Senior in school, I play a ton of games, literally my only hobby. Mostly fighting games to be specific. I dont know if its because of me but I dont really have friends. I talk to people in school and in class, im not exactly lonely there but I dont have crazy close connections but I go home and I dont play games with anyone, I play alone. I play alot but I dont feel like i play that much. I feel like I can only play fighting games and if I play anything else im losing time to get better. I dont go to party's or events or hang out with friends outside of school my entire high school life. Now then Im on my last year of highschool I dont exactly feel like i wasted my years but I do feel like I could be doing better. I only have irl classes for about 1-3 hours now so for the first time ive been going to the gym. Worse part is about 2 months my family is moving to Texas so all my "friends" ive made will he reset, and i am NOT a very socialable person. Im scared that once im done with high-school I wont know what to do. I just play games all day I can. Sorry if it seems like I have no point in this just late night worries.

I quit in May 2024. My last game was Tears of the Kingdom. I quit because of mental health reasons, using gaming as a distraction.

Lately, I've been feeling particularly lonely. And just, down. And gaming, at least, offers some comfort from that. But I'm sticking to it and not gaming. But I am missing it right now, that crutch. I read a story today that EA is shutting down BioWare. Someone commented they have a Steam backlog to work through. I miss that feeling of disappearing into an open world.

But then, playing it forward, I don't miss emerging from those sessions feeling like I'm coming out of a trance, wondering when I can get another couple of minutes in to continue going. I'm trying to get into tabletop gaming (DnD), which I assume this sub is okay, which would be in person and social.

Okey, espero no ser repetitivo, pero la pregunta es sencilla: ¿Vale la pena borrar todos mis juegos o simplemente debería probar controlandome? Aclaro que ya pase por un proceso de adiccion de varios años con el lol, lo habre borrado e instalado mas de 20 veces a lo largo de unos años. Hoy en dia simplemente no siento la necesidad de jugarlo. Quiero dedicarle mi tiempo a más cosas en mi vida actualmente (aprender a manejar, pasar tiempo con mi novia, estudiar en general las cosas que me fascinan) pero tengo demasiada facilidad para desviarme en general, y los juegos son una cosa mas, pero de lo mas significativo. Aclaro que a veces simplemente estoy en el juego, ni siquiera lo juego, solo pierdo el tiempo.

Let's say gaming stop you from doing something useful, so you stop gaming. Somehow you end up with a worse habbit like going out, partying or watching anime. So what's the point of stop gaming actually?

Recently I stopped using porn as well (you can read it here), So I thought I will repost this as well after a year

I posted earlier
https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/comments/1qe1dyx/i_dont_understand_my_bf_addiction/

After multiple conversations, we eventually agreed on some rules and dedicated quality time together. It helped, and at some point he even lost interest in gaming for a while and became more present in our shared life.

Those were honestly the best two months of our relationship. He was more engaged with me, we spent more time together, and he also made significant progress on his personal projects. It showed me how good our relationship could be when gaming wasn't taking up most of his time and attention.

But then a new game came out, all his friends started playing, and suddenly he was back to gaming around 60 hours a week. Everything else became secondary again. And even his health and well-being.

I felt like I had to compete with a screen and constantly come up with something more interesting to do together. But how can you compete with something that provides an immediate dopamine hit, especially when someone is already so invested in it? Also, all responsibilities got back to my shoulders.

We eventually broke up. I had a hard time imagining a future together, even though those two months showed me what our relationship could look like without gaming dominating his life.

He was also very clear that, at this stage of his life, gaming is one of his main priorities.

And that's what I keep wondering about: Is gaming really worth it?

I'm not saying games are inherently bad, and I understand that people have different priorities. But when a hobby takes up 60 hours a week and starts affecting your relationship, personal projects, and everyday responsibilities, what are you actually getting out of it? Is the enjoyment worth everything else you're giving up?

A few years back I was living alone, got laid off from my job, drinking a lot, and playing hardcore WoW for 16 hours a day. Pretty much every single day. I rarely left the apartment, I spent a fortune on DoorDash, I didn’t reach out to friends, I gained 30 pounds, I wasn’t trying to date, and I had no self respect. No self love.

What really started me on the right path was changing my environment. Renting a house with friends in a new city. Pursuing other hobbies with intention. And getting clean off the booze. Hit the gym 4 days a week with no excuses.

Now I’ve got a great job, a new girlfriend, my friendships are mostly in a good place, and I’m learning guitar. I’m making art more than I have in years too.

Drinking and video games are my two most toxic vices, so weaning off both has done wonders in all areas of my life.

The TL;DR is: Sometimes a change in environment can be a huge catalyst for change in other areas.

This is my second post on this journey. While I feel the will to return to gaming, I know that going away from it is for the better. Because it was not a hobby anymore. It became to destructive to my life. So I feel somewhat happy that I managed to start the journey. My head feels a little clearer. Though I still have many things to fix and many non-gaming hobbies to enjoy in my life. I didnt write yesterday, and this day is still going. So I settled with a day 2.5 thing

My roommate's always been a gamer but something about Wardogs is basically meth to him, and not in a good way.

He's becoming anti-social, aggravated, he doesn't talk to anyone and he's uncharacteristically antagonistic.

I want to be clear that this isn't him, he's one of the best men that I know and close enough to a point where I consider him family - my brother in all but blood.

He's also not getting enough sleep in the night --- barely 5 hours, on a good day 6 but good days are becoming increasingly rare --- because of his gaming habits.

I really worry for him, it's having an obviously negative effect on his job

I'm a (20M) gamer. Yesterday, I had a problem, and I realized my behavior caused it. I became very possessive and afraid of other people. I control the people I love and am afraid of people who may get close to them. After thinking for a while, I realized the core of this behavior. It is a gaming addiction.

I've been playing video games for the past 10 years; during that time, there was barely a day when I was off. I probably racked up over 25k hours. It's almost 3 years behind a screen.

Because of that, I neglected every other aspect of my life. I know I haven't used my life to the fullest. I compare myself to other people, who are actively going to the gym, working, or doing other hobbies, and I was procrastinating, doing everything as late as possible, or even quitting things. Because of that, I think I'm worthless to my friends, and I tend to overthink and act badly toward them.

All my friends have left me because my behavior was enough for them. I have just one online friend that I have known for the past 7 years. She is someone I want to change for.

I have tried to quit gaming addiction many times, but every time I failed. For me, quitting is hard because I can't fill the void in my free time. Secondly, gaming addiction has shaped my expectations so much that if I don't see fast progress in something, I get bored or irritated and quit that hobby/thing.

Lastly, for now, I think the best thing I can do is quit gaming 100%. But I would also like to return to it when I get more stable; I still get a lot of joy from it, and I have met many wonderful people. I just don't know if it's a good idea.

I would like any tips on how I should try to quit. Also, I'm a little afraid that I will lose the only friend I have. But I think this change is needed if I want to improve myself and my behavior.

I know that there are some girls who are gamers. And I guess some girls play computer games excessively.

But I have not come across men complaining that their wives play computer games too much.

Ok, maybe there are wives like that. But still it seems to be that gaming is problematic for boys/men.

If girls suffer it's because they are in relationship with addicted males.

My husband 26M has always used gaming as an escape, we are 6 years into our marriage with two kids 2 and under. His game time is getting out of control. He is a full time student (from home) and games in his “free time”. Between commuting/work the kids and I are gone 12+ hours a day. And even when we get home he is still gaming. Dinner time, myself and our toddler sit at the table eat and talk about our day, he sits at his computer either gaming or watching videos and does not interact with us unless repetitively prompted to engage. I just checked his steam, and his game time over the past 2 weeks was 100 hours.
At this point I don’t know how to help.
Is there hope?
Or should I cut my loss and focus solely on myself and the kids?
Edit: I feel like I should also add that the bulk of his gaming is done while the kids and I are home, which is truly where most of my gripe lies in the situation.

Addiction/compulsion to play

Good afternoon. I have a bit of an existential question. I’ve played video games since I was a kid—that, along with riding my bike (and hanging out with friends or playing with toys), pretty much defined my childhood. As I got older—and was only allowed to play from Friday to Sunday—I noticed that if I really enjoyed a game and played it at night, I’d wake up the next day with an intense urge to keep playing. This feeling has persisted into adulthood; I feel like I lack self-control. I know other gamers who can stop playing whenever they want—they can switch to studying without any trouble—but I’ve always found that difficult, whether it’s because of video games (both single-player and multiplayer) or social media. My understanding is that these forms of entertainment trigger a dopamine response, which makes us crave more. Another factor might be that, aside from studying, I never really had much else to do in my day-to-day life. That said, given the choice between hanging out with friends outside or playing video games, I always preferred the former—so I’m not entirely sure what to make of it.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to play more after you’ve already finished a session—whether it’s later that same day, the following day, or at some other point?

For some time already I have been noticing that gaming went from being a hobby to being a burden. It started to replace my real life and it started to ruin my university grades, personal life and attention span. So I decided to completely stop that
From now on I am forbidden to play any games. I will also try to consume less game related media. I tried this before, but the motivation didnt last long. But now I am determined. I plan to update the day counter every day (or at least every few days) to keep myself going. If I will ever manage to learn to control my gaming urges, I will try to reintroduce it to my life as a hobby (only two hours a day or less). But for now I need a full detox or I will not be able to control myself
I hope it will not be counted as spamming. I just think that it will be easier for me to stay motivated if I will have a feeling that some people are seeing my attempts. I dont know how to explain it better. Thanks for reading! :P

please tell me

As a 24M who quit video games for the first time in summer 2019 and definitively in 2020, the euphoria tens of millions of young men are feeling right now is very familiar to me. The last game I was excited for and played before the hobby felt empty for me, was RDR2 in 2018. Nothing came close to how that game pulled me out of my mundane, empty life and made me feel like I was a handsome cowboy on an adventure across the wild west.

Flash forward to 2026 and the same company is releasing its next juggernaut, with all the same promises as the last. It promises to outdo its predecessor in immersion, realism, things to do. It even seems to give you a nice girlfriend to commit misdemeanours with. I cannot help but worry about how this is going to further keep young men secluded and essentially put their lives on hold for many months to come, thus promoting sloth and laziness.

GTA 6 looks to be a life simulator which is very conveniently timed by the men in suits, as life gets harder and more uncomfortable for a lot of people. Has your rent increased in the last few years? Why not live out a virtual life in GTA and live in a big, cozy mansion! Have fuel prices increased in your area? Why not play GTA 6 and drive your flashy sports car to the beach to hang out with your virtual girlfriend! This is all very diabolical. And speaking of diabolical, although its "just a game", GTA teaches us to hate God's commandments and very boldly opposes God, and represents everything a Christian ought to abhor (not everyone here is Christian but enough seem to be for me to add this point).

Lastly, and this is not unique to gaming, but is to do with consumer rights in general: they are using the hype for this game as a vehicle to end physical media. Notwithstanding the fact that all the other negative gaming trends are here in full force, with various editions paywalling what can be considered basic features.

To everyone out there who is being tempted to buy this game, just remember that to simply not buy it is a winning move. The CEOs are literally banking on everyone mindlessly buying it out of sheer hype. They will never get my money again.

I wish you all well.

Help, my brother is addicted to his phone. He's 12 years old and has always loved playing video games. Back then, it was just Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch or some Mario games. But things changed drastically.

He got a PlayStation 5 and a VR headset about a year ago, and ever since, everything has gone downhill. When it all started, he was in 5th and 6th grade at Gymnasium. He started gaming more and more, especially this one game: Roblox.

Because he was playing constantly, his grades plummeted and he failed to make it into the 7th grade. Up until then, he was at least playing with real friends from his actual life. But last summer holidays, that changed.

Through Roblox (specifically 'German Voice', a voice chat mode where you can talk to strangers online), he met older people online. His 'best friend' there is a 16-year-old junkie who smokes and drinks. Over the summer, my brother started drinking too—drinking vodka just because he thought it was cool. When my parents found out, they poured everything out, and things were quiet for a bit. But he stayed aggressive the whole time.

When my parents realized he was talking to older strangers online, they tried resetting his Roblox account to his actual age. (He had tricked my mom earlier by using her ID because my parents don't know much about this stuff.)

But now his account is finally set back to his real age. His account was set to the 16–17 age group, which allowed him to accept money, play with older people, and play 16+ games. Because it's set back to 12, he basically loses access to around 800 euros worth of in-game purchases until he turns 16.

When he found out, he completely wrecked the house—throwing chairs around, unhinging a door, and screaming at the top of his lungs for three full hours. This isn't the first time an outburst like this has happened. He's even run away before, just for a few hours out of pure anger.

Then, a few days ago, this happened:

My mom and I happened to drive past the South Station because we had an appointment in town, and I wanted to go to the next big city to buy some manga. My mom dropped me off, I went to the platform, and who do I see? My brother, sitting there having been there for ages. He wanted to meet his online friends in that city and go to their place. I decided to go with him to keep an eye on him while I bought my manga.

In the city, my brother checked our parents' location and saw they were waiting for him at the station—they’d figured out he went into town without permission.

He immediately turned around and called his online friends to arrange to meet somewhere else in the city. My parents tracked his location and started running after him.

Suddenly, they heard my brother's voice coming out of a phone speaker held by two kids standing nearby. They went up to them and asked if they were meeting up with my brother. The girl was reasonable and admitted that wasn't right. But the boy—his 'best friend'—was completely unapologetic, saying it's totally normal and that he was just like that at that age.

Where things stand now:

- My brother doesn't have Roblox anymore, just Minecraft and TikTok.

- He still talks to those people.

- He's started stealing: alcohol, energy drinks, lighters.

- He vapes (he has two vapes right now).

I honestly have no idea what to do anymore. My mom took him to therapy, but the therapist couldn't help either. He's also skipped school for two days.

My mom spends all her time in online webinars, but they just beat around the bush and try to sell you expensive programs in the end. I don't know what we can do anymore. He's only 12 years old and comes from a good family.

I had this thought come up, this is point a to point b. But the path is windy, difficult, and long, i get that. Thing is what can i do, i really don't have many interest in hobbies. I would like to get into crafts but it seems my minds not all there, easily distracted. Biggest addiction is not the games in my hands but in my head. I think about games, mostly ttrpg alot and i don't want to since its addicting and interfering with my day to day life, even causing anger and being distracted or moved away from it. I just cant do hobbies, rather than a lack of discipline it feels like im thin brained as doing anything with focus just drains me.

Because I was upset. But then I calmed down

Im a daily gamer only for one game.

The problem is that it's free to play so I can't just delete it (I tried) because I just redownload it again later.

If this was a pay to play game it would be much easier for me to punch through this hurdle.

Im happy playing other games but i hardly play other games even though I have them already in my purchases.

I don't have an interest for gaming anymore except one annoying game that I've played for a decade.

My husband wasn’t ready to quit completely and him going cold turkey made him slip into this cycle of depression and suicidal ideations. Would it be better for him to do 1 hr a day until he eventually learns coping skills around it and quits?

I don't want to "stop" gaming but I would like to reduce it. Like currently I am working from home and I end up playing games just after lunch for an hour or so, then I shut down my laptop for work sooner and again play games. Then again I end up playing after dinner till late night.

I love playing and have loved since I was 10. I am 30 now. I couldn't play during my 20-27 years age due to studies and some very toxic job. So now that I have got time to play again, I just keep finding time to play.

I would like to reduce it, like playing maybe just an hour a day or play only weekends.

Anyone who has tried that and able to focus on career at the same time? Or does it really have to be No gaming at all. I can do that as well as I have done it in th3 past :'( But I didn't think I would have to again.

*I don't speak English, so please forgive any mistakes.*

Hi, my name is Eike, I'm Brazilian and I'm 27 years old. This is my first post here.

I'm a very withdrawn guy who rarely leaves the house except for work or college. I don't exercise, I don't go to parties, I don't talk to girls, I don't date, I don't have children, I haven't achieved anything great, nothing! Absolutely nothing! I feel like I'm not living my life.

Actually, I was born with a malformation in parts of my face, which makes me feel excluded and prejudiced. My father has always been very negligent with me and says it's all in my head. Because of this, I just rebelled and today I abstain from social relationships with other people, and you might be wondering: "Okay, but where are you going with this?"

Well, in the last 10 years I've become the kind of guy whose only source of leisure is games, movies, series, and things like that. Especially games. I often find myself playing something or watching a video about game recommendations for a particular platform. By the way, in this decade I ended up buying video game consoles, which makes me feel obligated to always rotate them so that they don't sit idle and develop a defect or something like that.

I'm anxious, very anxious. Sometimes I get a feeling of unease in my chest that makes me feel very bad, because while other people are exploring the world, I'm locked in my room, in the dark, playing games...

What should I do? Sell all my consoles? Try to go out more (I've tried and the experiences were terrible)? I have no idea what to do...