A month ago after the launch of the latest Hearthstone expansion I decided to stop playing. It seemed like the right thing to do after playing it nearly every day for four years but I wondered if it would be hard to walk away from a game I played for so long? Come to find out it wasn't hard at all. Occasionally I check the Hearthstone community for interesting developments and there are some but for the most part I am just missing out on a new meta card cycle and new bag of community salt that comes from such a high profile game.
One of the reasons why I thought it might be hard to step away from a game i've played for almost four years is because of the sunk cost and the thought that my time would have been wasted. I think this is why people have a hard time stepping away from freemium games where they spend well more than the price of a normal triple A game and just as much time. But my view of Hearthstone is that i'm proud of what I collected over that time and since I sunk nearly nothing into playing but my time, walking away wasn't hard. I've read many posts by people in the Hearthstone community that want to stop playing the game but can't seem to due to how much money and time they've spent. Recently I was listening to the Real Time With Bill Maher audio podcast and in his closing segment compared social media to nicotine. I mostly agree with Bill here and this is partly one of the reasons I don't frequent Facebook and also partly why I stepped away from Hearthstone. Even though apps and games might be made to be just as addictive to humans as nicotine I think it's our job to understand this, how it effects us and try and change our habits accordingly so we can live better.
New Rule: Social Media is the New Nicotine | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDqoTDM7tio
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3318/when-is-it-time-to-take-a-hearthbreak
One of the reasons why I thought it might be hard to step away from a game i've played for almost four years is because of the sunk cost and the thought that my time would have been wasted. I think this is why people have a hard time stepping away from freemium games where they spend well more than the price of a normal triple A game and just as much time. But my view of Hearthstone is that i'm proud of what I collected over that time and since I sunk nearly nothing into playing but my time, walking away wasn't hard. I've read many posts by people in the Hearthstone community that want to stop playing the game but can't seem to due to how much money and time they've spent. Recently I was listening to the Real Time With Bill Maher audio podcast and in his closing segment compared social media to nicotine. I mostly agree with Bill here and this is partly one of the reasons I don't frequent Facebook and also partly why I stepped away from Hearthstone. Even though apps and games might be made to be just as addictive to humans as nicotine I think it's our job to understand this, how it effects us and try and change our habits accordingly so we can live better.
New Rule: Social Media is the New Nicotine | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDqoTDM7tio
http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3318/when-is-it-time-to-take-a-hearthbreak
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I saw that clip of Bill Maher as he just recently posted it. I kind of agree with his analysis, but I don't know that it's quite comparable to nicotine. I do play Words With Friends daily and I have other games I play. Gaming takes up a majority of my time, but I don't dare call it an addiction. I also watch stuff on YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix.
I'm surprised you decided to stop playing Hearthstone. You're the most enthusiastic Hearthstone gamer I know. I can compare my own relevant experience though. I've played Ark quite a lot in the last two years, in single player mode, on a server, and with mods. I took some breaks, sure, but there's always more to come back to since development is still on-going. I haven't played it much lately, which means there's plenty of "new" stuff for me. It seems like with two more patches all the creatures will be released. They're almost done with this stage of development, which has gotten extended.
I used to spend more time on Facebook and even played more apps, but I stopped. I got unhappy with my newsfeed and decided to ignore it and that's worked out for me. I'd be fine without it, but it provides and easy way to be in touch with many.
> I saw that clip of Bill Maher as he just recently posted it. I kind of agree with his analysis, but I don't know that it's quite comparable to nicotine.
It's not a perfect analogy but I think for some people it's a good one. If you look at the habits of people now lots of us are buried in our phones and less responsive to people. I'm not saying smartphones are bad, I think they are one of the coolest inventions of all time but they allow us the ability to be connected 24/7 and I think that comes with a real world cost. For instance, I put my phone down when i'm with my son and am spending time watching him because I find that if I have my phone I spend more time doing that than playing with him. He is 11 months old now and I don't want to miss much as he is so sweet and if I was really hooked on Hearthstone or something else that would really take away from time with him.
> I'm surprised you decided to stop playing Hearthstone. You're the most enthusiastic Hearthstone gamer I know.
Yeah, it's a great game and if I had to make a top 50 list it would be on it! I love gaming but I think it's a good thing to see what other games are out there and see if I could play something else for a time. I still plan on coming back to Hearthstone at some point but it's good to just step away for no other reason than I can and it's been a nice change.
> I used to spend more time on Facebook and even played more apps, but I stopped. I got unhappy with my newsfeed and decided to ignore it and that's worked out for me. I'd be fine without it, but it provides and easy way to be in touch with many.
I used to check Facebook more times a day than I could count. Hundreds maybe. In the end I found the discussions to largely be toxic, the information I was taking in to not be useful and I didn't find the time I spent there to be something I was happy with. I now just go there to share baby pictures (because people asked me to) and that's about it. Funny thing is I thought that not logging in for a week would mean I wouldn't know what was happening in the world but I still read news sites so I still understand current events. I just miss people telling me what they think about it because i'm not reading that anymore.
I think in the end I like being able to focus my time in ways I think is useful and so far it's worked out pretty well. I also like talking about this kind of thing because I like thinking about it. Is the time we spend most of our lives on really how we want to live? Maybe for everyone it is, but i've found that thinking about it and figuring out where you want to be can inform the choices you make and that can have a useful outcome on your life.
>It's not a perfect analogy but I think for some people it's a good one. If you look at the habits of people now lots of us are buried in our phones and less responsive to people. I'm not saying smartphones are bad, I think they are one of the coolest inventions of all time but they allow us the ability to be connected 24/7 and I think that comes with a real world cost. For instance, I put my phone down when i'm with my son and am spending time watching him because I find that if I have my phone I spend more time doing that than playing with him. He is 11 months old now and I don't want to miss much as he is so sweet and if I was really hooked on Hearthstone or something else that would really take away from time with him.
I agree with you. I always see people on their phones, driving, walking, standing, sitting, etc. The Internet is hype. LOL I don't spend much time on my phone unless I'm not at home. Then it still depends. If I'm out of Pokeballs and not near a Pokestop, then there's not much reason for me to play Pokemon Go. Haha.
>I used to check Facebook more times a day than I could count. Hundreds maybe. In the end I found the discussions to largely be toxic, the information I was taking in to not be useful and I didn't find the time I spent there to be something I was happy with. I now just go there to share baby pictures (because people asked me to) and that's about it. Funny thing is I thought that not logging in for a week would mean I wouldn't know what was happening in the world but I still read news sites so I still understand current events. I just miss people telling me what they think about it because i'm not reading that anymore
Yes, my experience is similar, it's too toxic and negative. I also "get my news" from a wide variety of other sources, much of which I read or watch on YouTube.
> The Internet is hype.
Truest statement ever.