Why gaming is so important to players with chronic pain

Thanks for posting this OP, it actually means a lot to see someone talking about this.

I've been very lucky in that my pain has responded really well to medication, but I'll never forget how absolutely awful it felt to be physically unable to play the games I love. I hope we continue to push for accessible features in games more and more, this is a great hobby and when you're trapped at home it can have an enormous impact on your quality of life. Even just the social aspect of gaming is a huge benefit.

I just want to say fuck nerve problems and tinnitus. Most of all, fuck having these legitimate problems and not having any useful diagnosis.

As someone who became mostly very suddenly disabled, and an avid gamer who has been forced to give up most games, including some of my favorites, I have to say that this is the best article I've read on the topic so far. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully people will actually read it and think about it.

And giving all of that up, or I guess we should say losing all of that, has dramatically deteriorated my ability to socialize. It's just lose lose lose if you are a gamer who can no longer use your hands properly.

It's incredibly isolating when there is a game you are super keen to play, but your gaming group powers through as a group to end game, leaving you on your own to play catch-up.

They make promises to help, but magically they are always to busy even for a ten minute assist to help kill that boss it took them five people to take down.

A little empathy would have gone a long way, perhaps an invite to a group when they've rerolled their fourth character while I'm still levelling my first.

The people I'd been playing games with for the past few years stopped including me even on a token level. 'We thought you were in guild/server/discord already.' Never did get those invites.

This really hit close to home for me. I was diagnosed with "hyper-mobility" when I was a teenager, but my doctor told me it was kinda a catch-all diagnosis. He told me it is degenerative and the only "treatment" is exercise to have tone muscle support my joints. Other provides have echoed this over the years.

I haven't had a day free of pain since 2nd grade. It affects all my joints and I have frequent dislocations. I've been able to manage it with exercise for years and it's provided me with an insane pain tolerance. But covid + RSV + pneumonia and secondary infections + long covid had me on my ass for so long, I neglected my joints and I've been in the worst flare up of my life.

I have to rehab slowly, but every time I exercise, it causes such bad systemic inflammation and cervicogenic migraines. It's a vicious cycle that's hard to break. Dry herb (Volcano) vaping medical marijuana and then gaming is literally the only time I feel an escape right now.

It helps me to disassociate from my pain and focus my attention on something so engrossing that my brain can't spare attention to the 'dulled' perception of pain. It's not like the pain is gone, but it's changed and it's a momentary relief. But even if only momentarily, finding some sort of respite is essential for your sanity.

I would still be here without gaming, but my quality of life would be a hell of a lot worse.