FIFA and mental health.
I'm interested to hear whether people think FIFA is good for a person's mental health and wellbeing?
I lost interest in the game for about 1 month just before TOTS, in general I feel my mental health was much better in this period. Since playing again i've noticed I barely actually enjoy playing and almost feel compelled to play to better my squad/ coin stack. The sunk cost plays heavily on me and i feel my time will be 'wasted' if i don't continue playing even though in a couple months time it's all worthless anyway.
Genuinely interested to hear how people feel this game impacts their mental wellbeing, both good and bad? Cheers.
I lost interest in the game for about 1 month just before TOTS, in general I feel my mental health was much better in this period. Since playing again i've noticed I barely actually enjoy playing and almost feel compelled to play to better my squad/ coin stack. The sunk cost plays heavily on me and i feel my time will be 'wasted' if i don't continue playing even though in a couple months time it's all worthless anyway.
Genuinely interested to hear how people feel this game impacts their mental wellbeing, both good and bad? Cheers.
20
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
If you struggle with emotions, or with addiction or gambling this game is awful, And until a government steps in or something it's just the way it's likely to be.
Now if you're good with games, see it as that, a game etc. It's perfectly fine and plenty of people have a healthy relationship with the game, just not all.
When we do discuss mental health it’s discussing mental health ALONGSIDE Fifa therefore we are still discussing this game. But the idiots at Fifa and in charge of this board will still close the thread because by discussing mental health and Fifa we are all insinuating that Fifa can have a bad affect on our lives, therefore it’s bad on EA, therefore they sell less copies and sell less FP, therefore the thread gets closed.
Disgusting company and people in charge of the board who won’t let us discuss something which can have major effects on people’s well-being and lives in general.
Im no hardcore trader at all, but spending way too much time on phone watching market movement.
Playing WL every weekend means time off from somewhere else. Also, there is a constant level of FOMO to it. The feeling of missing out on something if I skip.
When playing those last important games for the WL ranking, I tend to feel an unhealthy heartbeat. I know how adrenaline feels, but this is something else.
Im 28. Have a full time job. Living healthy. pre-corona gym member. No addictions on the sideline. Also no FP spent.
But im damn sure there is a personal unhealthy addiction to FIFA. Well done EA.
Buuuut, when that is said - rewards are out in a moment and everything is forgotten
I hadn't played this game since January. I had a relatively new job, gym 3-4 times a week, played football twice a week, went to Blades matches regularly, out with the girlfriend and family and friends regularly etc...
Then COVID 19 happened. All that disappeared, apart from working one full day a week and two half days...
Thankfully I know I'll probably sack it all off again at some point after all this is over. The game usually has be bored after a few months of solid playing anyway. But at the moment playing WL every week isn't great. I can't believe people manage to play it regularly when real life isn't cancelled.
I'm a casual. I prioritise everything real life over FIFA (duh...). I only play WL when I have absolutely no plans for the weekend, which hasn't been the case for months. I don't care about SB or DR rankings anymore, getting into the top ranks would take too much time for me so I just play the couple of matches here & there and collect my mediocre rewards. When we're home netflixing in the evening I might check the Live SBCs and do the ones I can complete with the cards I already have. Real casual all around.
I know the feeling "there's always something more to do!" from last season. You can always get more SB / DR points. You can always get more coins. Always get a card somehow that's better than the card you have. Keep grinding, grinding, grinding... it's stressful, and frankly unhealthy. I was feeling uneasy on Sunday evenings when I knew there were SB matches left for me to finish before the cycle closes.
You need to let it go. You need to be at a certain level of "meh, don't care". At least I have to. It's way better to miss out on many/most things than to get worked up about a virtual card collection...
It's only a game at the end of the day
EA put their backing behind mental health campaigns regularly however I've read that they work with psychologists in the development of games which is a scary thought, they literally create an environment to get people hooked, desperate for that next walkout pack animation.
It's refreshing to see everybody in this thread acknowledge the issues a video game can create, this kind of topic can quite easily be ignored so thanks again everybody.
I played from 13-18. By time I was in FUT18 I was on it practically every day from launch onwards, I played full 40 games WL nearly every weekend. I didn’t rage at the game, I accepted it was a game but I got annoyed by the state of the servers at WL and found it was not making it enjoyable. I found the rest of FUT during the week enjoyable though. However, at the end of the day, I was spending too much time on FUT and felt I could be doing more with my time. I stopped playing at end of 18 and didn’t touch it in 19, actually put my console in the lift.
I started going back to local football every Saturday, started watching more football on telly, and didn’t miss the “I will just squeeze in a WL game during HT” and then you didn’t watch the rest of game you had started watching. Stuff like that showed I had made right decision.
My youngest son got FIFA 20 at Xmas and since then we have done FUT together. I find that much more enjoyable than where I was. Over the last 6 weeks I’ve been working from home so much lunch time has been spent playing UT. Me and son have a good laugh together playing it, again not taking it too seriously. I play about 5-6 games a day, we work towards objectives and we never play WL. I am back to being just a casual player.
We have a good team, we enjoy the time we spend together playing it and having a laugh so for us we don’t mind how current FUT plays, it’s more about the time we have together. I’ve always preached to him that this is a game. It’s meant to be enjoyable, it’s meant to be fun and a distraction and when it stops being that and you find it affects your mood, it’s time to step away from it. It’s an easy enough mindset for someone of my age to have but I appreciate that it’s not as easy for youngsters to take the same view.
Remember, FUT doesn’t define you as a person, it doesn’t give you a status in life unless you are the .1% of elite players, it shouldn’t be allowed to affect your mood. Try not to take it seriously folks. If you win a game, well done, if you lose....f**k it, on to the next one.
Why would they close the threads...scratch that.
You can also put down the needle, or can of cider, or betting slip. For some not so easy, your point is far of the mark.
Myself, @EA_Roger and @GK93 recently started a conversation in our DMs about the threads being closed, as GK and I both expressed how unhappy we were that the issue wasn't being discussed properly, and the threads were closing.
We're still waiting on a reply from Roger, but hopefully he responds soon, and we can get positive discussions going soon. 👍
That being said, Ultimate Team can definitely become an issue if you arent emotionally stable, or have an addictive personality. Its very easy to get caught in a cycle of constant frustration, with just enough reward to keep you playing.
If you find yourself frustrated with the game at times, thats perfectly normal. If FIFA affects your mood negatively over an extended period of time, thats where you need to step away for a while and reconsider your priorities. Theres no reason to play a game you dont enjoy.
Are you a therapist then? I suffer from a emotionally unstable personality disorder and on the one hand FUT thrills me like nothing else, but on the other hand it frustrates me like nothing else in my life does. In comparison to other videogames the level of concentration i need to have to play a DR or WL Game is higher than playing offline Games like Assassins Creed or Tomb Raider. FIFA just distracts me the most. And by saying that: I have a fulltime Job and two little Kids at home.
We are well awake and this was flagged with us earlier today, I'm going to leave it for now but if it is closed down it's probably due to non constructive comments like these ones.
@GK93 & @TW1103, I'm willing to leave this one opened for now as long as the conversation given the times we are all going through I think people need to talk about things like this. This remains open if it stays constructive and it doesn't go too far.
Thanks mate, good move. Might be worth pinning some links at the top of the thread;
https://www.mind.org.uk
https://www.samaritans.org
https://www.thecalmzone.net
If your talking about pack opening then yes I agree. We're not thought. We're talking about people playing the game. The gameplay aspect isn't addictive so it can be easily walked away from.
Pack opening is the game,and many have addictive nature that then affects mental state. Amazing how many people play this game, and get so involved mentally is unreal. But just pulling disk out is not as simple. Only trying to say that, not trying to have go or be negative to your view.