Gaming at college

[Santoro]

I graduated in 1988.  Back then I had an Atari computer that played a few games.  I wasted more time playing Fort Apocalypse than I would like to admit.  

Anyway I was just curious - with Gamecubes,PS2's, Mame cabs/panels, PC games, Kazaa, cellphones, how the hell do college students today get any work done at all?

Any students care to chime in?

[DarkKobold]

Short Answer: We don't

I still like my mame machine more than a lot of that other crap. I have an X-Box, and the mame machine provides more excitement than a ton of games on that.

[TalkingOctopus]

It is not that bad really.  I never study in my room.  I always go to the library where there are no distractions.  Also, I really have not been addicted to a game for a really long time.  All of the games from the past 5 years or so more or less feel the same to me.  There have been a lot of good games released but I just don' enjoy them as much as I used to.  I don't know why either.

[SirPoonga]

heh, when I was in college we spent alot of time on my genesis and my neighbor's n64.  Hmmm, dorm life.  Then there's the LAN.  Spent alot of time playing warcraft2 and quake.

[nipsmg]

talkingOctopus:

I'm glad someone has a healthy attitude towards school.

I PERSONALLY had a roomate who played a certain online game for 48 hours straight, would sleep for 10 hours, get up, play more.  He almost never went to class, and failed out.

I see that as a pretty major trend lately... and it's rediculous.  Lots of kids go to school, get preoccupied with games/internet/free t1/t3 whatever and never spend any time on school... which arguably can be the 4 most important (AND most fun, if you play it right) years of your life.  Also, you're missing out on building social skills..


And I really have a hard time understanding this preoccupation with quake and the infinite number of clones. "OOH I've been playing quake for 2 years.. lets get quake 2!! It's the same game, with better graphics.. Ohh quake 3, better graphics engine.. hmm to play it, I'll have to buy $5,000 worth of computer equipment to have a barely powerful enough processor and graphics card, but lets do it and play the same regurgitated garbage with a better engine YAY!!!!!

*end rant*

*waits for quake fan backlash*
 

--NipsMG

[Santoro]

I see that as a pretty major trend lately... and it's rediculous.  Lots of kids go to school, get preoccupied with games/internet/free t1/t3 whatever and never spend any time on school... which arguably can be the 4 most important (AND most fun, if you play it right) years of your life.  Also, you're missing out on building social skills..

This is sort of what I was getting at. Unless you are really disciplined, it must be pretty easy to fall in to that trap!

BTW I have been playing Lan games since Doom 1.  I agree that they have all been very similar.  Unreal Tournament 2004, however, significantly improves the experience with vehicles and a wide variety of different game types out of the box.  Worth trying if it doesn't interfere with your studies!

[nipsmg]

I agree there are some games that have made it a bit more interesting.

I played halo a while back and liked the large multiplayer areas because there are vehicles you can get in and use cooperatively to take the other team down.. which is very very fun.... but for the most part, ALL of those games are the same re-hashed game with better graphics/lighting/etc..

[SkateDetroit]

     I'm not a big fan of UT. I guess when it comes to Quake and it's 'clones' there really are differences depending on personal opinion and preference. I prefer Half Life and TFC but not a big fan of Counter Strike, etc...

     As far as school work goes, try to get as much done in class while ignoring the professor Or that is, listen intently to the professors every word so you can pass the exam easily.

[colopioneers]

Man, I must have missed out on all the fun multi-player stuff.

I was distracted in college, but by women and beer!

Well, mostly beer....

[Nailz]

It was tough, I graduated college in 97', so I was addicted to Doom and Quake and played it as much as entirely possible.  Between that and drinking lots of beer and chasing women as much as possible it was a tough    ride.

Although I did combine Doom with Beer drinking whenever possible to save time, but I was never able to get women involved with that as well dam mit.

At any rate, my secret was basically just not sleeping very much.  I started college after getting out of the Army so I was used to drinking heavily and not getting any sleep so it seemed pretty normal to me and I was able to function ok.  

Not sure how exactly I got my Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, but hey, it happened.