Has anyone else gone without urges or cravings?

[RNava98]

Hello, this my first post here. I'm trying to test the waters with some light discussion.

I guess I'll give some information and background to what I ask in the title. By every indication, I'm pretty sure I was a gaming addict. I would spent at least 40-60 hours a week at my PC playing games. I helped administrate a gaming community and although I didn't think of it as a job, I treated it like one. I did this throughout my first semester of college (university?). So on top of my classes that I often didn't go to and my homework I was never doing, I was doing my full time gaming "job". I remember hearing that the difference between passion and addiction is that passion gives you good results and is healthy for you. I got nothing in terms of results from my gaming "job" besides some good friends, but I did get the unhealthy consequences.  My sleep schedule was non-existent, I didn't think about what I ate, I rarely exercised, my grades were mediocre at best (I dropped one class due to doing so poorly), I'm 19 and I don't know how to drive (I do have a license though oddly enough), I've never had a job, I have pretty much no confidence, pretty much all my friends are online or from high school, etc etc..

One night, over winter break, I had an epiphany of what a loser I am and am going to be in the future if I don't make drastic changes. After a little bit of googling, I found Cam's article and it became crystal clear what I had to do. I spent a couple days making preparations to leave my community and then I quit. It honestly wasn't that hard. I had tried to moderate my game usage a couple of times in the past, but none of the attempts were serious. Never before had it been clear to me that I had a major problem that needed to be handled. And once I realized it was a problem it wasn't very difficult to kill it. A few days later I went back to university for the new semester and left my gaming PC at home.

Since then I've been taking things slow and trying to improve myself in a couple of ways. I've been making an effort to identify and eliminate other bad habits that were left over from my gaming era (The easiest to eliminate was my wearing of cargo shorts on a regular basis). I'm still not where a person should be at my age, but I'm much better off than I was a month ago. I'm happy (though not content) with what I've changed so far.

Okay after that rambling mess, what I wanted to talk about is cravings and urges. I haven't had them. I'm 31 days into the detox, but I don't really have much of a desire to play any games. I still think about them sometimes and I've even had a couple of dreams where I was playing them and I thought I had ruined my streak. But I think that is just because they've been such a large part of my life until this point, I don't really have much else to remember and thing about.

Is my addiction not real if I am not having withdrawals? Don't get me wrong, I'm not thinking about going back to gaming. I just don't understand why I don't miss it. The only thing I miss about it is all my friends that I had. They were awesome people that I loved "hanging out" with. And I kinda just left them and didn't say goodbye. I had always prided myself as someone who could do without people if I had to. I didn't think I needed them because I'd go through my "real life" not interacting with them. I didn't realize how much gaming had supplemented my need for social interaction until I came back to college having quit games. That was the first time I truly experienced what it was like to be lonely, it was awful.

Sorry, this turned into a lot more than I was planning on it being. Feel free to discuss my original question or anything else I wrote about. I'll do my best to respond.

Edited February 12, 2018 by RNava98

[thehondasc00py]

Be careful. Not having withdrawals->addiction must not be real->I can play games->back to gaming could just be you tricking yourself back into gaming, just in an unconventional way.

Withdrawal is the mind's way to manipulate us into the old patterns of gaming again, but I wouldn't put it past the power of the mind to actually play the opposite game, no pun intended

Ps. I only got cravings/urges to return like 60 days in, and again about 120 days in. The first weeks were clear sailing. So don't assume you're in the clear just yet

Edited February 15, 2018 by thehondasc00py

[Cam Adair]

Cravings or withdrawals are only one criteria of addiction. The full list is here. Also just because you're not "addicted" doesn't mean you don't have problematic use. For me, if gaming is having a negative impact on your life, that's problematic use and that's all I need to know to make a change. 

Happy to hear you're doing well though. Thanks for sharing.

[Brad_Hurst]

3 hours ago, Cam Adair said:

Cravings or withdrawals are only one criteria of addiction. The full list is here. Also just because you're not "addicted" doesn't mean you don't have problematic use. For me, if gaming is having a negative impact on your life, that's problematic use and that's all I need to know to make a change. 

Happy to hear you're doing well though. Thanks for sharing.

Damn, I ticked every single item on that list!

@RNava98 - Dude, I used to be addicted as fuck. And weirdly, like you, I did not experience cravings at all once I quit. I must admit though, I quit at a time where I wasn't playing 10-14 hours every day due to being at work. For me though, I realised that I had so much to improve on and gaming was doing nothing for me other than avoidance and procrastination. I looked around me and saw everyone around me 'supposedly' succeeding, whether that be with girls, grades, friends, money, happiness. Gaming was no longer an option for me. The thought of playing games now kind of disgusts me lol. Too much time wasting!

I wish you look on your journey brother!

- Brad

p.s. We're the same age

[info-gatherer]

Ticked every single item in the list as well, but since when I started Detox I didn’t experience cravings. Ye sure, maybe a couple times I thought “it would be fun to play a bit” but nothing more. reasons:

1 When I quit my commitment was firm and steady. And still is.

2 When I quit I was desperate and angry for what games did to my life without me being able to fight back. I think that this anger will fade over time, that’s why I need to improve my life more and more and more. When I’ll run out of rage fuel I won’t go back to games bc I’ll already have a life that I can enjoy.

3 Most importantly, the support of this community and likeminded people, and helping other people that struggle with gaming addiction, is helping me through my detox period.

4 And implementing what I learn here in my everyday life is the key ingredient for success. In less than a month I fixed so much shit that I still almost can’t believe it

[RNava98]

Thanks for all the responses! Something I don't see discussed often is game-related dreams. During the day, I have almost no desire to game. But since quitting, I've had at least 4 or 5 dreams where I gamed and thought that I was going to have to restart my detox. It's really something!