What is Video Game Addiction
Game addiction is a form of psychological addiction related to a compulsive use of computer and video games, most notably MMORPGs - open ended, online video games known for their d...
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Here's my story...
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I am a 31 year-old male that grew up with gaming since my father dragged me to the arcade to play Missile Command when I was 5. A love was born. I had every single gaming platform since the dawn of the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.
I can understand the effects that the constant intrigue of video games can have on someone's life and interpersonal relationships. I'm a good looking, 6-foot 2 former NCAA Division 1 athlete and I have 3 worlds now; the gym, work, and video games. I'm also single, and can you guess why? That's correct, every one of my previous long-term relationships failed because of my failure to use effective time-management and devote time to my significant other. I could not budge on the video games, I budged elsewhere else though like the gym...I started to gain weight, become sedentary, and became far less interested in sex. This I found about myself over the last year. Repeat, my interest in sex dropped. WOW! Ok, therein lies a problem. Nope, no chemical reasons, know known physiological reasons, my libido was next to nothing. Not to toot my own horn, in college? Whew...let's just say I'm surprised I don't have offspring. When I found recently how much time I spent playing games, It was THEN when I realized why my relationships failed. It was right there, staring me in the face. God damn they are fun; Video games. I'm damn good at what I do also. Battlefield 1943 has been my latest addiction. I am consistently in the top 3 of every match. Think about it. I have become that good at manipulating a controller to do stuff in a virtual environment. What to know what makes the situation even worse for me??? You would think I would have enough of the virtual world after spending all day at my work troubleshooting and testing simulation software for a defense contractor. Now you are getting the picture. Here's the thing. I don't look at all like your stereotypical gamer nerd. I drive a sport-edition pick-up, short hair, built, and I have ZERO problem getting the ladies. The problem is keeping them. So, you ask why I am here? I am facing my problem head on because I am going to lose the most awesome woman in the world if I don't do something soon. I may not be able to eliminate the love of the gaming world, but I need to cut it back...I'm trying to gain insight from others in an attempt to gain more objective insight on myself. Posted on 08/06/09, 05:08 pm |
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*sigh* I'm going to put this bluntly, so please don't take this the wrong way.
You're good at what you do, you gain respect in the gaming world you, may or may not believe you have in the real world- thus you more then likely sub-consciously push away everyone, because you know the respect in the gaming world will never leave- essentially. I only look at it this way because I'm the same way. I play Halo 3 day in and day out, practice and I don't even have LIVE to do it with, but when I do play LIVE. I am respected and I am a 'badass'- different world for me. Never had it. You may think otherwise, seeing as you are successful, but hey, who knows. Maybe saying this will make you think, maybe it's deeper, maybe you only believe it when you play the damn games? I don't know. I'm just speaking from experience. 
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Games are definitely not worth losing a woman over. Games are not worth losing anyone over. I really admire you for admitting that there is a problem and being willing to fix it in order to keep her. That's something most men can't do.
You've already taken care of the difficult first step and admitted that there is a problem. And you also want to change which is a very good thing. There are two ways to approach it. I quit my addiction to WoW cold turkey. I cut off the subscription and uninstalled the game from my computer. You could try a cold turkey approach. Maybe move your consoles or uninstall your computer games and find something else to take up that time. I found myself itching to play at first, but I've replaced WoW with physical activities so now my brain is trained to want yoga or running instead of WoW. The other way to try to cut back/quit is to slowly ween yourself off the game. Again, you will have t find something else to replace the time, but definitely start by spending less on there. I hope this was helpful and that things start to get better. You have support here when you need it.
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I commend you on wanting to quit! Or atleast cut back. I wish my husband would do the same. I dont want him to quit completely I dont expect him to, he works hard and he deserves to have some fun, and if video games is a favorite hobby I have no problem with him playing. I just wish he could spend some time with me...but even when he does turn the xbox off he will still hold the controller and play with it as a constant reminder of what he would rather be doing. I wish you the best of luck and again I commend you for wanting to better yourself and your relationship with that lucky lady of yours!
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