Intrinsic Values: Self Restraint

Around 2001, when I graduated from JMU and started a real job that paid actual money, is when I started coming to grips with my gaming habit and let loose a little cashflow to support it. I was making a ton of money (in my mind) so I started buying back all my old game systems off of eBay and the games to go with them. I also started buying memorabilia for my room and books about gaming and audio soundtrack cds.

But now as a full-fledged adult with a mortgage that's twice the size of my post-graduate townhome with all the bill trimmings and basically the same income, gaming has taken it's toll financially and psychologically. I just haven't gotten my body to stop it's habits.

Habits such as my fingers typing in "http://www.ebay.com" into my web browser. Or my legs from walking into Gamestop while I'm really just trying to grab a burger at Five Guys. Either of even just these two actions can result in an expenditure of $14.99-$60. And sometimes a burger. And even for the times that I do have the money to throw away, I still catch myself in an inner gamer tussle: do I buy this awesome game now or do I finish all the awesome games I have at home first?

But fortunately I do have that pretty big backlog of games I used to want to play and have no reason not to. So when I do find myself browsing a game shelf, I almost immediately think about when I play this game between games I already own, not to mention mowing grass, installing molding in the basement, or cleaning out the future baby room.

And there is where the intrinsic value is: time and money management. If an example like this had ever come across my 6th grade desk, I think I would have understood it a little more. In life, the important things come first. Whether it's fixing up a new baby room or deciding that level grinding in Call of Duty is time that could be used finishing Grand Theft Auto IV. It's almost like have separate to-do lists in my head for life and gaming and I'm constantly battling myself to take care of them.