We create fake sub-games within the real world all the time, it's not limited to video games. You see this when people get really invested in petty office politics or other such nonsense, and they realize how little it matters when they walk away.<p>I think people in the real world often overvalue the significance of the games they're playing. If you make a mistake on live television a lot of production people will probably get upset and claim it's the end of the world, but most people really don't care and it doesn't actually matter that much. Sure you should be professional and try your best to avoid mistakes, but there's usually no significant real-world consequences.<p>Anyway, a while back I uninstalled League of Legends because it was sucking up all of my time and it wasn't even fun.<p>Have you considered playing with friends or your SO? I think turning video games into a more social activity can help clamp down on the addictive aspects without sacrificing connections. Heck, I've met tons of people thanks to playing competitive multiplayer video games.
Good for you? Different people have different challenges, I salute you for standing up to yours. I don't think you should change your mind on this, the feeling of sticking to you 'will' is better than any game.
I want to reiterate my homegrown solution to digital addiction: lock your devices and hand the key to a trusted individual human, the "keyholder".<p>The keyholder's role is simple. When I ask them to choose a password and type it in without telling me, they do that. When I ask them to share the password with me, they do so. The keyholder role is not about outsourcing discretion or approval around addiction. Instead, the keyholder changes the mechanism by which I access my addiction, in a way that disempowers my "animal brain" in its inner struggles with my "wise man brain". I've had several keyholders at different times; my wife, since I got married, and before that it was a mix of coworkers, roommates, and friends.<p>Locking devices: On iPhone, I set my own parental controls to 1) limit social media/games to 10 minutes per day, and 2) block the web. Then I had my keyholder change my passcode. On my computers I modified /etc/hosts (and /etc/resolvers/* for wildcard domain matching) then yanked sudo from my daily driver login. Keyholder has the password to the admin account. Updating apps is the main pain point on both platforms.<p>If you set this up, let me know how it works for you. And, if there is a piece of software that automates the above (in a way that does not give me a simple "let me do the thing" button) please share!
This reads like some productivity porn blog, and looking at othe post titles reinforces that impression. I think that kind of stuff is if anything a more dangerous addiction - gaming is obviously "time consumption", whereas time you devote towards your "career" or "growth" <i>feels</i> like "time investment" - <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/selfindulgence.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.paulgraham.com/selfindulgence.html</a> .<p>Some people can't enjoy a game responsibly, and for a few people teetotal may be the only way. But honestly this post sounds like someone substituting one addiction with another (publishing their daily journal) that's not actually any better for them, just less fun.
It comes out for the Mac tomorrow and I'm <i>already</i> not playing it, because I got a Steam Deck this summer as my new gaming machine and haven't had any interest in it. <i>shrug</i><p>There's an incredible amount of entertainment media out there now. Way too much to experience any significant fraction of it. You've got to pick and choose. And if you know this particular kind of game will eat your life and leave you feeling a lot sadder than the amount of fun it gives you, then good job for realizing this and staying away.
At first I thought "This sounds stupid, just play a little, have some fun, and move on like everyone else". Then I remembered my own experiences with addictive substances.<p>Addiction rewires your brain, which is an experience I forget when I am not addicted to something.<p>It's easier to not indulge at all, than try to have a little and attempt to control it from there.
I have this but with internet\social media instead of videogames. I'd actually like to play <i>more</i> videogames, but my attention span is shot. I'm working on it but it's a long road.
I'm sad to hear about your addiction.<p>People seem to have an inability to judge this game relatively impartially. They either claim that it's an unholy abomination that should have been aborted by the compiler or it's the greatest invention of mankind since the printing press. In reality (and as someone who played the original bg1, and bg2), it's a solid dnd based RPG experience with an incredible amount of content that is somewhat diminished by the number of bugs that continue to plague it even after its official release.
Good on you. I hope you're able to resist and come up happier for it.<p>For what it's worth, I'm playing BG3. It's a good game, but it's not transcendent.<p>And while I don't suffer from gaming addiction, I do tend to dive into the games I play with all of my free time that, when I've finished a game (if I don't walk away before the end,) I look around at the rest of the hobbies I enjoy and lament the time I haven't been spending with them. Regret from my choice of escapism?
I have the same feeling. Boredom is necessary for me to focus my energy on work. If I'm really into a game, it's easy to spend a large portion of my time and mental effort on something purely for fun. It's ok to indulge in entertainment if we are living comfortably, or need a break, but not if we're trying to actively build something.
HealthyGamer on YouTube has excellent material on video game addiction. I imagine his actual therapy sessions are great too judging by the videos of his sessions online, but I don't know how feasible it is to get a therapy session with him.
Whatever works for you. It is possible to play a few hours every other day though. I'm 60 ours into BG3 and play 2-3 hours every few days. Binge consuming anything is not ideal, although of course it's fun.
It's not easy to admit game addiction. But many suffer from it.<p>And it impacts many careers. I've seen what excess of games can do with people in college and in work. It's devastating.
It's strange how people lambast video games like they're a dangerous addiction but praise those who take time to read, watch cinema, or attend theatrical performances. We all consume our art in our own ways.<p>Maybe we should appreciate what was made by humans while it's still being produced.
I'm not sure about the problem? You are free to play or not the game, no one forces you to buy it or play it, it's your time and money.<p>Gaming On Mac should be illegal, using mac should be illegal as well.
You’re going to play it. And that’s ok.<p>Abstinence in common things, or even required things like food is a challenge. Saying you’ll never play is just setting up for failure so when you crack, you play more.<p>What works for me is to set some non-zero target. That way when I fail, I fail by a percentage instead of an infinite percentage. Pledging zero and playing for an hour is much worse seeming than pledging an hour and playing two. Only a 100% overage.