Techniques to deal with game 'addiction'

Question

I'm sure it's happened to all of you that around midnight you realize you've been playing for four or five hours more than you had time for tonight and it's not first time this week. (well maybe not all of you)

My question is how do you get yourself away from games when you know that you don't have time to play but you still really want to?

I have a few techniques which involve generally hiding the games in my sock drawer, but that means I need to keep my games on an external hard drive. Any other techniques would be useful.

Answer 1

Rather than limit the time you spend on any one gaming session take a decision not to play at all one (or more) day/evening a week.

Do something out of the house - like going to a movie or the theatre - so you're not tempted. But if that's not an option just read a book or rent a movie. Invite some friends (or even work colleagues) over.

Answer 2

I find if you force yourself to play less than you want it will only increase the itch to play. Instead of not letting myself play enough I do the opposite - play till overdose. After that interest in this game drops and it becomes nothing special, just like the rest.

So if you have a new game that you can't stop playing (but want to), find yourself a free day and dedicate it to gaming only and play for as long as you physically can, and then some more. You will burn all the excessive interest.

Maybe a bit extreme solution, but works for me.

Answer 3

Personally, I find that replacing [parts of] my gaming addition with other addictions works well. But instead of just having one addiction I have many. It makes it seem like less of an addiction. If only I didn't have to sleep...

Answer 4

I would consider how long my "addictive gaming sessions" are (ie. 5 hours). Next time you start playing, set a timer/alarm to go off after 4 hours and 45 minutes. Try to stop early, but definitely stop when the alarm goes off. Next time, reduce the timer to 4 hours and 30 minutes. Continue until you're at a reasonable amount of time.

Answer 5

Similar to Joe Phillips' answer -- find another project/thing to do with your time. Like the old saw: "Get a girlfriend."

Of course, replacing one addiction with another isn't really a solution -- if your problem is that you're losing productive parts of your life and it's affecting your relationships, then you just have to sit down and have a good hard look at yourself and decide what you want to do. Do you want to play games for hours on end every day, or do you want to to something else? As long as you're in that space that says "well, there's nothing really wrong with it", then you're not going to change.

Also, if you're asking on behalf of someone else -- that is, if the question is really "how can I get someone else to quit their addiction?" -- the answer is: you can't.

Old joke: Q. How many psychotherapists does it take to change a light bulb? A. Only one, but the lightbulb has to want to change!

Speaking of which, if the problem is to the point where it's ruining your life, you might consider professional help. Better now than wait until you've got 20 years of this behind you.

Answer 6

I packed my xbox up and put it in a cupboard. The real trick is that when I felt the urge to play, the act of getting the xbox back out reminded me why I put it there in the first place.

Sounds like you are a PC gamer so you may not be able to pack up your games machine but that isn't really the point anyway. It's about putting some small roadblock in the way that will break your flow and remind you that you wanted some time away from gaming. Make it something physical too, not just hiding files but swapping your mouse to the wrong side of the keyboard or some such.

Answer 7

It might depend on the type of game. For example, I quit my World of Warcraft (an MMOG) habit cold-turkey by canceling my subscription and uninstalling the game.

If you just want to limit your play time, you could set an alarm clock to go off at a certain time. Put the alarm clock in another room of your home so you physically have to get up to turn it off.