game addiction

[anujmsn]

why do i stay up all night to play assassins's creed revelations? can somebody tell me some ways to help me cut off from the game at 9:00 pm sharp so i can go to bed, instead of 4:00 am in the morning like today? Its not only acr but any other game too?

[Chaos]

Yeah, do other stuff.

I mean it. Find something you want to do and focus on doing it... find something you like, preferably something physical as you'll be tired in the night. Believe me, when you have other things going on you just don't have the time to focus on something you don't enjoy that much. But you need to start doing other things to realize that, so start now.

[anujmsn]

ive got holidays right now, i do physical stuff in the evening like playing BB and FB in the ground but in the night what kind of physical stuff can i do? my interest in the storyline of any game is keeping me awake until i finish the game which takes atleast two days,its like watching a movie in half and waiting for tomorrow to come to watch the rest. by the way do you play games? i mean seriously the way it involves you in it takes you to a new world n i have to come back reality every time my sleep bell rings, this is something i want to do but my timings i have problems in maintaining.

[Mark]

Delete all of your computer games, sell your Xbox and PS3.

I'm serious. It's ultimately what I had to do back in 2005. I can't play games casually, it's either all or nothing.

[anujmsn]

(06-10-2012 10:37 PM)Mark Wrote:  Delete all of your computer games, sell your Xbox and PS3.

I'm serious. It's ultimately what I had to do back in 2005. I can't play games casually, it's either all or nothing.

i would love to but not when i have acr to complete! and a lot of superb games i just bought.

---

(06-10-2012 10:37 PM)Mark Wrote:  Delete all of your computer games, sell your Xbox and PS3.

I'm serious. It's ultimately what I had to do back in 2005. I can't play games casually, it's either all or nothing.

How is life going the nothing way? i can barely survive without it for a day, its become such a necessity for me, i cant play games casually too but give a lot of time and patience to every game like it was food for me

[juggernaut92]

Well I am not too sure what triggered it but I think I was reading David Deida's book "The way of the superior man" and then after that bam I never really touched video games anymore lol. Also, at that time I was sorting my life out and decided it was best to stop playing video game because it is such an unproductive habit. Now I am in school and doing pretty well and when I do have free time, I just read one of the numerous unread books that I have (I went crazy and bough a shit load of books.). Another thing that pushed me to stop playing video games is that I bought a copy of MW3 and it was so shitty I just didnt feel like playing video games anymore and I took up reading so yeah.

Also, judging by your responses to Mark's post, it does not look like you actually WANT to change.

So yeah man. First make the decision to change your video game habits. Either lessen the amount of time spent or just quit. Btw this is a dating forum so you could always approach girls instead lol...

[Mark]

I spent 4-6 hours a day playing video games from age 8 to 21. I was emotionally stunted and terrified of the real world. By the time I got to college I realized that it was seriously causing me problems in my social life and that if I ever wanted to change and improve myself, I needed to stop playing.

[anujmsn]

Thanks mark,
@juggernaut92 you are right i actually do not want to change but i have to since school is going to start in a couple of months.

[crazyhorse]

If you actually want to stop it, then the easiest way is going to do as Mark suggested.

oh boy video games, I occassionally play these as well. I particurarily love the total war series . There are like 6 different editions and I became ruler of the world in all of them.

damm time to get back to real life......

[Traindom]

I agree with Chaos. I think you should keep yourself busy a lot of the time with other stuff. Whenever the workload at my school would get intense and my time was filled with extracurricular activities, I wouldn't even get a chance to play any video games. I would recommend you do this if you don't get rid of your games entirely.

Do you play obsessively to finish the story or to collect absolutely everything? The latter and multiplayers will suck a lot of hours from your life. I could understand the former, a video game is akin to a movie sometimes, but like Mark said, it can be hard to play casually.

It's a shame too. Some of these games have quite interesting and compelling stories. I was just playing Uncharted 3 the other day. Now THAT game is a work of art. The characters, dialogue, plot, and atmosphere were all amazing!

This is mostly how I game or used to game. My old PS3 died and all of my saves are gone. Every single one. So right now I agree with Mark. If you really want to ditch video games, delete everything. This was such a huge turnoff for me that I can't bear the thought of investing any more time in all those video games again. I've played a couple of games since then but it's not the same anymore. I played them, finished the story, and let go.

So what reasons do you play these games for? Do you stop playing at some point? When do you stop?

The reason I ask is that if you can't quit it altogether, you can try to lessen the amount of time invested in these games.

[Nick]

I'm seriously contemplating deleting everything and never looking back. I made a thread about ending procrastination a while back and deleting 90% of my games helped a lot.

The thing is I absolutely love games more than any other form of entertainment. Would I rather spend two hours watching a movie or two hours in a really immersive storyline? It's always the later, only things take much longer than 2 hours.

Random discovery while typing this post: holding ctrl + alt and hitting á, é, í, ó ór ú will give you the letter with a little tick on top. Does anyone know a similar trick with umlauts?

[Traindom]

I love games as a form of entertainment. I'm not saying I couldn't do away with multiplayers (that lack a story), but some stories just really captivate you. I guess moderation is key here.

[anujmsn]

The problem is i have a huge workload of studies and i get stressed and tension keeps building as im not able to study so much content in a given period of time, to keep my self from completely collapsing i play video games which give huge amounts of relief, but it becomes an addiction when playing games like assassins's creed:R where you are allowed to free roam n do what you want when you want, and i play the game for the experience the free roam gives and for its story and for all the collectibles as well to get 100%synch, i stop playing when the next morning comes and i realise i had not slept the whole night and i have to, to be able to be active in the day. you wont believe me in my g:/ drive which had 320 gb space i deleted about 230 gb games 9 months ago in one shot so i wont regret it so much....then i really dont remember how i started to come back again, i guess its acr that started it. Damn a new game releases and i have to control my temptation ah how hard is that? What mark said is an inspiration because i can never think of selling my pc so i stop playing games. im going to increase my physical activity like hell, hope it doesnt affect my studying

---

@Traindom really nice to talk to a fellow gamer, yeah uncharted 3 is seriuosly a great creation, i love nathan drake and nolan north for his voice, he is also the main protagonist in ACR,

@Nick thanks nick already tried deleting 100% but maybe i should have not deleted everything like you said leave the 10% so you still have very less against nothing.What mark did in 2005 is absolutely the right thing, i can only imagine the pain that he went through the next couple of weeks and a gain for the rest of his life. thanks mark

---

[Drewid]

I've been making games for a long time. The addictive qualities are intentional, but most people they can control that. If you can't I'd suggest taking some off.

The most important thing to remember is that as satisfying as the game may feel, when you finish a game you've done nothing, learned nothing and accomplished nothing. That's what makes them entertainment.

[Salaam]

This thread reminds me to take a game i've had sitting downstairs for a couple months back to blockbuster. I used to love playing games back when I was younger, but now I can hardly play them anymore and rarely more for than an hour at a time. I get antsy and want to do something real.

I think the addictiveness from when I played as a kid stemmed from the progression available with little risk or emotional investment. Its such a self-contained little playground, with clear cut rules and rewards that seem to offer so much more to a kid than the real world at that time.

But the real world is such a cooler playground, plus I prefer my own skill-set to a game character. I may not be able to raise the dead or craft level 47 night elf armor, but I can make love to a woman or hop on a plane to the beach at a moment's notice.

[Nick]

(06-11-2012 03:56 PM)anujmsn Wrote:  @Nick thanks nick already tried deleting 100% but maybe i should have not deleted everything like you said leave the 10% so you still have very less against nothing.What mark did in 2005 is absolutely the right thing, i can only imagine the pain that he went through the next couple of weeks and a gain for the rest of his life. thanks mark

Instead of copying what I did with deleting 90% of my games, try this suggestion: go 6 months without games at all (akin to the 60 day challenges we love to have around here), and then play maybe 3-4 story-based single-player games per year.

I might just delete the last 10% of my games soon because I'm still playing games way too much.

[Nick]

Double Post:

So I went ahead and deleted the last of my games though I have kept Amnesia installed. My thinking is that, if I ever work up the balls to finish that game, I'll have deserved it.

[crazyhorse]

(06-12-2012 12:31 PM)Nick Wrote:  Double Post:

So I went ahead and deleted the last of my games though I have kept Amnesia installed. My thinking is that, if I ever work up the balls to finish that game, I'll have deserved it.

I really want to play that game!


Here's a trailer for those who are curious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M627-obxNzg

is it really that scary?

[Nick]

It is not that scary in the beginning. Just a lot of loud noises and a very tense atmosphere, but then......the monsters come out to play and things get more and more horrible.

I quit playing near the end of the prison level. If any of you have made it that far in the game, you know what I was going through.

I recommend you play it. Games don't come much better than Amnesia.

edit: lol I am recommending a game in a thread about giving up games ^_^

[Traindom]

I heard Dead Space was just as creepy. I commend anyone who can play those games. Hell, some of the scenes in Uncharted scared the living crap out of me. I was NOT expecting what happened in those German U-boats. I was scared to keep going forward. I would find an elevated area and just stay there. THAT was scary.

[Jani]

Sorry, guys, but your advice is very incomplete.
Throwing all the games away is just one technique.
I challenge you to try to win a basket game with only one method. You won't win the game.

There's a system for change. That doesn't mean it will be easy, but it will be easier.

Just read this:

Code:

http://sourcesofinsight.com/influencer-the-power-to-change-anything/

[crazyhorse]

[quote='Jani' pid='11985' dateline='1339523118']
Sorry, guys, but your advice is very incomplete.
Throwing all the games away is just one technique.
I challenge you to try to win a basket game with only one method. You won't win the game.

There's a system for change. That doesn't mean it will be easy, but it will be easier.

Just read this:

Code:

http://sourcesofinsight.com/influencer-the-power-to-change-anything/

Is this serious? I quickly skimmed it, but that sounds like way too much information.

But I have a feeling you were being ironic?

[Edmond Dantès]

(06-10-2012 11:38 PM)Mark Wrote:  I spent 4-6 hours a day playing video games from age 8 to 21. I was emotionally stunted and terrified of the real world. By the time I got to college I realized that it was seriously causing me problems in my social life and that if I ever wanted to change and improve myself, I needed to stop playing.

Have gone through nearly the same story...I played video games for 4-6 hours a day, from the age 10 to 17. The vast majority of my teen ages looked like this: School, Lunch, Homework, Video Games, Dinner, Video Games, Sleeping...

If you would ask me what I regret most about my early teenage years, I would say: Playing too much video games.

Video games are a great distraction tool. They distract you from the stress of "real life", the stress caused by studies and exams, family problems, that you're lovesick or that your feeling sad all the time, are not content with the way you look or whatever...insert every type of problem you can think of...


They give you excitement and adventures, while you just have to press some buttons on your keyboard. You don't have to do much, they're designed to be played easily and their designed to release dopamin in your brain through achievements like leveling up, defeating an enemy or being the best in the multiplayer high score. These are just some examples. You know what I mean.

Listen, the key note here is that you're running away from problems in reality, when you play video games for so long.

I guess you propably realize that or are about to realize the problems that are in your life and that you have to change. Otherwise you wouldn't have written that post and asked for help.

First of all, it's important that you fully accept your situation right now.

You're playing hardcore, it causes problems in your social life and your studies...and this is a problem that has to be fixed.

Most likely you're seriously addicted. I was addicted to video games as well and it was aweful to go through the process of leaving them behind me. It's not easy, your mind will trick you into getting what it wants (video games) and you have to find ways to prevent that you're relapsing.

Here are some tips about how I got rid of playing too much video games.

1) Delete all video games from your computer
2) Remove all video game boxes from your room/apartment/house.
3) Talk with a close friend or family member about your gaming addiction. They will be cool about it, trust me. And they will encourage you on your detox way.
4) Give all your video games to somebody you can trust (parents, good friends, anyone who likes you and won't give them back to you)
6) After you done that, go on a constantly moratorium for video games. Let's say 100 days. Include punishments and rewards for you failing or pulling through. (Rewards like playing for an hour doesn't count!!)
7) During that moratorium, you have to integrate a hobby in your lifestyle (joining a gym, swimming, sports, etc are great ways to deal with stress caused by exams)
8) Write here a report about your experiences with the moratorium and how your life has changed so far.

Another key point I want to mention here is that playing video games is also a lot habitual based. You know, stuff like turning on the computer is the first thing you do after you come home or playing "just one more hour as you're not tired yet"

Recognize your behavioural patterns during the moratorium. Write them down and start to work against them. Act differently every time you notice that a pattern occurs. This requires a lot of conciousness and presence, but this can be learned.

I also guess that you'll likely fall for free download games, browser games or smartphone games during the moratorium. Block these websites through a website filter (one I tried, was K9 during the no porn challenge)

Don't freak out if you realize symptoms of your video game abstinence. You can experience mood swings, depressions and some other weird shit or even get physical sick. That's "normal" depending on how hardcore you played. Check out the "No More Porn thread", there you'll find a link with abstinence symptoms.

And write about your experiences here on the forum. We're here to help you, if you mean this serious.

Stay tough, man.

[Jani]

@ Crazyhorse
No, I wasn't ironic. Don't be too lazy to read it.

9/10 people won't change when they face a life or death situation.
So, just saying "Throw them all away" won't help. And if it did, it would suck all your self-control up.

You only need to care about 3 elements to achieve what you want:
- Desire
- Strategy
- Persistance

That articles give you a great strategy for implementing change in your life.

[Jon]

That you reacted in this way:

(06-10-2012 10:40 PM)anujmsn Wrote:  i would love to but not when i have acr to complete! and a lot of superb games i just bought...

i can barely survive without it for a day, its become such a necessity for me, i cant play games casually too but give a lot of time and patience to every game like it was food for me

is a good indication that you should not play video games at all, and should probably talk to a therapist about this, because it sounds like the games are covering up a deeper issue.