How hard is it to give up video games for good?

I joined Stop Gaming to control my habit. Theres a forum, discord server and a Reddit sub (separate from the two). Only a small few make the choice in the end of it (90 days) to quit for good. Most will regain a good balance with it again and choose to game again. If you think of it more as just stopping for a while instead of quitting, it's easier. The hard part is finding other things to do, really gotta wake up and look at your life.

I didn't make it to 90. But I'm absolutely certain I'm not addicted anymore. I just started to focus on my life more and what I want out of it. That was more fulfilling than gaming in the end and it took less effort than focusing solely on stopping/quitting/'its an addiction'. Gaming doesn't really entertain me anymore, I have better things to do now. I'd estimate I play about once a month now compared to before where it was like 12 hrs everyday.

 

What I think, the point should not be to quit gaming entirely. I had played game too much in my university life, too many games on phone with Apknite, on PC with Steam. I decided to quit. But I've found the same thing with the internet. Quitting games was easy for me, but I just use the internet more instead and do a little bit more productive stuff. And I realized that gaming is basically a healthy activity. If moderated, of course.

You could make it a part of your life without centering your life on it. View gaming as reading: an activity that you do sometimes if you want, but don't depend on it.

To do so, you must find something else to replace your gaming habit with: Spend time with family and friends, learn for school, go cycling or jogging, exercise - don't just quit playing without a replacement!

 

I did this a couple of years ago and when I now look back, I do not miss anything. It helps if you find an activity for which you can replace the time that you were playing. If not, you maybe would get back to it because of boredom. It also helps if you remove your console out of your room, or put site blocks on gaming websites. Get a job, go outside, read books. Find something that works for you.

 

Thank you for bringing this forum to my attention. I just joined the sub and I will try to make some change similar to yours. You have my gratitude.

 

It was very difficult for me.

I did this:

1. Deleted all my video games from my hard drive and trashed all my video game related service accounts (xfire, steam, etc).

2. Told all my friends I was quitting video games and rejected every invitation to play.

3. Focused my energy in productive activities I valued at the time (school, mathematics, computing, computer programmig, etc).

That was all I did... it took some months to finally quit them for good but at the end it worked pretty damn well (been free of them since 2014). I'm no longer addicted to video games. They're such a waste of time for me.

I'm also getting rid of music, TV series/anime, and films. Yeah, you read that right. I already deleted all of that from all my devices. I love this kind of purism. I have devoted an immense amount of hours to these things, now I want to focus on being more active.

EDIT: I highly recommend getting into sports, I didn't do this at the time I quitted video games but it'd have helped me immensely. I chose martial arts (Taekwondo and MMA, my favorite style is Dutch kickboxing).

 

You are ready to become a samurai, young padawan. Take these steps

1. Buy the cheapest japanese ninja sword made of true pure nippon steel from china
2. Collect gallon jugs of water
3. Practice your glorious ninjuitsu sword strikes in your front yard on the jugs of water

Soon you will be able to slice through concrete and steel with ease.

 

Read my edit, son.

 

I myself have started to turn away from gaming myself. A lot of it has to do with the quality and kind of games that come out and the business model of making people pay extra for all the excess bullshit.
Other reasons being that ive been much busier as i get older (mid 30s here) and have been losing interest altogether.
Like the other advice given here just try to find other hobbies that get you away from sitting at home and playing. Start small. Or even just reading a book (in a different area of your home).

 

It's easier than quitting PMO IMO. Much easier. Put your console back in the box.

 

I quit videogames completely and am not looking back. It's the biggest waste of time ever! You're basically fiddling around in a make-believe land, made of many tiny pixels, just so you can live a reality that is not real. The developers of the games just laugh their ass off, while many followers just purchase their games for a bunch of money. Tell me, what benefit do videogames give? Absolutely none. The only thing you get from it is a bunch of dopamine and serotonin which makes you feel more stressed and anxious after you're done playing. I quit them as soon as I turned 18 and realized how much time I have wasted on them instead of benefiting myself. I don't even have any games on my phone. I enjoy the best game, and that is real life.

 

You bought the new cod? Lmao
Pirate everything crew checking in.