Yes I was pretty addicted to video games in middle school / early highschool. I would play this 8-bit retro style MMORPG called "Realm of the Mad God" for hours after coming home, and I thought about it all the time in class during freshman / sophomore year. On Christmas I would ask my parents for in-game gold so I could buy the best weapons and gear for my little character. One day, I was in a Discord server with some other players, and somebody made a joke about how "if you play this game you probably don't have a girlfriend and you're probably just a loser IRL", and something clicked in my mind that if I kept going down this path of neglecting school I would end up like one of those 40 year olds who also played the game. In junior / senior year I got more busy with college apps coming up, and I also picked up a weight in the gym for the first time. I began to realize I had some control over my life and in college, instead of being addicted to video games, I became addicted to playing the game of life and trying to max my IRL stats like grades, money, fitness, etc. I think most people who are addicted to video games don't feel like their normal life is going well and it's easy to get that feeling of accomplishment from a game while avoiding the pain and failure that comes with trying things IRL. But eventually a person becomes so sick of their current situation that they'd do anything to change - at least that's how I felt and what drove me to make a change.

​@@matthuang21 I keep finding other ppl who've played rotmg in the most random places. Oddly, I feel as though we've lived pretty similar lives based on how you've described things lol. It seems that your view on money is a bit utilitarian-esque? Just wrapping up my business undergrad and have recently been reflecting intently and philosophically on what I want out of life -- not sure if you've done the same. Spent more time reflecting on life more broadly than money per se, but I think in the bigger picture, for me, money is a tool that facilitates the attainment of whatever brings you more profound fulfillment in life. I suppose that's a well-articulated but pretty rudimentary perspective that just echoes the idea that "money is just a means to an end." However, I think that deeper meaning lies in intentionally discerning the things that will give you the most happiness/fulfillment/contentment etc. and figuring out how you will pursue them. From this perspective, money is just a constraint. In life, I think that consciously or unconsciously, everyone is figuratively trying to blindly maximize the mathematical function for happiness, where money is a constraint. The obvious (and very real) trope is that people end up losing sight of what they actually want and oftentimes end up maximizing money instead. Even for those of us who are smart/lucky enough to avoid this fallacy, it's important to consciously and deliberately scrutinize exactly what we want, make a plan, and act on it. It's analogous to a business unit setting a KPI that is perfectly correlated with the business's overarching goals, and then planning and conducting business in a manner that is highly congruent with achieving the KPI targets. Once you reflect on what it is you want the most out of life (happiness, fulfillment, something else, etc.) in accordance with your values, it's easier to identify the actions/behaviours that lead to the desired outcome, adopt them into your life, and do them day after day. I find it perplexing how inherently smart people don't spend the time to intentionally strategize with how they live life, yet toil endlessly at work to devise the most intricate and comprehensive strategy on how to bring some dogshit business plan to market.

Hey Luke! I am glad you enjoyed the video. Hope you had a great weekend!

Hey Seth - this kind of comment is exactly why I will never stop making these videos. I’m so glad to hear that you were inspired by the video. Hope you are having a great week!

Thanks Matthew! Appreciate it man

Thanks man I appreciate it!

Thanks Rakin!

Thanks man! Hope you had a good Sunday

Thanks Colin! I’ll keep that in mind for a future vid

I’m so glad to hear that!

Thanks man! Hope you are having a great week. I actually decided not to release the interview with my brother due to issues with the audio quality last time we filmed. But next time I'm visiting him I'll try to re-record with him.

Hey Ryan! Thanks man, hope you had a good weekend 🙏

So glad to hear that!

Glad to hear you can relate!

Thanks Joseph!

Well said, thanks Yong!

Hey Vairag! I'm currently loving the process of editing my own videos - appreciate the offer though!

Haha I’m still a gamer at heart

Haha yessir I do

Yessir