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NEW VIDEO: The Dark Side of Gaming (Documentary)

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Posted

Hey folks! So basically last night I had a sudden moment of clarity last night where I realized I've got a really long list of interests and hobbies, but I never make time for them. Reading, writing, world building, programming, and others are all things I absolutely love doing and few things give me such a great feeling of pride and accomplishment as those things do. Sure, I'll get hooked on a book every now and then (most recently, and rather humorously, Ready Player One) or get an idea for a program and run with it for a while, but I would say 9 times out of 10 I'll get the urge to do something like that, but my brain will go "Nah, let's just play WoW instead. Gotta get that one mount or something" and I'll just go do that. And I've always thought that WoW was the problem, so I'd force myself to play other games...but in my moment of clarity I realized WoW was never the problem. It's my unhealthy approach to gaming. I should be able to hop into a game for an hour or two here and there and call it a day, but I either don't or I can't. I don't enjoy playing WoW...I really haven't for years. But I still shell out the money and play for hours a day.

Plus I'm almost 30. I really should be transitioning into more useful hobbies. Not that there's anything wrong with gaming beyond 30, a lot of people do that. Just for me I can't allow for it to remain the priority it did during my 20s. I wasted a lot of my 20s playing video games. Plus the wife and I are talking about kids and my loose plan was to quit gaming for when we have a kid, but would I really want to deal with that much difficulty all at once in my life? Seems like it would make more sense to quit gaming, setup healthier coping mechanisms for stress, then tackle parenthood with those mechanisms in place.

So I googled and found a subreddit about quitting gaming and that ultimately led me to the Game Quitter YouTube channel, which led me here. I wasn't really interested in joining a community, but I also realized that reddit and facebook are a huge source of anger and stress for me (let's just say I'm way too into politics sometimes) and decided to block both sites in my browser. I got to thinking and maybe having an active community to participate in would help me accomplish both the game and social media goals I'd set for myself. 

I think where I'm going to struggle the most is with sim games--like city builder games and such. Those have been a really enjoyable outlet for my creativity, and while I'm not sure they're as detrimental to me as other games are, I don't think I could do this without going completely cold turkey. Guess I'll have to tap into my fondness for world building and start drawing city maps to cover that base :)

Posted

Captain Caveeeeeemaaaaaaaaaan!

WoW was my jam as well before I gave up, and like you, I had stopped enjoying it. My theory is that with MMOs and people like us who can't moderate, we flip the script. We go from gaming so we can be social, to being social so we can game. When that happens, we get annoyed with having to group or talk to people because they just slow us down from the end result, whether that be a dungeon, a raid, or a mount like you said.

Having just had my first son, I can tell you giving up gaming is the best thing you can do as an investment in your family. Initially I really got annoyed when he wanted attention because it would mean I wouldn't be able to heal a fight or get those tasty PvP points. Now I really enjoy when he wants attention and I can give it to him. Way better than any dungeon or group or PvP arena. I have not changed anything else, just dropping gaming. 

Good luck on your journey!

Posted

 Yep, I hadn't played in a steady guild for months and prior to the guild I had been in, it had been years. I never grouped with people if I could help it. And sometimes it felt like I was constantly chasing the experience I'd had with the game in the early days when it was this impossibly massive world and I had an amazing guild to play with. 

I'm really excited for a game-free life can be like :)

Posted

It's great to have you join us @due88! Make sure you leverage your powerful motivation for wanting to do this. In the years to come your wife and child will appreciate the work you're putting in for them now. How exciting!

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