Online game helping with recouperation
Having suffered a (minor) stroke a few months ago, I was faced with a period of downtime while I worked myself back to reasonable health.
There's only so much rubbish daytime TV I can cope with, and I have found reading difficult to focus on. A friend recommended that I try playing games online, to help with concentration, coordination, etc. At first I was sceptical as I had heard that these games are just an excuse to extract cash from willing participants, but I tried anyway. I tried with the usual puzzle/problem type games like Candy crush, etc. but didn't get any real progress with those. Then I stumbled on a MMORPG game.
This game has really changed my perspective and really helped with relaxation, focus and concentration. It's also helped return some sense of achievement and progress.
The game itself is a MMORPG. Which means lots of people getting together in the same game world over the internet. On the surface it looks like one of those fantasy games where everyone is fighting monsters (or each other), but this game has much more to offer. Your character has several different areas where they can develop and progress.
As well as the fighting side, you can learn to craft items which you can then 'sell' to other players in the market; You can spend time collecting raw materials, and later refining those materials (again to sell in the marketplace); You can 'buy' a piece of land and farm all sorts of things from crops and herbs, to animal rearing; And you can build houses on the land and hire labourers to earn silver (the in-game currency) on your behalf while you're not playing. There's even a mini-game involving fishing - something I find enjoyable even though it's online.
The purpose is to develop your characters skills and fame, and to gain silver, which, unlike other games I have looked at, you can spend to buy "Premium" status for your character rather than spending real money! This is the only game I have found where your efforts in the game are rewarded in the real-world rather than you having to spend your own cash to get the extras.
Anyway, I highly recommend this game to everyone.
It's really helped improve my mental health.
I'm not sure what the rules are regarding outside links on this forum. If anyone is interested either message me and I'll send you a link to the game, or if someone can confirm that it's ok for me to post a link publicly then I'll follow this post with a link for others to follow.