I played competitively from 97-2003. Quake, UO, EQ, Halo, WoW, Tekken Tag, Call of Duty, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, etc.
I dropped it all for a few years and got into DJing.
The whole time I was building software.
For me, I thought it was the competitive spirit. I thought I needed something to be 'better' at. But when I went back to WoW about a year ago, I found that I could play by myself and I just needed something to be 'obsessed with' or 'addicted to.'
As such, I've stopped gaming and focused my 'obsession' on my startup! I still have a life, go out, etc, but my free time is comprised of reading hackernews, building things, or working on launching.
So to answer your question... yes, I gave up gaming. I still play the occasional game but if I can't put 100% of my time into it, it's not fun.
The few things I've found over the years that helped me alot:
1) Find someone else competitive and play a console game for 30 minutes per day... like during lunch. A co-worker and I played Street Fighter 4 and it was great. We kept a strict timeclock on it and it gave me my 'fix.'
2) Get an iPhone, download a new game each week, and play it on the way to/from work. Obviously this works better for me being in NYC and riding the subway, but I'm sure you can find a way to make it work for you.
3) Don't read gaming blogs/websites casually. I find this to be the #1 thing that sucks me back in and instead I choose to read startup stuff.
I suspect that as more and more former 'hardcore' gamers snap out of it and start applying their talents elsewhere (other than counterstrike websites!), you'll see a bunch of quality programmers and designers emerge.
3/4 of my staff played games competitively or 'seriously' and the majority only play 1-2 per month. They are all amazing at what they do. I hope they don't all quit when Starcraft 2 comes out :(
Edited to add: I actually landed my current job because I played video games. A video game tournament company in NYC wanted to hire someone to run their website and I've worked my way up since.
I dropped it all for a few years and got into DJing.
The whole time I was building software.
For me, I thought it was the competitive spirit. I thought I needed something to be 'better' at. But when I went back to WoW about a year ago, I found that I could play by myself and I just needed something to be 'obsessed with' or 'addicted to.'
As such, I've stopped gaming and focused my 'obsession' on my startup! I still have a life, go out, etc, but my free time is comprised of reading hackernews, building things, or working on launching.
So to answer your question... yes, I gave up gaming. I still play the occasional game but if I can't put 100% of my time into it, it's not fun.
The few things I've found over the years that helped me alot: 1) Find someone else competitive and play a console game for 30 minutes per day... like during lunch. A co-worker and I played Street Fighter 4 and it was great. We kept a strict timeclock on it and it gave me my 'fix.'
2) Get an iPhone, download a new game each week, and play it on the way to/from work. Obviously this works better for me being in NYC and riding the subway, but I'm sure you can find a way to make it work for you.
3) Don't read gaming blogs/websites casually. I find this to be the #1 thing that sucks me back in and instead I choose to read startup stuff.
I suspect that as more and more former 'hardcore' gamers snap out of it and start applying their talents elsewhere (other than counterstrike websites!), you'll see a bunch of quality programmers and designers emerge.
3/4 of my staff played games competitively or 'seriously' and the majority only play 1-2 per month. They are all amazing at what they do. I hope they don't all quit when Starcraft 2 comes out :(
Edited to add: I actually landed my current job because I played video games. A video game tournament company in NYC wanted to hire someone to run their website and I've worked my way up since.