If you could go back in time...

lawl this thread has emo all written over it AND IT'S YOUR FAULT, MINOS!

p.s.: I don't have a lame thing like a mapping "career". not even in "".

Amen Mino, sadly the spending more time in my room then outside got me a job =\ in some ways im thankful for that but also a little pissed i didn't get more time to been a typical teenage.

Obv. i still go out for a drinky winky but i can't do it all week and get up in the afternoon anymore. Just a sad part of growing up i guess...just wait till you have to start making noises when you sit down or stand up.

But hey new things to look forward to...wife and kids etc \o/

For better or worse, every decision big (career choices, relationships) and small (hitting snooze, choosing a seat on the bus) causes slight chnages in our life that add up to the sum total of our experiences. I wouldn't change something in the past because there i no way to say life would or would not be better one way or the other. The best you can do is live and enjoy the ride.

yea but, you cannot change it anway. and thinking about it may only make you slightly depressed and sad. so why bother.

maybe I should have stuck to unreal mapping, I dunno. I never had the money to keep up with the games anyway (read as: to buy the newest and fanciest gpu out there to play the same shitty game on a new engine).

That's why I don't have a map in my signature

Mino I get the seriousness of this thread and it is a valid question.

First off, Fletch has a valid point but let me take it a step further. Consider that everything in your life happens for a reason, and even further, consider you are the cause of it all, good and bad whether you are aware of it or not.

My sense is that you are not currently happy with the way something is in your life, and you are looking back witih regret. I suggest you forgive yourself for whatever in your past you regret. Take it from me, I have made some serious FUBARS of bad choises in my life but I have forgiven myself. I can't take anything back, but I know now that I can move forward and make positive progress no matter what.

I know I am being a little vague and "new-agy" but there really is something to the notion of your attitude and perspective. Lot's of people have turned around careers, education performance, quality of relationships etc by self examining their attitudes.

As for mapping, try measuring it by how much you are enjoying it, not just by the results. If you are enjoying it and feeling good, that will be apparent in other areas of your life and maybe even catch the eye of the ladies.

Well, I would've spent more time building up a portfolio, making something decent and making an active effort to get a job; than being a complete dick on Internet forums (sorry!).

But I wouldn't have decided to be more outgoing than working on level design. It's what I'd always wanted to do since I was a kid, and I feel good that I'm doing it 'for real.' It's very geeky, but who cares? Doing what I want is more important, and now I have free time for other things.* Mind you, I've always had friends who were into the same kind of thing, and I didn't spend all (though a lot) of my time getting a vdu-tan.

[* And I say that after raiding Naxxaramus in World of Warcraft until 1am, yelling on ventrilo for people to "fucking AoE the damn bugs." Go me.]

Hell, computers are cool now anyway.

One thing I would have changed about my mapping, is creating backups (and by doing that I would setup the backup process to backup other important files). I just lost all of my map sources and other important files when my 80GB WD crashed.

Kids, backup your maps.

I for one would spend more time mapping and less time with people who I later realized were not that great and were infact jerks :\

Or I would make better friends

one additional question for you mino....is the problem that you aren't getting quality feedback on your stuff? are you showing what you've done to people who can help you improve? I've had a lot of help over the years from good people.

Arent you 19 or 20 minos? The best years of your life are not puberty

Anyways its good to be unhappy about the past/present, it makes you want to change.

Well, given that my site entry pretty much started this then I guess you know how I feel. However with my mapping it all started as being 100% fun, but when I reached the point where I realized I wasn't totally shite anymore it also became sort of an investment, where I knew spending time on creating some quality stuff would help me further down the road. Where as my friends from school are now going through long ass university education where the wont see much money for the next 5 years, I'm already doing what I want and making pretty nice cash on it as well. However I guess this is ultimately the downside, since in some ways I haven't used the time very well, and those apparently wild teenage years are somewhat nowhere to be seen. Still, this thing I got going is pretty damn nice

But yeah, as Fletch and Izu said, just accept your choices and learn from them if you regret them. Certainly sounds like you want to do something else, and maybe its just best to find something that you find more pleasure in while you still got your entire life in front of you.

~

There is only one thing I would do. Travel to August 19, 2004 and spend every dollar I had on Google Stock.

I don't regret anything really, everything happens for a reason.

Exactly what you said yourself minos. I stayed home in front of my computer for years, nothing but mapping and such. I started to go at gym and i got girl for myself, i'm still with her. I'm still having problems with the fat i gained during those years, but hey, i loved my worst nerd years. I should've have a hobby back then, that's what i regret.

Now i actually have a life too