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Posted

I just joined game quitters. I'm 16 and I feel like the main thing holding me back is spending about 4 hours every weekday playing video games and probably 20 hours each weekend. I want to stop, but the majority of my friends play almost as much as me which enables me, and I feel like I've already invested to much time and money in this "hobby" to stop. I've heard of people going cold turkey and just deleting their steam accounts, and although I'd like to go cold turkey, my steam account is worth nearly $2000 and I can't bring myself to throw it away. My questions are: How do you stop yourself from gaming? Are there preventative measures you can set for yourself? Did you lose friends when quitting gaming? Any responses are appreciated.

Posted

Welcome.

My account was also worth over 2000 and was with me for over 10 years of fun. Had to removed it, it was almost too difficult to delete it. The loss I felt was incredible. But I did it, and I don't regret it one bit. I am moving on, leaving games behind never to come back. Not even for cyberpunk 2077 or Bannerlord, which are the ones I was wanting the most. I still want to play them, but I wont. That part of my life is over, and that's about it.

Make it hard for you to play. Remove games from your reality. Then you wont have to resist as hard. You wont need so much will power.

Good luck

Posted

Hey there.

My steam account is worth over 5000 USD, I've put pretty much all my disposable income into it for 14 years. 

There isn't an easy way to get rid of it, your loss aversion is high when it's something so important to you. If deleting the account feels like too big a step right now, just uninstall it and ask a parent or trusted loved one to change the password. If you're really serious you can have the email changed too so there's no way for you to get the account back without going through this person. That way the account still exists but it's far enough out of your reach to make it really hard to just give in to your urges and play.

In time, you may decide to delete it. I haven't deleted mine yet, but I think I probably will at some point. Each day I go without games the thought becomes easier.

Good luck, I can say that I wish I had made the decision at your age, so don't hesitate if you feel like this is the right thing to do. The best time to start is now.

Posted (edited)

Just here to make this tiny point: Your accounts are worth much less guys ? Assuming the sum you give here is the amount of money you put into it. Since selling an account is against the TOS of steam and therefore has to be done through shady internet forums and the value of games goes down over time and the fact that you can't sell the games individually, the market price of your accounts would be significantly lower. You're not losing out on much, if it makes you feel better haha. 

Edited by JustTom
  • Like 2
Posted (edited)

Haha, fair enough. I think regardless of their true value, the big number plays into that sunk cost fallacy, which is why I mentioned it. I'm not proud of the number!

Edited by ElectroNugget
Posted (edited)

I deleted my steam, paradox and my blizzard account two months ago and at first I was also really against it because of all the money I "invested" in them over 10 years but then I calculated the whole amount of it and thought what else I could have done with this crazy load of money additionally I said to myself if I do not want to loose the same sum over the next years again i have to do something radical and down they went into the "trashbin" and since I got the confirmation emails not once did I look back and felt bad about it.

p.s. It also makes it more difficult to start gaming again because you have to start anew.

Edited by Undsoweiter
  • Like 1
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

What's even more valuable, and something you can never, ever get back, is the time you have spent in the past and the time you may spend playing video games in the future.

Even an account "worth" $10,000 USD isn't worth the 4-8 hours a day a person may end up spending playing those games.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)
On 5/3/2019 at 11:40 PM, seriousjay said:

What's even more valuable, and something you can never, ever get back, is the time you have spent in the past and the time you may spend playing video games in the future.

Even an account "worth" $10,000 USD isn't worth the 4-8 hours a day a person may end up spending playing those games.

I disagree. I had a lot of fun gaming. Had some great adventures alongside the characters I played with. Experienced epic stories, and hilarious moments. It was great at the time, and I don't regret it. I don't think we should compare the value of it with our current understanding and use of games. Back then, it sure was worth it, back then it meant the world to us.

We shouldn't devalue our past, because its our past that gives value to us today.

 

Edited by dahankus
  • Like 1
Posted

How do you stop yourself from gaming? I sensed that the more important priorities - like school - are in the way for now.

Are there preventative measures you can set for yourself? I already deleted The Sims Freeplay app 2 weeks ago, but I just don't want to be tempted to watch YouTube anymore. I have to deny the cravings until I get nearly two weeks off of school (transitioning from spring to summer term) when I have time to catch up with anyone and hopefully finish the playlist in time for graduation.

Did you lose friends when quitting gaming? No. Nothing is wrong with relationships in real life, but online? It's mixed.

Posted
On 4/14/2019 at 7:54 AM, AddictAnderson said:

I just joined game quitters. I'm 16 and I feel like the main thing holding me back is spending about 4 hours every weekday playing video games and probably 20 hours each weekend. I want to stop, but the majority of my friends play almost as much as me which enables me, and I feel like I've already invested to much time and money in this "hobby" to stop. I've heard of people going cold turkey and just deleting their steam accounts, and although I'd like to go cold turkey, my steam account is worth nearly $2000 and I can't bring myself to throw it away. My questions are: How do you stop yourself from gaming? Are there preventative measures you can set for yourself? Did you lose friends when quitting gaming? Any responses are appreciated.

Read about the sunken cost fallacy ? cause it sounds like you suffer that, understandably so. I did the same thing and it was and still is the hardest thing for me to do because I am only 14 days away from my steam account being deleted with 105 games and 299 dlcs ? its really and interesting subject to read about and to learn about how to tackle that feeling ?

Posted

I stopped  myself after trying to beat a certain dlc in Borderlands over and over again till I finally said to myself, " what the hell am I wasting all this energy and time on". Then I deleted all my accounts and bought the respawn elite package and it has helped me well so far. I have tried to quit many times before, thats why it didnt take much to push me over the edge :D. Once I managed to stop gaming years ago. I chose to do that because I was going to work in the hospital kitchen, where I regularly made stupid mindless mistakes like trying to heat up buttermilk dessert cause I had to store it in a giant casserol, so my mind made the logic thinking of what comes in the casserol must by heated. I destroyed 60 liters of buttermilk dessert because I was thinking of how many hours till I could get home and play.

Then a new month and new payday started. In this period I only went to work, got home, played Xbox (black ops 1-2) ordered pizza, went to sleep late and REPEAT. When I hit day 15, I had no more money for food at all and only a few scraps of pizza among the 15 semi empty pizza boxes. I thought to myself, no more. So I had a friend take me out somewhere desolite and we had fun smashing up my Xbox 360. Yeah I could have sold, but I would with garantee had bought a nintendo and pokemon for those money and then things would still be the same. 

It fricking worked and I didnt play any games till yeeeeears after. Since I started playing again (before I stopped this time) I have spend thousands of dollars on games and repurchasing older games. I have properbly bought Resident evil 5 and borderlands 1 and 2 4-5 times on different consoles. My interest in school has dropped and I started making stupid things at work again. So thats it.. I hope this time I will not return. Cause I can feel a big betterment after only 16 days of detox.

 

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