If anyone would be interested in starting a group to meet up in person in Salt Lake City, Utah. Let me know, I have had my problems on and off for the last 10 years of my life and would really like to have a online gamers focused meeting to go to rather than looking an AA / NA.
No obligations, plus I am new in town and do not know many people to do local activities.
Matt
Additionally, I started a meetup group to organize some community service for gamers. I called it "Gamers Against" http://www.meetup.com/Gamers-Against/ I will be ok doing it myself, but I would love to have some others join. Matt
That was a nice idea. We all aren't over near there or we'd go. My gamer is in counseling now and has only switched games, lol.
I guess the system does not send me an email when someone posts a message. When I first had my gaming problem I thought it was that specific game that was the problem, but I was wrong and by then it was too late for me to go back to being a social gamer. I had changed my mentality and started down a route where I used gaming to satisfy a need. I began switching from 1 game to another. Only after I hit rock bottom was I able to fully understand I needed a change in my life. And that change was to stop gaming.
I have started going to AA recently and hopefully this will be enough for me for now. I am currently looking for a venue to hold OLGA type meetings. The AA groups usually have to pay $20 a meeting for most venues. I may have to start in a Denny's. I will keep you guys updated.
yes, matt, please keep us posted. i want to do the same thing here in minnesota.
Is This What You Do With Eternity? ~Groundhog Day
Great Idea. All you really need is two people meeting casually in a restaurant like Dennys, etc.
Keep us informed.
"There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative." --W. Clement Stone
The first AA groups met in homes too!
I think open AA meetings are a great stop gap, a great way to be around people who understand the malady and are hopefully solution oriented.
Cheers, Desire to Stop
ALL quoted text (unless otherwise stated) comes from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (with wording sometimes changed only to make it more relevant for gaming addiction). I will include page numbers.
Hoping & praying for a measure of recovery for all of us today.
Im in midvale,ut but no car right now. sounds good pm w/ info
We have a lot of information that you are welcome to use to start groups:
http://www.olganon.org/?q=material_for_meetings
http://www.olganon.org/?q=starting_a_local_chapter
Like John said - start small.
Build it and they will come!
Liz
Liz Woolley
OK, I have officially setup my first meeting! http://www.meetup.com/Gamers-Against/calendar/11786269/
Sundays at 3pm Look for an OLGA sign.
Learning Technics 3809 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115They were kind enough to offer me a free room. So far I have one other person that has showed interest. I will manage the meetings through the meetup page. So feel free to check it out there for RSVPs and updates.http://www.meetup.com/Gamers-Against/
I am thrilled that you are doing this!! I believe this is the future of OLGA - live meetings popping up all over the place!
Good luck and I hope you keep us up to date.
PS - I am setting up a DC chapter. Although I had hoped to hold our first meeting this week, I think I will have to be patient (not easy for an addict) and start next month. Wish us luck!
First Meeting a success!
We took a picture of my friend and I before the meeting. You can see it here :)
http://www.meetup.com/Gamers-Against/photos/?photoId=11716172&photoAlbumId=759757
Don't we need to photoshop in some screaming Gerard Butler faces a la 300 or at least the eyeglasses/eyebrows/nose/mustache disguise?
Woohoo!!!!!
Cheers, Desire to Stop
ALL quoted text (unless otherwise stated) comes from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (with wording sometimes changed only to make it more relevant for gaming addiction). I will include page numbers.
Hoping & praying for a measure of recovery for all of us today.
Grats on the meeting.
But remember the anonymous part....(pics).
The question is....will you be able/courageous/adult enough to sacrifice that which merely pleases you...for that which will truly fulfill you? That is the question of personal growth.
~~~Dem518
~~~wow-free since 8/22/09
That's great, Matt! Congrats. :)
Congrats !!!
" ... don't question it just go" "... where the body goes the mind will follow"
.
Borrowed from "Desire to Stop"
Thanks everyone.
I might look into a way for people to join the group but somehow keep some anonymity. Personally, I am less concerned about it than others, but I plan to be careful about it.
My other concern is getting the word out without breaking Tradition 11.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
I wanted to run by types of promotion by you guys. I have a relationship with the public radio station so I was going to look there, then AA center office, local psychologist organization chapters like APA, I know a few people at some local magazines/newspapers I might be able to get a free weekly posting, And any other ideas? I was thinking of asking if Internet cafes would let me post a brochure at their establishments.
Hey Matt, as I understand the anonymity tradition (and you will hear from folks who are far more experienced than I in all this), it means that you, personally, as Matt, don't go out and say "Hey, I'm Matt, I'm a recovering gamer. Y'all come to OLGA!" IOW, it is fine to let people know we are out here. It is fine to let people know we exist, when and where we meet, and so forth. Otherwise, nobody will know it, right? What isn't fine is to do anything to try and induce people to come, and, to use yourself or anybody else as a poster boy.
It doesn't sound as if any of your proposals cross the line. I'll tell you, though, based on my experience promoting other groups, that it isn't as easy as it should be to get the word out. There aren't as many community weeklies as there used to be. A public TV station might run the info as a "feed" and you might get a 2-sentence notice into the hometown paper, if you write it. Another venue we use is Craig's List and here is an idea also, that you set up an email account (call it something like saltlakecityolganon) for folks to inquire. If you want to reach out to mental health professionals, that would be great - you'll have to have something like a brochure or at least a flyer, though, so they have something in hand. It would be super-cool if your local AA would include an OLGA meeting mention in their list of ongoing meetings (if they have one).
But this all sounds pretty good to me...
Jane in CT
Are you going to be keeping this location? I am an active member of a 12 step and can help out with making sure we follow the traditions and such. Other 12 steps won't promote each other due to "singleness of purpose" but while we don't seek out members that doesn't mean we can't seek out the places they hide. A PSA on the WoW boards is not against the tradition imho, we simply don't face the same logistical reality that fosters word of mouth that AA/NA/*A enjoys.
That said, I'd love to come to the group. I've been including my gaming addiction in my other work and I have found some empathetic ears, including my sponsor who designs games. Nothing beats talking to another 1337 raid whore, though.
Gamed 1992 - 2007. 4tw.
The only problem with posting on WoW forums is it sets us up for a huge wave of flamers and trolls. We've seen it happen.
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
____________________________________
Yes, the location is still the same. I spent a few weeks visiting family over the holidays so I have not been around as much. However I still hang out ever Sunday at 3pm. Recently I have not had anyone to join me, so I just hang out and read the Big Book or something related ;]
Learning Technics
3809 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115There will be a sign to show that you are the right place.
It has been a year. Is this meeting still happening?
"Small service is true service while it lasts. Of humblest friends, bright creature! scorn not one
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun." -------William Wordsworth