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Getting Off NetHack?
thetan asks: "Like a lot of Slashdot readers, I've played a little NetHack as a teenager. Alright, quite a lot - but it was no big deal and I just sort of grew out of it. Now I'm not proud of this, but I got my gf hooked and she's been using daily for a few years now. After she tired of the game, I tried sating the monkey on her back with new fixes like Angband and ADOM. Now, I no longer want be a party to her addiction and self-destruction. She acknowledges the problem but is not yet ready to take that first step. What can I do to help ween her off? Could interactive fiction act as a methadone - or does it result in just as much harm? What other strategies have users employed to get clean? Does anyone know of NetHack addiction support groups or a 12-step? I'm desperate to get her back!"
To heck with getting her back: introduce her to the world of MMORPGs or even MUDs, if the command line is her thing. Or try the Champions of Norrath/Baldurs Gate multiplayer slashemups for the consoles. Find a Diablo collector's chest for the PC. My wife and I had a lot of fun in all of the above, before she went back to finish her PhD (she is now restricted to 15 minute doses of Nintendogs for her gaming fix during the week and we get in some Champions of Norrath: Return to Arms on weekends along with my son.
Trying to reject the fantasy adventure bug is just silly... use it as a point of common interest. If you insist on allowing her to continue adventuring alone, my wife loves the Heros of Might and Magic/Age of Magic type games on her laptop when traveling. I think you would be ill advised to get between your girlfriend and her enjoyment though. It will be far *more* damaging to *your* enjoyment than just going with the flow.
Sig under construction since 1998.
You must kill her.
Get a dog. Name him 'little-d'.
Dress yourself up as a giant '@' sign.
Approach your girlfriend and let the fun begin.
If she jumps your bones, all is well.
If she attacks you, don't worry, the dog will jump in and protect you.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
The fact that you've found a girl who doesn't get that weird look in her eye when you tell her your playing Nethack is not something to be overlooked. An above poster is on the right track: Don't try to fight it, build on it. Get her into MUDs, maybe buy her Neverwinter Nights and find a few persistent world servers she can try out, introduce her to MMORPGs if she's doing well on lighter stuff.
See, by trying to break her of video games, you're basically trying to create a typical girlfriend. If you succeed, it'll only be a matter of time before she starts complaining that you spend more time raiding with your guild than you do taking her out, or that you should find a more grown-up hobby than games. Before you know it, you'll be married and your video games will be up in a garage sale like so many gamers before you.
As a former treatment professional, this is the first response I saw that made sense in terms of how addiction works.
People who are addicted to anything may have a chemical imbalance, but if they're addicted to something like this, it is likely she is using it as a crutch instead of dealing with other problems. Her life may be unfulfilling or she may just not deal well with reality. If this is a true addiction, and you aren't just using hyperbole, then she likely needs professional help. HOWEVER, she has to make the decision that she has a problem and seek help. If she is just doing it because you push her into it, she is doing it for you and not for herself, and a relapse would be easy.
Remember that now it is a problem for you, but not for her. It makes her happy and causes no problems for her, that she can see. You can't change another person. You can only hope they see they have a problem and seek help. If she never realizes she has a problem, then you won't be able to do anything effective and it may be time to move on.
EverQuest Widows Discussion Board
On-Line Gamers Anonymous
Best of luck.
No? Then no problem, your a geek and weren't going to get any anyway.
But if your desperate I suggest sneaking up on her when she is asleep and tying her to the bed and giving her more sex then a woman can handle. Let all the frustation of you years of being a geek virgin out and rock her boat.
Either it will give her a new appreciation of dating a geek (unlikely but you never know) or it will get you arrested and thrown in jail. Wich is still good since you at least lost your cherry and will soon loose another as you meet your new cell mate.
Anyone else thinks the chances of the original question being real are less then zero? Any real geek with a nethack addicted girlfriend would be to busy thanking god on his knees to post on /.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You are right to be fairly concerned about this. I had a serious addiction to MMO's (1 year logged online in 3 years real time) and the only real way to quit as far as I can tell is to go cold turkey. Every person I know that shifted to a "toned down" game ended up coming back to the original game or finding a new game to fully dedicate themselves to. For me, I sold my character and took the money I made to go live in Italy for a year with my gf (now wife). I put myself in a situation where the only interaction I had with the computer was checking my email at the internet cafe and it helped break my cycle of addiction.
When I got back to the states and felt the urge to play I just turned that energy into something that was more productive/social (I went to grad school, started playing basketball at the local gym, etc...). I don't really have a suggestion about how you should go about doing it because I don't know your friend, but the key is finding a variety of replacement activities (not just one as that will probably become another addiction if that is the only focus).
1) She has to recognize that she has a problem.
2) She has to realize, that her willpower alone isn't enough to overcome the problem.
3) She has to recognize that only Yendor has the power to solve her problem.
4-12) Play more Nethack.
Well, hack up the sources for your local copy of Nethack to make it much much harder.
"There is another theory, which states that this has already happened..."
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
Leisure Suit Larry
But you have to act it out with her. She gets her fix, you get yours.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B