HOW DO I SERIOUSLY GIVE UP GAMING

[Alfie321]

Hey there, I used to play videogames heavily.

Now i won't say that was not a good thing to do in my early teens. Thanks to that i learn't the internet. I learned how to speak in english and how to socialize with people who speak in english. All things that have contributed massively to my successes in life.

However, i think it has been more than 2-3 years that i stopped gaming heavily. In fact, I rarely play videogames nowadays.

For me, it was all about making my life my own videogame. The moment i saw that it felt 10x better to build your life, that was the moment i was not attracted anymore to videogames, movies or tv. This is not only habit but also emotional. If you can trigger the neurotransmitter that make you feel good when working on your business, you pretty much won the game. Make addiction work for you.

Applicable steps:

- Cut all sources of videogames
- Make yourself process oriented
- When you get your first big achievement, brag about it and feel good with yourself. This will reinforce the good chemical releases.
- Profit

 

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[TylerDurden5]

Do everything with moderation. Award yourself with some gaming after you have worked hard.

 

[ChristianGDBG]

Hi guys.. I have a real big problem. I can't do anything or finish anything unless I quit games. I know it's not a serious condition that I have, but it does get in the way with a lot of things that I do on my computer because I get way to distracted. I end up playing 1 game then another then another......again and again. It's really just frustrating at the end of it all. I realize I haven'y gotten anything done at all. And minutes of gaming have become hours and it's really depressing.

I'm not trying to limit myself to a few hours a week/day/month, but I'm trying to quit for good. I know there are those out there that play games and are successful, but I really just want to get gaming out of my life.

If you guys are wondering whether I have a gaming console or a pc, I have a pc. That's why it gets in the way so much because since I'm using my computer to play games, I can't seperate it and I end up gaming because I see it on my desktop.

I want to thank everyone and anyone who helps me overcome this. There are many things that I can do in my life and I don't want it to rot away because I simply couldn't resist my urge. Any ideas and tips would be super helpful.

Thank you again.

Buy a macbook pro and sell your pc. You’ll only be able to do work

My questions to you are:
How serious are you about quitting gaming?

What emotions are you using gaming to numb?/ Why triggers you to game(despite the obvious “seeing the icons”)?

If you let go of your gaming obsession, how can you replace that obsession towards something productive? /What can you obsess over instead of gaming?

If you do coaching, you might get to the depth of why you’re needing to game in first place.

I used to game in teen years, it was an escape from the family dynamics. Now I’ve delt with the dynamics (more or less), and because I’ve confronted my stuff, I don’t need the gaming. I killed the obsession of needing that escape, because I don’t need to escape anymore.

What’s making you uncomfortable?

 

[xy2_]

I can help with this.

1. Get in the car
2. Go to the hardware store
3. Buy a good size hammer... at least 22 ounces. A 32 ounce ball pin hammer preferably.
4. Go home
5. Smash all of the games, game consoles and controllers into a pile of plastic.
6. Sell your PC and get a mac or surface because I have heard they suck at games.
7. Take a picture of the smashed up shit, post it here, and I will give you $2000 of my rep points. Post a video and Ill give you $3000.
8. Continue to impress and achieve here instead of games.
9. Don't buy any more games.

I took up your advice, @Kak:

All of my consoles went through this, you get the idea. Here's the result:

 

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[xy2_]

Can a single post change the trajectory of your life? Maybe @Kak's post did.

So it's been a month and a half since I smashed the consoles. I haven't played since.

I discovered why I played video games. Video games are a fake reality to avoid the hard, uncomfortable things that we need to do. I used to indulge in video games whenever I needed to do something hard. More than that, it became my reality, and I was distancing myself from the real world more and more.

Instead, I started helping people, in the real world. In the morning I would make it a mission to help just one person in a significant way, in any way possible. I'm proud to say I've kept up the habit.

One thing I did last month was to help someone who was looking for a software job with some recommendations from my internship as well as some advice since I saw her post on LinkedIn. Now, I didn't know the person before.

But yesterday was my birthday. And in the evening, I got a message and it was that person wishing me "Happy birthday!!"

And that was greater than any video game achievement I've gotten.

 

[BlackLynx]

As something that has struggled with this as well, let me give my two cents here.

I have a problem with the whole - "smash your console"-mindset. This is like an alcoholic smashing the whiskey bottles he has at his home. That does not solve your problem. Short term yes. Long term- you're still addicted.

If you are sucked in by video games it is indeed like the previous poster said because you want to avoid reality in some way. Right now I'm in the middle of setting up a new business and the prospect of going out and selling myself and my services is so terrifying I'd rather run around in a virtual world for a while and try not to think about it.

If you are prone to escaping from reality you will find other ways to do it : there's Netflix and YouTube and there is junk food, alcohol and weed.

The games aren't really the problem - it's YOU not realizing how little time you have left on this earth and it's YOU battling with things like self-confidence issues that makes you want to escape.

The way I approach it now is that I have adopted a completely different attitude towards ALL forms of consumption.

I haven't said goodbye to games entirely - but I allow myself only to play games that receive more than 95% score on Metacritic.com - Over the last few years only three games got that high of a score.
Those games are masterpieces (GTAV-HL2 - etc.) and I tend to fully enjoy a game like that when it comes out (I'm looking at you Cyberpunk 2077)

Why - because it is worthy of my time. Because like GTAV it's a cultural phenomenon that transcends the world of video games.

I do the same when I decide to watch a film. I watch one of the best films ever made. I never go to the local multiplex to watch some Disney Star Wars bullshit. I wait until the entire world has consumed something to find out if it's worth 120 minutes of my time. I watch a film on Imdb.com's top 250 rated films and I know I'm in for something special. If you watch something that is advertised on streetcars you are consuming the film equivalent of a Big Mac.

Sometimes it's a Chinese or a Russian movie, something I would never EVER watch in my lifetime. But I'm always blown away by it.

I do the same with EVERYTHING. Certainly with books but also with things like wine. I don't drink a lot but when they present me a glass of 2009 Barolo I'm not saying no. I let other people get drunk on cheap box wines.

So in short - playing video games all day long is disrespecting the time you are given on this planet and indicative of a deeper issue. Focus on helping others with your time and curate your consumption carefully.

 

[FierceRacoon]

Some people do well with quitting cold turkey, others do well with limiting frequency and indulging once in 2-3 months.

Either way, the consensus seems to be that motivation alone is not sufficient, unless you have access to a source of incredible motivation.

There are many approaches to this kind of habit change, and many can be derived from the framework Motivation-Ability-Prompt (described in "Tiny Habits" by BJ Fogg) — while the ideas aren't new, it's just a very easy framework.

Motivation: can you make yourself want to game less? Yes, you can, such as by introducing penalties. So long as you keep yourself accountable, it works, so long as someone will know for sure that you are gaming (because of some software / camera in your room) and will hold you accountable. E.g. when you play a game, you have to donate $100 to charity per game. If it doesn't work, you make it $1000 per game or $1000 per minute. It doesn't work for everyone, but for me this kind of method is very powerful, so long as accountability can be enforced.

Another way of decreasing motivation is by creating negative association. For example, you put DVDs with your favorite video games in a pile and do something very disgusting. Like, very, very, very disgusting. E.g. you can put cat poop on your DVDs. Then every time you want to play, you will have this kind of image in your mind.

Ability: destroying your console is a great way for many people. For all the talk that the addiction stems from an "inner hole" and can't be fixed by external measures, those external measures can still play a key role in your overall treatment strategy. Aside from destroying your console, you can also experiment with software blocking some times of the day, putting the console in an attic, etc.

Prompt: here you try to figure out, what prompts your desire to game. E.g. if you only game when you are alone, try living with another person. Of course, then you will have to address the root cause in one way or another, so as to regain the ability to live on your own without gaming, but still, making this kind of drastic change can help in myriad ways.


It is also possible that you game because of lack of desire to do other things. E.g. work is so unpleasant that you will do anything to avoid it. In this case, you can try focusing on easing your attitude towards work, such as by working for 1 minute every hour of gaming, or otherwise address it through therapy, meditation, or through changing your career. Of course, your addiction can still persist, but it will lose some of the underlying energy and will be easier to address by other means.

 

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[Knugs]

I feel gaming is rather escapism than addiction. Even if you find a way to block all access to gaming you actually havent solved the underlying issue.

Your goal should be to have gaming-ready PCs and consoles around you but have absolutely no temptation to use them. And when you do game you have the ability to do so in moderation.

The same way you have alcohol at your house but only drink 1 or 2 with friends occasionally. You dont down a few bottles of whisky each night right? You have control and no unconscious desire.

There is an underlying problem in your life which you are running away from. You need to identify what is bothering you and tackle it slowly. If you feel this is a number too big for you, you should seek professional help. (There is a stigma; its ok to ask for help).

Since we closed our failing business, my desire to endulge in endless gaming has magically disapearred. I found a spark somewhere else that filled this void. For a long time I didnt even know that my failing "dream" was the problem.



We are a group of people that escape with gaming which is not necessarily bad compared to a lot of other unhealthy habits. A lot of us will develop new issues in the future and I'm sure one day I will use this escaping-habit again.

The difference is that next time I will be able to react much quicker.

 

[Phones]

More extreme than uninstalling, remove and sell your graphic card and use the motherboard one (most of them have an onboard these days), or just buy a used crappy graphic card.

I have probably more than 2000 hours on my Steam account, it's insane, it's like playing for 3 months in a row, 24/7. I haven't gamed for almost 2 years once I started doing my thing. But probably because I started making money gaming (World of Warcraft botting), so gaming started to become less attractive (for enjoyment purposes).

Just wanted to report back that this has continued to be quite successful.

Changing the Steam account password to a random one is how I got started. Having to recover it adds an extra step that makes you aware of your own bullshit, it's much easier to just press that button and game on, vs having to do a bunch of things to get the account back.

Uninstalling Steam was the 2nd step, now I have to install it, recover, download the game.

The next step was make the experience impossible or not enjoyable. That's where the "laptop with no dedicated graphic card" came to be. ( The laptops are also lighter and cheaper )

Even when I occasionally install a game, the FPS suck so much and I haven't played in so long that I'm too bad at it for it to become addictive. It's suddenly not as enjoyable when you're not smashing everyone else (Counter Strike Source...) and feeling like you're great at something.

I find it that the better you become at a game the most addictive it gets.

I don't agree with the whole "solve the underlying issue" narrative. As if the issue is your mindset that's somehow fked up. Especially if we are talking about games as an escapism / dopamine trigger, which is usually the case.

Biology is the underlying issue, we are dopamine seeking individuals by default, games are designed to be heavy dopamine triggers - anything - even the most purposeful task will seem unworthy when your mind gets used to high dopamine triggers (games in this case). There are studies where rats have starved themselves to death so they can get one more dopamine hit...

I still have "escapisms", they're just way more boring / less dopamine triggering, but the same principal applies. I've uninstalled TikTok so that I have to install it if I really want to use it, the added layer of difficulty is enough to stop the typical "let me just check... 2 hours gone".

 

[daivey]

I took up your advice, @Kak:

All of my consoles went through this, you get the idea. Here's the result:

View attachment 33698

shame
u coulda sold those
made some cash!

 

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[Jeff Noel]

shame
u coulda sold those
made some cash!

I second this. I just see an EASY $200 in the drain.
But when you're addicted, you'll never get to the point of actually selling your console(s).

Best way to have 28-32 available in a day: Save 4-6 hours by doing stuff that matters. This includes forgetting about TV Shows and YouTube, people.

 

[FierceRacoon]

Just found this thought-provoking article about free-to-play games that get 50% of their revenue from 0.15% of their users, some of whom are seriously addicted and may be spending their last savings to buy in-game artefacts: Gamasutra - Chasing the Whale: Examining the ethics of free-to-play games

 

[Glootie]

I haven't seen this kind of answer here, so here we go:

A solution to GIVE UP any online game:

Getting yourself BANNED

We usually have 2 states of mind when we are playing games:

- We want to play games and will play games
- When we beat ourselves up because we played too much games all day

We want to get into our 2nd state of mind, just because in the first one, we wouldn't be able to do that, because we would care too much. (only the addicts still feel like this)
So every time you are in that ''angry'' mood because you've played too much online games all day, just login back in, and start griefing/abandoning competitive games/hacking.

This is to prevent getting back in / reinstalling the game over and over when we told ourselves ''that's it, no more games''.

The goal is to get banned asap.
The moment you get yourself banned, you will give up with online competitive games.

 

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[Joseph1986]

I also had this type of problem, I couldn't give up gaming and I decided to make games my job, that was the only solution I saw. I decided to do what I do best, to do trades with skins, and to my surprise, I was making very good money from it. More than that I taught my friends to do it and to thank me they decided to buy me a boost for my faceit account, I was very happy. The guys from Faceit Boost, Cheap CSGO Faceit Elo Boosting Service worked very quickly and I was able to receive my gift in a very short time, and I was very pleased with it.

 

[spreng]

Use hammer on pc. Only use macs. That's what I did

 

[rodvaN]

If you like gaming why quitting?
Maybe you are not playing the proper games.

The thing here is that I self-gratify with some hours of matches with friends. I cannot see some friends around the world due to pandemics and Zoom is boring, games are nice.

Maybe you need to be more disciplined and use some strategies to work properly such as Pomodoro Method. Once you finish your milestones, get a good gaming session, why not?

I play Rainbow Six Siege and Warzone and I love them. When I get tilted I just say it's the last one, close the game and do some exercise to channel that energy and frustration. That relaxes and continues working. But that's my case!

 

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[ZF Lee]

If you like gaming why quitting?
Maybe you are not playing the proper games.

The thing here is that I self-gratify with some hours of matches with friends. I cannot see some friends around the world due to pandemics and Zoom is boring, games are nice.

Maybe you need to be more disciplined and use some strategies to work properly such as Pomodoro Method. Once you finish your milestones, get a good gaming session, why not?

I play Rainbow Six Siege and Warzone and I love them. When I get tilted I just say it's the last one, close the game and do some exercise to channel that energy and frustration. That relaxes and continues working. But that's my case!

Correct. It's alright to enjoy some games for leisure or a reward for good work.

The copywriter greats like John Carlton and Ben Settle actually recommend using hobbies or similar to give you new ideas or just to let the brain process stuff in the background.

Currently I play Minecraft and Arknights.
These games don't destroy your dopamine with over-insta gratification...you still have to take some time to build bases, gather resources and even strategize.

That being said, if I have entire stretches of days booked for business or meetings, then of course, games take a backseat.

 

[cwidjojo]

Use hammer on pc. Only use macs. That's what I did

as my first post, i can second this. i used to have a pc when i was in college. i left behind my pc to my roommate when i was done with college and moved back to my home country. i only use a macbook air now, which cant play any serious games. but when i do have the urge to play something, i play mobile games, which doesnt suck you into a blackhole as much as pc or console games, also your fingers would hurt to even play anymore sometimes lol. but i would still avoid RPG mobile games which can be as time consuming and addictive.

i guess one of the ways to 'reduce' gaming is to find a game that doesnt take much time to complete and that you can do in a short burst, and get on with your life afterwards. this would be the non-cold (warm?) turkey approach.

 

[Romko]

Hello.

Here's my take on games.

Video games are a great alternative. I believe that we are born to fulfill our potential.

Video games are just your priority.

You tried to play life - and you didn't succeed. Maybe you had high expectations and so on. And you decided to realize yourself in the game.

Trust me, your brain does not distinguish between achievements in the game or achievements in life.

He does not care.

aha,
This thread started in 2014, but hopefully someone will benefit from my answer.

Thank you people!

 

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[Thurlam]

yeah, I lost a decade to video games, if not more. 28 now, spent basically all my adult life engaged in hedonistic dopamine-chasing at any chance I could, which meant (among a few other things) a whole lot of video games.

worth noting that these days the most profitable games are the games-as-a-service type games that try to entrap you in a long-term gameplay cycle that you're heavily committed to, using any and all psychological manipulation tools available to them to achieve habitual lifestyle-esque play as consistently as possible. which means this kind of game is becoming more and more common, and the games are getting better at manipulating you. see also:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4
this video is 5 years old now and the main thing that's changed is that these tactics are no longer largely confined to the realm of exploitative mobile games, now every big publisher is ensuring all their games implement as many of these practices as they can get away with.

also, this may be more of a personal thing, but I've found video games (in particular, competitive PvP ones, but not always) can confer profound negative emotional impacts on me with alarming frequency and intensity. I tend to be pretty chill and level-headed in all things that occur in actual reality, but get me invested in a video game + have some significant things in that game go wrong for me, and I'll soon become extremely irate. since I've yet to find anything in reality that can produce a similar effect out of me, I've found that I can fix this issue by simply avoiding video games, so that's another good reason to do so.

alas, I've yet to completely cold-turkey quit video games, since for various reasons I expect that endeavor would be unsuccessful if attempted at this current point in time, and I still have a few angles where I could potentially gain internal value by not entirely quitting (though that will require more research to verify). but I've significantly cut down on them, along with other similar time-wasting activities, so here's hoping there's still room to bounce back.

 

[thechosen1]

As a kid, video games were an escape where I could do things that only adults could do - like go shopping, build my own house, plus other stuff that would be either impossible or illegal in the real world, like jumping a car over a skyscraper or pretty much anything on GTA...
This was even more appealing since my parents did NOT let me do ANYTHING until I was old enough to drive! (They would never let me go places without adult supervision, drop me off, heck I barely ever had friends over)

Truth is, if you're 18 years old or older, you're living the real video game! You're the main character.

Why bother playing a fake reality when there's a real one waiting for you? Go get some XP. Go build your life.

Your life is an RPG and you're the main character.

 

[CruxisKnight]

Ju

Hi guys.. I have a real big problem. I can't do anything or finish anything unless I quit games. I know it's not a serious condition that I have, but it does get in the way with a lot of things that I do on my computer because I get way to distracted. I end up playing 1 game then another then another......again and again. It's really just frustrating at the end of it all. I realize I haven'y gotten anything done at all. And minutes of gaming have become hours and it's really depressing.

I'm not trying to limit myself to a few hours a week/day/month, but I'm trying to quit for good. I know there are those out there that play games and are successful, but I really just want to get gaming out of my life.

If you guys are wondering whether I have a gaming console or a pc, I have a pc. That's why it gets in the way so much because since I'm using my computer to play games, I can't seperate it and I end up gaming because I see it on my desktop.

I want to thank everyone and anyone who helps me overcome this. There are many things that I can do in my life and I don't want it to rot away because I simply couldn't resist my urge. Any ideas and tips would be super helpful.

Thank you again.

Just cut it cold turkey and never look back. Or discipline yourself to use it as a reward system to motivate yourself to work hard

 

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[techro]

This was my exact problem. Decided a couple of days ago that I had enough and deleted every game from my PC. Now when I'm bored or don't know what to do I can't just subconsciously open up a game and waste my day because I have none on my machine. I actually have to work on my project or do something productive to stop being bored and it's awesome.

There is really no other way to do it. If you are serious about this, delete them all and don't look back.
Now when I'm busy with something boring like school stuff I don't fantasize about playing games, I fantasize about working on my project.

 

[peddletothemetal]

I can confirm uninstalling, deleting, destroying etc works. I was never a big gamer but did waste inordinate time on it when younger. Deletes create a barrier to play so they work. If you have to dl & install 80gb to play you've got more encouragement to think twice. Just delete & destroy liberally, never hesitate.

 

[thechosen1]

So going off of this, I don’t play video games but as a hobby I love to tinker with programming and game art.

I actually have my own projects of creating games...

But it’s hard for me to justify making something that I know is addicting and a bad habit for so many people.

 

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[techro]

So going off of this, I don’t play video games but as a hobby I love to tinker with programming and game art.

I actually have my own projects of creating games...

But it’s hard for me to justify making something that I know is addicting and a bad habit for so many people.

People can get addicted to literally anything, don't let this hold you back! Ironically after finally deleting all my games, the project I'm working on is about making games and programming tutorials. It can be an art form just like painting, music, etc.

 

[bence03.02]

I few years ago I quit League of Legends.

It was a little bit out of my control, a way faster, temporary mod came out (URF) and I only played it. When it disappeared, the normal game felt boring and way too slow and I lost interest.

A similar thing happened (not a game addiction case ):
My girlfriend liked to play with a mobile game where you were given 9 letters in a 3x3 matrix and you had to find the most words. If time was up, you could see how many points could other people get. So I wrote a python script where you could feed the 9 letters in order very quickly and it spit out words . We lost interest in like 30 minutes and never touched the game, absolutely no urge.

When I was a teenager I quit a game named RuneScape when I reached my big goal.

Now I do not play and I only have to make sure that I do not get sucked in any new games because they would have a huge impact on my mind.

So if nothing works, you guys may be use this trick of "making the game boring" by botting or setting a moderate goal and reaching it and you do not know what else to do or make your account banned or idk be creative.