A little more about my interests

NAS22687 said:

That's an interesting point: I hate feeling under pressure to make a quick decision and when forced to do so it's inevitably random and chaotic rather than well-planned.  I guess it's not surprising that I'm not so good at interactive conversation either.  That timed chess game (I forget what it's called) sounds like real nightmare material: I don't know chess, but I do know from computer games that timed missions are among my least favourites, only coming second to the infamous escort quest (where the escortee is inevitably an idiot, very vulnerable and prone to bolting off somewhere).  I would describe that as being a classic Aspie thing, but NT people seem to generally dislike the same stuff too, perhaps except for the really competitive types.

Hmmm...I dunno, I mean we are told Aspie kids can spends hours and hours playing video games but maybe that's because it gets more predictable the longer you play them.

I know what you mean about being timed though; I can't stand trying to complete something when I'm being timed because of the pressure and it just puts me off so much. That's why I'm no good at exams - I would always be thinking about how much time I had left instead of focussing on the questions.

I consider myself a 'slow thinker' because I like to look at all aspects of a situation before committing myself and if I'm rushed I feel I might have missed something quite important. It might be a kind of fear I suppose, maybe a form of OCD? 

That's an interesting point: I hate feeling under pressure to make a quick decision and when forced to do so it's inevitably random and chaotic rather than well-planned.  I guess it's not surprising that I'm not so good at interactive conversation either.  That timed chess game (I forget what it's called) sounds like real nightmare material: I don't know chess, but I do know from computer games that timed missions are among my least favourites, only coming second to the infamous escort quest (where the escortee is inevitably an idiot, very vulnerable and prone to bolting off somewhere).  I would describe that as being a classic Aspie thing, but NT people seem to generally dislike the same stuff too, perhaps except for the really competitive types.

Paddy, I have played online chess and particulary online 'postal chess' where you are given up to several days to make a move. I enjoy this form of chess because there isn't the pressure to make a move within minutes which I find suits me as it gives plenty of time for deep thought without the sensory overload.

Funnily enough, I have just started two postal chess games on a well known international chess site and look forward to discovering what my opponents' moves are.  

There's plenty of Android chess apps. too, which prove useful for studying chess. I sometimes go to my local library with my cell phone with me and set up positions from a chess book and go through the lesson that I happen to be on that day. 

Personally I don't play any games. I can't cope with even the simplest ones. I can't mentally process rules, strategies, tactics.

I find that I have a bit of a carousel of interests: I'll tend to be interested to the point of obsession with one particular thing, then another, and another in sequence; but I don't actually really ever get bored of any of them and will come back to them again sooner or later.  I guess I'm a sort of "non-committal obsessive"!

Regarding games, I've never really been one for board-games, although I think at least part of that is that I'm also not extremely good at them.  But I do like computer games a lot (in spite of typically not being much good at them either); the similarity is that I also like playing against the computer and don't really appreciate it when a game tries to shunt me into a multi-player environment, even if I can potentially ignore other people being around.  It just makes me uncomfortable, I don't really like being observed either IRL or as a virtual avatar.

Hi Aspergerix,

I find it's a little of both reasons. I have no offline friends to play face to face against, and, most of the time I find it difficult to relate to others online(especially if they act in a silly way), so then I tend to play multiplayer games alone too. I also don't like a lot of the griefing that goes on in multiplayer games, so that's another reason I prefer to play alone.

Hi Paddy

You mention you play against computers.

Does that mean you prefer to play against machines, or that you have no humans to play against so the only alternative is to play against machines ?