[rye-neat]

I'm nearing 40 and in the past few years I've tried to focus more on "real world" activities (I've never lacked them, I just felt like gaming had less value). I've done well with this by spending time with my interests/pastimes; however, my work lately has been less stimulating. As a result, something has been missing.

Long story short, I realized I wasn't getting into a "flow-state" often enough and guess where you can get an easy fix of that? First-person shooters.. (for me anyway). I don't have 3+ hour-long sessions or anything, maybe just a round or two and it's like that first cup of coffee in the morning.

[ladyattis]

It's funny you speak of flow state here since for me reading up on MMORPG meta or any meta changes to any game is where I mostly focus on such that even before I launch a game I've been reading up on its mechanics and trying to understand it in an abstract way (the opposite of this for me is when I just play Stardew Valley since I just wanna fish or chat with the NPCs rather than figure out how to min-max my farm). The act of figuring out how a game works mechanically is just as fun as trying to play the game itself for me.

[sacnoradhq]

Try writing or coding for fun.

Caffeine, while increasing focus, ups anxiety and cardio load.

Exercise (HIIT) I find is better at increasing focus and decreasing anxiety.

[12345hn6789]

Why are you assuming the parent comment does not exercise? Or want to consume caffeine? Certainly those are worse long term than a 15 minute video game session.

[codespin]

Replacing even a small amount of your gaming time with consistent exercise goes so far.

Once you realize that you can actually achieve anything you set your mind to just by making a routine you will find yourself wanting to shift the time and effort going into games into real world success.

[notfed]

This and the parent comment come off as patronizing and missing the point.

Grandparent was giving an anecdote about how video games work for them, not asking for alternative advice.

[galleywest200]

Just remember the whole "all work and no play" thing though.