00:03:49.000Anyway, a lot of guys, when they hear gaming, they think about a fat guy or a skinny guy or a skinny fat guy sitting in front of the computer wasting his life away.
00:04:03.000You know, skipping the gym, skipping school, not really having any ambition, not any ambition to meet a woman, not any ambition for anything.
00:04:17.000Now, of course, that is problematic, but I would like to bring some nuance to the discussion.
00:04:26.000For me, on a personal note, I am supremely thankful for having grown up with Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Rome Total War, and then in later years, you know, Oblivion, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, etc.
00:04:40.000Super thankful for having that instilled in me in an early age.
00:04:45.000And it's the same thing with such a thing as Nordic mythology or Greek mythology or Roman history or Swedish history or English history or epic stories such as Lord of the Rings.
00:04:58.000I've talked about this before. I'll say it again because it is important. It is important to have those sort of positive and inspiring feels that you have with you from an early age.
00:05:13.000So if someone had magically removed my experiences with gaming since I was younger, I would have felt a keen loss.
00:05:24.000So I'm very thankful for having had those encounters with gaming or rather a certain type of been exposed to a sensation rather.
00:05:38.000So that is my own personal perspective. Now, related to this, when I was around 14 years of age, there were a lot of guys, a lot of friends I had who played World of Warcraft.
00:05:51.000I never played it for the reason that I knew I probably would get addicted to it.
00:05:57.000So even at a young age, I'm quite proud of myself in retrospect when I say that I didn't play it for that simple reason because I didn't want to be addicted to play it all the time.
00:06:09.000And I probably would have become addicted because, you know, most guys, they played it, they spent a lot of time in it.
00:06:17.000And you know, when you are younger, you of course have a lot more time. It's worse if you are in your twenties and you skip the gym and stuff because you game.
00:06:28.000But if you have everything in order, it's something different. So anyway, that was just my back story about gaming, my own relationship with gaming.
00:06:37.000Then of course, you have different sort of games as well. If you have a game such as The Witcher 3, you play through it once, maybe wait a few years, play through it again.
00:06:49.000Yeah, that's not a lot of time. However, if you have a game such as Counter-Strike or Call of Duty or Dota 2, where, you know, you have matches that are continuous, there isn't really any end.
00:07:03.000That is, of course, much more dangerous because that's more of a time sink.
00:07:09.000So distinguish between games. We have a start and a finish. Same thing with Total War, you know, you start a campaign, then you finish it.
00:07:19.000Yeah, you might replay a campaign later on as well. But it doesn't take as much time and it isn't as addicting as something like Dota, for example.
00:07:29.000So distinguish between games. Not all games are equal. That's something, an important thing in life to keep in mind.
00:07:40.000So anyway, should you game? Can you incorporate gaming in an otherwise good lifestyle? It depends.
00:07:49.000Do you keep up with training? If you are in school, do you keep up with your schoolwork? If you are already working, are you working?
00:08:00.000Are you keeping up with your duties towards your company, etc? Yeah, good. Are you taking care of family life? Or if you are a younger guy, do you also, you know, try to maybe find a woman?
00:08:13.000Okay, can you combine it? It's good. But if you know yourself that gaming decreases your performance in other areas of life, then it might be a good idea to not game too much.
00:08:30.000Something else that is supremely important. Do not confuse your achievements in game with actual real-world achievements.
00:08:42.000Because they're not. Don't trick your brain into feeling a sense of accomplishment. You can do it, of course, temporarily in the game.
00:08:51.000And I understand, it's one of the charms of gaming that you get that kick of, yeah, you know, you have leveled or something.
00:09:02.000But don't let that reward in your brain substitute the reward of getting your bench press up in the gym or getting done with schoolwork or something like that.
00:09:15.000Now, last point. When you game, when you play Skyrim, do you feel like you're escaping into an alternative reality because you are in a bad position yourself in your own life?
00:09:27.000Or can you draw motivation from the game? That is the most important question. Of course, if you use gaming as motivation, not escapism.
00:09:38.000I've actually made a very old video on this, but it bears repeating because it's extremely important.
00:09:44.000Do you use it as motivation? Do you play Skyrim as a big Nord warrior? Do you want to go to the gym to emulate the aesthetics?
00:09:53.000Do you play the Witcher and see him being jacked? Do you want to emulate his aesthetics, also being jacked, powerful, physically capable?
00:10:02.000That is good. But if you are a weak nerd, a weak skinny fat nerd who, you know, you escape into that reality, you escape into a reality where you are powerful.
00:10:17.000Yeah, that's not good. It's not good in the least. So be mindful. Do you use it as escapism in the sense that you are in a bad position in your own life?
00:10:27.000Then it's not good. But if you're actively trying to emulate the ideals seen in the game, that is very good indeed.
00:10:35.000So anyway, I hope that made sense and was inspiring and informative for you to watch this video.
00:10:45.000So, thank you for watching. XOXO BOOM!