This thing ruined my life but also made it good

>>17999447

OP there is something wrong with you if you think the ages 12-19 were some magical time period and that you lost 'the most beautiful moments' of your life by playing GTA.

And when I think about it, I do it with great regret. Because I think I should have never played that game. But it also made me be the person who I am now. It is now part of my life, and a very important one.

I feel bad because nobody can understand me, most people have never lived what I lived. THey have never been there, never experienced the things I experienced there, in that online community. Should I feel guilty because I didn't live the life I was expected to live? Should I be ashamed because I wasted my teenage years? Or should I accept this, and move on?

>>17999455

Eh.

It's a part of growing up my dude. I remember playing WoW with the same group of people for countless hours, day in and day out. I had a lot of time on my hands once I stopped going to school.

I met a fuck-ton of people online and although we were close at the time we eventually, like most people, grew apart.

I still think about them and have fond memories but that shit wasn't the end all be all. Real life > video game and online friends any day baby.

>>17999447
>>17999455

There are lots of ways to live a life. People who stress optimal living usually want to sell you their book or course.

You made the decisions you did because at the time, with the interest, knowledge, and skills that you had, you thought GTA was the best use of your time.

If you disagree now, that's fine, but that's because you've grown into a different person now than you were then.

Learn from the experience if it's not one you would want to have again, and don't beat present-you up for insight past-you wouldn't have had.

>>17999447
That's fucking great OP! Compared to me I've had no friends online or offline. I've recently made friends with which I had gone to for emotional aupporr. It was a disaster, because I developed feelings for them. I'm all alone again, but I had a taste of friendship and infatuation. Now I feel like a junkie going cold turkey. I was ignorantly bliss to my own loneliness, and now I feel desparingly lonely.

>>17999455

I think you have some kind of mental issues anon, the fact that you think visiting some forums and being part of an online community de-railed your life is a pretty horrible red flag that something is off. I'm curious what exactly was the 'life you were supposed to live'?

>>17999485
I don't know, maybe having spent more time outside my house, playing sports, learning trades, doing more useful things, having girlfriends, and that shit

And learning to be confident and shit. I only learned to be a confident and independent person when I was 20 years old. I would be a more mature person had I not been a shut in for so long.

>>17999447
Don't think it's a bad thing Anon. I have countless hours in dota 2 and made plenty of friends etc. Played alot of SAMP too which was good fun. Sadist thing was when everyone grew apart for different reasons and we didn't have the top tier bantz anymore. But I look back and smile at all the enjoyment we had. The memories are the best thing.

PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPBBHHHHHHTTHH

>>17999933
haha

>>17999447
Eh. Most people lose contact with high school friends anyway unless they play online together. Don't worry too much about what's done. You should probably try to limit your play and hang out with people I'll if you start playing again, just because you seem like that matters to you.

I spent most of my formative years hanging out with my dial up modem, surfing the internet, browsing chatrooms, playing stupid MMO's before graphics were a thing and being really bad at programming. I just devoured information and read things and acted out everything that was lacking in my life in the online world of forums. As a result I was kind of weird, kind of antisocial, didn't have many friends, kind of boring, disconnected from social trends and other normal stuff. This was back in the mid 90's so we are talking BBS, newsgroups, telnet access and irc via linux or even dos clients, back when being a computer geek was not very accessible unless you were prepared to work at it.

I'd say that while you can feel a sense of nostalgia regarding what you feel you have missed out on or lost, you cannot go back and change it or relive it and too many people make the mistake of being trapped a cycle where they are a victim. Instead learn from your past, accept it, accept the good within it for what it is and accept the bad within it. Decide what you want to focus on, decide the person you want to become within the next decade, get on with that. As you get older you'll see casualties who failed to move past that sense of loss when really it was just their own life being lived. When you were 10-20 you did something. Great dude. Now what about 20-30? 30-40? 40-50? These are all equal spans of time within which you'll find you have a lot more agency, power, control, influence, resources, these things tend to increase past the age of 10.

Also most other people my age played a lot of football or hung around some rails by the park. They weren't setting the world alight.

>>17999933
>>>/tv/

I get it. Im way older but for me it was Rainbow 6. It is/was a waste of time but recoverable. Back to basics. You should go join what ever lame clubs you can find, just to meet good people. Church is good too. Law of averages you are bound to find a few compatable people

>>17999447
>>17999447
I played SA-MP for many years. Started when I was 14 on Valhalla Gaming - lying that I was 16 to join the LSPD. I spent a lot of time with people older than me living in California and all different parts of the world. Guys who smoked weed, guys who drove cars, guys who had girlfriends, etc. These things were foreign to me. What the fuck did I know about the feeling of getting high? The feeling of being with a girl?

Society says we should be spending time with friends and making experiences this way. Do what makes you happy. As I got older I stopped playing SA-MP and started getting out more. I saw the world and had experiences with people in different countries which opened my perception of human beings and life. I realised that the universe is indifferent; it's random. We can't provide meaning to life we just have to go with what feels right.

I don't regret playing SA-MP and you shouldn't either.