Note: these are my personal views as a member of the forum, not an indication of moderation policy
Both 'OCD' and 'obsessive-compulsive' are often thrown around across media discussion to describe the behaviour of chasing digital goals, obsessive mild character quirks or perfectionism. They are in very common use, and especially the acronym can get used as a shorthand for extreme perfectionism (I'll get to that in a second), and so I absolutely don't blame anyone for doing so, on Era or anywhere else. That's not what the thread is about. But seeing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, something that I've lived with since I was a teenager, that has been debilitating, that cost me a large chunk of my education, that has been a great cause of stress and personal conflict in my life, reduced to being seen as little more than a fun nerdy quirk, is something I want to talk about. I realise it's in common use, but wanted to explain why it jumps out at me and in particular misuse of 'OCD' especially, hence this thread.
Some links showing good/bad examples of media depictions and further reading. Media depiction leads to common misunderstanding and then into discussion here.
iocdf.org
impulsetherapy.com
this.org
So why am I making this post on gaming side? As a gaming forum with a ton of dedicated players, we have loads of members that routinely dig deep into the furthest corners of these games, completing lists of tasks, uncovering maps, chasing digital trophies, desires for 'perfect' runs, defeating the toughest bosses, speedrunning. All of this stuff is great, I love reading about it and I understand entirely the perfectionist desire to fully complete a game and move on to the next, but I thought it might be worth a chat about the use of the acronym to describe such activities, as it bleeds in from wider media misuse/discussion of it's depiction, and it's something I've seen on the forum over the years.
Broadly speaking, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) isn't a single set of symptoms. It divides into obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours, sometimes the latter relieving the former, and with some common spheres of what those obsessions/compulsions might manifest as. It's also defined by being long-term, often very time-consuming, and often negatively impacting quality of life. There is however a huge range of severity, symptoms and behaviours across the wider OC spectrum of which OCD is just one element. I don't want to go into my own treatment here (mine was a quarter of a century ago and is almost certainly out of date and of little help to others now), although I still use the same coping strategies with episodes and to reduce their frequency. I'll gladly add any links raised by people that want to offer modern information here:
LINKS
So, back to what I was talking about, which is encapsulated here:
en.wikipedia.org
'Obsessive-compulsive' is often used to describe fixation or perfectionism, and informally. But what neither of those is, is OCD, which is also sometimes used informally and interchangably as the same thing. Diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder includes recognition of a cycle so extreme that it doesn't just take up a lot of time (stop laughing at the back, rpg fans, I can see you!), but is incredibly stressful, draining and gets in the way of important activities. It's long-term, chronic (as in, it's likely to last for life), and unlikely to improve without help (although treatment can vastly reduce it's impact on your quality of life).
In my case it was an obsession of fear of disease/contagion/contamination that led to a compulsion of cleanliness, of washing my hands constantly. (This is one of the more common sub-groups of OCD, and so often the poster child for it but only makes up around/is an element in a large minority of cases. It's far from the only one so the link below is only to help illustrate my own experiences).
impulsetherapy.com
It became so bad, so time consuming, that all the life activities of a teenage boy, like playing in the park and woods with my friends, walking my dog, playing sports, became overwhelming points of stress. As I knew that afterwards, they would be the trigger for being unable to move on until the episode brought on by the obsession was purged temporarily by the compulsion to remove any kind of dirt picked up from anything I might have touched. Or that others might have touched or even brushed past. Or animals might have touched. Or that my dog might have touched. He liked rolling in dung. That ritual alone, and sometimes I'd scrub my hands until they bled with wire wool or kitchen cleaner, could take an hour, every time, and as you can imagine, being a schoolboy at the time made it even more stressful to disguise from the cruelty of my peers, and also even my parents, until I couldn't any more. That was on top of fear that if I couldn't remember locking the door, I'd have panic attacks over it all day. Yeah. This was tough. And if it sounds ridiculous to you as an adult, imagine how it was for me on the cusp of puberty. It cost me most of my friends at the time, and a huge chunk of my education. It would have been hard on my family too.
Fast forward 25 years.These days, in my 40s, 20+ years into a career, married, with a kid, my episodes have been reduced to a managable level over time, experience, education and through honed coping strategies. Those worst episodes, that were an everyday occurrence for years in my adolescence, seem a world away. I don't talk about it much. It was painful, frightening, extremely stressful, embarrassing and anxiety-inducing, and it's taken decades for me to be comfortable with describing it to anyone other than my closest confidantes, until today I guess. It mostly manifests these days as a struggle to let things go now and then, a need to confirm that I've done things (the development of the camera phone was a godsend for me), and it's barely noticeable to others that don't know me. Now it's under control most of the time, thanks to the patience and understanding of my wife and friends and a specialist at the time who I'll be eternally grateful to. But it's still there, and has been since I was a teenager.
Back to discussion of games. Not wanting to move on from a game before you've made or collected all the hats in an rpg isn't 'OCD' even as a collection of single pieces of behaviour. Not wanting to put the game down before you've got the platinum isn't either, and nor is wanting to see a row of ticks next to a quest list, and nor is a desire to chase perfect/optimum runs/times/loadouts etc. It's perfectionism, engagement, fixation, a pleasing sense of things being just right for whatever reason, and that's cool to see, expected even, on an enthusiast forum. I rarely play the postgame of a long game and haven't chased a trophy/achievement or high score or spent hours arranging a videogame inventory/settlement in my life. It might even be a mild obsession or a compulsion to continue in the casual, everyday senses of the terms, or a declaration of tenacity that you just aren't giving up until the game admits you are the boss and gives you the medal to show it. That's all totally cool as dedicated hobbyists, we use terms like 'obsessed with x' or 'I was compelled to finish/platinum y' for all kinds of stuff, and I love to hear these stories. But what it isn't is OCD.
What I'm really saying is, perhaps think carefully when throwing the term 'OCD' around for a description around casual instances of a desire for dedication, perfectionism or pleasingly arranged things in games. The latter can also be an obsession and/or compulsion, but they really aren't fun, when, at the extremes of obsession and compulsion, OCD is a diagnosed disorder that can include extreme distress and debilitating effects on everyday life. There are better ways to describe what's going on that aren't reducing a disorder to a cute quirk about an instance of high level of engagement with a piece of media.
Conclusion
This thread isn't here to scold anybody, to warn or dictate, or to deny that 'people know what I mean when I use it'. But it is something that has bothered me for a while. Not in a 'I must challenge this wherever I see it!' way, more in a 'maybe if I just explain why' way. I thought maybe by talking about that, and why it does so, people might perhaps think about something they haven't before. And perhaps not rely on its depiction in some media and move away from the acronym in particular when describing perfectionism, mild character quirks or a mild sense of commitment to reach a goal, or at least use the words a little more accurately. If you've got this far, thanks for taking the time to read this, I appreciate it.
Edits- I've made some edits and expanded some points for clarity, to also recognise the spectrum of OC behaviour, and to spell out OCD closer to the start after I realised that I didn't spell out the acronym until much later on and that was part of the problem.
Both 'OCD' and 'obsessive-compulsive' are often thrown around across media discussion to describe the behaviour of chasing digital goals, obsessive mild character quirks or perfectionism. They are in very common use, and especially the acronym can get used as a shorthand for extreme perfectionism (I'll get to that in a second), and so I absolutely don't blame anyone for doing so, on Era or anywhere else. That's not what the thread is about. But seeing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, something that I've lived with since I was a teenager, that has been debilitating, that cost me a large chunk of my education, that has been a great cause of stress and personal conflict in my life, reduced to being seen as little more than a fun nerdy quirk, is something I want to talk about. I realise it's in common use, but wanted to explain why it jumps out at me and in particular misuse of 'OCD' especially, hence this thread.
Some links showing good/bad examples of media depictions and further reading. Media depiction leads to common misunderstanding and then into discussion here.
How The Media Gets OCD All Wrong—UK Based Podcast Helps OCD Sufferers Find Recovery
In the podcast series, The OCD Stories, founder Stuart Ralph discusses how the media often gets Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) wrong with Hollywood writer, producer, and OCD sufferer, Harris Goldberg. Goldberg... Read more »
iocdf.org
How OCD Is Portrayed In Movies & TV Shows - Impulse
We’ve all heard it: I’m soooo OCD. It’s irritating, annoying, and wildly inaccurate. But it’s also dangerous as it minimizes the disorder while compounding the misinformation already epidemic in society.
impulsetherapy.com
When it comes to representations of OCD in media, we can do so much better
I am quite open about the fact that I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. Talking about it comes easy to me. More difficult to handle are the reactions I get from others. “So are you like that nerd on The Big Bang Theory?” someone in a work meeting recently joked after I mentioned my OCD.
this.org
So why am I making this post on gaming side? As a gaming forum with a ton of dedicated players, we have loads of members that routinely dig deep into the furthest corners of these games, completing lists of tasks, uncovering maps, chasing digital trophies, desires for 'perfect' runs, defeating the toughest bosses, speedrunning. All of this stuff is great, I love reading about it and I understand entirely the perfectionist desire to fully complete a game and move on to the next, but I thought it might be worth a chat about the use of the acronym to describe such activities, as it bleeds in from wider media misuse/discussion of it's depiction, and it's something I've seen on the forum over the years.
Broadly speaking, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) isn't a single set of symptoms. It divides into obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours, sometimes the latter relieving the former, and with some common spheres of what those obsessions/compulsions might manifest as. It's also defined by being long-term, often very time-consuming, and often negatively impacting quality of life. There is however a huge range of severity, symptoms and behaviours across the wider OC spectrum of which OCD is just one element. I don't want to go into my own treatment here (mine was a quarter of a century ago and is almost certainly out of date and of little help to others now), although I still use the same coping strategies with episodes and to reduce their frequency. I'll gladly add any links raised by people that want to offer modern information here:
LINKS
So, back to what I was talking about, which is encapsulated here:
Obsessive–compulsive disorder - Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive–compulsive_disorder#cite_note-10
'Obsessive-compulsive' is often used to describe fixation or perfectionism, and informally. But what neither of those is, is OCD, which is also sometimes used informally and interchangably as the same thing. Diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder includes recognition of a cycle so extreme that it doesn't just take up a lot of time (stop laughing at the back, rpg fans, I can see you!), but is incredibly stressful, draining and gets in the way of important activities. It's long-term, chronic (as in, it's likely to last for life), and unlikely to improve without help (although treatment can vastly reduce it's impact on your quality of life).
In my case it was an obsession of fear of disease/contagion/contamination that led to a compulsion of cleanliness, of washing my hands constantly. (This is one of the more common sub-groups of OCD, and so often the poster child for it but only makes up around/is an element in a large minority of cases. It's far from the only one so the link below is only to help illustrate my own experiences).
Everything You Need to Know About Contamination OCD - Impulse
There may be no illness more self-diagnosed than obsessive compulsive disorder. In fact, it’s commonplace to hear people exclaim that they’re “so OCD” because they prefer a tidy house or they wash their hands before sitting down at the dinner table.
impulsetherapy.com
It became so bad, so time consuming, that all the life activities of a teenage boy, like playing in the park and woods with my friends, walking my dog, playing sports, became overwhelming points of stress. As I knew that afterwards, they would be the trigger for being unable to move on until the episode brought on by the obsession was purged temporarily by the compulsion to remove any kind of dirt picked up from anything I might have touched. Or that others might have touched or even brushed past. Or animals might have touched. Or that my dog might have touched. He liked rolling in dung. That ritual alone, and sometimes I'd scrub my hands until they bled with wire wool or kitchen cleaner, could take an hour, every time, and as you can imagine, being a schoolboy at the time made it even more stressful to disguise from the cruelty of my peers, and also even my parents, until I couldn't any more. That was on top of fear that if I couldn't remember locking the door, I'd have panic attacks over it all day. Yeah. This was tough. And if it sounds ridiculous to you as an adult, imagine how it was for me on the cusp of puberty. It cost me most of my friends at the time, and a huge chunk of my education. It would have been hard on my family too.
Fast forward 25 years.These days, in my 40s, 20+ years into a career, married, with a kid, my episodes have been reduced to a managable level over time, experience, education and through honed coping strategies. Those worst episodes, that were an everyday occurrence for years in my adolescence, seem a world away. I don't talk about it much. It was painful, frightening, extremely stressful, embarrassing and anxiety-inducing, and it's taken decades for me to be comfortable with describing it to anyone other than my closest confidantes, until today I guess. It mostly manifests these days as a struggle to let things go now and then, a need to confirm that I've done things (the development of the camera phone was a godsend for me), and it's barely noticeable to others that don't know me. Now it's under control most of the time, thanks to the patience and understanding of my wife and friends and a specialist at the time who I'll be eternally grateful to. But it's still there, and has been since I was a teenager.
Back to discussion of games. Not wanting to move on from a game before you've made or collected all the hats in an rpg isn't 'OCD' even as a collection of single pieces of behaviour. Not wanting to put the game down before you've got the platinum isn't either, and nor is wanting to see a row of ticks next to a quest list, and nor is a desire to chase perfect/optimum runs/times/loadouts etc. It's perfectionism, engagement, fixation, a pleasing sense of things being just right for whatever reason, and that's cool to see, expected even, on an enthusiast forum. I rarely play the postgame of a long game and haven't chased a trophy/achievement or high score or spent hours arranging a videogame inventory/settlement in my life. It might even be a mild obsession or a compulsion to continue in the casual, everyday senses of the terms, or a declaration of tenacity that you just aren't giving up until the game admits you are the boss and gives you the medal to show it. That's all totally cool as dedicated hobbyists, we use terms like 'obsessed with x' or 'I was compelled to finish/platinum y' for all kinds of stuff, and I love to hear these stories. But what it isn't is OCD.
What I'm really saying is, perhaps think carefully when throwing the term 'OCD' around for a description around casual instances of a desire for dedication, perfectionism or pleasingly arranged things in games. The latter can also be an obsession and/or compulsion, but they really aren't fun, when, at the extremes of obsession and compulsion, OCD is a diagnosed disorder that can include extreme distress and debilitating effects on everyday life. There are better ways to describe what's going on that aren't reducing a disorder to a cute quirk about an instance of high level of engagement with a piece of media.
Conclusion
This thread isn't here to scold anybody, to warn or dictate, or to deny that 'people know what I mean when I use it'. But it is something that has bothered me for a while. Not in a 'I must challenge this wherever I see it!' way, more in a 'maybe if I just explain why' way. I thought maybe by talking about that, and why it does so, people might perhaps think about something they haven't before. And perhaps not rely on its depiction in some media and move away from the acronym in particular when describing perfectionism, mild character quirks or a mild sense of commitment to reach a goal, or at least use the words a little more accurately. If you've got this far, thanks for taking the time to read this, I appreciate it.
Edits- I've made some edits and expanded some points for clarity, to also recognise the spectrum of OC behaviour, and to spell out OCD closer to the start after I realised that I didn't spell out the acronym until much later on and that was part of the problem.
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