@Aurelius - I'm a huge video game buff myself. Have been for over 30 years. Hell I just completed Doom 2016 yesterday on the hardest difficulty (okay, second hardest, that "one-life-per-game" bullshit isn't for me). I also get together with friends once a week and play Minecraft or Diablo 3. Huge gamer, here.
Games are healthy and fun when you fit them into your free time that you've specifically dedicated to gaming. Like my once-a-week gaming session with friends, or after everyone else in the house is asleep but I'm not ready for bed yet. This is time I spend that isn't coming at the cost of something else I should be doing instead.
Here's the thing - The folks who are talking about addiction, dopamine, brain stuff, etc... are all bang on. You aren't playing games because they are fun, you are playing because you are addicted. I've been there, it sucks.
But not only is gaming a possible addiction for you - but it may also be how your brain has wired itself to avoid discomfort. This is a really nasty one-two punch.
When you feel threatened, your brain releases cortisol (hormone that controls feelings of stress, fear, anxiety, doubt, uncertainty, etc...). Whenever your brain perceives something as a threat based on past negative experiences, you get a jolt of the stuff. This is INTENDED to get your a$$ up and moving to find a way to resolve the threat. When you are hungry, you get up and get food. If you feel unsafe, you flee to safety. If you expect bad news, you run through a million scenarios in your head in how you are going to handle it.
Something that happens all too easily these days, is finding release in highly addictive electronic devices. It becomes the "go to" for your cortisol responses.
Call you don't want to make --> play video games --> feel better
Stressing about money --> play video games --> feel better
Unsure about how to get your business idea working --> play video games --> feel better
Bored and feeling restless and useless --> play video games --> feel better
Happens exactly the same way with alcoholics. This is why some people can drink socially and never have an issue while others can't put the bottle down. The first person's brain has no meaningful connection with booze while the alcoholic's brain KNOWS booze solves bad feelings. It doesn't matter that the alcoholic knows it's bad for them and makes things worse in the long term - because the brain is what runs the show and cortisol demands an immediate response and booze is an immediate remedy. It's a very strong mental association at the brain-chemistry level.
The thing is that video games, like alcohol, WORK REALLY WELL to relieve your cortisol signals. It relieves your stress, cures your fears, gets your mind off of things, makes you feel productive, floods you with good feelings, etc...
Your brain only knows what you've trained it to do (regardless of what you logically think) and it will try its best to maintain what works. In your case, video games work. Cortisol goes up, games into play, cortisol goes down (and dopamine goes up, and other stuff).
Consider this - every time you feel an overwhelming urge to play video games, what caused that urge? I'm willing to bet 9 times out of 10 it's because there's something you know you should do but the thought of it is stressful, fearful, has uncertainty, or in other words is just something you'd rather not do.
The best possible fix is what other's have suggested - pack up the video games and put it in a box until you rewire your brain to find a more productive outlet to fill that gap.
