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NEW VIDEO: The EASIEST Way to Stop Gaming

Starting my 90 day Detox Today


Some Yahoo

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Feeling better today. 

Hey I wanted to note that you have [For Gamers] and [Parents of Gamers] on the site, but my beautiful, charming and talented wife also enjoys reading the  posts here.  Yes, I have found it very useful to come clean about my gaming with her and share my struggle and this site with her.  

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18 hours ago, Some Yahoo said:

Feeling better today. 

Hey I wanted to note that you have [For Gamers] and [Parents of Gamers] on the site, but my beautiful, charming and talented wife also enjoys reading the  posts here.  Yes, I have found it very useful to come clean about my gaming with her and share my struggle and this site with her.  

I did the same after a few months of posting in secret. Was really liberating and brought us closer.

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Imagine if you will... that video games became life, and your world was full of the kind of things you find in - say - Every MMO.

  • There are 75% girls who wear bikini armor, yet have male voices, brag about how stoned/drunk they are, how slutty they are, and how much sex they have with nameless guys. Would you even sit with such a "girl", much less date her?
  • Everyone talks about bacon and screwing your Mom.
  • You decide to go play basketball with 3 or 4 friends.
    • there's one huge burly guy wearing a playboy bunny tail who never talks, and leaps up ever other step.
    • there is one guy with a laser pointer who runs around the sidewalk flashing it in people's eyes.
    • There is a girl who keeps screechng "wohooo!" every 3 seconds and never stops.
    • Then there's the guy with the ball who stopped walking as soon as you formed your group, and 25 minutes later will follow you all to the court.
    • There's one guy who walks around looking at everyone's shoes and calls you all newbies, and brags about his $90,000 basketball shoes. (and when the game finally starts, he completely sucks, and ends up screaming at his teammates).
    • And there is one guy with no shoes, constantly walking into walls and poles, and keeps saying "I'm new, how do I do this?"
  • There are lots of people in town - all doing stuff, but they all ignore each other.
  • You say "Hi" to people or ask directions, and no one answers, except the guy who says "Run over the edge of that cliff over there".
  • You lose the key to your house, and then find it after searching under a barrel on the roof.  Because that's where people leave their keys.  And people always have crates and barrels on the roof.
  • It's always day or night, depending on where you are.
  • The stores are loaded with items, but only certain ones can be picked up.
  • You have have a piano in your pocket, but you max out a 20 matchsticks.
  • You absolutely can't sit on chairs, eat meals, hug your children, use the toilet, wash your hands, or change your underwear.
  • Your primary form of interaction with people is hitting them or selling them stuff.

Sounds wonderful!  I think I'll pay $30 a month for it!

Edited by Some Yahoo
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This might sound sad, or involved, but there is a point, I promise.

I have type 2 diabetes.  It's because I love pastrami sandwiches and hate physical activity.  When I was diagnosed many years ago, I played this trick on myself.  Just like when my kids were born and there was a poopy diaper, I would say "It's mustard, it's mustard, it's mustard", then hold my breath while I changed it out; I did the same kind of thing for sugar.  I told myself "It's bleach".  Using that technique, I was able to fool myself into thinking (over time) that donuts were toxic, and sugar in coffee or Coke was awful, and the day Taco Bell took 30 minutes to make my food and gave me a large churros for my trouble, I tossed them in the trash.  I stopped eating chocolate (did you know that chocolate smells much better than it actually tastes?) 

In general, I told myself that sugar hates me, and bread is not a friend either.  

Today, when I think about my gaming, I think about the way it made me think about my family (you know, those people that love you?).  Did you know that there were days that I actively wished they would all leave the house so I could play games?  I skipped many outings with them because Tera was having a special weekend treasure hunt of some kind.  

So, when you think you're gonna slip and download a game, picture inviting a gang into your home to steal everything you love and beat you up in the process.  Oh, and you have to pay the gang $20 a month.

Told ya there was a point.

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3 minutes ago, Some Yahoo said:

 Did you know that there were days that I actively wished they would all leave the house so I could play games? 

I can very much relate to this. During my binge days i didnt answer the phone. I was rude towards people asking me out. I just wished they would all leave me alone. When you become concious of how much a t*** you were towards so many people its hard and sad. But it can also set you free. Cause you know you never ever want to become again that person ;)

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On 16/12/2017 at 7:23 PM, Some Yahoo said:

Imagine if you will... that video games became life, and your world was full of the kind of things you find in - say - Every MMO.

  • There are 75% girls who wear bikini armor, yet have male voices, brag about how stoned/drunk they are, how slutty they are, and how much sex they have with nameless guys. Would you even sit with such a "girl", much less date her?
  • Everyone talks about bacon and screwing your Mom.
  • You decide to go play basketball with 3 or 4 friends.
    • there's one huge burly guy wearing a playboy bunny tail who never talks, and leaps up ever other step.
    • there is one guy with a laser pointer who runs around the sidewalk flashing it in people's eyes.
    • There is a girl who keeps screechng "wohooo!" every 3 seconds and never stops.
    • Then there's the guy with the ball who stopped walking as soon as you formed your group, and 25 minutes later will follow you all to the court.
    • There's one guy who walks around looking at everyone's shoes and calls you all newbies, and brags about his $90,000 basketball shoes. (and when the game finally starts, he completely sucks, and ends up screaming at his teammates).
    • And there is one guy with no shoes, constantly walking into walls and poles, and keeps saying "I'm new, how do I do this?"
  • There are lots of people in town - all doing stuff, but they all ignore each other.
  • You say "Hi" to people or ask directions, and no one answers, except the guy who says "Run over the edge of that cliff over there".
  • You lose the key to your house, and then find it after searching under a barrel on the roof.  Because that's where people leave their keys.  And people always have crates and barrels on the roof.
  • It's always day or night, depending on where you are.
  • The stores are loaded with items, but only certain ones can be picked up.
  • You have have a piano in your pocket, but you max out a 20 matchsticks.
  • You absolutely can't sit on chairs, eat meals, hug your children, use the toilet, wash your hands, or change your underwear.
  • Your primary form of interaction with people is hitting them or selling them stuff.

Sounds wonderful!  I think I'll pay $30 a month for it!

This should be a TED talk on itself. Brilliant. 

On 16/12/2017 at 7:23 PM, Some Yahoo said:

There are 75% girls who wear bikini armor, yet have male voices, brag about how stoned/drunk they are, how slutty they are, and how much sex they have with nameless guys. Would you even sit with such a "girl", much less date her?

M-maybe? What...!? Don't look at me like that! 

I was also one to get angry, defensive or elusive on social contact when I was playing, and now I thank so much for the chance (the chance I gave myself) of having friends and loved ones.

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  • 2 weeks later...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

So.  No games over Christmas, which is excellent.  I have also been keeping my 90 day detox goals - at this point it would be such a pain to start it all over if I lapsed - with my Feb 18 goal.

I have a little confession.

I am a coder.  One of my dreams is to create a video game from scratch, so I have been working on it.  This is nothing new, I have been toying with this idea since the 1980's on my Atari 800.

BEFORE YOU PANIC: There is no relationship between creating a game and playing one.  It's a lot of hard work.  I just spent a whole weekend figuring out how to put health bars above enemies.  To be kind to you GQ's, I will not give any details of the project here.  There is a near-zero chance you'll ever see it anyway, as I am using the project to build my skills, not to make a public game of it.

My usual pattern had been to work until things got hard or confusing, and then play games because that was less mentally demanding.  When things get hard I have been just walking away, taking a breath, getting water or coffee, and playing with Spiffy.  

Another thing I have noticed.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have been getting a little boring.  I looked up from the screen last night and asked my beautiful, charming, and talented wife to go out for pie with me.   We went to Black Bear.  She had the triple chocolate thing, and I found a no-sugar-added peach cobbler.  We talked and talked.  It was almost romantic.  It was way more fun that killing a boss and getting 2 rare armor drops for the wrong class (LOL) and 75 cash-unlockable loot boxes.

 

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