File :-(, x, )
Computer game addiction Anonymous
Hi /fit/
How does one combat the addiction to computer games? I naturally have an addictive personality and have over the last 2 or 3 years been really addicted to computer games (pic semi-related, however I don't play WoW).
I have so many other interest yet can seem to pull myself away from the amazing satisfaction I get from playing computer games.
How can I break this??
>> Anonymous
>>259849
Go Outside.
>> Anonymous
Call your friends

OH WAIT
>> Anonymous
find a new hobby thats healthier. try to learn to play guitar or something along those lines.
>> Anonymous
Well the problem is your addictive personality, not the video games. You should set a specific time of the day, and specific days of the week to play video games and make yourself fit into this schedule. Maybe give yourself one cheat day a week. Then get used to NOT playing computer games as much.
>> Anonymous
if you have an addictive personality, just get addicted to pushups. and SQUATZ
>> Anonymous
>>259871
i have been, for 15 years... and have many really nice guitars.
>>259875
i have thought about this but never really sure how to go about it.. thanks for the suggestions.
>> Anonymous
>>259871
>>259886
People with addictive personalities generally get addicted to instant gratification, such as the kind video games can provide. I doubt OP can addict himself to exercise or learning an instrument, as it requires effort and dedication.
>> Anonymous
You're in the right place, instead of making your character stronger in the videogame, make yourself stronger in real life. Go running, hit the gym, play sports, get active and you'll notice a change in yourself which you'll find gratifying.
>> Anonymous
i had this problem too, to the point where i lost a job/friends over it.

i suggest you just delete them entirely and don't game. cold turkey works.

i only play on weekends, and only have 1 game installed at a time, no consoles.
>> Anonymous
>>259928
deleting them entirely has crossed my mind as well. but it's the actual doing it that makes it hard.
the game i'm stuck on is Call of Duty 4. i'm actively involved with a clan and i admin a few servers. my clan scrims almost 2 times a night (i have a job so cannot play during the day), i'm quite good at the game and tend to win or lead my team more often than not - the more i play the better i get and i'm starting to get reall really good!

i think the cold turkey approach is going to have to be it. then maybe wait until i'm over the cold sweats and have my interests in other areas. maybe after that allocate some time on the weekends to play.
>> Anonymous
I have OP's problem except with the internet. It's literally raised me as a kid since I was about 5 or so because my parents were always busy (in before BAWWW)

Should I just go cold turkey for a few weeks without the internet?

I honestly can't imagine my life without it. shitsux.
>> Anonymous
>>259849
Kill yourself.
>> Anonymous
>>259913
>>259913
fukken THIS.

I raided for like 6 months as a hardcore faggot playing WoW and wasting my time progressing for my guild and progressing my character, what got me into body building over the past year was I was like holy shit..if I put this much time and effort into working out my results will be far better than what I achieved(see:nothing) in a game, a shitty game at that

voila almost 5 months down the road and I've made some gains that I'm proud of and month by month I get even happier by my results

but then again the OP didnt ask about WoW specifically or ask about getting healthier physically
>> Anonymous
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=950DE1DF1138F93BA25752C0A965948260
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro04/web1/mcurtiss.html
http://www.askmen.com/money/body_and_mind_100/123_better_living.html
http://seidel.cust.he.net/addictive.html
http://www.queendom.com/advices/advice.htm?advice=278
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Addictive-Personality&id=953307
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Addictive+personality

Read those too OP.
>> Anonymous
>>259956
Read a bunch of negative stuff about the internet. Then try going a day without the internet, then two days, then three, etc.
>> Anonymous
>>259957
An Hero is not an option.
>> Anonymous
>>259975
Then kill your dog/cat/family
>> Anonymous
>>259968
But then how will I stay connected and social networking and blogs for learning and :[

(in the back of my mind the answers are READ NEWSPAPER, TALK TO FUCKING PEOPLE, and READ BOOKS but i dont want to acknowledge it)

if you could provide links on anti-internet essays that'd be awesome
>> Anonymous
>>259975

kill the guy who keeps suggesting you kill something
>> Anonymous
>>259981
UNABOMBER MANIFESTO!

FTW!
>> sasuke
You should post this in the /v/ forum.
What i do is hack my way to godmode in a game so i explore everything quickly and intensively.

It doesn't work very well in fps games though.
>> Anonymous
>>259997
i posted it in here because it's very much a motivational thing (i guess) and /v/ is going to not really understand where i'm coming from.
additionally, it is effecting my health to the point where i have 0 motivation and get annoyed when i have to do something that interferes with my gaming time. on the weekend i was up until 5am gaming, the whole of this week i have felt tired, moody and my eyes are going through all manner of shit...
i am over weight and do want to get fitter. the last couple of weeks i've been riding my pushbike too and from work, it's about 20 minutes each way, as a result i am feeling better and feel like my shirts fit a little better. but after that 5am stint on the weekend, right now, i feel like complete shit.
>> Anonymous
>>260029
Well. How did you get into this horrible habit of video games in the first place? Just put it in reverse. Baby steps.
>> Anonymous
>>260030
i've been playing computer games since the dawn of time... well the dawn of my time anyway. started at the arcade when i was young, ghosts and goblins, twin cobra, then street fighter and nba jam, then along some bubble bobble pc, then nothing much until quake1, which i played for so long.. after that i stopped for a bit, had a crap computer and little insterest in games.. i started to get back into a little bit when i was introduced to the original call of duty, then moved on to call of duty 2.. didn't play that much as i wasn't very good at it.
my younger brother and sister were playing a game called Ragnarok Online on a private server with high rates, looked kiddie, but fun so i tried it. got hooked on it big time! massive big time... my account got hacked and all my items were stolen so i gave up the game. but since then i'd had the bug. short time after that was the start of it all. i started playing a game called Warock, which was a free online fps. got addicted to that. they then blocked connections from my country, so now i was left dry. this turned me to counter strike source.. hook line and sinker. later alternating to call of duty 2.. my css account was global banned because i was using a hack (yes stupid, but not the topic of discussion), so i went to call of duty 2 full on, joined a clan, scrimmed etc etc.. call of duty 4 came out and it's been hardcore since then.
>> Anonymous
>>259956

you have to live a balanced life. be focused on productivity, then goof off on the net for about an hour or two a day.

work out regularly, eat regularly, shower/shave etc. just be a normal person.
>> Anonymous
>>260030
BECAUSE MY DADDY NEVER LOVED ME
;_;
>> Anonymous
>addictive personality
Get addicted to exercise. I don't know how one can do this, but there are definitely many people out there who are addicted to working out.

I want to be one of those people, and I suggest you try to become one as well.
>> Anonymous
>>259947

i am 32, been gaming online since Q1. still keep in touch w/ my original Q1 clanmates from 10 years ago. ive been thru so many games. i left a job for a while, picked up WoW... 1 year later i had done almost nothing. it was a bit extreme, but im back on the right track now.

i del'd WoW entirely. playing in a clan at a high level is too much in any fps, it's too time consuming. goofing off for 30 mins of free time after work is ok. but work is job #1 (family maybe #1, work #2)...

being a top cod4, tf2, or cs clan is pointless unless you are a college/teen kid w/ zero responsibilities.
>> Anonymous
GO.
COLD.
TURKEY.
>> Anonymous
get a gf and get a job try fit working out in there too, and see if you can find time for vidya gaems
>> Anonymous
dodgeball league. Get a team going. fucking awesome
>> Anonymous
Why do you want to quit? I play games 6 hours a day, go to college, and still manage to stay in shape.
>> Anonymous
>>260120
>I don't have a job

fixed
>> Anonymous
>>260129
Going to college, why would I have a full time job and be a full time student? my life would suck.
>> Anonymous
>>260096
i'm not the op but I have the same problem. I did get a girlfriend. I've had a job for the last three years and I workout everyday. I just can't stop playing games.
>> Anonymous
>>260120

maybe you pump gas at a station or work at a fast food joint. no real job lets you have time to game 6 hrs a day... that's insane.
>> Anonymous
>>260120
i want to quit because there's a lot of other things i want to do. for example, i'm in a band that has potential to do big things, like a lot of bands, but if i sit on my ass and play games all the time then i'm a weak link in the band and will either hinder our success or the band will just fall away.
and the other thing is i'm not young, well not in the sense of still being in school. i'm 32, like the other guy and want to stop being so addicted to computer games. i don't want to stop playing them coz they're bloody awesome! but i want to do so many other things. there are nights were i want to do something, have a quick game of CoD4, and before you know it, it's midnight....
>> Anonymous
>>260150
additionally - it's like i step out of this world and into another one, where everything is great, i talk to people on Ventrilo and i'm a master of my domain...
>> Anonymous
Become a video game scholar and/or maker. Getting involved in media will make you more critical and less interested in games that don't pass muster. You still have to figure out how to stop playing System Shock over and over, but I'm not sure why a person would want to stop that anyway.
>> Anonymous
Just stop playing them faggots. If you have something else you want to do then you should feel bad for not developing that skill or interest. Games are instant enjoyment, but don't pay off in the long term. Eventually your character and the years of work you put in is going to be deleted.
>> Anonymous
Cold Turkey.

Sell all your games, consoles, cd-keys, uninstal every game.

It's the only thing that works. Trust me, this is coming from someone who had a very bad cs addiction.
>> Anonymous
>>260174Eventually your character and the years of work you put in is going to be deleted.
What for people who play real games rather than Internet grindathons?
>> Anonymous
>>260188
Real games? Vidya games are just as bad but at least you can talk to people in real life about it instead of "lol one time we had this epic raid...". Real life stuff where you can make real friends and have real experiences is going to be better than something you can't share with anyone else in the future... like your epic times in WoW.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
don't quit weakass
>> Anonymous
take out your video card and use on-board video

you can still play low end games but it should limit your choices by a lot
>> Anonymous
Gaming is a -serious- bitch to kick.

I have a degree in psychology and have done tons of research on addiction + self-actualization of my own gaming problem and come only so far.

If you want a serious answer, you have to be conscious of when you are turning on the game. That second when you load it is crucial - at that point you need to take a deep breath, ask how the game serves your own purpose today, and if it doesn't, shut it down.

Alternatively, the above suggestions of quitting cold turkey would probably work. I've never had the balls to do it and with the accessibility of online games on Flash these days, it's tough.

My suggestion is to be conscious of your habit. Addiction empowers itself on the unconscious mind and can't be maintained while you are present and aware of your actions.
>> Anonymous
I just stopped myself from playing for four months. I renewed my account of wow a week ago and as soon as I started playing, I was asking myself why I'm playing this. It's so fucking boring.
>> Anonymous
Re OP.

I noticed something when addictively playing Nethack (best game evar) that helped me to see break out of the whole gaming psychology.... the really addictive games are basically just glorified fruit machines. Especially MMORPGS.. I dunno maybe you're an FPS / sim person, but I have noticed people can only get truly addicted to item collecting / random monster spawning type games.. anything else isn't a true addiction it just takes willpower to overcome it.. anyway, basically what is so addicting about RPGs is the variable reinforcement schedule.. once you accept the notion that there is some meaning to receiving the basically random reward of getting an item or levelling up, or basically any merit that takes no real skill or thought, you are doomed to addiction because of the random frequency and magnitude of the rewards. BF Skinner showed in pigeons that random rewards dispensed from in response to a mindless activity are the most reinforcing (habituating) stimulus. Basically people get addicted to games and fruit machines just as Skinner's pigeons got addicted to pressing the lever for a breadcrumb.. there is just some fundamental cognitive psychology that these processes exploit.. so what I am saying it, don't fucking do it.. play a "real game" indeed, and remember it's just a matter of willpower to do something that doesn't involve sitting on your ass... but stay away from these shit fruit machine games which are only for suckers!
>> Anonymous
It's dumb, I can't understand what addiction is. If your "addiction" bothers you, play less, and do something else instead.
>> Anonymous
>>260302
or if your system is gay using onboard video card just adjust the amount of memory allocated to it in the bios
>> Anonymous
I see nothing wrong with a video game addiction as long as you make sure to do whatever you have to do (school, work, chores) and at least allocate a fucking half hour a day to exercising.
>> Anonymous
>>259913
>> You're in the right place, instead of making your character stronger in the videogame, make yourself stronger in real life. Go running, hit the gym, play sports, get active and you'll notice a change in yourself which you'll find gratifying.

QFT. Excellent way to approach it!

As for instant gratification, wait till you get your first pump... you'll feel godly!
>> Anonymous
>>260621
Thats what I did, not exacty a bad thing to be addictied to