Am I too obsessed?

[Witchy1]

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I am spending time with my family, I just feel irritable being away from the computer and I know I should be enjoying this time. I’m trying to remind myself I’m playing for a fictional land in a fictional tournament but it’s hard because I have Altador cup dreams in my sleep too so it’s in my subconscious. I’ve been loyal to team MD for over a decade and the results this year is really exciting for me.

I’m a real person and not a troll. I definitely missed out on some experiences as a teen like having a social life because I was too addicted to neopets then. I try to take that as a lesson. Sometimes I’m better about prioritizing real life now, sometimes I’m not.

I told myself I would stop when I reached all-star, but then Meridell did surprisingly much better than I thought and I keep playing to try and keep my team at the top.

ok, I have a slightly different outlook on this than the others here. As a fellow AS rank, I achieved it legitimately as well, because like you, my account is too valuable to risk. Anyway, my team is also doing very well and I felt, as others here have said, I achieved WAY more than others on my team, I know that because I have spoken with them, so I deserved a bit of a break. I also told myself that once I reached AS, I would slow down and relax. The problem was, when I slowed down a bit, so did my team's stats. Now, I am not so egocentric as to believe that I was carrying my team, however, I started to feel guilty that I slowed down. The odd thing is, because I did feel guilty, I started playing hard again and my team did well again. So, IDK, but I DO KNOW how you are feeling. It feels like a big weight on your shoulders to help keep your team up there. That being said, you do have a right and a responsibility to spend some time with your family, and enjoy yourself. While I do understand your obsessive thoughts about getting onto the computer, the dreams seem a bit odd to me. As obsessed as I am, even I don't dream about it. lol. Sundays are Bye days, take advantage of them. Also, if you do play on the days you are on vacation, just play less. Maybe you just don't max out the games. Maybe you do 100 games of SoSD/MSN 10-15 games of YYB, and 10 games of SLSL. That way, you are at least contributing to your team but not completely overdoing it and ignoring your family. Good luck.

[Sephora]

ok, I have a slightly different outlook on this than the others here. As a fellow AS rank, I achieved it legitimately as well, because like you, my account is too valuable to risk. Anyway, my team is also doing very well and I felt, as others here have said, I achieved WAY more than others on my team, I know that because I have spoken with them, so I deserved a bit of a break. I also told myself that once I reached AS, I would slow down and relax. The problem was, when I slowed down a bit, so did my team's stats. Now, I am not so egocentric as to believe that I was carrying my team, however, I started to feel guilty that I slowed down. The odd thing is, because I did feel guilty, I started playing hard again and my team did well again. So, IDK, but I DO KNOW how you are feeling. It feels like a big weight on your shoulders to help keep your team up there. That being said, you do have a right and a responsibility to spend some time with your family, and enjoy yourself. While I do understand your obsessive thoughts about getting onto the computer, the dreams seem a bit odd to me. As obsessed as I am, even I don't dream about it. lol. Sundays are Bye days, take advantage of them. Also, if you do play on the days you are on vacation, just play less. Maybe you just don't max out the games. Maybe you do 100 games of SoSD/MSN 10-15 games of YYB, and 10 games of SLSL. That way, you are at least contributing to your team but not completely overdoing it and ignoring your family. Good luck.

Thanks for your reply, I’m glad someone else understands! Because my family has activities planned each day, I’ve had to lessen my playing to only one max or less than that. A lot of the stuff my family wants to do is stuff I’m not interested in, so that’s also why I’d rather be at a computer. After Monday and Tuesday, my team was playing easier to beat teams so I’ve been playing significantly less for the rest of the week. I’m going to figure out how i’ll play for the finals round when we get there. I also felt a little angry that teammates were not trying as hard because MD is one of the bigger teams with at least 100 all stars and we have SOTAC this year. Good luck to your team as well! I’m going to guess your team is one of the smaller ones, and not Krawk Island. I hope your team does well and you don’t have to wear yourself or too much during finals round.

[Mindfang]

it sounds like you have an internet addiction in general. i'd try to wean yourself off of it even without the incentive of family vacations/visits. it's unhealthy to spend a lot of time online if you have opportunities to socialise irl -- especially if you experience mood changes when you feel youre "forced" away from neopets.

[XER0]

You might feel like you might not enjoy those activities now or value the time with your family as much, but someday you might really regret not taking advantage of it more and letting go of the internet for a while.

If you go into things with the mindset that you aren't interested in them or are going to be bored then thats exactly what you're going to get, as mundane as those things might seem your mindset has a lot to do with your ability to enjoy them.

[nousha]

Have you thought of creating a shell (for next year, obviously, it's too late now), put it on a proxy during the AC, sing it up for your favourite team and run the bot on this account so you can support your team, not risk your main and still enjoy life?

[Sephora]

it sounds like you have an internet addiction in general. i'd try to wean yourself off of it even without the incentive of family vacations/visits. it's unhealthy to spend a lot of time online if you have opportunities to socialise irl -- especially if you experience mood changes when you feel youre "forced" away from neopets.

Hmm, you don't know me in real life so "internet addiction" is a bit of an extreme claim. Even though I did prefer gaming over socializing, I consider myself to be exceptional in academics and athletics. I've always been very driven to achieve good grades and competition scores the same way I'm driven to achieve avatars and game trophies on neopets. There's some ambition that I put into everything I do.

---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 AM ----------

You might feel like you might not enjoy those activities now or value the time with your family as much, but someday you might really regret not taking advantage of it more and letting go of the internet for a while.

If you go into things with the mindset that you aren't interested in them or are going to be bored then thats exactly what you're going to get, as mundane as those things might seem your mindset has a lot to do with your ability to enjoy them.

To clarify, we're in a country where the standard of living is lower than what it is normal in the US and I hate being uncomfortable and staying in shady hotels. This actually came as a surprise to me. It's just nerve wracking for me to see the daily Altador Cup scores to come out and wishing I could have done more to help my team when it's a loss.

Have you thought of creating a shell (for next year, obviously, it's too late now), put it on a proxy during the AC, sing it up for your favourite team and run the bot on this account so you can support your team, not risk your main and still enjoy life?

I definitely considered it and I still am. I would still play on my main legitly for at least a little since I have AC stats every year for over 10 years. The other thing is, there's a community of Meridell Knights and I have some rep within it on my main.

[Witchy1]

Thanks for your reply, I’m glad someone else understands! Because my family has activities planned each day, I’ve had to lessen my playing to only one max or less than that. A lot of the stuff my family wants to do is stuff I’m not interested in, so that’s also why I’d rather be at a computer. After Monday and Tuesday, my team was playing easier to beat teams so I’ve been playing significantly less for the rest of the week. I’m going to figure out how i’ll play for the finals round when we get there. I also felt a little angry that teammates were not trying as hard because MD is one of the bigger teams with at least 100 all stars and we have SOTAC this year. Good luck to your team as well! I’m going to guess your team is one of the smaller ones, and not Krawk Island. I hope your team does well and you don’t have to wear yourself or too much during finals round.

You're welcome. No, I'm not on Krawk Island, I am on Terror Mountain. That's whatever though, lol. As far as the deal with being on the computer, I am not getting the impression that you have an "addiction". I think you are more like me, although I too don't know you, you seem like a highly driven, perfectionistic, type person. Like you, I am very smart, get good grades, and whatever I do, I do to the best of my ability. It seems to me that maybe this family vacation, especially at this time, wasn't YOUR choice. There are times when my family or my husband wants to do things, which I don't mind, but I also have things I want to do too. And the thing is, he would rather do them on Saturday so he can have Sunday to do what HE wants to do. Well, since Sunday is always a Bye day (which I don't agree with) why can't we do things on Sunday. Then he can do HIS things on Saturday, I can do my AC on Saturday and we are both happy? I don't see a problem with that. Just because you and I enjoy our internet activities, doesn't mean we are addicted to them. I don't get the feeling that you are ALWAYS like this. I understood it as, because of the AC going on right now, you are spending more time. If your family vacation had been scheduled two weeks from now, you wouldn't be as conflicted. It's also a lot different when you are playing legit. That's why I like nousha's idea. You can play legit on your main account to reach AS, and bot on your shell for your team's stats. I like it.

[Dragonite]

I feel like as long as you aren't on Neo 24/7 like this all year round, you should be fine.
The AC is one month a year - wanting to max like this should be pretty normal haha

[Mindfang]

Hmm, you don't know me in real life so "internet addiction" is a bit of an extreme claim. Even though I did prefer gaming over socializing, I consider myself to be exceptional in academics and athletics. I've always been very driven to achieve good grades and competition scores the same way I'm driven to achieve avatars and game trophies on neopets. There's some ambition that I put into everything I do.

i dont have to know u irl when you laid out the basic symptoms of internet addiction in your very first post