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Caffeine, you and gaming

Hotlead JunkieHotlead Junkie Registered User regular
edited February 2008 in Games and Technology
Simple question, do you drink caffeine or not, and does it effect your gameplay? I do physically require a glass of diet coke in the morning or else I'll be sluggish, have no energy and end up with a headache within a few hours but luckily my body only requires that amount to be happy for the day, I'm not constantly downing it.

Now I'v just put two and two together and realised I have a physical need for caffeine and constantly play demanding button bashers as I have no problem hammering out combos and making split desicisons but have trouble thinking more than a few steps ahead than what is happening at that very moment. I can easily handle an intense, balls to the wall fight but anything along the lines of an RTS where I have to plan several steps in advance I have trouble.

I don't drink caffeine to game, only in the morning and if I really need to stay awake to do something, but how do you handle it and what games do you play?

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Posts

  • Mr_GrinchMr_Grinch Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I can't drink caffeine, I recently had a severe bout of headaches and then they went away. Then I had trouble getting to sleep of an evening, I'd be awake till about 3am till I finally dropped off. The doctor suggested cutting caffeine out before going to bed, so I cut it completely for a bit and it worked.

    I then went to the pub with some mates one afternoon on my break from lunch and grabbed a coke. Throughout the rest of the afternoon I had a pounding headache. Same thing happened a few days later when I did the same again.

    Turns out caffeine now gives me pounding, incredibly painful headaches and keeps me awake at night so I can't touch the stuff.

    And thus ends Mr_Grinch's boring post about his life!

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  • urahonkyurahonky Cynical Old Man Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I don't drink a LOT of caffeine unless I'm doing an all-nighter. If I have too much I start to get shakey and it's hard for me to aim if I'm playing a FPS. But a cup of coffee about 5pm lasts me all night without all the jitters.

    urahonky on
  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Well, in all honesty having insomnia means I generally don't need or should drink them, but I drink BooKoo Engery drinks.
    They taste better than others, and have a good amount of caffeine. I do find that when I have them I tend to pay better attention to the game, but I always get more frustrated when I lose/ die.
    It's really not a great idea, since I spill alot when playing games (can near my feet+ kicking= sticky mess).
    Oh well.
    It's good, try it.bookoo.jpg

    Local H Jay on
  • SzechuanosaurusSzechuanosaurus Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2008
    I drink a steady flow of coffee all day until a last order cut-off around 3pm when working.

    Then it's a 4 hour break before I hit the whiskey for a couple of hours whilst playing games before bed. It's all about balance.

    I guess I'll drink coffee while playing games during the day at the weekend. I really need one or two cups a day otherwise I'll have bad headaches, but the rest is a sometimes I will, sometimes I won't sort of thing. It's not inextricably linked with gaming. In fact, if I'm gaming or working hard, I'll probably forget to make myself any coffee or not drink it even if I have a mug sitting there.

    Szechuanosaurus on
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I have a Frappuchino in the morning, and on Tues/Thurs when I have to wake up at 6:30 while still going to sleep around 12:00 I normally have a Caramel Latte around 11:00 or 11:30.

    Yes I know, I drink gay drinks.

    They're so tasty though.

    Evenings/gaming time are Diet Coke or Diet Coke + Rum/Vodka


    I used to not drink coffee and then I started living life as a musician. I got hooked quickly.

    Khavall on
  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I drink a *lot* of matcha tea. I find it gives a more steady sustained boost than coffee or soft drinks

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  • HallowedFaithHallowedFaith Call me Cloud. Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    When the light breaks the darkness, I wander to Starbucks and get a Quad shot Venti Latte to start the day off. I will usually have another before noon hits. Through out the day I'll throw down a couple of 24oz energy drinks. I think I am so use to caffeine right now that it doesn't really make an impact on my gaming.

    I'm going to die a painful, kidney-stone passing death.

    HallowedFaith on
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  • jeddy leejeddy lee Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I drink a LOT of diet soda. Generally Fred Meyers/Wal Mart Knock off.

    I've also been drinking coffee since the age of three, so coffee is a staple of my diet.

    All in all, I would say on the weekends I drink less coffee than the weekdays, but I drink it at night to stay up, I only need coffee if I force myself awake, IE every day of work. When I wake up naturally, I don't need it to function. When I got a lot of gaming ahead of me, I like to run to holiday and get a burger and some coffee, can't beat it...

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  • EvangirEvangir Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I start drinking coffee first thing in the morning, and don't end until a couple hours before I go to sleep. My ability to play games is completely dependent on that wonderful black substance. I've tried without coffee before. Not only do my hands shake, but my hand-eye coordination and planning abilities completely disappear.

    No, it's not healthy. I really don't care.

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  • reddogreddog The Mountain Brooklyn, NYRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I normally have a large coffee from the cart dude before work (best coffee ever, in my opinion) and maybe a diet coke around 5pm as my day winds down in the office.

    I usually just drink green tea or water while gaming. If I do go for a long night of gaming, then i'll have a Monster drink (the blue one is my fav), diet coke, tea with caffeine or mountain dew.

    I try not to drink a lot of caffeine. I used to drink a lot of it in college, coffee mainly, but then I would get headaches if I didn't have any. Now i'm just good with my one coffee in the morning and i'm set. :)

    reddog on
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  • cr0wcr0w Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2008
    I've got a dependence on caffeine. If I don't have any within an hour or so of waking, I get a migraine. This stems from the fact that from the age of 16 until about last year (I'm 27), I drank about 5-7 Cokes a day. Working retail for that long, especially during Christmas and such, I just needed a steady flow of caffeine to do, well, anything. Then I started noticing my heartbeat acting weird, especially when I would lay down to go to sleep. One extra, really hard beat in between normal beats. Other stuff, like not sleeping well and things like that led me to cut down drastically on my intake. Now I usually have a soda in the morning and one in the afternoon and that helps me with the headaches. I'll have the occasional Monster or whatnot in the morning because waking up at 6 am to drive my route for about 8-9 hours is hard enough to deal with without some sort of boost. I'm nowhere near as bad as I used to be, though.

    cr0w on
  • LunkerLunker Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    mycoffeecommercialqj1.gif

    Whenever I have a day off from work during the week (comp time for shit hours), I have a pretty steady ritual: Drop my wife off at work (since we share one car and she typically drops me off at a park-and-ride), then on my way back swing by a local bagel shop for a ham-and-egg sandwich and a huge cup of hazelnut coffee. I come home, plop myself on the couch and fire up an hour or two of gaming.

    On a somewhat related tangent, I've found that certain games can actually help my brain wake up in the morning akin to a cup of coffee. Tetris DS, for example -- it swear it gets my brain moving while on the bus ride to work, and after 45 minutes of nonstop frantic Push mode or Vs. mode I'm far more awake and alert.

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  • Kay2Kay2 Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I tend towards a latté at breakfast, a hazelnut latté at lunchtime, then I do my best to avoid the metric asstons of strong black nectar that my housemate seems to habitually make constantly between the hours of 6pm and midnight. Though if I'm playing anything competitive in the afternoon/evening, I might partake in a cup.

    But coffee. Just before bed? What?

    Kay2 on
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I drink about 4 cans of soda a day. Sometimes 5, but I've been trying to limit it. I'm not reliant on it, I just enjoy it. If I run out of soda (I only buy 12-packs when they are on a good sale - 4 for $10 or $11 or better) then I go without until another sale comes along. I don't really get caffeine headaches if I don't drink it, which is good.
    If given the option, I would drink multiple 2 liters of Pepsi a day, just because I like it. Fortunately the rational side of my brain doesn't allow me to do this.

    As far as gaming, I'll drink a soda while I'm gaming, but it's just casual, not required to up my game or anything.

    For overnighters, I drink Bawls. Which I have no found in Target, no less, in 16oz cans (vs. 10oz glass bottles - which are so much cooler) and only $1.50 or something like that vs. $2.30 for the bottles from 7-11. Bawls and Monster (works better than Bawls, but will tear me up later for it - Bawls is gentle) are the two energy drinks that really keep me up and alert. None of the others really has as much of an effect on me for some reason.

    ArcSyn on
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  • VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    My soda consumption is a 24 ounce bottle of Pepsi at lunch, which I continue to sip until 5 when it's usually gone and work is over. After work at home I get 1, sometimes 2 and occasionally 3, cans of Pepsi and I have no problem getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep. I feel no extra or less energy from the soda and I only drink it because its the easiest and cheapest thing to drink that also tastes good.

    I do get headaches occasionally if I don't get my soda, but they are usually a small dull pain that is easily ignored.

    As for games, I'll play anything from fighters to racing games to RTS to FPS to RPG. I will play anything that is interesting in the slightest.

    Veevee on
  • Hotlead JunkieHotlead Junkie Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Also, I'd like to know what kind of games you guys prefer too as well as your java habits, see if there is any correlation between drinking habits and gaming

    Hotlead Junkie on
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  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I usually have something going when I'm playing a game, but usually just a coke. I like Red Bull, Jolt, Bawls, and Full Throttle, but too much caffeine makes me jittery. I'll switch to an energy drink if I'm getting sleepy and am mid-game or at a LAN party, but between the jitters and the eventual crash, I try to avoid that. I will not, however, let a yawn at the wrong time screw up a shot and cost my team a flag cap.

    As for games, at home I play RPGs and FPS (mostly on the PC - Halo is one of the very few shooters I could play well with a controller). Once in a while, an RTS will catch my fancy, but that really hasn't happened since Warcraft III, as much as I've wanted to like some of them.

    Hevach on
  • EskimoDaveEskimoDave Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Caffeine doesn't do much for me. It takes about 2 energy drinks for me to feel something, and even then. Coffee is one of the grossest things ever. I even find the smell offensive. I did use that 5 hour all natural (caffeine free) energy shot and that really picked up me. But, as far as drinking to have energy to play games is not something I've ever had to do. I've never planned all night gaming sessions. Once I'm tired I just save up and go to bed. Except when I played WoW, I'd always stay up later than I wanted to when raiding. Gotta get them purples!

    I drink a lot of juice though. The healthy kind too!

    EskimoDave on
  • QuizMasterQuizMaster Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Do I drink caffeine to game? Meh, not really. Like I've never bought a 6 or 12-pack, with the intention to drink most/all of it while gaming.
    However, if I know I'll be gaming all night, then I sometimes make the effort to walk to a fairly distant gas station for a big slurpee and back. The exercise does me good, especially if I know I'm going to be inactive later.
    In closing, I don't like coffee, and I've never tried energy drinks.

    QuizMaster on
  • arod_77arod_77 __BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2008
    I like cranberry juice and vodka

    arod_77 on
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  • fragglefartfragglefart Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Caffeine for work.

    Alcohol for gaming.

    fragglefart on
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  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I drink caffeine to live. Pepsi is really all I drink.

    If I go more than a day without it, I start to get bad headaches. So I'm pretty sure that's from the caffeine. Funny enough, I have a bad headache, as soon as I take a swig of Pepsi, it's the equivalent of lifting an anvil off my head.

    UnbreakableVow on
  • LunkerLunker Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Caffeine for work.

    Alcohol for gaming.

    Though the opposite works just as well!

    Lunker on
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  • SlagmireSlagmire Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I used to drink a lot of coke and other soda, but I knew it wasn't the way to go because of hypertension and added weight. Water is now my common drink and I've lost around twenty pounds thanks to it and more activity. Still let one slip by or have a beer on occasion though.

    Slagmire on
  • Lucky CynicLucky Cynic Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Top of the Page!

    I don't do caffeine. Coffee in the morning, and then whenever I get tired during those long nights, I do a good couple pushups and I am good for another hour.

    Lucky Cynic on
  • arod_77arod_77 __BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2008
    some of you fuckers are going to die in 5 years

    arod_77 on
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  • HaterotHaterot Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    OOO a Half a pot of Coffee a day which lasts me till noon then probably about 4 .5 liter Coke Zero's and probably a cup of coffee after dinner. Caffeine, oo yeah I got that covered.

    Haterot on
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  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    arod_77 wrote: »
    some of you fuckers are going to die in 5 years

    Thanks for that message of hope.

    UnbreakableVow on
  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Caffeine for work.

    Alcohol for gaming.

    Indeed - Down a couple and then play something requiring smooth movement and focus - Burnout, Soul Calibur, etc.

    tsmvengy on
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  • kitchkitch Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I gave up soda for chai tea. The only problem is how hot the tea is, so you have to be strategic and plan out the best time to take a sip.

    kitch on
  • ben0207ben0207 Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Lunker wrote: »
    Caffeine for work.

    Alcohol for gaming.

    Though the opposite works just as well!

    Is that why your career driving a schoolbus never really took shape?



    See personally I've cut caffeine nearly totally out of my diet, and although there are no more 4AM CS:S marathons, I feel a lot better, so I guess that's an improvement. I tihnk the worst time for me was back in college I had to do a 3 month projec in the space of 3 days*, and I had already agreed to do extra shifts on all of those nights, and I still had normal college hours. So I took an awful lot of Pro-Plus. Every day. And didn't sleep for 4 nights solid.

    On the fifth day, during my shift (but after I'd handed in a damned fine project) my body entirely shut down, and I just stood at the counter with a weak grin unable to do anything. They had to send me home where I slept for 26 hours straight, suffering hideous nightmares.

    I was planning on having a funny punchline, but there really isn't one.

    ben0207 on
  • NexusSixNexusSix Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I usually do 2 cups of java in the morning before work and that's it. Three cups on Sat. and Sun. mornings or days off--I like it with the morning paper.

    I rarely drink coffee in the evening, never with gaming. For weekend gaming I'll do a couple of Red Bulls or a 16 oz. Monster (the blue: non-carb tastes a lot better) and beer. I like the combo for a long evening of gaming on Fri. or Sat. night.

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  • DaxonDaxon Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    This thread has convinced me to never get addicted to caffeine, you all sound like freakin' junkies. Now chocolate on the other hand...

    Daxon on
  • RaslinRaslin Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I work at a coffee shop. I drink coffee all day at work, and other caffinated drinks at home.

    Yet I never feel it. Too much caffine, no longer helps :(

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  • PatboyXPatboyX Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Lunker wrote: »
    Caffeine for work.

    Alcohol for gaming.

    Though the opposite works just as well!

    it works beyyer!
    I'm at work right now!

    PatboyX on
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  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    PatboyX wrote: »
    Lunker wrote: »
    Caffeine for work.

    Alcohol for gaming.

    Though the opposite works just as well!

    it works beyyer!
    I'm at work right now!

    You know what's even better?

    Alcohol for gaming
    Alcohol for work.

    Khavall on
  • meatflowermeatflower Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I work at a coffee place so when I first started working there my coffee intake went through the roof. Then I started getting the horrible withdrawal symptoms (headaches mostly) and learned why most of the other employees don't drink the stuff.

    Now I just reserve it for times when I really need a boost. Before a test, before a late night class if I'm dragging ass, or a crazy gaming session. I just don't drink it on a daily basis so I still get really nice effects from just a cup or two of the regular stuff.

    meatflower on
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  • Shady3011Shady3011 Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    No caffeine for me anymore. I'm mostly a water drinker now.

    Shady3011 on
  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Daxon wrote: »
    This thread has convinced me to never get addicted to caffeine, you all sound like freakin' junkies. Now chocolate on the other hand...

    Caffeine is a horrible addiction. I was seriously addicted in high school, and on and off ever since. It's very easy to fall into the pattern again and again and barely realize it, because caffeine is everywhere and in everything. There's a coffee pot in every damn room at work, most fast food places here have self-serve drink fountains, and even chocolate has a tiny amount. Not enough for most people to notice, but a large dark chocolate bar can be enough to give me cravings again.

    I still drink it (probably too much), but I don't keep anything in the house. I don't like coffee, so my caffeine intake is limited to my vending machine budget.

    Hevach on
  • WotanAnubisWotanAnubis Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I drink about 2 to 3 glasses of coke a day and that's about it.

    If it does have an effect on me, I don't notice it.

    WotanAnubis on
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