amchow

Using Minecraft can induce addictive behavior further down the line. As for other gamified platforms, it depends on what kind of mechanics are introduced. Duolingo is bare basics and having the streak mechanic is actually good for making sure people come back to practice. As far as I am concerned, if the mechanics used in the gamified platforms are similar to those used in MMORPGs and mobile games, then yes it will increase addiction and open the door to the very games that cause said addiction. Otherwise, if it is bare basics mechanics that encourages regular practice and learning, then it will not produce the kind of addiction that stems from other types of games that are deliberately designed for keeping people addicted.

When I first stopped, I immediately began picking up other activities and focused on productive things. Doing nothing can cause your thoughts to wander back to gaming and your emotions will be running on the low end of things. It will feel like a battle at first and you won't feel good emotionally at first. But trust me it gets better. I've been over 90 days free and it feels so good! :D Keep going and remember we are all going through the same journey.

9/3/2020 - Day 96 Hello, all. Got done with another long work day. 10 hours long this time. But I am pleased with my work today. Got done with a number of high priority items (and got them out the door promptly) and stayed in work a little longer to get stuff prepped for another large task tomorrow. Feels good to be working hard. 😄 Writing now as I will again be preoccupied with Blue Bloods for the rest of the night. Will more than likely be resuming my LEGO models over the 3 day weekend. Looking forward to Friday going by and HELLO 3 DAY WEEKEND!!!!!!! 😁😁😁

9/2/2020 - Day 95 Had another busy day at work that felt very productive. Plus I learned how to route hoses in the 3D modeling software used at work so I felt good that I have another area of usefulness and can do more than just adding, removing or replacing parts. Did not write yesterday as there wasn't much to report aside from the usual. Still making sure to check in though. Writing sooner today than later as I will be busying myself with Blue Bloods Season 3 for the rest of the evening. Still doing dailies and my usual day to day items. Not currently working on models to take a break from the rather large rocket I only finished this past weekend that was time consuming. Until next time. Stay safe and keep an eye on your emotional wellness.

@BooksandTrees No worries. I often feel the same way as you at times (like I was last week). I often loathe doing the same thing every day and not being able to go to the office actually feels like a drag, but I always look forward to the day after and take things one day at a time like I did when I first quit for real. I also understand the need for.... I wouldn't say attention. We all need interactions with people especially in this time where we are all not able to do that with all the restrictions in place. I have often felt like that too where I feel lonely. However, I always have conversations with my parents (whom I am very close to) and I feel better after we make time to encourage each other. As I am sure you have seen too, I also don't write on my journal every day either as there isn't always something to check in about. However, I still make it a must for myself to write every other day and not miss journaling for too many days as it's equivalent to not checking in for days. I'll still be on here like I said before and we can still message if you need someone to talk to. :D

@BooksandTrees Don't let the staleness get you down. We are all in a time where it would be too easy to get discouraged and let the lack of activity from others get you down. Plus, it's too easy for video game addicts to get re addicted during this time as a lot of them are stuck at home due to not being able to return to school in person, have recently lost their job due to the pandemic, or other negative circumstances that we don't know about. Don't feel like you are responsible for those who leave or relapse. You are not responsible for them. Their decisions are their own. Appreciate the ones who stay and talk and remain strong, and let go of the ones who ultimately leave. I would like to encourage you. Your story has been an encouragement to me and countless others even if there are no words written to express that. Appreciate the times when others on this forum express their appreciation and let you know what your story has done for them. If you want to actively help and get real time feedback from others, maybe see if you can start a Game Quitters Outreach either through an online support group centered around people in your area or you can start an in person one once this craziness comes to an end. I'm still pretty active on here and I still intend to be for a long time until such time where a lot of my personal commitments start to take up a lot of time. In the end, I am not in this for others but ultimately for helping myself stay on the straight and narrow and remain conscious rather than being on autopilot and running on my subconscious. Cheer up! There are still those of us here who love and appreciate you. 😄

8/31/2020 - Day 94 Well, here's to the start of another work week. At least I have a 3 day weekend awaiting me after this week. I pray that it doesn't go too fast (though it typically turns out to be the opposite effect). I'll still look forward to it though. Did my dailies and watched Blue Bloods again. Will be finishing off Season 2 tomorrow. Looking forward to it! 😁

@BooksandTrees Yeah. I thought the exact same thing. Except they aren't bobble heads. XD Plus they have one for quite a number of characters so you can make whichever ones you want. 😄

8/30/2020 - Day 93 Today was a half lazy, half busy day. I lazed around half the time, stocked up my food and did chores in the other half. Did my dailies and did a simpler model than the rocket. Made a LEGO Brickheadz model of Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Ursula will be up and coming:

@gargamel Thanks for the compliments. Working above 9 hours a day is something I normally would not do unless there was something I had to finish in prep for a meeting the next day. When it comes to work ethic, I am in a job I love and enjoy and where every task is different in some way or another. If you find a job or line of work you love to do to make a living, you will find that working so many hours is well worth the effort. :D

8/29/2020 - Day 92 I was lazy for pretty much the whole day aside from a couple easy chores. Watched Blue Bloods, listened to Kpop and worked on finding more models to work on. Hoping tomorrow doesn't go to fast though (although I am quite sure it will). @chiliflavor, the rocket you requested has been finished. Check out the render of the LEGO NASA Apollo Saturn V rocket.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Life has felt great since i stopped gaming and I am certainly not stopping here. This is going to go on for the rest of my life. 😄

8/28/2020 - Day 91 Thank God the week is finally over! It has been such a long week. My design review went well (although I realized how much I don't know at the moment). Already have a good idea of the prep I need to do for the next one when it comes up. Now, I can disconnect for the weekend and relax and watch Blue Bloods, make time for my rocket model and do my real life dailies. Did my real life dailies today and then proceeded to watch 4 episodes of Blue Bloods Season 2. Looking forward to binge watching Idk how many episodes tomorrow. 😁

90 days of being a Game Quitter achieved! Looking forward to more Game Free days to come!

8/27/2020 - Day 90 Wow. 90 days of no video games... and to imagine the fact that I worked 11 hours today prepping for a meeting to review my work tomorrow. I would have hardly imagined 3 months ago that I would be capable of working so many hours, but it happened. Keeping this one short as I am exhausted from a long work day. Cheers to more game free days to come! 😄

8/26/2020 - Day 89 Today felt like a very busy and somewhat hectic day due to priority levels rising in a minutes for the project I am a part of. I can guess my boss is putting me through the ringer to test me or outside people are applying heat. Either way, I intend to do well. Beside from work picking up speed, I did my usual real life dailies and watched Blue Bloods. In essence I am looking forward to this week being over. Just need to get past the next couple days.

@BooksandTrees Hey, thanks for the tips. I was in a really low point yesterday due to stress accumulating about the project I am working on for work. It's my first one so I am suffering from emotional tension and nervousness. Plus, the get together I had with my friends last week made me go into occasional mood swings due to missing that so much. I'm going to try to see if I can help arrange for another one soon. As for what I do currently, I watch 1-2 episodes of Blue Bloods to change things up and I have recipes I can cook on weekends. Weekend trips aren't super feasible where I am at as it is a town in the middle of lots of farmland and corn fields and any places of interest are more than 2 hours drive away. While video chats aren't exactly the same as in person meetups, am going to try to set up regular video calls with my friends in case they can't meet in person for a while.

8/25/2020 - Day 88 This week seems to be one of those weeks. Not feeling super great emotionally. Had a bit of a rough start to my work day with a short power outage followed by a half hour internet outage. Though I must admit. That isn't as bad as the bathroom flooding that happened last week. As for the emotional low, it is more about missing social gatherings and activities. Before all of this hit, I had in person company every week with church and small group and young adults alternating every week. Even when I was on the Team A and Team B schedule at work, I was content with that, Now, I am at home 95% of the time. Even going out for a walk is starting to feel monotonous and just part of a daily routine. In summary, it's getting hard. Really wanting to get through this week so I can try to shake this off over the weekend. At least I can comfort myself with the fact that a three day weekend is about a week away. Until then, will continue staying strong and keeping myself upright.

8/23/2020 - Day 86 Today was another semi lazy day. Mainly did dailies and watched Blue Bloods. Finished off Season 1. Planning to begin Season 2 tomorrow evening. Also continued work on my NASA rocket. It is a very large model. Only two thirds of the way done and I'm at Step 129. Patience is very much a good thing for this model. Taking my time with it though as missing a step or putting stuff in the wrong location can lead to more work later. Good principle for work too. Onto another week of work.

8/22/20 - Day 85 Today was a semi relaxing day. Ran a small errand after lunch and then came home. Spent more time than my one lesson a day daily learning and did more than one lesson for each (Korean, typing, Python coding). Also completed two more LEGO models and started on another one. Here are the ones I completed recently. Also, @chiliflavor, a rocket is in the works. 😄

8/21/2020 - Day 84 Differences between yesterday and today was like night and day when it came to work. I got handed a new project that I will be a part of and it felt good at first. Until I suffered from confusion for the rest of the day due to not having sufficient background. Finally had a call with the senior engineer in charge and got to work with the proper focus and background. Thus, today felt much better and more productive overall. Now, onto the account of yesterday night. It was a great night with friends. Mainly filled with food, smores, badminton, and apple cider slushies. I had a good time, plenty of good conversations and plenty of laughs over funny tech stories from a guy there that only I could understand from what it seemed. It felt really good. Finally being around them without the video game brain fog looming over my mind and making me seem a tad distant. Like at my small group meetings I felt actually connected. For real connected. All the more reason to never return to gaming. I certainly would not have this kind of experience if I was still playing video games. Here's a model I finished tonight to end this entry:

8/19/2020 - Day 82 Today was an extremely productive day. Got done with a whole design change task and submitted everything before close of business today. Feeling accomplished in that regard. Did my usual dailies and settled down for two episodes of Blue Bloods Season 1. Looking forward to another day of work tomorrow + a small social gathering with friends. May end up not journaling tomorrow due to having the outing. Will report back on Friday. Until then, have another good day of being a Game Quitter to everyone. 😄

@Pharmacist Here's a tip that has made avoiding games and not even thinking about them successful for me. Change your mental mindset on what your identity is. These statements can pertain to what you want to be outside of gaming such as your career, education (if you are still a student), or who you want to be socially. Here's the starting statements I gave myself to give examples: I am an Engineer, not a gamer. I am an Adult, not a child. I am a Giver, not a receiver. I am a Friend to others, not a loner. Changing your identity and what you believe you are will help with detaching from games as it signifies moving into a new phase of life for yourself. Whatever identity statements you come up with, make sure to write them down so you can remember them. Give it a try. I am certain it will help. 😄

8/18/2020 - Day 81 Today didn't start off so well as I had to clean up my slightly flooded bathroom as the result of acting like a little kid who wanted to find out the result of flushing a clogged toilet and suffering the consequences of it after. Safe to say I learned my lesson about using too much toilet paper and panicking and trying to fix it myself instead of sending a request for a plumber. Anyway, after a little over an hour of cleaning, I finally started my day. After that, it was a typical work day and nothing else super interesting happened. Did my dailies, watched an episode of Blue Bloods, and finished another car model after doing some finishing touches in terms of bathroom cleaning so I could at least be satisfied with the level of cleanliness after getting only toilet water (minus gross waste thank God) on the floor. Here's another piece of LEGO model handiwork to end this entry:

8/16/2020 - Day 79 Today was a productive day with regards to chores. Got a number of chores done so I will be free over the next few days. Got a number of LEGO models done and did my dailies as recreational activities. Watching Blue Bloods Season 1 to end the day before I do some reading. Here's some more models I completed: