My disabled son - ‘the nobleman, the philanderer, the detective’

Caporegime
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Wow, that was powerful stuff. Strikes a chord with me as well. I don’t do any online gaming in that way, but due to my condition limiting my contact with the outside, this forum has become pretty vital to me actually feeling normal and talking to people other than my own family.
 
Caporegime
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Saw that article at lunch, nice that some of his online friends came to the funeral etc... :)

I guess this sort of thing is quite common now, while too much gaming can perhaps be a bit destructive for otherwise physically able people, a sort of escapism that might well exacerbate any mental health issues they have (there was one kid at my old uni like that who dropped out after first year and eventually became... a games tester!) it seems like it is a bit of a lifeline for the physically disabled.

I guess there has been a member on here too who tragically lost his wife and has posted about how much she loved gaming. I guess in a previous generation someone physically disabled to that extent might have had to be content with books, radio and TV.
 
Soldato
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I guess there has been a member on here too who tragically lost his wife and has posted about how much she loved gaming. I guess in a previous generation someone physically disabled to that extent might have had to be content with books, radio and TV.

The problem with those mediums is isolation, there's nobody "real" to enjoy them with most of the time.

Having said that if he could move his arms and get out of the house for a little bit, chess clubs, D&D events etc. might've worked well for him.

Tragic disability mind you, a difficult but important read, that article...
 
Caporegime
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Welling, London
Saw that article at lunch, nice that some of his online friends came to the funeral etc... :)

I guess this sort of thing is quite common now, while too much gaming can perhaps be a bit destructive for otherwise physically able people, a sort of escapism that might well exacerbate any mental health issues they have (there was one kid at my old uni like that who dropped out after first year and eventually became... a games tester!) it seems like it is a bit of a lifeline for the physically disabled.

I guess there has been a member on here too who tragically lost his wife and has posted about how much she loved gaming. I guess in a previous generation someone physically disabled to that extent might have had to be content with books, radio and TV.
Toulouse-Lautrec couldn’t do normal things due to disability. Look at what he became.
 
Man of Honour
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The problem with those mediums is isolation, there's nobody "real" to enjoy them with most of the time.

Having said that if he could move his arms and get out of the house for a little bit, chess clubs, D&D events etc. might've worked well for him.

Tragic disability mind you, a difficult but important read, that article...

Spending a LOT of time online playing MMOs, etc. I've played alongside a good few people for whom it is an escape from disability and quite amazing the level some manage to play games at sometime with a bit of custom control adaption, etc. when they struggle with even the simplest of tasks in real life. I've sometimes thought about the "real" side of it and whether I should try to develop that more with some but being somehwhat introverted I've never really tried to and I don't think many of them are very receptive to the idea either though I've heard/seen some stories where it has worked out.

It is one thing that makes me quite bitter about games like City of Heroes where they've killed off the server and the game and not even put out any kind of unofficial server support when sunsetting the game as it affects some people like this very heavily.
 
Caporegime
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I mean this in the nicest way possible and I do include myself in this, MMOs are full of the freaks of humanity.
The outcasts and the different, be it from physical disability, social interaction issues and quite a lot of mental illness, depression, long term unemployed etc etc.
I met them all and I considered them my friends :p
Im glad i kicked the addiction/habbit but i know for many its a lot more than just that.
 
Caporegime
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I mean this in the nicest way possible and I do include myself in this, MMOs are full of the freaks of humanity.
The outcasts and the different, be it from physical disability, social interaction issues and quite a lot of mental illness, depression, long term unemployed etc etc.
I met them all and I considered them my friends :p
Im glad i kicked the addiction/habbit but i know for many its a lot more than just that.

Thats the thing if someone is severely physically disabled/not very mobile etc.. then it seems like this is a lifeline. For someone who is perhaps having a few mental issues etc.. then this sort of easy escapism from the world could be quite damaging in the long run if they get a bit too obsessed with it - Japan has an issue with NEETs that isn't exactly helping its overall birthrate issue.

They've even had solutions like this spring up:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stori...coaxing-japan-s-hikikomori-out-of-their-rooms
At least half a million young men in Japan are thought to have withdrawn from society, and refuse to leave their bedrooms. They’re known as hikikomori.
Their families often don’t know what to do, but one organisation is offering “sisters for hire” to help coax these young men out of their isolation.
 
Caporegime
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Welling, London
I mean this in the nicest way possible and I do include myself in this, MMOs are full of the freaks of humanity.
The outcasts and the different, be it from physical disability, social interaction issues and quite a lot of mental illness, depression, long term unemployed etc etc.
I met them all and I considered them my friends :p
Im glad i kicked the addiction/habbit but i know for many its a lot more than just that.
Harsh labelling these people as freaks of humanity.
 
Soldato
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Oldham
That's a great story.

It reminds me of a kid in school I used to know. He had that condition. He died in his early 20s. Back then the Internet hadn't gone mainstream. So we used to visit his house all the time. There were 3 people like that in my school. While at school they managed to have a reasonable life. But I felt bad for them that when we all left school and was experiencing new things they remained in that earlier world.
 
Caporegime
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Boston, Lincolnshire
This reminds of me of a time back in my wow days they held a funeral for somebody and the horde ganked everyone and killed the lot.
Having played during Vanilla times there was a close bond between the guild. Even leading to a meetup in Sweden in 07 between old guild mates. I still chat to quite a lot on FB even though we don't play anymore.
 
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