Videogames

[Scarwolf]

Ahhh, what a topic. Videogames, the thing i've known and done for years now, even though im only 15. (kind of what you would expect of a teen with too much free time.)

I have spent around 3,000 hours + only on computer videogames, not counting console and other forms. Around 2 months back, i was trying to quit for good. Instead, my monkey mind decided to buy csgo, one of the most addicting games on steam. Only on the first week i threw away 100 hours.

That is a lot of hours for just one week. i knew before i bought it that it would be a really bad "investment". I had that feeling in my gut, but i dismissed it. So, i had to learn the hard way:

In the game, there are skins for weapons. This is a very known thing about the game, and it is very bad in my opinion. you pay real money for just colours. Still, people spend thousands of dollars in just one skin, and i made the mistake. I spent around 100 bucks in various things, and i got scammed for all of it 2 days ago. It was a sort of an awakening call, i decided to uninstall the game. So here i am, with a big question on my mind: how can i quit? after watching leo's video on addiction, i didnt really like it. I mean, i can meditate for upwards to an hour sometimes, and i still come back to play every day. I just dont know how to invest my time properly. I have a friend that left the city because of economic problems, and he has had no internet for more than a year. He surprises me. he is like the form of me that actually does the theory, thing i just get lost on. ( still trying to work on that.), he knows the basics of playing guitar, he knows around 10 songs, he plays the piano and continues his mastery practice on parkour. And im here doing mental and real masturbation, with no earning in return. It makes me wonder if i should just sell my computer or disconnect from the internet for a while. I really like him because he is into some sort of self developement, but more in the motivational way, the Jason silva or team fearless way. I like the practical stuff a bit more, but still fail to make it into reality.

So, to sum up, i want to know if you guys have any storys surrounding videogames, if you managed yo quit how you did it, and how to become a better action-taker.

I also just wanted to write my feels somewhere.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Scarwolf

[Nahm]

@Scarwolf just need to change the way your'e approaching this.    You can't solve a problem you are perpetually creating, other than to let go of it.  Keep thinking about video games in a good or bad way, and you'll still be thinking about video games.   Think about what you want to do, and you will be doing more of that before you know it, without expending any effort to the video game "problem".

 

[LowPlanetary]

I used to be a massive video game addict and now I barely indulge in traditional entertainment bbut I still have other addiction though. 

But the main thing that got me to quit was two things.

Life purpose and death

Find something that just the mental image of achieving makes you cry, take Leo's life purpose course.

Also realise the fact that your life is really short and there is literally barely any time left until it is ALL OVER. Complete nothingness in around 60 years... To me that's worrying so I make every second count, by doing the things that I ACTUALLY want to do. Leo had a video on this, but I'm on my phone so I can't link, just look up contemplating death and you might find it.

 

 

[Destroy_]

Well I did it step by step. I used to played 8-12 hours daily(now I play twice a week 1 hour or 2). Video games was my escape from life(or my failure if I want to be honest). I failed in school, destroyed my relationships, became a nihilist etc. It was just terrible. Never spent lots of money on games tho...

I watched Leo's video how he lost 65 pounds in 6 month. Learned a lot from that. I mean you have to do it in little steps. You just can't expect to recover yourself from a heavy addiction in 2 days or a week.

Here how I did it:

The first step was reduce the amount of hours that I spent by gaming. I decided to play less every week. First week daily 6 hours. Next week daily 5. etc

Second was to start an outside hobby. It can be simply walking or whatever. 30 mins EVERYDAY.

Third was clean up my diet. I figured out that I don't have energy to do things and my mind was weak to carry on. So eating healthy would be good for you and it also improves your willpover and motivation. 

Fourth step was to start to do workout. First once per week then as It goes more and more. Now 3 times a week. (1 hour)  

Find a gf is also a good option. While you are with she you can't play  . Unfortunatelly I didn't have that option because of my past terrible experiences with girls(I had to overcome on those ) Now I got a long distance relationship which Is quite hard so I don't recommend that.  

These were the practical steps. The most hardest part is  to start it. Take into consideration you will have bad days and maybe you will cheat( it happened to me) but the most important is to NEVER GIVE UP. Besides meditation and other practices will improve your self-discipline. You will need those skills. You have to  Build new habits to maintain this 'new life scedule' in the future. 

Extra tip: journal and socialization with friends (drink, talk, whatever just don't play videogames together) 

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by Destroy_

[Leo Gura]

Start observing how unsatisfying games really are. Notice how much you suffer while you play them. The whole hamster in a wheel syndrome of finding newer and newer games to keep you happy. Try to maintain mindfulness of this wheel of suffering even as you play games. See video: Awareness Alone Is Curative.

[Extreme Z7]

@Scarwolf I quit spending too much time playing video games by becoming a game dev, ironically.

[Alex4]

in your deathbed you will regret it if you spend your life playing videogames, thats how I quit very easily

[egoeimai]

3 minutes ago, Alex4 said:

in your deathbed you will regret it if you spend your life playing videogames, thats how I quit very easily

That's guilt in my opinion and not everyone buys into that 

[Alex4]

1 minute ago, egoeimai said:

That's guilt in my opinion and not everyone buys into that 

it's guilt for you, for me since I sold my PS4 ive enjoyed my life a lot more

[egoeimai]

Just now, Alex4 said:

it's guilt for you, for me since I sold my PS4 ive enjoyed my life a lot more

For sure 

[Extreme Z7]

Still, nothing inherently wrong with video games, per se. I view as an extra life accessory, not too much of a hindrance as long as your aware and careful.

I think of personal development as improving your car's performance, whereas all entertainment and material success and possessions are just fancy accessories to the car. Nothing wrong with some accessories, a paint job here, some decals there, a little fuzzy dice on the driver mirror. The trick is to not obsess too much about how your car looks, because what's really important is if it drives well and gets you places.

[Max_V]

Notice, it's not the game that is negative. It's your reaction to it.

I play csgo too, have a lot of hours in it practise hard to get good at it. I'm not addicted to it anymore as I used to be, just something that I do as a side thing now.

Use it to up my mindfulness game too, when you feel a negative trigger in you ( because you have toxic teammates whatever) you can become mindful of this. I have had multiple times where I was playing and I was just in this meditative state, pretty cool.

[Siim Land]

If your life purpose takes up so much of your free time you don't have the desire to play video games anymore. You should replace it with focusing on what really matters to you and makes you feel more fulfilled.

[Shin]

Addicted since I'm 3.

After 1 year of meditation and hardcore mindfulness work,
I only start to become handle it and diminishing it (at least 1 hour of self-development/spirituality for 1 hour of VG).

So if you're not too much addicted yet (like less than 1 hour per day), watch out.

Thank god Dark Souls came out, at least I learned to never give up from this addiction

Edited June 3, 2017 by Shin

[alyra]

mostly, what leo said. 

 

one thing I did notice however, is that the closed environment of a videogame is a great place to be representative of a large variety of concerns of contemplation. to a certain extent - videogames can be useful. of course - if you're practiced enough with meditation, meditation can perform that role as well, and more authentically. 

 

tho - when it comes to considering the relevancy of the existence of others, there will be ways in which interaction is necessary, which meditation alone is limited in revealing. but understanding that is tricky, so I dunno how to explain it well, for I do not know what therein I've got a right idea about and where I'm still falling for traps. I just know that the belief that looking inward is the only relevant thing in life isn't true - tho is a necessary point to make to reveal the validity of meditation... (i am digressing... )

[Shin]

Facing your inner demons, your beliefs, your habits, your sense of self.
These things are way more epic than any video game you could ever play.

This is the real game, which you are playing on yourself.
Having glimpses about it is more satisfying than anything you could ever do in your life.

So how does the real thing could be ?
Probably, something along the line of infinite corporal and emotional orgasms, if you go really, really DEEP.

So start the real game, just 20 minutes of meditation everyday and 1 hour of the course linked in my signature every week.
Will be enough as a start

 

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Shin

[Cjaryo]

I used to be addicted to video games as well, from about the time I was 11 to 13 or 14 (Last year). I tried making physical, external manipulations, but would always find a way to get back into it. The reason I stopped for good was that I realized a) how much of a time sink it is, b) how it makes me sad, and c) how it is like a self-inflicted wound, that takes more out of me for every moment it is indulged in. I believe that everyone needs to find their own powerful reason(s) as to why they should quit, also needing to be done differently for each addiction. I need to do this with my pornography addiction.

[Scarwolf]

Thank everyone foy your replies. Didn't think this post would get that far, and honestly i haven't checked back on the forums for a while.

I think i've found my problem, and it is action taking. I've watched probably upwards of 200-400 hours of self help content, including videos, seminars, courses, books. And i cant do Jackshit with it. I just do what leo defines as "Mental masturbation" and man is it bad. It just kinda shows all the amazing stuff i could be doing but i just dont, and the videogames deal aint helping. I will try head on the solution leo gave (thanks btw). Today i watched the video on how to quit addiction and tried the 2 hour doing nothing deal, i managed to get 1 hour 20 minutes and i fell asleep because i was in bed.

So long story short this is a little update i wanted to give, see if you guys have any idea on how to improve action-taking, since that and my will power are hitting insanely low levels. Thanks again for your responses.

[Scarwolf]

Also some stuff to note:

-Some of you asked if i was not to deep on the addiction, sadly this is not the case, i have more than 3500 hours on steam, and i play basically 4-6 hours on schooldays and 10 hours + on weekends (that is if im not going outside with friends wich doesnt happen very often.)

-Another thing to take into account is that even though i have a tough videogame addiction, i also have a youtube binge watch addiction, wich of course doesnt help.

-I am getting a bit split-minded on what approach i should take, passive, active, cold-turkey, little steps, etc- probably all are useful i just cant choose right now.

-Once i saw a video about habits and how if there are people related to it is easier to stick to them, say, if for going to the gym your friend picks you up. This is also true for my videogame addiction since i have a quite big "friend base" that probably will try to get me back onto videogames.

Also i want to say sorry for dragging you all into this, i know you dont have to "fix" me but everything helps. Thanks again.

 

P:D (Do you guys think it would be useful to delete all my games? or to download a time-limiting program?(if you know any please link me it, thanks.))

Edited June 28, 2017 by Scarwolf

[Toby]

Judging yourself as being wrong is way worse than playing video games. In fact, I know a spiritual teacher that also answers a lot of emails and he told that he is playing minesweeper from time to time if he isn't motivated to answer the emails.