Computer Games Can Rob Your Life

Over the last year, I’ve found myself sitting at my iPad playing a silly cooking computer game. I must say please join computer games with caution.  Don’t get into a trap of letting them control your life.   I think that because it involved cooking I might have fun at it.  I did.  However, I would find myself ignoring my work… I work from home.   I ignored many of my favorite things, photography, writing, cooking and my relationship with my husband.  I had to make sure that everywhere I went had wi-fi.  Not so I could do my work, but so I could play the damn game.

The game I started is called Star Chef.  It really is a well-programmed game and I’m sure many people can play it without obsession.  I do have to say that I have a great deal of respect for the developers and the quality in which they present the game.  That may be part of why I fell in love with it and played way too often.  Maybe that is a sideways compliment.  The game has continued to grow in features that keep you intrigued.

In the early days,  I remember one night that I took my iPad with me to a social event only so I could play the game.  It was a very big purse.  My husband wanted us to get out a make friends and do more fun things.  I couldn’t leave the game home and alone.  There were certain goals with the game and I felt that I HAD to achieve them.  I took my iPad with me and hid away to play several times that night.  Was this a part of obsessive-compulsive?  I don’t know but I didn’t like the person I was becoming.

Gradually after a year, I was able to get back on track with my life and am so thankful it doesn’t control my life anymore.  I’ve weaned myself off so that I don’t play it non-stop.  Part of the game is to friend other players who will help you.   I do go into the game once a night now to give out give out gifts.  If I can’t play each night it no longer bothers me.   I no longer feel that I have to get up in the middle of the night to cook more goodies so I can reach the next level or fill my catering truck  I no longer care if I jump to the next level.

Today, all I do is go in and send out a few perks to those who chef-friended me and then close down the game.  It gives me a pleasure to do this…. which is still probably obsessive compulsive.  Will I ever quit playing?  Who knows?

As a credit to Star Chef… it is a fantastic game.  Not everyone becomes obsessed.  Just like not everyone is an addicted gambler or drinker.  Have fun but recognize if you’re going overboard.