Reasons to stay?

[Lisa Bennert]

Have any of you ever seriously considered leaving the game but eventually decided against it? If so, what was your reason?

For context: My (mental) Health has been really declining lately and whenever something disappointing happens in the Sim I just feel like quitting it all because I won't reach the Goals I once had here anyway. I still love most aspects of the game and of Course everyone at some Point thinks About quitting, but it's just been a lot more lately, so.. idk, would really like to hear from some of you.

Lisa

[Nena Olson]

Yea, I have. Its very hard for me not to have horses that make me excited sometimes so I have only raced a select few with hopes to spark my inspiration again. This seems pretty reasonable that I would feel this eventually as I have been playing since 2006. It was bound to happen! Especially when people I were close to stopped really being active/chatting. I blame AIM vanishing honestly...

My suggestion... take a step back, only race a few horses and take time to really recollect yourself. Set small goals, like winning a stakes race... having a horse break a maiden, etc. until you feel ready to add more to your plate!

[Rochelle Bos]

When my postpartum depression was out of control I was struggled hard with wanting to leave, the biggest thing that kept me here was the good people. Another reason, I took a step back. I used to be SO active, had my hand in everything. I named horses, I made stud ads, I trained horses for people, I did everything no one else wanted to do. Last year I wrote the max number of articles you can write in a year, that almost killed me! I still do those things, when people ask, but I don’t advertise and have stressful waiting lists.

This year I’m relaxing, trying to stay out of the drama. I’ve only been in chat for Live Calls. Sometimes I write a forum post and have to delete it before I hit submit. “Relax, it’s a game. Play for you. Move on.”

Another thing that REALLY helped was going through my horses. I had never realized how many had hit 100k+ in earnings! And more than I would have guessed were running 100% on the board, even if it was just in non stakes races. It made me realize I *do* have nice horses, they may not be guaranteed to win every time they grace the race track with their presence, but they make me happy!

I’ve also been trying to focus on the good in each situation. For example, I was hoping to beat my TP stats this year, that was a goal I had set for myself, though It doesn’t look like it will happen. I have been taking more risks with my horses, and because of that I’ve won 3 G1 races this year! Those risks have cause my stakes win% to be lower than last year, but my OTB% is up quite a bit!

So, yeah...I’ve been playing my own game, against myself, and ignoring what’s going on in other people’s barns (which is SUPER hard lol). Trying to find joy in the little things.

I hope you stay

[Dylan Christensen]

I hit a spot in life and this game where my mental state was at a really horrible spot. I let a lot of people down here on the SIM and every little thing that went wrong brought me down more. One day I just decided my stable and life was going to start being better so I set my mind to it and it happened. I'm not saying that'll work for everyone but when I set my mind to one thing in something as small as this game it seemed a lot turned around for me. In and out of the game.

[Regina Moore]

I've never thought about leaving the SIM, but as one who plays all divisions, I have thought about leaving specific divisions because any kind of success was/is so hard to come by. Not surprisingly, what I have found is that things are cyclical. I sometimes take steps to do something different in a troublesome division, sometimes just keep doing the same thing, and eventually a big horse comes along in that division.

The closest I came to genuinely quitting was trotters. Then, in Year 44, after being in SIM some 20 game years, one of my "allowance" yearlings turned freak at mid year. I'd had of freaks before, and in that division at that time, it didn't necessarily mean anything as far as having a top horse. But that boy eventually won the breed's Triple Crown and earned over $3 million. That's why I never actually leave a division.

I also agree with Dylan and others that attitude (the point of view one chooses to have) means more than anything. And not just in the SIM. That's the single most important thing I've learned from being on this Earth for 58 years.

[Stormy Peak]

I struggle with 24/7 back pain, and also depression that fluctuates from very low to almost a normal emotional level. The constant pain is a large part of my depression, but sometimes things happen in life that really sink me down to the bottom of that well.

The Sim sometimes brings me down, when I can't seem to get at least 1 really nice horse from every crop...and I've gone a few Sim years where that hasn't happened, then I'll get 3 or 4 that do great and yeah, it brings the interest back into the game.

I have only once, seriously thought about quitting, but for me, I think the Sim offers me a chance to immerse myself into something that allows me to take a break from real-life issues...even if it's only for a short time. And in the past year...my real life issues have been an utter horror show. I was glad to have this place as a place to go to just not have to think about everything that has gone wrong in real life and to just take my mind off of things for a little bit.

Stormy

[Lee Tuttle]

I tend to work an excessive amount of hours.
With that interest gets low and the drudge of reentering takes a toll.
For me the worst is the beginning of the season when you have to get hundreds re entered. It's the only part of the sim that I absolutely detest.
It's caused me to skip the first half of multiple seasons.

Three things that always bring me back:
1) I have a few low end stakes running guys that I want to keep entered.
2) The hope of some higher rated youngsters.
3) The person running the sim is an absolute sweetheart. I'm sure Em is a big reason that most of us stick around.

[Brad Fabman]

I agree about the start of a new year. All the entering that needs to be done is a huge drag. But once it's done, whew, let's get rolling. And my stable stumbles mightily the first 3 week every new year. I haven't figured out why. Bottom line, are you enjoying it? Having fun? That will determine what you should do.

[Cleo Patra]

I tried to quit once in year 29. Em stepped in and talked me through it. I was having a bit of a rough time of it in real life so when the SIM also kicked me while I was down, I threw a tantrum. Em helped me downsize by selling all of my Paints and whittled down my Thoroughbreds to the ones I enjoyed racing. That resulted in my current focus on dirt and turf routers, even though I also had a fairly solid group of turf sprinters and paints at one point. I found sticking to just two divisions made it easy to keep up.

It can definitely help to take a break. These days it’s super easy just to throw everything except a couple of fun ones in a lease auction. That way you can have a solid break from the game without losing too much headway.

[The Steward]

Not a reason to stay (or leave), although I know all about mental problems taking its toll and if you want to talk about that some time, I'm here!

That said, just because you think a horse wants 1 1/4+ doesn't mean they actually do. I'd take her back to 1 1/8 and see what happens

[Sten Rino Haakonsen]

Yeah I have also had thoughts of ending things with the SIM basicly because I don't think I am doing as well as I should be which is kind of silly as I am not doing that badly but I feel that I suck at breeding sometimes which easily can make me wanna give up usually don't last very long though and I am still here

[Lisa Bennert]

Thank you all for the replies! Guess it's a Topic many of us contemplate About when Things get Rough.

I did cut back my starts almost by half from two SIm years ago by Leasing out racers, which definitely helped making entering feel like less of a burden. But then the two year old prospects came along and Maybe the entries getting back up just make me more stressed again. I'll definitely try to have a leasing auction next year and sell a few off, hopefully the horses will be picked up

Guess most of the Frustration Comes from racing and breeding TBs, it just feels like mine are Always coming up short whenever there's one I have hope for, for the last 5 1/2 years. Probably now with my real life issues I just can't handle any added Frustration, which is why I'm Feeling like this. I'll give it another try for the next few weeks, see how everything develops. Thanks again for everyone sharing their thoughts, hope you all had a nice Christmas and get well into the new year

Lisa

[Lisa Bennert]

Not a reason to stay (or leave), although I know all about mental problems taking its toll and if you want to talk about that some time, I'm here!

That said, just because you think a horse wants 1 1/4+ doesn't mean they actually do. I'd take her back to 1 1/8 and see what happens

Thank you. I hope Treatment I'll start in January will help.

I think I know which horse you're Talking About and in that case, that was my plan with her, just haven't settled on a specific race yet

[Tammy Stawicki]

Guess most of the Frustration Comes from racing and breeding TBs, it just feels like mine are Always coming up short whenever there's one I have hope for, for the last 5 1/2 years. Probably now with my real life issues I just can't handle any added Frustration, which is why I'm Feeling like this. I'll give it another try for the next few weeks, see how everything develops. Thanks again for everyone sharing their thoughts, hope you all had a nice Christmas and get well into the new year

I can say I'm right there with you on the frustration of TBs. I've certainly had some nice ones through the year but I feel like I can never get a consistent breeding operation going. To me transitioning more and more to mixers have helped. Without stewardbreds it is a lot more of a level playing field and I've managed to build a really nice group of mares I'm happy with. I still do some thoroughbreds but I lease A LOT of mares every year and have very low expectations there.

[Noel Collins]

So I did quit the game. I was gone for many years and then one day just wandered back. I missed it. Since then I have gone a bit of it of my way to refine and revitalize the bloodlines I was developing. I also have in my pasture one of my first home red studs. He likes to bite. I had friends on here who without asking grabbed my best horses and kept them. Luckily my boy was aging out his days still. Most were gone.
I’m going through a real life hellhole this last year and the sim has become my brain break. I really don’t have much for goalsin here though besides stayin the black. Win a race occasionally, breed something nice, etc.