In this blog post, we’ll take a deep dive into the question of whether time spent immersed in a game can lead to regret or unexpected learning.
There’s a saying about the “three devil’s games”. It refers to three typical games that, apart from being fun, can be so addictive that they can have a serious negative impact on your life. Some people refer to them as games that make you lose track of time, because once you start playing them, you can’t stop, and by the time you look at the clock or calendar, you’ve already lost a lot of time.
While everyone’s opinion of three of these games may vary, there are two that are commonly recognized as the “Devil’s Three”: the “Civilization” series and the “Football Manager” (FM) series. I got my hands on “FM” in the summer of 2011, and thus began my journey back in time.
First, it’s important to clarify what a game called “FM” is. It’s not just a soccer game, it’s a simulation game that puts you in the role of a soccer manager and lets you manage your own soccer team. While other soccer games usually let you control the players in a single match, “FM” lets you run a whole season in real life, with all the complexities of managing a club, signing players, managing coaches, and strategizing matches based on real data. Moreover, even when the season ends, it immediately moves on to the next season, making you forget about the passage of time. It’s a game that makes it easy to lose track of time.
I didn’t have any big plans for my vacation after the spring semester of my sophomore year. I had no travel plans, no girlfriend, and I wasn’t thinking about the future. I was just hanging out with my friends, having drinks, and spending time at home alone on the internet. One day, during this lethargic time, I suddenly realized that I needed something fun to do. That’s how I found out about “FM” and ended up installing it on my laptop.
Upon starting the game, I chose Manchester City FC from the English Premier League. With the support of owner Mansour, a Middle Eastern oil tycoon and UAE royalty, I was able to buy players without worrying about funding, and the game’s difficulty level was very easy. As I racked up victory after victory and built my reputation, I became increasingly indistinguishable from reality. The simple controls – just pressing the space bar to play a match – meant that fatigue wasn’t a factor, and my day became increasingly consumed by the game.
I maintained a regular daily routine of going to the gym and meeting up with friends, but “FM” remained at the center of my life. As the weeks passed, I looked at the calendar and saw that it was mid-July. I had a momentary crisis, but I shrugged it off and immersed myself in the game. While I was pleased with my achievements in the game, my real life was becoming more and more tattered. My parents called me a “wreck,” and even I had to admit it.
By the beginning of August, I began to realize that I needed to change. After more than a month of being a soccer coach, devising tactics and managing players, I decided it was time to stop playing. I gradually reduced my gaming time so that I could come to my senses before the new semester started in September. I thought I would have to delete the game from my computer to stop playing it completely, but I gained enough self-control to stop playing it without deleting it.
After I stopped playing, I would still see the players playing in my head, but I didn’t feel too much regret, because I had accomplished almost everything in the game, so I didn’t have too many regrets. Over time, I’ve come to realize many things from this experience.
First, I realized how easy it is to waste time. While I was immersed in the game, I was losing precious real-world time, and at the time, that didn’t matter at all. However, this experience made me realize how dangerous it is to not prepare for the future. I still regret the time I spent during my vacation, but I also learned a lot from it.
Now that I’m graduating and living a busy life, the memories of those days have become precious to me. Sometimes I miss the freedom and irresponsibility that I can never get back. But at the same time, I think the experience has made me value the present more and live harder. I’ve come to realize that we all have periods of time where we’re just wasting away, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Nevertheless, I have no intention of installing “FM” again. Because although the game has brought me a lot of fun and lessons, it has also cost me precious time. Perhaps I should thank the game for making me think about this.
