Highsis Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 (edited) I'm being half-serious when I say this: I have obsessive compulsive disorder when playing games; I don't have OCD in real life, but when it comes to gaming, I show symptoms. One of my very early gaming started with JRPGs. Back then, I spoke neither Japanese nor English, but because of cartoonish and pretty looking characters as opposed to text-heavy WRPGs, I fell in love with JRPGs. The problem was, that none of in-game texts were legible to me; so I developed a habit of clicking every single NPC in a village before and after completing each quest to progress the story. As you might guess, this is an extremely time-consuming process(image you go back to the main base of each planet to click every NPC after each side quest!) but it sort of stuck with me as I grew up. I show traits of a perfectionist and OCD in gaming while I'm neither of those in real life. When my character dies in single-play RPGs, I often delete my character and restart because I can't shake off the feeling that my character's narrative has somehow been tainted by cheating death. If I intentionally use an exploit, I always regret it later and delete the character to restart. I talk to every single NPC, try every possible choices, and exhaust every possible dialogue options. I'm not a completionist but I can't miss a thing if it is related to narratives. I was playing Jedi Knight a week ago. By mistake, I chose a conversation option that ended the conversation and the quest prematurely. When I couldn't find an appropriate clip on Youtube, I created a new character, and did a speedrun for 6 hours to reach level 26 in order to hear that single line of dialogue I missed. I'm currently playing a female smuggler, 30 hours logged in, level 49. I just realized I missed a romance with Corso Riggs, and I immediately planned to redo 30 hours of a smuggler run despite watching Corso romance clips on youtube, before I reminded myself(as I always do) how stupid and time-wasting that move would be and wrote this thread for help. I know everyone has their own way of enjoying/playing games; my issue is that I DON'T enjoy this kind of obsessive behavior on my part. I do not even have much time for gaming due to RL concerns. I have to distribute what little time I have, and most of those are spent in endless boredom of redoing everything I've done in order to see one extra dialogue or a few-minute length romance I missed not because seeing those gives me an immense satisfaction but because missing anything gives me anxiety that prevents me from playing on. I know what I have is not real 'OCD', but I will use the term loosely because that's all I could think of to describe my gaming quirks. I am in need of counseling from experienced gaming community. How could I rid myself of this never dying habit? How could I feel comfortable even knowing that I missed a romance while playing? How could I enjoy gaming by not concerning myself with such petty details I missed and wasting so much time in doing things I don't enjoy? Edited November 7, 2014 by Highsis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heezdedjim Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 (edited) This might not help with the specific scene where you said you ended the conversation early, but you could try a couple of things with the cutscenes generally. One is, turn on "subtitles" in the prefs for cutscenes. That will show the full text of what the speaker is saying as soon as they start speaking. It also echoes the text to the chat window. So in case you think you missed something, you can see the chat text, and you will see the subtitle on screen. This also will let you cancel an option that you see is going somewhere you don't want to go, because you always can press Esc and cancel the cutscene at any point before the absolute end, and just restart it. You could also use this as a way to "preview" all the possible outcomes, because you can spacebar through with subtitles on skimming the text, and then just always esc at the end, go back, and try other choices to see if they make any difference. When you find a path you like, then you can watch the scene in full with the voice overs. Not really addressing your symptoms, but it might help you avoid the time sink of extended replays just to re-watch one scene. Edited November 6, 2014 by Heezdedjim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotlu-Hunlon Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Rather than create a whole new character, you could just reset that specific mission and only do that one misson again too see what you missed, though I'm not sure if that fits with your narrative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrionSol Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Stop gaming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTap Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 There appears to be some underlying issues that you should not seek answers to on a video game forum. Perhaps talk to someone you know and trust irl or go seek professional help? Just some suggestions. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levram Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 There appears to be some underlying issues that you should not seek answers to on a video game forum. Perhaps talk to someone you know and trust irl or go seek professional help? Just some suggestions. Good luck! I agree, in all seriousness. An anonymous video game forum is not going to provide you with appropriate answers and help for an issue that results from your personal thoughts and motivations. We can tell you until we're blue in the face that "missing minor items of content does not matter," but we cannot transfer our value systems into your mind. Seeking professional help if this issue is bothering you is an appropriate approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagikFingerz Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I agree, in all seriousness. An anonymous video game forum is not going to provide you with appropriate answers and help for an issue that results from your personal thoughts and motivations. We can tell you until we're blue in the face that "missing minor items of content does not matter," but we cannot transfer our value systems into your mind. Seeking professional help if this issue is bothering you is an appropriate approach. I'll also add that thinking about it as "seeking help" or "going to a shrink" probably isn't the best phrases to use. Seeing a therapist/being in therapy sounds much better, and is something that's becoming more and more common to do regardless of having specific issues or not. In fact, I personally wish I could afford to see a professional on a regular basis, because we really don't learn as much about our own psyche as we should. Food for thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTap Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I'll also add that thinking about it as "seeking help" or "going to a shrink" probably isn't the best phrases to use. Seeing a therapist/being in therapy sounds much better, and is something that's becoming more and more common to do regardless of having specific issues or not. In fact, I personally wish I could afford to see a professional on a regular basis, because we really don't learn as much about our own psyche as we should. Food for thought. Nothing wrong with admitting you have a problem and asking for help. I don't see any difference between 'seeking help' and 'seeing a therapist' tbh. Both require you to admit you have a problem that you cannot seem to solve yourself (which the OP has done). I agree with the rest of it though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagikFingerz Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Nothing wrong with admitting you have a problem and asking for help. I don't see any difference between 'seeking help' and 'seeing a therapist' tbh. Both require you to admit you have a problem that you cannot seem to solve yourself (which the OP has done). I agree with the rest of it though You're right, of course. Nothing wrong with it, but it depends on the person. Some don't like to think of it that way, and sometimes whatever it is might not be as big of a deal as you first thought. And you can totally see a therapist without having a specific problem, it's just someone to talk to who can help put things in perspective and work through various thoughts and feelings. Although you could also argue that we all have issues, most of them just aren't as prominent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clearsighted Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I'm currently playing a female smuggler, 30 hours logged in, level 49. I just realized I missed a romance with Corso Riggs, and I immediately planned to redo 30 hours of a smuggler run despite watching Corso romance clips on youtube, before I reminded myself(as I always do) how stupid and time-wasting that move would be and wrote this thread for help. Of ALL the things to miss, how in God's name did you miss the Coros Riggs romance? The game pushes it so hard that it's practically mandatory. You would've had to repeatedly shoot him down to avoid it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highsis Posted November 7, 2014 Author Share Posted November 7, 2014 (edited) I'm not really sure if any psychotherapist really deals with 'in-game specific OCD' I appreciate the advice though. Of ALL the things to miss, how in God's name did you miss the Coros Riggs romance? The game pushes it so hard that it's practically mandatory. You would've had to repeatedly shoot him down to avoid it. In his drunk talk, I cracked a joke instead of choosing a flirt option. That ended the romance without me even noticing. I tend not meta-game in choosing dialogues, and see where that landed me. Edited November 7, 2014 by Highsis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Beers Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 You came to the absolute worst place for advice. Unless #nextleveltrollstrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinop Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 If you can't control it no-one here can help you living with OCD is all about self discipline and retraining your mind to accept alternatives to your minds desired behavioural responses. If you only suffer from it in games consider yourself lucky and either deal with it or accept it, there's no magic wand that can be waved to fix it, professional help can be beneficial but at the end of day it comes down to simple self discipline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malorey Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I think I have it a bit too when it comes to gathering....I just can't stop and will totally forget what I was doing and end up for hours just going node to node. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagikFingerz Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I'm not really sure if any psychotherapist really deals with 'in-game specific OCD' I appreciate the advice though. Just because it only manifests itself in one place, doesn't mean it can't be treated like any other OCD. You don't have anything to lose, best case scenario if this is completely separate from "regular" OCD is that the psychotherapist will learn something new and work really hard to figure out how it works (if he/she is a good one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabelHarn Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Just because it only manifests itself in one place, doesn't mean it can't be treated like any other OCD. You don't have anything to lose, best case scenario if this is completely separate from "regular" OCD is that the psychotherapist will learn something new and work really hard to figure out how it works (if he/she is a good one). I agree w/ this gent. But until you decide if you will take the advice and see someone, may I offer this suggestion to see if you can alter your behavior to an acceptable alternative that meets your OCD needs, but reduces the immediate impact. Would it help to convince yourself a healthier alternative is to use missing an option as an excuse to, after the current character, or sometime in the future, level the same class again so you can see the option you missed? That is what a lot of us do, we level one class to see DS, LS, male, female, then other convo variations. Or will your OCD in the situation not accept that as an alternative? You would still get to see the options, it just might be delayed a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JouerTue Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 go play dayz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orizuru Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 The answer is quite simple. Cut off both of your thumbs, throw away the keyboard, and only play games with a gamepad. Problem solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joesixxpack Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 (edited) OP, I'm not a psychologist but I do play one on the internet. My colleague here has given you the best advice thus far: go play dayz Edited November 7, 2014 by Joesixxpack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heezdedjim Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 (edited) . . . . . Edited November 7, 2014 by Heezdedjim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillionsKNives Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 In my professional opinion, I would suggest not doing that anymore. Just stop, and all will be better. Of course my profession has nothing to do with psychology, but don't let that taint my sage advice. Well no, that's just good advice, my sage advice is to revivication all the things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cernow Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 IIn his drunk talk, I cracked a joke instead of choosing a flirt option. That ended the romance without me even noticing. I tend not meta-game in choosing dialogues, and see where that landed me. Well this happens in RL too. But in RL we don't get to reroll and try a different dialogue option, you just have to cope with getting something wrong, adapt and learn. If you get a second chance, seize it. But if not, heal and move on. TOR companion romances are pretty basic things, with a limited set of triggers and choices. Second chances seem to be scripted out of many of the companion romances. If you don't choose the right options at the right times, in many cases you won't get another shot. So, either learn to accept whatever happens or research the romances online in advance so you don't make any wrong turns (if it bugs you). But even if you do make a wrong choice, try to accept it. Time heals and this is just as true with bad gaming decisions as it is with bad RL decisions. I'll give a small example based on what happened to my Shadow and Nadia. Hopefully this will help: My Shadow followed all the flirt options with Nadia and was poised to get married. But my character didn't ask her to marry him when the conversation seemed to be heading that way. I thought I'd make him play a little hard to get, which rather backfired as the marriage option was never offered again, despite the romance still going strong. Kind of ironic to only get the one chance given how Nadia literally throws herself at you. But nevermind, that's how it's scripted. This bugged me for a few days and I didn't feel motivated to play the Shadow. So I played other characters. The irritation steadily faded and the issue took on less importance. After all, it's just a rather poorly scripted virtual romance with a limited range of options. No-one got hurt, it's just a game etc. If I needed to rationalize it in a RP sense, then I had several options - jedi code, my character is DS, there's an age gap etc etc. But the reality is, it's just poor storytelling. To drive this point home, Nadia still sends emails to my character as if she was married to him, even referring to their marriage despite the fact it didn't happen. So if the devs can't even be bothered to be consistent, why should I be bothered to have this failed virtual romance eat up any more of my time. No way would I reroll just to see if I could click the right option at the right time, just to get the same few emails at the end. It's not like you miss out on a marriage cutscene or anything, it's just a few measly emails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foambreaker Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Online Gamers Anonymous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highsis Posted November 7, 2014 Author Share Posted November 7, 2014 (edited) Thanks, almost everyone who tried to help! I will try to restrain it myself and if it doesn't help, I will seek a psychotherapist. I'm indeed lucky that I don't have OCD or perfectionism in real life and this is only diminishing my fun while playing games. Edited November 7, 2014 by Highsis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUXs Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 How could I rid myself of this never dying habit? How could I feel comfortable even knowing that I missed a romance while playing? How could I enjoy gaming by not concerning myself with such petty details I missed and wasting so much time in doing things I don't enjoy? You don't. You simply need to realize that there is no "exact path" in this game. What you select isn't right/wrong and no matter what choice you make, there will have been another you could have made. I hate to say this, but...treat the game more like you do real life - there's always something else you could have said and not every situation will work out the way you wanted it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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