Games and health.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by child of Thor
You sound like you want a console !

well the problem is there arent really any console games i want to play OTOH, lots of folks have said that a console COULD play a serious strat game, and that you can attach a keyboard and mouse to it. So i was wondering if the real problem i had was the PC, or the nature of a game like EU itself, which would mean if playing on a console id have similar problems.


Arent they making a version of EU for one of the portable consoles?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
But then who is going to bring food from the kitchen to your computer so you actually still remember to eat? For those of us no longer living with our parent, this poses a real problem.

You think a wife is going to bring food to you while you play a game

[snoopy369]

eh, anGel is undoubtedly nice enough to do so for Skanky, although more likely i think is that he brings it to her while she plays ...

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark



You think a wife is going to bring food to you while you play a game

Refer to my solution above.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike


Refer to my solution above.

Your gf must REALLY want to keep you out of her hair

[Skanky Burns]

If she relied on me to bring her food, she would end up as skinny as I am.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by DrSpike
The clear answer is to not get married just before a new Civ game is released.

doh'!

[Vince278]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
You think a wife is going to bring food to you while you play a game

Life would be easier with a pro-civ girlfriend. Why did I have to get married just before Civ1 came out?

[child of Thor]

Looking at some of the posts here, and my own general theory which has more to do with the 'tv generation' in general; I'd say your more likely to have negative physical symptons when gaming if your not in good shape.

As with most things in life if you keep yourself physicaly active, you generaly have less problems overall.
Still if you've got a bad postition for using your PC/console then you just have to experiment to find the most comfortable arrangement.

I have a few friends who work in IT and over the years of sitting hunched over a PC, they commonly have problems with their backs/necks/arms etc. Most of them didn't do regular exercise, but the fitter ones definately had less servere problems.

Even with my proportionaly high amount of gaming/pc use over the years, i've kept up a pretty healthy lifestyle - good food+lots of sport and general 'outdoorsy' activities.

I think this is what has helped me to stay in shape and not have the kind of physical troubles some of my friends have had?

I used to get the odd mouse arm trouble(cant remember what the term is - rsi? ), anyway i started to regularly use one of those grip strengtheners things(you squeeze them in one hand), and that problem got much better.

Still i'm not sure that LotM will find a console experience physically more comfortable than a PC one. Maybe(horrors!) part of the problem is that he could be 'growing' out of games? Or maybe like me just finding many of todays games shallow experiences and difficult to spend much time with?

[lord of the mark]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by child of Thor

Looking at some of the posts here, and my own general theory which has more to do with the 'tv generation' in general; I'd say your more likely to have negative physical symptons when gaming if your not in good shape.

I think thats right. I guess im thinking it makes sense to spend less time gaming, and more getting exercise, and then maybe game later when im fitter. A good incentive to improve fitness.

That would help with back problems. Im not sure about eye problems though.

oblem is that he could be 'growing' out of games? Or maybe like me just finding many of todays games shallow experiences and difficult to spend much time with?

I dont know. the game im playing these days is EU2, and i still think thats one of the best games ive ever played. OTOH im still playing it on an old system, and it takes really long to load, so im not inclined to just play for a little while, and playing for a long time is hard on back and eyes, as ive said.

[Traianvs]

Playing too much games is probably the cause of my continuous backache, and also the reason why in bad shape. It's not that I get fat... it's just the muscles that are dwindling
It's weird but these last years I don't really game that much anymore. Except sometimes when I really get absorbed by a certain game. A good thing is to have a TFT screen which is much more comfortable with your eyes. Also, use the MOO3 skin on apolyton (blue), which is nice to look at too!
The most important thing is your chair indeed though.

[Dis]

I don't have to worry about it since I don't work an office job or a desk job where I'm sitting down all the time. Though I still do a fair amount of sitting at my job, it also requires me walking from place to place (and driving from place to place). And when I get to the location, when I'm working, I'm usually sitting down. But not in a position similar to what people working on computer are doing.

And anyways, my marathong days of playing 20 straight hours of civ2 are over. I think 12 hours of gaming is my record of the past couple of years. I really can't do much more than 12 hours. My eyes get tired. But my eyes didn't seem to get tired back in those civ2 days. I distinctely remember doing almost 20 hours one time.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Dissident
edit.........

I really can't do much more than 12 hours. My eyes get tired. But my eyes didn't seem to get tired back in those civ2 days. I distinctely remember doing almost 20 hours one time.

I'm reminded of a story that a friend reminds me of every now and then. As he tells it:

He came around to visit me, as he hadn't seen me for a few days. So he comes to my house and upon entering my room finds me in darkness illuminated by the glow from my TV. He calls my name and a ghostly pale face slowly turns towards him - i'm unshaven and wearing my cycling shades. He says he could almost imagine cobwebs hanging from my head! cheeky devil.

I'd just completed a combined non-stop 36hrs on Space Crusade and Geof Crammonds Formula One on my Amiga


The moral of the story is if your worried about your eyes, wear some UV reflective shades - i've luckily not had any eye problems yet(but when my eyes feel the strain out come the shades), but that is another thing that long term pc/gaming can cause trouble with.

It seems gaming can be a hazardous hobby

[Dis]

yeah we should be up there with those xtreme sports like rock climbing.

lets see if we can get on the xgames.

[Carolus Rex]

Ok, let's see...

Computer gaming:

- bad for your back

- bad for your eyes

- bad for your neck

- bad for your mouse arm

- bad for your overall physical stamina (except for DaveV!)

- bad for your relationship

- bad for your economy (?)

Are we addicts, or what?!

BTW, what's QFT?

Carolus