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Treyflix

Time management in TFC

7 posts in this topic

Hello all, I've come to ask your advice.

My problem Is I can't moderate. I end up spending to much time on it when ever I play, staying up till 1-3 in the morning. As an athlete, I can't do this. It kills my performance. I still want to play but need to find a way to just play for a few hours. What are some techniques you use to keep yourself in check? I'm especially interested in answers from busy people like parents or college students.

Thanks in advance.

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Decide before you begin that you'll only play for a certain amount of time, and then set a timer to alert you when that time passes.  

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There are programs that will limit play time for you, you put MC's .exe and set a limit for however long you want. After that time it will stop you from accessing the program until x-time has passed.

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When i got into playing World of Warcraft back in the TBC expansion, i had serious issues managing my time due to the grindy nature of the game. What i did to manage it was simply pick 1 day of the week that i had plenty of time to spend, make a few long hours then to do most important stuff. And for the other days i used a timer to snap me back to RL, wish we had tools like the one Moress mentioned though (maybe there was, but i dint know them).

 

Since minecraft in general can be the same grindy experience, to get your building blocks etc, id suggest doing something simular. If you cant manage your own time with a timer get a tool that shutsdown the program for you. I lost a job or 2 cause i couldnt controlle myself when i was younger, strangly enough that wasnt related to WoW but another MMORPG :P

 

Best of luck and hope this helps.

 

PS: Never forget, its not a true addiction if you can stop doing it for a couple of daysweeks without feeling totally crap or needing help staying away from it. WoW wasnt an adiction for me, just a bad habbit to spend way to much time on it for a fake sence of accomplishment ;) Look at it more like a bad habbit or routine rather then a addiction, it might help seeing the moderation of it ;)

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Hi Treyflix,

 

Respecting an arbitrary cut-off time will be hard if you're hyper focused and in the middle of a project. When you're reading, you just want to read one more page and when you're biking, you just want to go a little further. Sooner or later, you'll have biked too far and it'll be a dark and unpleasant ride back home (certainly happened to me :)). It's much easier if the time-limit is part of the challenge.

 

I like starting new time-limited TFC maps because it makes every minute of game play a precious strategic opportunity (even at night). You'll find that you get really good at adapting to different starting conditions. I find the early stages more entertaining than grinding through the later stages of the game. If you've challenged yourself to make a copper anvil within 6 days in hardcore mode and if you've failed to do so after 2 hours of game play, then it's game over and you can retry some other time with a different map.

 

It's midnight and you've just failed a challenge or project you've set yourself. What will you find easier to say no to?

 

a) hitting the snooze on your timer and continuing just a little further for a little longer; or

 

B) starting a new 2-hour chunk of game play that you know will end around 2am?

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I also have a very addictive personality. It's the primary reason I've never tried smoking or other drugs - I knew I'd be a junkie from day one. The other reason is that I'm a cheap miser.

 

That said, I've struggled with addiction to video games pretty hard. Everquest nearly caused me to flunk out of college, and killed my performance in High School. I'll tell you how I solved that problem - I sold my account for $800 and quit cold turkey. When you're truly addicted to something, there is no throttling back. I still play too much, and World of Warcraft nearly sucked me back in years ago, but I mainly played that for lack of anything wholesome in my life (time waster).

 

I might disagree (not knowing you) with your assessment that TFC is a neutral addiction. You've already stated that it is negatively affecting your life, and harming your performance as an athlete. That's not a neutral addiction. Also, while certainly "better", no addiction is "good". It can produce good results, but the essence of any addiction is imbalance, and spending too much time cycling will affect other areas of your life just as much as too much time gaming. I have a friend who is addicted to cycling. He has a wife and a little girl. He burns thousands of dollars on gear and trips to exotic locales. More important than resources, he burns his time. He is missing much of his daughter's formative years because he simply *must* participate in the next big race or tour. That is unhealthy.

 

You asked for advice from the perspective of a parent. I have two little boys, and that has a way of changing things. I still love video games, and TFC is my drug right now, but when my boys are awake I am theirs. Their bedtime is 7:00 PM, and at 7:30 PM I'm punching rocks. I have work in the morning, so I'm down by 9:30 PM. Usually there are other chores in that brief window of freedom that eat some or all of my playtime. The point is that as a [somewhat responsible] parent, my schedule is set for me. The "selfish 20's" are over.

 

I don't know what will work for you. Nothing "worked" for me. I had to have a "coming to Jesus" epiphany where I saw my life swirling down the toilet all around me. Maybe you can set hard limits on play time and be good with it. Give it a shot. Set an alarm for 10:00 PM every night, and give yourself 15-30 minutes to read before lights out. If you can't adhere to that, it might be time to log out of Minecraft and TFC for good.

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Hi Treyflix,Respecting an arbitrary cut-off time will be hard if you're hyper focused and in the middle of a project. When you're reading, you just want to read one more page and when you're biking, you just want to go a little further. Sooner or later, you'll have biked too far and it'll be a dark and unpleasant ride back home (certainly happened to me :)). It's much easier if the time-limit is part of the challenge.I like starting new time-limited TFC maps because it makes every minute of game play a precious strategic opportunity (even at night). You'll find that you get really good at adapting to different starting conditions. I find the early stages more entertaining than grinding through the later stages of the game. If you've challenged yourself to make a copper anvil within 6 days in hardcore mode and if you've failed to do so after 2 hours of game play, then it's game over and you can retry some other time with a different map.It's midnight and you've just failed a challenge or project you've set yourself. What will you find easier to say no to?a) hitting the snooze on your timer and continuing just a little further for a little longer; or B) starting a new 2-hour chunk of game play that you know will end around 2am?

Brilliant Idea! Also *cyclist high five*. I love the challenges too... thanks so much _Frank!

I also have a very addictive personality. It's the primary reason I've never tried smoking or other drugs - I knew I'd be a junkie from day one. The other reason is that I'm a cheap miser.That said, I've struggled with addiction to video games pretty hard. Everquest nearly caused me to flunk out of college, and killed my performance in High School. I'll tell you how I solved that problem - I sold my account for $800 and quit cold turkey. When you're truly addicted to something, there is no throttling back. I still play too much, and World of Warcraft nearly sucked me back in years ago, but I mainly played that for lack of anything wholesome in my life (time waster).I might disagree (not knowing you) with your assessment that TFC is a neutral addiction. You've already stated that it is negatively affecting your life, and harming your performance as an athlete. That's not a neutral addiction. Also, while certainly "better", no addiction is "good". It can produce good results, but the essence of any addiction is imbalance, and spending too much time cycling will affect other areas of your life just as much as too much time gaming. I have a friend who is addicted to cycling. He has a wife and a little girl. He burns thousands of dollars on gear and trips to exotic locales. More important than resources, he burns his time. He is missing much of his daughter's formative years because he simply *must* participate in the next big race or tour. That is unhealthy.You asked for advice from the perspective of a parent. I have two little boys, and that has a way of changing things. I still love video games, and TFC is my drug right now, but when my boys are awake I am theirs. Their bedtime is 7:00 PM, and at 7:30 PM I'm punching rocks. I have work in the morning, so I'm down by 9:30 PM. Usually there are other chores in that brief window of freedom that eat some or all of my playtime. The point is that as a [somewhat responsible] parent, my schedule is set for me. The "selfish 20's" are over.I don't know what will work for you. Nothing "worked" for me. I had to have a "coming to Jesus" epiphany where I saw my life swirling down the toilet all around me. Maybe you can set hard limits on play time and be good with it. Give it a shot. Set an alarm for 10:00 PM every night, and give yourself 15-30 minutes to read before lights out. If you can't adhere to that, it might be time to log out of Minecraft and TFC for good.

Thanks TomatoTheif. Let me tell you I already respected you for your excellent posts in the suggestion forum, but now I respect you even more for the wisdom you've taken the time to give to a struggling (this word sounds too dramatic, but I couldn't think of a good synonym) adolescent Wish me luck, hopefully I can balance it. If not, I guess I'll have to get rid of it for another few years until I feel I have matured enough to take another shot.
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