ruined my life. Only positive was I sold stuff (including an account) at some point and bought my first car with it.

Mist · Jul 1, 2023

Gravel said:
Was going to say the same. EQ really ruined my formative years. Yeah, everything turned out fine and I'm happy with where I'm at, but I shouldn't have spent high school playing video games.

Did you have anything you would consider a Peak experience - Wikipedia during those times playing EQ? Did you learn anything important about your fellow humans during that time? Did you acquire any management skills or discover any leadership traits during that time?

This thread is particularly helpful to me, as I am writing a novel where the protagonist regrets and feels shame for the five years she spent addicted to a 'metaverse rpg' even though those experiences, while costly in many ways, greatly contributed to the person she is at the start of the novel. Some of her old friends that still play continue to have peak experiences and other meaningful moments in the game she was addicted to, and some are even financially successful streamers.

Talos · Jul 1, 2023

Gravel said:
Was going to say the same. EQ really ruined my formative years. Yeah, everything turned out fine and I'm happy with where I'm at, but I shouldn't have spent high school playing video games.

And same with me and DOTA. I haven't played it in forever. Heck, I never really played it much cause I just sucked. I do still enjoy watching it occasionally though.

Edit: Shit, just saw Kirun's post above. That's my story too. Told my mom I wanted to drop out in 10th grade, but she was a dropout and said fuck no. But I basically did terrible through my senior year and ended up enlisting. Luckily I wasn't a tubbo. But otherwise, yeah, game ruined my life. Only positive was I sold stuff (including an account) at some point and bought my first car with it.

Dota pissed me off so much but I kept playing it for some reason, even after all my friends stopped. I was never very good. The few good games were not worth all the shitty frustrating games and stress of losing streaks.

I have over 3k hours just in dota 2. No idea how many hours on dota 1. I regret all that time.

Kirun · Jul 1, 2023

Mist said:
Did you have anything you would consider a Peak experience - Wikipedia during those times playing EQ? Did you learn anything important about your fellow humans during that time? Did you acquire any management skills or discover any leadership traits during that time?

I wouldn't say I had a "peak experience" within the game itself, per se. Nor would I say I was conscious of it while it was happening/while I was "in the moment".

However, I'd 100% say I had "peak experience" moments SURROUNDING the game itself. The friends I was hanging out with at the time, musical experiences/songs out at the time I was playing said game, being parked in my friend's massive master bedroom where 3 of us gaming bros would stay up until 3-4am playing EQ while watching Adult Swim, giving each other shit, etc. Taking road trips to Sacramento to go to their big(at least to us - since we're all from rural Nevada)comic book/gaming stores while chatting about EQ, StarCraft, etc. the whole way and jamming out to Limp Bizkit, Korn, Iron Maiden, etc.

But it's only in retrospect that I can definitively say these were "peak experiences".

BoozeCube · Jul 1, 2023

Kirun said:
I wouldn't say I had a "peak experience" within the game itself, per se. Nor would I say I was conscious of it while it was happening/while I was "in the moment".

However, I'd 100% say I had "peak experience" moments SURROUNDING the game itself. The friends I was hanging out with at the time, musical experiences/songs out at the time I was playing said game, being parked in my friend's massive master bedroom where 3 of us gaming bros would stay up until 3-4am playing EQ while watching Adult Swim, giving each other shit, etc. Taking road trips to Sacramento to go to their big(at least to us - since we're all from rural Nevada)comic book/gaming stores while chatting about EQ, StarCraft, etc. the whole way and jamming out to Limp Bizkit, Korn, Iron Maiden, etc.

But it's only in retrospect that I can definitively say these were "peak experiences".

Stop posting my memories

Penance · Jul 1, 2023

Kirun said:
I wouldn't say I had a "peak experience" within the game itself, per se. Nor would I say I was conscious of it while it was happening/while I was "in the moment".

However, I'd 100% say I had "peak experience" moments SURROUNDING the game itself. The friends I was hanging out with at the time, musical experiences/songs out at the time I was playing said game, being parked in my friend's massive master bedroom where 3 of us gaming bros would stay up until 3-4am playing EQ while watching Adult Swim, giving each other shit, etc. Taking road trips to Sacramento to go to their big(at least to us - since we're all from rural Nevada)comic book/gaming stores while chatting about EQ, StarCraft, etc. the whole way and jamming out to Limp Bizkit, Korn, Iron Maiden, etc.

But it's only in retrospect that I can definitively say these were "peak experiences".

This is me but replace EQ with HL era of CS, TFC, DoD, Firearms(?) Unreal 2k4 and tribes 2. Lan parties with kentacohut and beer and going to arcades to play tekken, sf and mk ultra 3 tourneys in Orlando

Intrinsic · Jul 1, 2023

I had a lot of those moments with EQ. But my parents also challenged me appropriately about what I was spending my time doing and forcing me to defend some of it. It helped me think more critically of the social interactions, guild leader interactions, and so forth. Trying to explain to my folks what was going on in game. They took an active interest and didn’t try to limit me or force me in to something that didn't interest me.

At the time I would have never had the maturity to understand any of that but in retrospect it made sense. However, after losing that oversight from my family it definitely took a more negative turn in college and led to me failing out of my 1st school in 2000.

I flew to Vegas twice a year to meet guild members on money that I saved from working which added to that responsibility.

DotA is a little different because while I don't regret my time spent playing it, there was no way to call it healthy. It mostly involved me slowly drinking myself to death and getting mad. After my brother died suddenly, I lost my job, and eventually my marriage, alcohol and competitive team based activities over the internet were not the best outlet. There were positives. I got to hang out with a few people from these boards at The International for 3 - 4 years in a row, made friends I still talk to today, and still enjoy watching.

The older I get the less and less I truly regret anything even if at one point that was my perspective. From games, relationships, or life.

Except League of Legends. Fuck that game. Weak ass training wheels bullshit. Regret the 5 hours and bottle of vodka wasted on that crap.

Caeden · Jul 1, 2023

Man, I played WoW with a guild where a lot of college buddies played plus their EQ friends. I have a lot of fond memories doing dungeons all day with those guys. Playing with my best friends probably made WoW less of a regret. Similar for all PoE. I played every league mostly with my best friend.

Locnar · Jul 1, 2023

The one and only asian MMO I played for awhile and most of the half assed time I spent on TLP EQ (which was not much).

I might be a bit older than some of you, EQ dropped in my early 20s and I distinctly remember telling myself "I'm soooo glad this crack was not available when I was in high school.." I loved EQ, no ragrats (lol) there.

lgarthy · Jul 1, 2023

The Medium.

I can't get those hours back. Ugh!

Kirun · Jul 1, 2023

Penance said:
This is me but replace EQ with HL era of CS, TFC, DoD, Firearms(?) Unreal 2k4 and tribes 2. Lan parties with kentacohut and beer and going to arcades to play tekken, sf and mk ultra 3 tourneys in Orlando

Yeah, this is the same for us and my friend group. We played the living fuck out of CS, TF, Unreal Tourney, and Tribes 1+2. Basically any time we took a "break" from EQ for a month or two we'd play the fuck out of one of those instead.

Intrinsic said:
The older I get the less and less I truly regret anything even if at one point that was my perspective. From games, relationships, or life.

Yeah, this is the point I'm getting to as I get older as well. Even in "bad" memories or "regrets", there always seems to be a good lesson, experience, etc. you can pull from it.

Rajaah · Jul 2, 2023

Otto said:
Ultima 9: What's a Paladin.

"What's a Paladin?" is such a hilarious memory.

Caeden said:
I could almost list WoW but I managed to thread the needle of maintaining a career, being behind the bleeding edge slightly, and made great friends during it. It did almost wreck my first marriage but the she started and loved it. She quit games after Wotlk. All games. And turned into a whore the next few years.

I could list d2 but it kept me away from EQ mostly and I was able to maintain a high GPA during that time.

Did she turn into a whore with you, at least?

Kaige said:
Breath of Fire 4 - I got far into this game and its annoying story to reach a point where I couldn't find a save spot and then died to something I wasn't prepared for...losing like 3 hours of my life. Stopped playing it completely and threw it out. This is on top of the fact that the story had nothing to do with the original BoF trilogy. It was like a completely different game with the BoF label on it.

Good to find someone else who has beef with that game like I do. It's too long, too tedious, and just doesn't have much redeeming about it. I think the low camera angle was the biggest issue, cause I legit couldn't see what I was doing half the time. Lot of people don't know what I'm talking about because they hear Breath of Fire and they think of the awesome SNES games.

Kharzette said:
I didn't like much of that game, but being able to have 2 different coloured eyes was great. And the little leaf umbrellas were super cute.

Lawl, never change Kharz.

k^M · Jul 2, 2023

Don't remember which one it was, but the XCom sequel that made it into a mass effect still over the shoulder shooter. Only an hour or two I think but god did I hate it

Cybsled · Jul 2, 2023

WoW: BFA

Hardcore raiding in EQ1

Scavengers (game is dead now)

Rajaah · Jul 2, 2023

Mist said:
Did you have anything you would consider a Peak experience - Wikipedia during those times playing EQ? Did you learn anything important about your fellow humans during that time? Did you acquire any management skills or discover any leadership traits during that time?

EQ is full of useful skill-teaching. Three examples:

-I always led my own groups in EQ (live) while leveling. Always. Not only did I assemble them myself, I'd also direct traffic. Was always a monk on live, and being puller gives me an advantage for traffic-directing. Was able to lead groups through some pretty dangerous areas, avoiding roamers, mentally keeping track of respawns, and so on. Vxed and Tipt come to mind as being particular challenges that I directed traffic on every time through. Also some of DoDH's toughest missions. Later on TLP when I'd generally be either Zerker, Enchanter, or SK, I'd still usually lead. Last server I did Vxed/Tipt on (Vaniki?) I went through them a couple times and had to be totally on the ball, looking out for possible issues before they even arose. All of this chorus-conducting translated into leadership skills (as does raid leading, but that's a bit different).

-When I applied for a job as a firefighter around 6 years ago (it didn't work out, due to my various nagging injuries), I actually cited EQ in the application process when they asked what skills I had with leadership, functioning under pressure, or coordinating people. Everything they named, I was able to draw a comparison with something from EQ, and presented it as a very team-oriented game where everyone has a role to play. They were impressed and said no one had used a game as an example like that, much less so effectively, and I got the job.

-When I went back to the game in 2004 after a 3 year break, I had around 8k platinum in the bank from my disastrous performance in Velious as a rogue. Didn't know where to start to get back into it and be more successful this time around. Decided to twink up a monk since it was a similar melee DPS, except with the ability to solo, which was very appealing. However I needed a Fungi Tunic and a T-Staff and some one-handed weaps, etc, to really power through. 8k wasn't gonna get me any of that. Then I discovered the Bazaar. Started following the prices of different key items (like aforementioned Fungi) that were in high demand, and looking for people selling things at firesale prices (either because they were desperate for some quick funds, or had no idea what they were doing). This happened surprisingly often, likely due to the latter thing.

So I started buying low and selling high with my 8k plat. Pretty much spent September 2004 metagaming at the Bazaar, buying stuff, relisting it. Played as my monk a bit, liked it, ransacked the rogue for more things to sell. Within a week or two I'd turned the 8k into around 300k, and bought a T-Staff, Fungi Tunic, Copper Hammer of Striking + something else (Abysmal Seaweed Wraps maybe?) for dual wielding, White Dragon Helm, and AoW pants. Threw all that on a level 10 or so Monk and just absolutely went to town on the game, was level 70 by the end of the year where I'd previously been unable to ever reach max level in the game. Continued doing the platinum metagame and eventually got to around 4 million plat (which was a lot in 2005) before I just kinda stopped worrying about the Bazaar anymore, too busy raiding. Pulled myself up by my literal bootstraps and learned a lot about economics, supply/demand, undercutting, and so on. Too bad I haven't had the same level of success with stocks/crypto, but it's a bit different when an entire market nosedives at once. I think I could use the lessons of the Bazaar in real-world trading to more success with enough patience though.

Edaw · Jul 2, 2023

Kharzette said:
I didn't like much of that game, but being able to have 2 different coloured eyes was great. And the little leaf umbrellas were super cute.

Also, if anyone knows who Winnow is from Veeshanvault or has an account there, let them know the site directory is publicly viewable.

Index of /files

Edaw · Jul 2, 2023

Best thing I found on that open directory. Lots of weird shit.

Captain Suave · Jul 2, 2023

Running a guild in EQ (Paradigm, Sol Ro) sure taught me some formative lessons - namely that I have no future interest whatsoever in leadership positions. I'll fucking gouge my own eyes out before I again attempt to corral 40 ADHD neckbeards towards a common goal. Other than that, EQ was a big part of my squandering my college education. I still maintained a 3.9/4.0 GPA but I did not remotely maximize my opportunities, particularly in making and maintaining relationships with other students and faculty. Even thinking about those thousands of hours hits the nostalgia hard, but they were mostly a complete waste.

Penance · Jul 2, 2023

Thinking on it a bit more if say I feel like I wasted my time on any game that wasted its potential.

Wildstar
Marvel heroes
Secret world
Overwatch
And still black desert. That game with a western system would shit on any mmo out now

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Games You Regret Spending Time On?

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast

Talos

Silver Baronet of the Realm

Kirun

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BoozeCube

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Penance

Ahn'Qiraj Raider

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness

Caeden

Silver Baronet of the Realm

Locnar

lgarthy

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor

Rajaah

Honorable Member

k^M

Blackwing Lair Raider

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Edaw

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Edaw

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Captain Suave

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.

Penance

Ahn'Qiraj Raider