Has Video Games, Like GW2, Help You Overcome Anything?

[Jordan Stone.6395]

Sorry to hear about your recent events, I hope things get better for you! Warning to those with sensitivity to blood and injuries I probably wouldn't read past this sentence.  I have the same feeling with GW2, couple years back I was in a worksite accident and almost lost my three fingers on my left hand. They had to completely restructure my 3 fingers, and I spent 2 weeks in the hospital believe it or not getting leeches attached to my fingers to help promote the arteries that had to be repaired and due to the fact that my veins hadn't reconstructed themselves yet it gave the blood somewhere to go. (Believe me when they brought out leeches out I really thought this is the most medival treatment ever) I've had another 2 surgeries on that same hand since, and the rehabilitation is unlike anything else I've experienced before. I had to retrain my hand completely being unable to even move any of those fingers at the beginning. Things kept going downhill at that point, my work turned their back on me simply for following the orders of the doctor and the injuried workers board were paying me 50% of my wage from before due to a bunch of loop holes. I could go on for awhile, and things have been resolved after going through years of legal action with them but the bottom line is I couldn't really do much at first with my hand and I didn't know how much function I was going to get back. As my hand got better in the beginning I heard about EOD announcement, and having played GW2 on and off throughout the years I decided to play again. Playing the game let me retreat from all the horrible things going on at the time and just let me get immersed into a world where none of things going on mattered, and it actually sped up my recovery & gave me a far better outcome on my hand due to the fact that for hours I was doing range of motion exercises by simply playing the game. Also gave me a sense of a caring community when I felt like a good majority of the world was pretty negative at the time. I hope things get better for you all, cheers!

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

yep, the first MMO and then GW1 did 🙂

[Zephyr.5382]

Definitely. That's why RPGs (even under the loosest definition of the term) resonate with me so much; I can pretend that I'm living a life other than this less-than-stellar one. In my experience, of course.

My favorite so far is Mass Effect (series)...aside from the whole "threat to the galaxy" thing. 😅 I felt like I really was Shepard, though, because I spent more time than I'm willing to admit at character creation, managed to create a spitting image of myself, and got totally immersed in the universe that BioWare created. I instantly forgot all of life's problems while playing it.

I had a similar experience with Final Fantasy VII. Yes, another game with some kind of impending doom. 😅 Maybe I need some psychoanalysis. Anyway, I couldn't exactly relate to Cloud's personality, and my immersion suffered as a result. But I still felt like I was experiencing his life. I think I also tolerated it because I was just a teen at the time. I realize that I'm aging myself here....

Edited December 13, 2022 by Zephyr.5382
Stupid spacing

[Ashen.2907]

I cannot say that a computer game has helped me overcome something specific but blowing off some steam in WvW after a particularly frustrating day at work can be nice. Also, having something to distract me when my PTSD derived insomnia kicks in particularly bad can help me to get at least a little sleep.