[CeCe333]

Final Fantasy 14 is taking over my life (has been taking over my life for the last year). It's an MMORPG with vertical progression.
Translation to non-video game terms: The game is pretty much impossible to complete and the developers are constantly coming up with new content, so even if you do manage to "complete" everything, you won't be "done" next month.

Because of this game, I've been blowing off other people to game and neglecting my work. I'm self employed and have a bit too much freedom. I think that if I had a job that I had to report to, I would still show up when I'm supposed to.

My main diagnosis is OCD. My symptoms aren't as severe as they used to be, but I still have a thing for completion. The problem with this game is that it's damn near impossible to complete but I'm trying to complete it anyway.

I feel the need to collect everything, complete every log, level up every single job to max level, etc.

A lot of long-term goals in the game can take tens or up to hundreds of hours to complete. They're meant to be long-term goals, not something that you can get done in one day. Yet once I get started on any of these things, I can't stop until it's complete. It feels more like a burden and work than a game.

The game also features certain things with a daily or weekly limit. If I miss out on anything with a limit, I feel like I'm missing out on something "unique" that I'll never be able to obtain again in the future, and I find that acceptable. So I also find the need to meet all daily and weekly caps.

So it's not exactly that I'm dependent on the game, but just that there's so much to do and I feel uncomfortable if I miss out on anything.

I mentioned this problem to my T in the past, but I didn't tell him when I relapsed. I don't want to talk about it with him again, because I hate admitting that I lied.

By the way, my T said my gaming habits were a manifestation of my OCD, and that it wouldn't exactly qualify under the definition of "addiction". Because I did mention that I don't get any withdrawal symptoms when I can't play. I just obsess over the game while I'm away.

I've quit several times over the past year (I've been playing a little over a year) and felt fine when I quit. It takes a couple weeks or so for my obsessive thoughts about things that need to be done to go away after I quit, but I seem to go back to a normal lifestyle after these couple weeks.

But when I have a bad day or something, I convince myself that I'll go back and play for a day to blow off a little steam and perhaps continue to play non-obsessively after that. And I become obsessed again and the cycle continues.

[Skeezyks]

Hello CeCe333: Hm-m-m-m... What can I say? I seem to have a similar problem... here on PC! There aren't enough hours in the day to reply to all of the Threads I want to reply to... (plus I'm not knowledgeable enough...) But I put a good dent in it. Fortunately I'm no longer employed. So I don't have to worry about neglecting my income-producing duties. Good luck with your efforts to balance your priorities.

[bizi]

How is it going?
bizi