Motives of the shmup lifestyle

xaer0knight · Post by **xaer0knight** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:55 pm

i was told that i suffer from ADHD... or depression. But i like my games hard and lots of things on the screen

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:55 pm

SteevTee wrote:Labeling them as disorders makes people think there is something wrong with them.

Or that they are special. People like to collect personality badges, even (or especially) if they are alleged psychiatric disorders.

With that said, I have APD!

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:07 pm

okay, I´ve thought about the phenomenon of attention deficit a little bit in the meantime. The funny part, I think, is that it´s actually called "disorder" suggesting that it´s somehow abnormal when in fact a trend towards shortened attention span can be observed over decades already.
As such, as a trend, I think it can be harmful in some ways, because... we live in a world getting more complex day by day, but attention deficit means people fail to grasp the complexity. For example, technology is something that can be used without understanding it, but the loss of consciousness on what we do when using technology is something that makes us dependent on it.
From an existential perspective, attention deficit makes a lot of sense, because it adopts to growing complexity by increasing selective perception. The underlying mistake, however, is the idea of being able to perceive everything of importance at all. Spending a serious amount of time on any activity is evaded due to fear of missing something else, but the truth is we´re ALWAYS missing out on lots of things happening at lots of places, we just can´t help it.

A valid point in many cases, but then there are the grown men who need to have every hair on the end of the rug straight...that's just sick.

as long as they don´t impose their views on other people, I don´t see the problem. Isn´t that the definition of sickness? That someone suffers?

Eps · Post by **Eps** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:30 pm

I must agree regarding the often-deserved cynicism towards ADHD and ADD -- I was going to post something yesterday but thought I'd just get flamed for being a big ol' meanie

However I should say that OCD is a long-established and well-recognised psychological disorder -- if you're not familiar with the term, it's the name for what's wrong with those guys who get panic attacks unless they do things like walk around a room 20 times in a circle when they enter or wash their hands 100 times a day,

To get back on-topic: I find that the main effect that shoot-'em-ups have had on my gaming life is my obsession with 1CCing things, even in games that were blatantly designed to be credit-fed.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:45 pm

All this reminds me of one of my old history tutor's tirades. He would often spend half a lesson shouting emphatically about an unrelated subject, and in one of his more amusing discourses he said:

"When I was at school, if you couldn't spell, you didn't have dyslexia. If you couldn't concentrate, you didn't have ADD - you were just a dozy bastard."

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:57 pm

Bal-Sagoth wrote:All this reminds me of one of my old history tutor's tirades. He would often spend half a lesson shouting emphatically about an unrelated subject, and in one of his more amusing discourses he said:

"When I was at school, if you couldn't spell, you didn't have dyslexia. If you couldn't concentrate, you didn't have ADD - you were just a dozy bastard."

That,s scary poor kid,s.

I,ve had anger problem,s my whole life but I,ve never had learning problems I,m good at focusing on my work and solving problem,s and most of my peers say I,m smart but still my anger will often get in the way of my better judgement. I also get depressed but I feel happier when I,m mad in a weird way.

Game,s cheer me up cause they let me focus on something out of my real life so I forget about how angry thing,s in real life make me when I get pissed when I can,t beat a shmup.

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:31 pm

You also have a keyboard problem.

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:37 pm

Neon wrote:The Commies already did that with Flouride in the 50's...

Curse them and their desire to make my teeth last longer than they should have!

Anyways, the most ironic thing about shmups is that it taught me patience. I never seem to have any disorders from playing them anymore; they're the genre that's the most easy for me to stop playing it and do something else should the need arise.