Video Game Addiction Support Group
Game addiction is a form of psychological addiction related to a compulsive use of computer and video games. People suffering from this form of addiction may experience intense cravings to play the game and may also suffer symptoms of withdrawal when they stop playing the game. Meet with friendly, supportive people sharing their experiences with Video Game Addiction.
So, I'm a recovering World of Warcraft addict. I want to hear from fellow MMO addicts (who are trying to quit) and spouses of MMORPG addicts (recovering or not).
1) When and how did you determine that what you are faced with is an addiction?
2) What have you seen as the biggest obstacle in the recovery process thusfar?
3) What has been the most destructive result from this addiction that you have seen?
Please answer as many of these questions as you can, and feel free to ask / answer some of your own. I want to get to the bottom of this growing problem.
1) When and how did you determine that what you are faced with is an addiction?
2) What have you seen as the biggest obstacle in the recovery process thusfar?
3) What has been the most destructive result from this addiction that you have seen?
Please answer as many of these questions as you can, and feel free to ask / answer some of your own. I want to get to the bottom of this growing problem.
1) I learned that I was addicted during one of the many talks my wife and I had. The sad truth is I had to make the realization a number of times before I actually acted on it.
2) Believing that I actually have this problem and that I actually need to and can just stop playing video games.
3) I frustrated my wife to the point where she was ready and willing to leave me. I also almost lost a job once prior to being married before I quit that MMO.
2. Electricity...lol, but its the truth
3. My husband only has time for himself, and is fine with watching our marriage crumble around him.
basically everyone started complaining that I was playing too much and ignoring them or other activities that I normally did.
2)What have I seen as the biggest obstacle in the recovery process thus far:
my biggest obstacle has been that I love playing video games, all kinds. I do not want to stop playing them. I just want to be able to control my play time.
3) What has been the most destructive result from this addiction that i have seen:
the distance placed between me and my important relationships with people in my life. I no longer found fulfillment in regular conversation, and simple activities. My marriage fell apart. I spent all my time with my online friends and neglected my real life relationship issues that were becoming worse by the day. I avoided dealing with many issues by escaping into Azeroth. In a marriage especially, you need to have fun time together. My husband started playing with me in WOW. Ironically, he was the one that introduced me to MMOs. But I didn't want to play with him. So, something that could have been together fun time and potentially bonding, actually became the wedge that cracked us apart. I did manage to control my game playing when I saw how badly it was hurting him, but that was temporary. He eventually stopped playing and I played harder then ever. I saw many online friends go through similar relationship struggles.
All addictions cause relationship problems. You need to seek help and get counseling. The issue is not the addiction itself, but the underlying reason why the activity is more enjoyable then real life. Find the root of the problem. Then work on killing the addiction.
1. My wife stopped by home after a Doctors appointment instead of going straight in to work, and walked in on me playing a game. I had completely lost track of time, and was supposed to have been gone (to do something for our son at his school) hours before. She had called the PC my "metal mistress" many times, and in that moment, I thought I knew what it must be like when a person's spouse walks in on them with someone else. I think that I was nearly as shocked as she was, and I was so very ashamed.
In that moment, I just clearly realized that I was out of control. I'd debated it with myself for a long time, making excuses. But
as I just said in a note I sent to someone, my dependency reared up and smacked me in the face with such ferocity, no denial was strong enough to deflect it.
2. All of my friends are "gamers" of one sort or another. Even those who don't really play on the computer play role-playing
games or table-top strategy games. And most of them do play some sort of computer or video games, with MMOs being dominant.
My closest and oldest friendship(20+ yrs) is now long-distance because people move, peoples health fails, they can't travel, and eventually the only contact you have with them (and the only activity they're healthy
enough for, really) is an online game. But
the same guy who used to hike up mountains with you, who now has trouble with the stairs
to his bedroom, can do anything in the game.
And because of his poor and deteriorating health (and medical retirement) he spends alot of his time alone in his house. How can you tell him that you will no longer join him in the one fun activity left to him?
How do you tell the other friend who's in Iraq that he will no longer be able to look forward to receiving the next turn of the play-by-email strategy game you play with him to take his mind off how much he misses his family? And those are the reasons that don't have anything to do with my own compulsions. With the fact that when things are going well in my life and I'm happy, the first thing I think of celebrating with is a game. When I'm depressed, I look to it to cheer me up. When I'm angry or frustrated I turn to it to calm me down.
3. The reason wasn't directly related to computer games, but at one point my wife took a picture she had of our wedding day and enlarged it, printed it out on paper so it covered the whole screen of the monitor like a screen-saver image. The thing about it was that I could really see her face clearly, the look in her eyes. We were holding each other's face in our hands, and had just kissed. She was smiling, and her eyes were like twin suns. I know that she still loves me (because I'm not homeless!)
But she doesn't look at me like that anymore.
And I know that if I'm very lucky, and work very hard, we can repair some of the distance
thats grown between us...but that even in the best case scenario, I can't hope to ever again have what I once shared with her. And that knowledge, is like waking up each morning and finding a concrete block on your chest.
2) trying to not play any games specificaly world of warcraft
30 i lost my best friend
my answer to number 3 i've4 never gotten addicted to gamnes bad enough tha it was destructive..............i always know how to put games down and when to pick them up..........i mainly use games to cope..........so it's not like it was as a teen where i'd spend all day playing my games and no time with family or friends...........that's about as bad as it was but not destructive..........anyway i hope u make a good recovery from gaming addictions..........
hugs
lexie