Succesfully beats video games addiction in the past, but recently it comes again.

[iwangun]

First of all hi guys! I'm glad that I found this forum because I can share about my video games addiction problem.

So what I want to say is.. I actually beat my video games addiction in the past, without me realizing it!

So I used to play video games back when I was a child. Games like the GTA San Andreas, Tekken 3, Football Street. Those games are popular in my country back in my childhood days. Going into my teenager time, I play games like Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Call of Duty games. So basically all my childhood to teenager days are wasted with video games. I even missed the chance of entering the favorite High School in my country because I was too lazy studying and would rather to... you know it.. play those stupid games.

But all of that changed in my college days. I started to met and socialize with new people. It was an exciting new thing for me because I was constanly bullied and looked down at back in my school days so I dont have a lot of friends back then. But these new people I met in college sees me differently. They actually sees me as a normal human being rather that someone to be ridiculed at. So I started to interact with them, getting involved with college activities, hanging out, travelling with my new friends to places I dont even know it exist in my own country!

But I dont do all of those with the intention to cure my gaming problems because I dont yet realize that I have a video games addictions and I dont consider video games to be a bad thing. I'm just doing it because those activities are new and alien to me, and its exciting! Hanging out with friends, travelling etc. More exciting than playing video games. I even forgot about video games back in my college days... well until I graduate.

After I graduate, things are going south to me. I have a hard time finding jobs. My friends in colleges are going everywhere, starting their new lives with their new jobs. So here I am, being alone again, just like back then in my school days. It frustates me so much that I was unable to find a job, and because of that, my old habit starts to come again. I started to play video games, even with much more intensity now because I'm having so much free time and I used most of it to play games. And because of Covid I can no longer hanging out with my friends which makes my gaming addictions worse. I cant go out, so what better way to spend my time rather than gaming? Thats what I think.

But I realize gaming isnt going to bring me everywhere, this cant go on forever. I have to do something. so I started to learn coding to avert my attention from video games but it apperantly did not work. So I google "how to quit video games" and thats how I found this forum.

The game that I most addicted currently is Fortnite. You know, the hottest thing in gaming right now? With millions of people playing it, spending thousands of money for fancy skins (including me). I tried to quit Fortnite but their fancy skins are always drawing me back to it. Its like if I dont play it, I'm gonna miss this season's fancy battle pass skins.

I found the 90 days detox that gamequitters suggested. Tried it today. But after a few hours the urges to play Fortnite comes again. Even when I was writing this my mind is telling me to reinstall Fortnite and start playing. So I do have gaming addiction, and looks like its getting worse. Hope this forum helps!

So thats all of my story. Sorry if my English are bad by the way. I'm from Indonesia. Ya'all should visit it someday after Covid ends, its a beautiful country 🙂

[MuMuMelon]

Hey @iwangun, glad you found your way here. These times are definitely not easy. There is a lot going on in the world right now. You can absolutely quit gaming if you really want to. It's not easy but it's doable. Just stick to your guns. You recognized that you have a problem so just try to remember why you are here. You are obviously a smart guy (your English is infinitely better then my Indonesian) so I know you can stick to this. 

Take care!