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In my previous post, I shared my goals related to gaming. Here's what happened in a month: I completed two games ( A Physical Escape Game + A Game at the Arcade ) Spring Cleaning for the Lunar New Year More time in my workplace ( Lesser working from home) The above satisfies me because: I aim to complete five games before considering purchasing any more I fulfilled a family commitment I became more active and social Elsewhere: I completed Gaming the System Podcast #11 today. Exposing myself to a painful past (Playing Dota 2 after six years) Threw out expired G Fuel
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Hey everyone. Happy New Year and hopefully it's a great one for us all. After a rough year in 2023, I'm going to try my damnest to make 2024 an actually great year for once. Going forward, I'm not going to be posting about every day simply because most of the time my days are boring with basically nothing to speak of. I started a new journal for the purposes of this year simply so I can document at least more days this time around. This first post is going to talk about the first two days of the year and what I've done in them. January 1st and 2nd: The first day of the year wasn't really all that exciting tbh. I wrote down some goals I'm hoping to accomplish by the end of the year and I'm making a commitment to daily journaling, but that's really it for yesterday at least. Today had a little bit more to offer. I watched the first John Wick movie which was a good watch from start to finish. I also started a new media thread for this year which is why I decided to start it with a movie. I also started to read "Gifted Hands" by Ben Carson, a book I haven't read in literal years. I'm only three chapters in, but it's a entertaining read so far. Reading more is one of my goals for this year, and I'm hoping to read a lot more books between now and next year. I actually almost ended up playing more of Astro's Playroom tonight, but decided against it for my better judgement. I'm still trying to commit to at least a few days a week of gaming, and so far I basically ended up doing that. Last week with Christmas and my brother's birthday was a different story and looking back I feel kinda bad for gaming for more hours than I originally planned on doing. It's usually been 2 hours a week and only one day, but I might just commit to 2-4 hours over 1-2 days a week. We'll see how it goes, but considering I start college next week, I know that gaming is not going to be a huge part of my life all the time anymore especially this year since I have some plans in mind I want to commit. That's basically all I have so far for the first two days of the year. Like I said, I'll only be talking about days where I've done meaningful stuff and/or things related to gaming, if possible. I'm really hoping to make this year something special, and whether or not video games will play a huge part in that role, we'll wait and see.
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Monday: December 4, 2023 I'm still committed to putting less time in video games. IE: for example, 1-2 hours of video games on 2-3 days a week. I'm still not fully getting used to that role as I keep downloading games on my phone and playing them for longer than I should. I'm also still researching games and even listening to soundtracks though I don't really count listening to video game music as part of my addiction. Last week I made the decision to start Persona 5 Royal since it's a game I bought recently and have been looking forward to playing. I started it right after deciding to reduce my involvement playing video games and it works very well for this game especially since it encourages me to take my time with it and not rush it all the way through. Even though I'm bored while not playing them, I'm still looking to do other things that doesn't involve them as well as not watching tv all day. Honestly at this point in my life there isn't really a lot I can do to escape them since I don't have a job yet and I start college again next month. But each and every day there can always be something I can do to avoid feeling like video games is the only meaningful thing I can do with my life. Like tomorrow, I may finally start writing a letter to a great friend of mine. Or maybe finally looking into which audiobooks or podcasts I can listen to which would be fun. Stuff like this will definitely help keep my brain active and make video games something that doesn't need to be performed every day or every week for that matter.
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I'm hoping to move on from video games permanently. Whenever I'm not playing them or when taking a temporary break, I'm constantly thinking about how to improve, and when I am playing them, I become unaware of the passage of time and end up wasting my entire day. I've decided to force myself to avoid all thoughts about video games, quit watching random or/and unnecessary videos on youtube, and devote myself to my studies and other aspects of improving my life.
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Hello ! I've been a gamer since I was 6, my first game was Minecraft, such good memories, but no more. I've been addicted to pornography since my 8, and I stopped recently. Now, being 15, I want to take my life back by quitting gaming for 90 days, and improve some parts of my life. Thanks to exist, GameQuitters, without you, the fucking braiwashed teens will, and forever game, you're doing something great by helping us to take our lives back.
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MIssed 2 days posting, hmmm. So much for commitment to a daily journal. Not feeling too bad about this, well really not bad at all because I have attended a GAA meditation meeting daily at 8 am Pacific time. I find starting my morning off with the meditation and sharing sets me up for success the rest of the day. I am inspired by the people that show up, share their story, coping mechanisms, and sucesses. The meditation and reading calm/center me and give me an anchor to return to throughout the day. Today will be my 5th day without a video game as part of daily activities. It's not hard to find other things to do - walk, art projects, reading, connecting with friends. While these things happened when I was playing games - the game was always in the back of my mind. I'm finding that's diminished greatly and when it does show up I think back to the meditation or tell myself this is just a thought, I don't have to follow through, take a few deep breaths and immediately find something to do. While I'm feeling some success, thoughts of letting go of journaling every day occur to me. That seems premature and a set-up for failing. So through Feb, I'll continue journaling and reconsider the 28th. Particularly if I am meditating everyday. Glad to be here, it helps, and wish everyonne on this path success. Peace out.
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Heya all. Entry 1, hopefully more to come... I really need to build up my "commitment to things" energy. I've been (loosely?) weaning off games for about the past month, deleted Steam and Epic. I don't really know how to count that, but it's still a win for gaming less. I felt inspired to write this post bc I made the decision to cancel my Darktide preorder (which I rationalised as a "last game I'll ever buy"), but upon reflection, realise that regardless of whether it's a universe that I love, or that Jesper Kyd is composing the music, and how immersive the experience would be, I realised - that's the trap. It's absolutely not worth janking up my mouse shoulder more and making me a more miserable person 24/7. I'm still struggling with filling up my time with other productive(?) activities though, it feels like everything is a timesink or distraction - Netflix, Youtube, etc. Are watching documentaries on Curiosity/Nebula 'better' distractions? I struggle with low-energy and end up gravitating to Youtube/Social Media since I feel like I literally don't have the brain capacity for anything else, since I'm struggling with chronic fatigue/sleep apnea, so I'm hoping this dopamine detox will help in some form. Been sticking to my gym, morning meditation, and walking a lot. Sure wish I could move forward in other areas though, like organisation and journalling.
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Day 1: I did write on my first day the other day. I ended up playing again. Today doesn't feel so great. I didn't plan out my day. I feel like it's a little difficult to do so with two kids, so my schedule is never going to be precise. I have tried to schedule my day out. But I've never got to doing anything on my list. Probably because I really didn't want to do it in the first place or I didn't push myself enough to do it. So right now, I'm feeling like crap, thinking about a lot of things. Money mainly. I'm a stay at home mom, I'm constantly failing my insurance state exam. Next week will be the 4th time I'm taking it. Besides doing that, I'm trying to figure out what sort of business I want to create and nothing comes to mind. I don't have experience in anything and I don't know what my skills are. So this is how my morning is going. It sucks but I don't want to give up.
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First of all, I would like to mention that English is not my main language. I apologize. Childhood At the age of 4 I started to play 'Super Smash Bros' always after school with my brother's 'Nintendo 64' (he's 9 years older than me). That's when the problem started. At the age of 6 (more or less) I started to play 'PS2'. I used to play videogames like 'Star Wars Battlefront 2', 'Rachet and Clank', etc. Youth At the age of 10 my parents bought to my brother and me a 'Xbox 360'. That's when it becomes a real problem. I stopped making exercise, I got fat and I rarely met with my friends in that stage of my life. My parents didn't get too worry about it because the only thing they kept in mind were school marks. So in those courses before Highschool I really got pretty good marks without making too much effort. At the age of 12 I started highschool and the problem continued. But League of Legends and Minecraft appeared in my life when my best friend and I watched my brother was playing those games. That's when we started to play them. We also convinced some classmates to play LOL with us. My marks started to getting worse. I started to play more to scape the reality because my family told me my mother got cancer when I was 11. At the age of 16 my mother died by cancer. She was the only person in that stage of my life who really cared of me. I continued playing as a way of scaping reality but without forgetting my responsabilities. Young Adult (A Levels - Preparation to University and University First Years) At the age of 18 due to an ensemble of bad circumstances (not due to the fact that gaming in that stage of my life) I didn't pass the last course of "Preparation to University" so I had to prepare it again. Since this point in my life I started to think I wasn't as good learning as I thought to be. That's when my addiction came really hard to scape those bad thoughts about myself. But after spending so much days that year gaming, I realized I have to do something with my life so I started to study Maths everyday to enter in Computer Science Degree. I got it. At 19 I started university, I got relaxed and I started to play again, I only passed 2 out of 5 subjects in the first semester. That made me play more to scape reality, and I was diagnosed with dysthymia. The course got finished and I only passed 3 subjects out of 10. Consequently, my father told me if I didn't pass all subjects next year, I would have to leave the university because he wouldn't pay for it anymore. Next year I got diagnosed with anxiety. Despite that, I could study without gaming too much because I wanted to continue studying the degree. I achieved to pass 6 out of 8 subjects. Afterwards, my father stopped to pay for my degree. So thanks to saved money I had, I decided to live in a shared flat near to the university to continue studying. What's more I got independence from my father because I didn't want to live in their home anymore. Nowadays At 21 I started university course again, I started motivated but due to the fact I continue gaming and the several responsabilities I had like cooking, cleaning, and other kind of housework, I hadn't enough time to study the degree, so I couldn't pass the subjects. It made me play more to scape the reality. In my case there were videogames which are so cognitive as 'RTS' or related to management like 'Starcraft 2', 'Rimworld', etc. The course ended up and the summer of 2022 began. I have started to eat healthier, doing some exercise, listening some psychological podcast and music. During 2021 I met my currently girlfriend, she helped me as none had done before and she is still doing it. She makes me realize about my situation related to gaming. That's when I noticed I had a problem with it. As a result of this, I spoke with my psychologist about it. He confirmed me that I had an addiction to videogamesm so I started to search about this condition on the internet and I discovered this reddit and other sites like 'Game Quitters'. My 90 days gaming detox started the day after that discussion with my girlfriend, the 12 of August. I would love not to scape the reality, just face it, enjoying the little things of life and keep gaming as another activity just to do with your friends after doing all my responsabilities like studying, physical exercise, housework and spending time with people I love.
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Update: I will now be posting about my life and achievements here. I have decided i will post whenever i want, and when i come on I will communicate with the community. Notes 1: Started binge watching cam's videos, I forgot how inspiring and helpful they are! Now i will break up hobbies I want to do based on seasons (things i want to learn) Spring: Fishing (or summer) Kite Flying Orienteering (includes hiking!) Canoeing Summer: Sailing Swimming (i can swim but I want to practice my strokes) Barbequeing (I have no idea how to use a BBQ) Diving Fall: going to tag sales (this could be anytime but fall seems nice) Holiday decoration (also anytime based on the holiday but most holidays come during the latter half of the year) Making homemade food (homemade apple cider, pumpkin pie etc.) Pumpkin carving Winter: Snowshoeing Fire building (no idea how to start and maintain fire in fireplace) Skiing Ice skating Home designing (can do anytime but doing it in winter sounds fun, like re moving things) Thing i want to do rn The thing i want to do rn is design an app that helps people get off their phones. According to research Americans spend over 5 hours every day on their phones. I have noticed that like games phones can cause the same feelings; brain fog, crankiness, headaches and more. Like forest, reducing screen time. instead however i want it to show things people can do besides their devices and what negative things come with phones, just like cam for games in a sense. While the app is on the phone, the app will be used for good instead of sucking them in.
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Like many other people here, I am addicted to gaming. It's something that has affected me for years, and wasted away countless hours of my life along with thousands of dollars. It's costed me so many relationships and opportunities, to the point where I'm no longer truly young (26 in 2021) and yet haven't achieved much of anything in my life. I've tried many, many times to quit. Sometimes I lasted for just a few days, sometimes several months, but ultimately the siren call of gaming always drew me back, screwing me over and undoing all the positive progress I worked so hard to build. On the surface my life honestly isn't too bad. 2020 was a bad year for many people, but it was pretty great for me. I moved out of my mom's place, got a job, and started working full time to take care of myself. I recently went back to school full time as well, and am looking forward to graduating in February with a 4.0 GPA and credentials that will allow me to work in an industry that I'm passionate about. And I have an awesome girlfriend who has stuck with me through some truly tough times. So why am I trying to quit gaming now? Because while I'm doing enough to get by, I know I'm falling so far short of my full potential. My room is a mess. My body and mind have both become incredibly weak from years of sedentary living. Most importantly, I have so many dreams that I want to achieve, and the opportunity to do so diminishes with each passing day, as I piss away my free time playing games and watching TV. I want to get fit, travel the world, make a lot of friends, and be involved in my community. I want to have a job that doesn't just allow me to get by, but that allows me to truly make a difference in the world. I know I can reach every single one of these goals, but I also know that it won't be possible unless I start growing up and leaving gaming behind. 2020 was a great year, but here's to 2021 being an even better one. Cheers.
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Day #2/90 Hi all, would like to do my journal because I am trying to find something else to do.. It's very hard for me to fight the urges to go back gaming during the night because this is the usual time I started playing, which has been my habits for the past years. This is my second day, and honestly, I feel horrible. It has been super tough as I keep finding myself staring at my consoles repeatedly.. However, several changes I have done: I picked up a self-paced Chinese Language class, hoping to fill the "void" I subscribed to Tidal Music for their HD music quality so I can experience the audio better I tried to sleep early I tried to avoid mindless browsing Throughout the day, I keep reminding myself why I am doing this. All those lost opportunities, experiences, and people in my life. Hope I can do my best from today onwards to follow the program (90-day detox) and the modules. Also, wishing everyone here success to finish the program. I believe we can do it! Sincerely, Tim
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My 3-Week Benchmark Report Hey all, I felt like I should make a post about hitting the 3-week checkpoint in my game quitting journey. Thus far, I'd say my cravings have been fairly manageable. There were a couple of days within the 3rd week that I definitely wanted to play Madden because I was reading up on some of the latest NFL news. I started watching old games on YouTube for a minute to try and manage and then I got over it. For me, digesting anything football-related can be a trigger because I obviously go into the mode of wanting to play out my own version of these stories in the game. As for filling my time, one of my hobbies that I wanted to develop anyways (gaming got in the way) is learning the guitar and getting back into music. In the three weeks, I've done something music-related every day, whether it's voice lessons, practicing the guitar, writing songs, or working with my friend to come up with concepts. It's been a lot of fun and something I can track progress for and "level up" in. A few other activities I have done are puzzles, reading, working out, horseback riding, and even fishing. While we went fishing last night, I said to my stepson, "Wow this is so much better than catching Pokemon." On top of that, I just started a new job last week so I'm putting a lot of attention towards that obviously. Using the apps "Coach.me" and "Trello" have been effective for me in terms of time management and task completion, while in a sense replacing the feeling of "leveling up" in a game. With gaming gone, I noticed that my body/mind has struggled in some ways to adapt. One thing that happened last week is that my eating habits kind of fell apart and I started eating unhealthily for the week. On top of that, I got into a Netflix series and binged almost as if it was taking the place of the gaming. I'm becoming mindful that the addictive spirit can manifest itself in other ways besides gaming. Finally, the biggest revelation that I have received in this time is that some of the games I was addicted to (Madden, Pokemon) are all rooted in my childhood. These games were escape mechanisms from some of my childhood struggles back then, and so I believe the addiction I had recently was connected to all of those struggles. It's incredibly enlightening when you step away from these things to let the dust settle, and then you realize what is really going on. Anyways, I just wanted to share my experience and to stay encouraged as I make my way towards 90 days (Aug. 24th will make 90 days for me!). Stay blessed everyone and let me know your thoughts if you get a moment! Kevin Ferris
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Okay so I came to the realisation that this once fun hobby is now an unhealthy obsession and I need to quit. I used to be prone to physical outbursts when I was younger, but that stopped after a whole. All of a sudden I found myself throwing my headset across the room today and smashed a glass to pieces. I realised that this is no longer something I enjoy. I'm 19 years old and I'm smashing my devices around at 10pm waking my whole family up because I died in a video game. Came across the Reddit for quitting games and made an account here, starting tomorrow I'm gonna focus more on other things I enjoy like coding Arduino and learning languages. Gonna actually make myself useful. Cheers for hearing me out if anyone reads this.
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FIRST DAY Good things I have finally tidied up room. That took me 3 bloody hours. Who knew my room could accomodate so much dust, Jesus. More than that, I accidentally found the missing part from my MOTTO Racing gear ? That hit me hard. A sudden wave of playing urge almost overwhelmed me but ya boi stays strong. EDIT. Watching video of other people quitting gaming (HOBEDAGA`s story) helped me. especially this guy. He`s a legend Spent time with my father. That was endearing really. We talked, played chess. Too bad I`ve wasted so much time digging my head in sand. But look redemption is what matters here right? It was funny to stumble upon my urge to leave as soon as we talked. I understand why. My father was often asking about my grades, plans for future, thoughts, anything, hell, he really was trying. And me being a depressed junkie, hating that sense of guilt, so dense I could touch it, I would crudely end the convo and rush to my messy room playing computer games with lights switched off. Bad things I feel like shit already. Well it is an indication of me being an addict, right? And I don`t want that. I want to be free. Thoughts Does the fact I am quitting mean that I shall not play again anymore? Should it be as fawl and wrong as doing drugs or commiting crimes for me now? What about this time I have spent playing games? Should I blame myself for it? What if I turn to pro gamer? Like, isn`t it wonderful to be hooked on something and bring bacon home at the same time. But, from the other perspective, say I have managed to become pro, will I be agile? Active? Socially charismatic? Perhaps it`s my brain trying to find a way to play some more Well, here it is, folks! OH! one more thing.. Here it is my visual XP bar for not playing the game ? How do you like it
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Day 1 (of tens or possibly hundreds of attempted Day 1's) and accompanying post-gym word vomit I've got "STOP BEING A FUCK" scrawled on my arms in vivid, having woken up at 8pm in the evening after another extended cycle of 16 hour binges with 8 hour interludes for sleep and eating. For the amount of times I've been back to Day 1 I might as well get those words tattooed on to save money on stationary. Though Day 1 is familiar territory, this is the first time I've tried the forum. I find reading other people's stories encouraging, no matter the differences in their circumstances or stage of self-improvement, and intend to engage with other people and be on here regularly. I've already got a written daily affirmations journal (which has a few cobwebs on it), but I'll also be implementing the GQ's program and am open to suggestions from repeat Day 1 offenders as to any helpful bits and pieces which they found success with. As is the case with any writing, the hardest part to this is starting. A similarity between this and the actual self-improvement I'm wanting to achieve, is that it's easiest to pack it in on the first sentence of the journal, or first hour of not gaming. Fortunately I'm not graded on this, so it will (at least in its early stages, which I'm hoping will be followed by later stages) likely resemble a word vomit of thoughts. Even if it's only me angrily bashing the keyboard and smearing asdfghjkl across the post, the key is that I hit the "submit topic" button once a day, and if I don't, that I forgive myself for failing. I have no idea whether this will become a tidy affirmations journal or a daily rant, but I do know I need to keep doing it. In the game of habit correction every little bit counts. This perfectionism is something I've struggled with historically as I imagine many other repeat visitors to Day 1 do - the all in mentality of having completely followed the program, or conversely throwing it in the bin as soon as I sleep in for an extra hour and reverting to . To borrow from Game of Thrones, I want need to break this behavioral wheel of initial success, slight and then total failure, and then waiting until the self-hatred and general unpleasantness of living the 16 hour binge life builds to the point warranting change. My thought process at this stage is usually the same, as it is now: I am in a place of considerable unpleasantness, what options do I have to change this Option A: commit Sudoku. Permanent but extreme solution. I'm also not allowed to do this, as my parents and I have agreed that I must talk with them first if I'm to consider this option. (Dead serious, we actually had this conversation.) If I'm not going to off myself, I might as well make some improvements From here it's been the usual routine of clean room, wake up earlier, gym and yoga until some hitch hits and the gaming and accompanying lifestyle bleed in little by little until I'm back to square one. I've been back to Day 1 more times than I could count in the last 6 months since finding the program, and it's been at least 5 years since I realized something needed to change. Same train departing the same station, but the difference between this and the first time I realized something needed changing is the knowledge of the various times I've tried with varying results to make such changes. The other difference is my signing on to the forum, which I'm hoping will keep the feeling of momentum going in making such changes and arresting the bad habits before they hit critical mass and the familiar trudge back to Day 1 mentality is needed. To try avert the pitfalls of the aforementioned perfectionism I'd been using a car analogy, "if the tyre is popped, you change the tyre, rather than throwing out the whole car." I think this applies on a daily basis, but in the big picture doesn't work to the organic long term nature of gaming and what I and many other people are trying to achieve on here. Gaming and the accompanying negative behaviors I'm trying to rid myself of are better described as a cancer (an unfortunate internet/gaming cliche I know). I might improve my sleep cycle, morning routine, exercise habits and a wealth of other things, but there was always be some part of my brain attempting to engineer the regrowth of old less desirable behaviors. You can't just cut out the behavior once and expect it to be permanently fixed. I need to accept this and keep checking in and cutting them out when those behaviors do reappear. Conversely, no matter how many times they do resurface it is essential that I work to cut them out as soon as possible. Little by little they all have some cost which everyone here is all too familiar with. The longer left in the higher this cost becomes. I've talked with Cam. I've read the all the GQ materials and various blog posts. I know this can work and I've seen other people's stories where it has. I also know I could find myself back here again. The important thing this time around is building on all the other times rather than walking right back down the all to familiar cycle I've run through far too often. It is my hope that through documenting this and also interacting with people's stories I'll go one or a hundred steps farther than what I have before. lessgo boiz Quick about me: 23, Uni Student, Hobbies incl: Guitar, DJing, Yoga, Daily Gym (need to do cardio though). Looking for (amongst other things): Experiential advice, book or material recommendations (will be downloading the 3 books fawn_xoxo recommended on another post), a general sense of purpose nb: list not exclusive. Goals for right now Decent nights sleep (it's 5am now so as decent as possible), no screen in bed, set alarm and wake up by 2pm (v ambitious). Goals for tomorrow Clean room, remake longer term goals and short term habits to achieve, post again, gym, don't game.
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DAY # - 1 Time I woke up: 6:00am Time I went to sleep yesterday: 11:30pm Physical task: walking Mental task: writing Projects: none Miscellaneous accomplishments: ~ did my oceanography test ~ had the tutoring session of ASL ~ paid $44 to cover the vocal lesson and the shortage from last week Summary of Day It was boring I had nothing else left to do... What I am grateful for today: ~ sunshine ~ spring weather ~ happiness ~ contacting with my father over Messenger Over and out!