B
BlessedMamaKate
Guest
Good afternoon,
I am a long time lurker of this website and wanted to share an experience with online gaming (more commonly called MMORPGs) that negatively impacted my relationship with my Lord, my loving husband, and my sweet toddler.
Disclaimer: I don’t think MMORPGs are bad. I don’t think a video game made me/caused me to sin. I do think that some folk can have an unhealthy relationship with online gaming.
At the risk of not taking up too much webspace (and who likes to read long walls of text anyway?) please proceed to the next paragraph if you’re at all familiar with online role playing video games (aka MMORPGS). MMORPGs are video games that take place in real time with real players from all over the world. There’s an in game currency, often in game player housing, and lots to do in these virtual worlds. You need to interact with other people who are also playing the video game at their own PCs. When I say you need to interact with people, I mean just that. The game’s world (often set in a Tolkien-esq) fantasy or science fiction place requires you group with other people to defeat quests, slay monsters, and continue the repetitive grind of leveling up to get the next best reward. You often get to know a small group of people with similar interests to yours and form a clan or a guild where you communicate with these people in the game’s chat system and/or a voice communication chat such as Skype, Teamspeak, Ventrillo. There’s no pause button in MMORPGs and the game has no ending. There’s always another expansion coming out or a new race/class to level up. It’s a perilous trap for anyone with the slightest addictive personality.
Other than the obvious time-sink that I allowed myself to become swallowed up into, I also began to cultivate sinful online relationships with other players in the virtual world. Many inappropriate words (sexual in nature) were exchanged over the game’s chat system. The game became for me a serious vice. I also think that this unhealthy relationship (a compulsion to play) with the video game made it difficult for me to break off communication with the men I’d met while playing.
Understandably, my behavior and actions in the video game upset my husband greatly. We have spoken about what happened on many occasions and are slowly but surely beginning to heal. Believe me I know how lucky and blessed I am to have such a Godly man in my life. Prayer has been a constant comfort, as has therapy (both of us) and deleting any video games from my hard drive. But prayer has also shown me that I needed some Biblical lessons on sexuality, masturbation, and desire. This website, in addition to the CCC and the Holy Bible, has been of monumental help. I am preparing to go to Confession before the end of the year to confess the sins. I am unsure if I will be able to get it all out (due to the embarrassment of it all) in one confession sitting. It took me almost 3 sessions with my therapist to do so. Anyway, that is another issue.
I am writing about this because online games (MMORPGs) may seem harmless - and for most people they are!! But they became for me a strong addiction and an idol. While not as obvious or apparent as logging into webcam/cybersex/chatrooms, I used the front of online role playing games to engaged in sins that would rival what you can witness in the aformentioned places.
God bless to all members and families here at this wonderful site.
Jesus, I trust in you!
I am a long time lurker of this website and wanted to share an experience with online gaming (more commonly called MMORPGs) that negatively impacted my relationship with my Lord, my loving husband, and my sweet toddler.
Disclaimer: I don’t think MMORPGs are bad. I don’t think a video game made me/caused me to sin. I do think that some folk can have an unhealthy relationship with online gaming.
At the risk of not taking up too much webspace (and who likes to read long walls of text anyway?) please proceed to the next paragraph if you’re at all familiar with online role playing video games (aka MMORPGS). MMORPGs are video games that take place in real time with real players from all over the world. There’s an in game currency, often in game player housing, and lots to do in these virtual worlds. You need to interact with other people who are also playing the video game at their own PCs. When I say you need to interact with people, I mean just that. The game’s world (often set in a Tolkien-esq) fantasy or science fiction place requires you group with other people to defeat quests, slay monsters, and continue the repetitive grind of leveling up to get the next best reward. You often get to know a small group of people with similar interests to yours and form a clan or a guild where you communicate with these people in the game’s chat system and/or a voice communication chat such as Skype, Teamspeak, Ventrillo. There’s no pause button in MMORPGs and the game has no ending. There’s always another expansion coming out or a new race/class to level up. It’s a perilous trap for anyone with the slightest addictive personality.
Other than the obvious time-sink that I allowed myself to become swallowed up into, I also began to cultivate sinful online relationships with other players in the virtual world. Many inappropriate words (sexual in nature) were exchanged over the game’s chat system. The game became for me a serious vice. I also think that this unhealthy relationship (a compulsion to play) with the video game made it difficult for me to break off communication with the men I’d met while playing.
Understandably, my behavior and actions in the video game upset my husband greatly. We have spoken about what happened on many occasions and are slowly but surely beginning to heal. Believe me I know how lucky and blessed I am to have such a Godly man in my life. Prayer has been a constant comfort, as has therapy (both of us) and deleting any video games from my hard drive. But prayer has also shown me that I needed some Biblical lessons on sexuality, masturbation, and desire. This website, in addition to the CCC and the Holy Bible, has been of monumental help. I am preparing to go to Confession before the end of the year to confess the sins. I am unsure if I will be able to get it all out (due to the embarrassment of it all) in one confession sitting. It took me almost 3 sessions with my therapist to do so. Anyway, that is another issue.
I am writing about this because online games (MMORPGs) may seem harmless - and for most people they are!! But they became for me a strong addiction and an idol. While not as obvious or apparent as logging into webcam/cybersex/chatrooms, I used the front of online role playing games to engaged in sins that would rival what you can witness in the aformentioned places.
God bless to all members and families here at this wonderful site.
Jesus, I trust in you!