I think video games ruined my life

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Hey nice web site - though a bit Web 1.0 nowadays.

I love DOS - I still love the DOS that sits on top of Windows XP and will often drop out into it when I've to serious work to do with files.

I used to use VB until Microsoft Killed it with .NET - the language was pretty easy (then) and you could do a lot with it. I still write a lot of utilities in VB6 when I need them.

These days, I do a bit of "Hobby stuff" with Blogger etc.. I have 3 blogs, a variety of Picasa Pages - I'm slowly scanning and retouching all of my family's photos. You can see how bad I looked when I was little because of what my mother did to my hair here.

I've also got a huge wallpaper collection - literally thousands of movie based wallpapers organized alphabetically.

I started making a Dr Who Gallery of wallpaper I collected or made. My William Hartnell stuff is all online at Google Base but then I decided that nobody was interested and stopped.

I mucked around with Google Page creator but didn't put much effort in... It's a good page because it has links to all my stuff though.

http://gavin.bollard.googlepages.com/home

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you can always find a lot to do - if you're motivated.

HTML confuses me...

I'm a video game addict, myself. That's why I forbid game consoles in my dorm.

DOS is awesome. I remember DOS in the late 80's. I had a Tandy that you had to put the DOS disk (these were the huge disks of yesteryear) in , along with the program you wanted.

Linux is awesome, too bad it has no games, so Im back to Windows XP. I just found out Source SDK needs Microsoft Visual Studios, so no more Dev++. I guess, Im a Microsoft slave again.

I downloaded DOOM as a DOS game once. It was shareware though.

Berserker,

You don't need HTML to do blogger. If you're interested, you'd get a lot of help from me and I'd guess from others here.

oh and .... doom etc...

You'll have to work on your Nan to get her to relax the no downloading rules. There's so many great things out there to play - and a lot of them are free too.

dont hijack the thread with reminiscing the good ol' DOS days please

Game addiction, actauly, can be just as bad as a drug addiction, only there your body isn't taking poisons except for radiation and light through the eyes. That's a complicated situation your in. Good to see that you like reading, and can find time to read and do things.

About a month ago, I gave my Grandpa a call because it was his birthday. He's in his late eightees, and is dieing of one of the nastiest forms of cancer out there. Though neither of us said anything, I think we both knew this was the last birthday he was going to have, and I can't imagine the gloom of knowing that about yourself.

We were talking about how different life was back when he was healthy and young, and how much the world has changed. I told him how I felt it was sad that no one these days listened to old people anymore - that no one was willing to learn from their years of experience. That seemed to cheer him up. I then asked him a simple question. I asked him, "Grandpa, is there anything you've learned after living on this earth for so long that you'd like to share with me?"

And he told me "Yes. When you're young, you think you have all the time in the world, but life deosn't last forever. Don't waste the time you have, because it's all you've got. Make every minute matter."

I don't believe video games are your problem. I think it is that you are spending too much time on them. You could take up something that is traditionally considered more wholesome by society, like some have suggested, reading. You could do all kinds of different things for fun, but if you piss away all your precious time on this earth doing them, then it's no better than video games.

Fun is important. If you abandon fun, you have wasted your life as well, but it is important to have a balance between work, play, and socialization. You need to find something you're good at. Many aspies have a natural talent for things related to music or computers, so you might want to look into these, but really, it could be anything. If you produce some sort of output with your life, and continue to learn and grow, you'll find yourself a happier person.

Someday, your mother will die. You will be all alone. One of the most important things you should work on in preparation for this day is to become as independant as possible. Some aspies cannot learn to drive, but at 16, it's much too early to conclude you are one of them (which isn't to imply you have done so). If you cannot get to the library because your Mom won't take you, maybe you should be focusing on getting a driver's license. This is what I myself am working on at the moment.

With regards to socialization, as many have said, there are plenty of people who are also interested in nothing but video games. I myself am not, but I have two aspie friends that are like this. I tolerate their focus, just as they tolerate how I do nothing but talk about computers, and we get along fine, learning much about eachother's interests in the process.

I'm only 20 myself, and it really isn't my place to be telling people how to live their life. Take from this post whatever you find useful, and leave it at that. Good luck.

Ok... well, I'm nearly double your age and I can share some experience of being on earth.

The best way to answer you own questions is to say....

"If I was told I only had one week to live.... I'd........."

Work out what is important to you and achieve it.

Life is a balance of work, play, family etc.... but I guess most of us work to get money so that we can play.

Achievement is a funny thing and it means very different things to different people.

I don't even want a driver's lisence. I'm too much of a greenie - a person who doesn't want to contribute to Global Warming, you could say...