[FrogZ]

I am on my third day of quitting computer games cold-turkey.
This is the second or maybe third time trying to quit, and I'm just looking for some people to talk to.

I played a lot of a Civilization – that's the one that is like crack for me. But I also played a fair amount of Eve (a mmorpg). I quit that one earlier last year after having just thrown down a bunch of cash on multiple memberships.

I have played games since before I was in college. (I'm a married adult now.)
This is a long-established pattern that I'm hoping to break. I hate to think of how many years of my life I have wasted on these games. Literally years.

They are really insidiously destructive in a way that is much easier to hide than gambling or alcoholism or whatever – because the main thing that is destroyed is just time. They are a vampire that sucks away time you are never going to get back. And what you achieve is nothing. Some high score that means nothing to anyone.

The cost is your career, your marriage, time with your kids, time you could have spent making or maintaining friendships, helping out in your community, learning new skills, being physically fit, etc, etc.

I am really trying to break this cycle for the last time. I made a note of the day I stopped playing, and I'm going to try to make that the last day I ever play.

That said, I have no one to talk to about this. Wife is not supportive (relationship kind of went down the tubes a long time ago.) I am not very religious, and looking for help from a church group really weirds me out.

I am really just looking to share my experience with others who are doing the same. I hope you will share how it's going for you, and maybe we can try to get through this together.

I am on day 3 ("sober" - really need a better word for it)

I don't feel better. I feel worse. But I understand this is pretty normal when people are trying to quit something.

How is it going for you?

[FrogZ]

Day four of being "unhooked".

I found out I am going to be having shoulder surgery, and I'm feeling some anxiety about it.
Would really like to just play a game to take my mind off things, but I am going to tough it out.

[FrogZ]

Finished writing a book I was working on. Decided I could take a day off today and was really attempted to play.

Then I realized it will be 10 days "unhooked" if I hold out one more day.
Going for 20.

[connect.the.stars]

Hey FrogZ,

Thank you for posting this. It resonates with me as well.

I'm wondering how you are doing? Would make me happy to hear a status update.

[doyoutrustme]

Originally Posted by FrogZ

The cost is your career, your marriage, time with your kids, time you could have spent making or maintaining friendships, helping out in your community, learning new skills, being physically fit, etc, etc.

I think it's great that you are working on this. It's a real problem. There is a void to fill when you cut something out of your life. Have you tried working on the above things? It sounds like therapy, and couples counseling would be a good way to start getting things back on track.

Don't know how old your kids are, but try to engage them as well.

[JosephR]

Not sure is welcome or a help. But I liked their vid on humane design, My solution to gaming addiction was learning to make cg art. its productive at least.

[OliverRaw]

When I was younger I had an MMO addiction (Lineage 2, WoW). I kind of like gave up on life and did nothing except for gaming. But later I bought a guitar and started playing, formed a band and got some gigs. It really helped me with fighting the addiction. I believe, that finding a hobby is the best way to stop gaming.

[JosephR]

Right now my cycle is I spent 6-10 weeks learning and burning out on CG and then I'll geek out for a week or two on mmo's. Then its back to learning CG again.

[coffeebuzzbuzz]

I didn't even know we had this sub forum. I was an mmo addict, but can now say I only play occasionally. I steer clear of the one that ruined me--WoW. Three years wasted. I play modded Minecraft now. I would rather do crafts or get back into music, but money is tight. I do get my housework done and meals for the family made every day. As well as spend the majority of my day playing with my 9 month old. Even though I still play sometimes, I consider myself not addicted. I don't feel that need to game. I just wish my bf felt the same, but that's a whole different story.

[phrag]

I guess im lucky in that aspect. Back in high school i think, or last year of primary school (in australia) i was so invested in runescape, i had sicks days from school to play all day. I look back now and an pretty disappointed in younger me.

Nowadays, games barely hold my attention for 3 or 4 weeks. Before I get bored or disinterested.

Recently got back into playing WoW with some friends for a few hours after work 3 or 4 days a week. Reinstalled Witcher 3. 50 hours on first play through and that was it. Left it alone for 3-4 months. Fallout New Vegas o reinstalled. 170 hours since it was released.

I switch betwee 4 or 5 games, and often find myself sitting there not doing anything. Waiting,wonderimg what i should play. They barely hold my interest now. And that sucks. Because it distracts me from real life.

[phrag]

Originally Posted by phrag

I guess im lucky in that aspect. Back in high school i think, or last year of primary school (in australia) i was so invested in runescape, i had sicks days from school to play all day. I look back now and an pretty disappointed in younger me.

Nowadays, games barely hold my attention for 3 or 4 weeks. Before I get bored or disinterested.

Recently got back into playing WoW with some friends for a few hours after work 3 or 4 days a week. Reinstalled Witcher 3. 50 hours on first play through and that was it. Left it alone for 3-4 months. Fallout New Vegas o reinstalled. 170 hours since it was released.

I switch betwee 4 or 5 games, and often find myself sitting there not doing anything. Waiting,wonderimg what i should play. They barely hold my interest now. And that sucks. Because it distracts me from real life.

When i say I'm lucky, its because depression has sapped away my interest im everything. Its a blessing and a curse.

I used to be so addicted to wow back in my high school and early adult years that all I did was go to school, play wow, and occasionally lurk 4chan. In fact, right before I quit and sold my account, I had a 5x Gladiator account and I used to be in a top 500 US raiding guild so that should tell you how bad I was. I also had hundreds of dollars invested into gaming hardware including a $120 gaming mouse which has 17 buttons and I had 30 keybindings and I sold wow gold during my high school years for money since I had issues holding a regular job due to my mental health issues.

Now days I do some casual mmo gaming (mostly pvp) and I play some Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, and Steam games mainly. I can stop gaming at any time which is good.

Still though, I regret being so involved in that game. While I have a lot of memories that I cherished, I missed out on a lot of other things in life. I guess that I felt so worthless due to emotional abuse from my family and being bullied at school that I relied on wow to make me feel superior due to my skill and time that I put into that game.

[10yrsgone]

Since this is a topic that deals with gaming addictions, I wanted to ask if my situation was normal or an extreme example:

I find myself all-nighting video games far too often. This does not affect my daily life as I always do it when I know I have nothing pressing the next day. But it happens quite a bit. My parents (yeah, I still live with them) always shake their heads when they find me heading to bed at 6 AM at age 25. But it's no big deal to me. I have nothing going on that day anyway, why should it matter?

I am huge into two things: "action RPG" games (such as Bethesda games like Skyrim & Fallout as well as stuff like Mass Effect and The Witcher) and sports game franchise modes (as I love to build sports teams).

This issue has not affected me financially apart from adding more games to my backlog. There are games I buy either cheap or on sale and only open when I "feel like it". And it's sad to say I buy games and barely play them. This is also an issue with DVD's and Blu-rays as I have a collection of over 500 so "bargain hunting" for these games and movies has become as much of a hobby/collection as something I watch or play.

That, and I currently own seven consoles: a PS4, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox, Wii U and GameCube (not counting Mac and PC games --- I have a Mac Pro tower computer with Bootcamp that I occasionally play Steam games on).

Despite this I try to save money as much as possible so I have not let this habit become too excessive. However, some days I look at the stuff I own and wonder what huge thing I could have bought had I saved my money, and how I'll feel when these media formats inevitably become obsolete.

Anyway...I don't know if this exemplifies an addiction or something fairly normal, but I try to let my all-night sessions not get in the way of my social life or work habits. Then again, I've been single for three years and post on this site (no offense intended) so that explains a bit more...