Gaming with Friends

[Michael9]

Hey y'all,

Pre-pandemic, I casually played video games 1-2x/week. Once March 2020 hit alongside Warzone, I started gaming 6-7x/week. In the moment, I love it and enjoy it. I connect with old friends and family members that live 10 hrs away. But...

- I game until midnight, and when I go to bed, I wake up my wife. Not fair to her after being asleep for 2 hours

- I spend very little quality time with my wife since then

- My work productivity has gone way down. And I've built other bad habits like scrolling through YT videos and wasting my time. It's hurting my career and volunteer work.

- My posture is awful now and I rarely workout 

I really want to go back to casual gaming 1-2x/week, but I worry that I just won't be able to. Gaming is still important to me because it allows me to connect with old friends and siblings (I live 10 hrs away), so I really want to just simply cut it down to 1-2x/ week (like only Sundays and Wednesdays or something).

Does anybody else struggle with this? Not wanting to give up gaming for the social aspect of connecting with friends or family that live far away?

Most importantly, I feel bad that I won't be playing with them and they'll be disappointed/sad. This holds me back the most from giving it up entirely. Does anyone else feel this way?

I hate the idea of giving it up completely due to the social aspect and stress relief. But right now, it just causes more stress and makes me neglect my family. 

 

Sorry to rant. First time I've posted to a community before. To put it simply, I want to play 1-2x/week, not 6-7x/week. Not playing with friends and family is what would hurt most.

[Racooni]

Hey Michael, you are not alone in this! I dont`t really want to quit gaming alltogether but still experience it with friends or by myself if it is a nice storygame, too. Just wanted to let you know that I feel this way, too. 

Best of luck to you! (don't really have any suggestions, just joined this forum literally an hour ago..)