OCD-like Behaviour Transferring Over In-Game
TwistedReflection
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 180
Location: At the End of Everything
Hello,
Do any of you aspie gamers out there ever notice your OCD making the transition from real life to the digital landscapes of videogames? I've noticed this myself many times, personally, but before diagnosis (of which I remain unsure of) I could give no explanation as to why this was so.
Often, as my avatar (playable character), I would walk around the walls of rooms compulsively, but it is only now that I can make the connection between OCD and this bizarre behaviour. Re-searching the contents of every treasure chest and such is another of my digitized quirks, even though its contents I had long since stripped and knew full-well contained nothing I needed.
Do others do this, or is it just me? Can you recall times when the lines between your IRL self and on-screen avatar suddenly blurred?
oof, yes... I was a horribly OCD child. I couldn't walk unless I started with my left foot, and ended with my right, and counted not in a normal counting order, but "1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2" as I walked, etc. it was maddening..
One of the first games I started playing on the PC was Diablo II, which was especially OCD-enabling the way your inventory and stash was set up. Sooooo many items would drop, and they were all shaped differently, fell into different categories, or had different uses and values, so I found myself managing my inventory/stash so much more than actually playing the game..
But in the end things like that paid off, because I would start to pick up on which items sold best and such. Eventually I was able to beat my OCD into submission as I grew up and was left with an uncanny knack for dominating the Auction Houses, bazaars, and markets of online RPGs. Apparently I did this too well, actually, because I was banned from WoW for "exploiting the economy" somehow without ever breaking a single rule. >_>
TwistedReflection
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 180
Location: At the End of Everything
One of the first games I started playing on the PC was Diablo II, which was especially OCD-enabling the way your inventory and stash was set up. Sooooo many items would drop, and they were all shaped differently, fell into different categories, or had different uses and values, so I found myself managing my inventory/stash so much more than actually playing the game..
But in the end things like that paid off, because I would start to pick up on which items sold best and such. Eventually I was able to beat my OCD into submission as I grew up and was left with an uncanny knack for dominating the Auction Houses, bazaars, and markets of online RPGs. Apparently I did this too well, actually, because I was banned from WoW for "exploiting the economy" somehow without ever breaking a single rule. >_>
So, you broke Blizzard's virtual bank?
Ah, well, those guys are millionaires anyway. They can handle it.
In my case, whenever I start a new game - especially if it's a RPG - I try to resolve not to do any weird OCDish stuff; ten hours in, and I'm hugging walls like a madman. But double-checking empty crates/chests is counter-productive to actual treasure hunting in my case. Your compulsions at least have a pay-off. A future in the Stock Market, mayhap?
I'm also a bit weird with inventories as well, and like to have everything ordered or in a neatly arranged sequence. It bothers me when other players don't do this; their inventories are all messed up!
I used to play Ragnarok with some friends online and none of them picked up random loot but I did and then they would get so impatient waiting for me to sell it all... and then they would wonder how a newbie like me has 10x as much money as they do.
In other games I used to try really hard not to use items or MP cause I don't want to run out, but I NEVER used them, EVER. Only broke that habbit recently but I still only use the cheapest items/spells.
Then there are certain games I know WAY TOO WELL, I mean I know them inside out so then unless I play ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY I can't play them. If I do play perfect it means doing things the same exact way every single time and it just gets boring QUICK.
TwistedReflection
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 180
Location: At the End of Everything
In other games I used to try really hard not to use items or MP cause I don't want to run out, but I NEVER used them, EVER. Only broke that habbit recently but I still only use the cheapest items/spells.
Then there are certain games I know WAY TOO WELL, I mean I know them inside out so then unless I play ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY I can't play them. If I do play perfect it means doing things the same exact way every single time and it just gets boring QUICK.
Yeah, I have weird rituals like that, too. Sometimes, if the immediate vacinity I am about to begin playing a game in is too cluttered, I'll start tidying up the mess before commencing play. Further, I have to be seated - on the floor, mind you, as is where I am almost always seated - in the exact position I feel is best for playing the game to perfection. Total immersion, I guess is what I am aiming for. If this process is in any way not structured to these exact standards, it's impossible for me to play the game beyond the beginning; my mind trails off and finds things to re-arrange. It's exhausting.
Having said that, when I'm in "the zone", everything clicks and I find I enjoy the game much better .
SyphonFilter
Veteran
Joined: 7 Feb 2011
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 2,161
Location: The intersection of Inkopolis’ Plaza & Square where the Turf Wars lie.
When I play shooters, I have to pick up every little ammo crate. If I run over some ammo but can't pick it up because I already have the max number of ammo I can carry I waste ammo just so I can pick up the ammo crate. It's worse in RPG's like Final Fantasy. I have to have all my consumable items listed in a certain way (healing,attack,indirect) and the number of any particular item has to be a multiple of 5 (5,10,15, etc).
TwistedReflection
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 180
Location: At the End of Everything
Yeah, I don't relish leaving spurlus ammo canisters behind either (why can't we just stock them??), but when I play FPSes/TPSes I refuse to waste ammo to accommodate my OCD; I prefer my bullets embedded in the flesh of my targets.
I find it very interesting that OCD carries over into our gaming experiences though, but maybe it is to be expected, one needs to have a brain in order to play games after all -- and where your brain goes, your compulsions come along with it.
The closest I get to my OCD transferring to video games is the fact that I have to watch every cutscene and read every conversation in a game without skipping even if I already know what's going to happen. I feel that my character has to see all this stuff going on in the story, and it really aggrivates me when I see other people skipping cutscenes especially when they play a game for the first time.
TwistedReflection
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 180
Location: At the End of Everything
^ Agreed! I'm much the same way.
I enjoy reading reams of dialogue, and will often follow along in time to the voice actor's delivery of those lines. I'll even re-read the playable character's responses over and over again, trying to embody my on-screen persona! One can never get enough reading done, I say.
Oh, and skipping cutscenes is a personal pet peeve of mine, no matter the length and no matter how many previous times I had seen a given cutscene. It just doesn't sit well with me. The only times I've skipped either dialogue or cutscenes mid-game would only be because of my interest in listening to the music in the next zone after. I'm too much of a scrooge to spend currency on soundtracks!
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