Greetings, everyone. I'm glad that I found this place. This following question is directed to those who have already quit games. Is it better to gradually quit, or just stop playing? I understand that some may tell themselves that they will cut the gaming time by whatever amount of time per day, but they never do because of their addiction. But in my case, it's a bit different. I don't consider myself as addicted to the point where I play every minute that I can spare everyday. I keep up with everything in my life, but to the bare mininum. It's not satisfying to know that you could do something two times better with just a bit more time put into it. The main reason that I have decided to quit, is because I don't want gaming in my life at all. No matter the few minutes that I spend on games, I regret it. I regret that time, the time that I could have done something so much more productive.
~Thank you to those who took the time to read/post. Good luck for ones who are in the process of quitting
I can make it through the rain
I can stand up once again on my own
And I know that I'm strong enough to mend
And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith
And I live one more day and I make it through the rain
~Mariah Carey's Song "Through The Rain"
Life's too short to end right now. Think about those who love and care for you. There's always a silver lining in the clouds. There's always sunlight somewhere down the road. One day, looking back, you will appreciate. Don't spend your life regretting. Just raise your head, and make it through the rain.
Hi ForTheFinalTime and welcome to Olga. I had to quit cold turkey, once and for all. If I game at all, it's all I want to do. I also did what I had to do to the bare minmum, but gaming is all I wanted to do in every spare minute and it pretty much controlled my life. Before I started gaming I had all kinds of hobbies, but afterwards, all I wanted to do was game. Nothing else was any fun anymore. Life is so much better without gaming. Good luck in getting free from your gaming habit.
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. ~Maria Robinson
I deleted my account.. but others just walked away from the game.
Only you will be able to know whether you can be successful letting go little by little.. If you find that not working for you.. Then I guess you'd know going cold turkey is better...
Hi ForTheFinalTime
For me I had to stop cold turkey. I had to delete every game I had access to both on FB and on my computer (then empty my recycle bin). I had to go into control panel and uninstall my games.
I still have times when I want to play and even go looking for the games even though I know that they are no longer available.
Only you can determine what will work for you. but for me if any games at all are available I will start gaming again.
I came here (and still do) and read the posts and posted things myself.
Good luck.
Cold turkey. I know few addicts who can moderate successfully without tremendous effort. I do not know a single one who can gradually reduce their intake. Just quit.
A friend of mine said it well when he described how he quit smoking: "I decided I would accept all the feelings I would have as a result of quitting, then I quit". That decision is the main thing. Once you decide you have had enough and become willing to accept all the consequences (see withdrawal symptoms here http://www.olganon.org/?q=game_addiction_withdrawal_symptoms), then you have a really good shot at kicking the habit.
Good luck. I hope that just for today you enjoy live without gaming.
Perhaps a man who is worthy of the name should put aside this question of how long he will live ..., and turn his attention to this instead, to how he can live the best life possible in the time that is granted to him
Marcus Aurelius
Thank you, to all those who replied (including those who will). Yes, the sudden way (apparently called "cold turkey") makes the most sense. A clean break is the better way compared to dragging it on. Tomorrow's going to be a start in my life. ~4/19/11
I can make it through the rain
I can stand up once again on my own
And I know that I'm strong enough to mend
And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith
And I live one more day and I make it through the rain
~Mariah Carey's Song "Through The Rain"
Life's too short to end right now. Think about those who love and care for you. There's always a silver lining in the clouds. There's always sunlight somewhere down the road. One day, looking back, you will appreciate. Don't spend your life regretting. Just raise your head, and make it through the rain.
Best stop at once - I did it in phases and ended up with 3 cold turkeys in 1 month...
pre- diagnosed with Autism.
And who wants to live every day of their life in regret? Let's not! We don't need to! I'm for quitting altogether. I like to do things the easiest way when I can, and cold turkey is the easiest way when it comes to addiction. And that's **** hard! But easier than **** hard over and over again which is what quitting "a little bit at a time" is. Plus, you experience the rewards of quitting so much sooner and more measurably, in my opinion.
More and more I'm aware of just how very much I've come through life with my heels dug in - resisting rather than accepting - pushing against, rather than leaning into - fearing rather than trusting the experience. I'm learning to lean into all the feelings, feel them fully and flow on.
Acceptance. When I am disturbed, it is because a person, place, thing, or situation is unacceptable to me. I find no serenity until I accept my life as being exactly the way it is meant to be. Nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Acknowledge the problem, but live the solution!
My signature line below is related to this question... "what you feed grows and what you starve withers away." Gaming has had much power over me, over my thinking and my decisions. What I need to overcome compulsive gaming is to starve my gaming obsession so that it withers away, and to feed some healthy behaviors that fill the void left behind so that they grow.
With weaning off, first of all, I have extreme trouble trying to limit my gaming. I haven't been able to consistently limit it and taper off. But even when I was able to limit it, the limited game time fed my obsession with gaming, making me want to game more.
At first thought, gradually quitting sounds like a good idea. Gradually quitting worked with smoking for me. But I didn't have a mental obsession or compulsion to smoke, just physical cravings. It was a different situation.
What you feed grows, and what you starve withers away.
Love the comments, when I was still getting the urge would quickly go through the motions in my mind. Ok, logging in, visiting so and so, getting my gifts, etc, you get the picture. Was kind of like playing it through in my mind in fast forward, then logging out and telling myself, ok you are done now, you just saved yourself countless hours. The thing I realized was that the game was so predictable for me, I knew what would take place as it was always the same old for me. I shouldn't say this, but I even went in after long periods of abstaining and proving myself right, telling myself yup, nothing has changed, no need to come here.
I know how silly this sounds, but it helped me alot. Like everyone says, what works for one doesn't work for everyone, but this sure worked for me.
Cold turkey. I couldn't moderate, I tried for years.
Once again, thank you everyone for your posts. :)
~ForTheFinalTime
I can make it through the rain
I can stand up once again on my own
And I know that I'm strong enough to mend
And every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith
And I live one more day and I make it through the rain
~Mariah Carey's Song "Through The Rain"
Life's too short to end right now. Think about those who love and care for you. There's always a silver lining in the clouds. There's always sunlight somewhere down the road. One day, looking back, you will appreciate. Don't spend your life regretting. Just raise your head, and make it through the rain.