Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#51

Post by hmate9 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:03 PM UTC

Sounds like Dota.

Dota was a serious addiction of mine. What helped me quit was getting rid of EVERYTHING that could trigger me to play.

- Uninstalling Steam - Deleting twitch account - Every time youtube would recommend me a dota video, I would mark it as "not interested" and "dont show this channel again" - Getting rid of my mouse. I gave my mouse to someone for a month for safekeeping. - Finding another stimuli that you deem less damaging. For me this was chess.

Video games can cause extreme addiction I know, but successfully quitting it is SO REWARDING. After almost 18 month I do not miss it even a little bit.

What also could help is telling everyone you know friends and family that you are quitting this game. Then you will be less inclined to fail because they will know about your failure. Try to not be alone in this journey.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#52

Post by OhSoHumble » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

hmate9 wrote: post #51

Sounds like Dota. Dota was a serious addiction of mine. What helped me quit was getting rid of EVERYTHING that could trigger me to play. - Uninstalling Steam - Deleting twitch account - Every time youtube would recommend me a dota video, I would mark it as "not interested" and "dont show this channel again" - Getting rid of my mouse. I gave my mouse to someone for a month for safekeeping. - Finding another stimuli th…

I am also somewhat of a dota addict. It's VERY addicting to play. Something that really helps me is thinking "I cannot play 'just one' game because then I'll play several." If I never play that first game then I don't get looped into a several hour session.

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#53

Post by Delphiza » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC

Do something else.

I decided that I would learn guitar with my daughter instead of gaming. I'm not really any good, but I can pick up a guitar and play something. 17-year old me would be proud. It is definitely much cooler than whatever rank I had in Gears of War.

I also run and cycle. After a while gaming becomes less important because there are other things to do. You can definitely get 'into the zone' on a run... that's why people run. Achievements and challenges have existed in real life for a while already. You can feed your need for ranking (Strava), unlocking (buy new gear), and data-driven metrics that exist in games with other things in life.

Just do other things. Try different ones. After a while gaming becomes less important, and is no longer an addicition. It becomes something that you can enjoy in moderation in amongst your other activities.

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#54

Post by AndrewOMartin » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:11 PM UTC

redsh wrote: post #9

If you really need to stop, use cheats. That will break the dopamine cycle and you’ll be free. Maybe it also works to limit play time to healthy levels. For example, I was once playing quite a bit of WoW, and after I trying it out on an unofficial server where I could teleport anywhere made the game lose all its appeal.

Thirded. I broke (nascent but potent) Diablo 2 and Minecraft additions by giving myself everything and realising there was nothing for me to look forward to at the end of that path. I still had some fun, but I didn't have that know in my stomach when going to sleep that I was seconds away from something great.

I do the same with long TV series', if I find myself wanting to stay up late watching an episode of something, I read the plot of the entire thing on wikipedia (either the entire summary or season by season summaries).

I have never, not once, had anything "spoiled". Even if I did I'd prefer that to spoiling a single good night's sleep.

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#55

Post by jeffwask » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:11 PM UTC

Married, Adult Children, 40's, Life long gamer

So my yearly hours spent gaming would probably be double yours as it is the primary recreation activity for both my wife and I. We game together most nights and when we aren't gaming together we are likely gaming separate.

My first suggestion would be to game with your SO, games are social activities. Warped perceptions aside there is nothing wrong with engaging in virtual social activities. Granted not everyone's SO will want to game.

Second, like me it sounds like you may have an addictive / competitive personality. Bad news there are a number of gaming genres that are designed to take advantage of you. Just like some people can go to a casino with $200 spend it and leave some people can't. Games with ladders, brackets, dailies and other FOMO based engagement tactics may just be off the table. Good news there are a wealth of games that don't try and exploit their players psychology to drive engagement. Many of these are single and double A games but I haven't run out of non AAA non Live Service games to try. I had a spell where I played a bunch of mobile clickey games and realized it wasn't fun; it was compulsion. I was logging in resetting timers and getting a dopamine hit. I just had to decide to not engage anymore.

Three, leisure is not irrelevant. mental health has strong ties to physical health and well being beyond just being good for you. Spending an hour focused on a game isn't irrelevant if you come out the other side rested, refreshed, unwound, etc. I play games like Oxygen Not Included where I spend hours building little irrelevant machines and systems but it clears my mind, relaxes me and allows me to focus on other things later.

Four, maybe don't engage with YouTube and Twitch content for the game. You will never keep up with professionals. Even if you have the skill you don't have the time. Watching pro's can make you feel like you are playing wrong, you aren't good enough when in reality no one who isn't spending 8-12 hours a day will ever be that good. If you are having fun however you are playing is the right way. This is another FOMO trap. You won't be ninja, shroud, etc. be happy with what you are.

My thoughts. YMMV

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#56

Post by marklar423 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

I was like that with the Civilization games; whenever I installed one I always ended up playing until dawn. For some reason they hook like no other game. Eventually I learned to uninstall it and leave it uninstalled. Too dangerous. Even engaging with content about the game is dangerous, as you found out.

There are plenty of other games to play that are still fun and won't be as addictive though. You could try a different multiplayer game or even stick to single player games if that's too much.

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#57

Post by Volrath89 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

redsh wrote: post #9

If you really need to stop, use cheats. That will break the dopamine cycle and you’ll be free. Maybe it also works to limit play time to healthy levels. For example, I was once playing quite a bit of WoW, and after I trying it out on an unofficial server where I could teleport anywhere made the game lose all its appeal.

Cheats are not enabled in multiplayer mode (which is the addicting one for me)

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#58

Post by jeffwask » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:22 PM UTC

marklar423 wrote: post #56

I was like that with the Civilization games; whenever I installed one I always ended up playing until dawn. For some reason they hook like no other game. Eventually I learned to uninstall it and leave it uninstalled. Too dangerous. Even engaging with content about the game is dangerous, as you found out. There are plenty of other games to play that are still fun and won't be as addictive though. You could try a diffe…

One more turn. Ok after that Wonder is build. Well, shit a war started after that. Oh shit it's time to go to work...

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#59

Post by Volrath89 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:26 PM UTC

navjack27 wrote: post #13

You can totally have a healthy amount of playing. But it sounds like you're treating the whole endeavor of video gaming as if it is an addiction just from the start which in turn makes it an addicting activity to you. Just the way you phrase the beginning of your story where you would stop when your wife wasn't home but then you didn't care anymore and then you kept doing it when she was home. That's shame or somethi…

Yes at the beginning there was some shame. Then because of the lockdowns my wife was always at home and the shame went away :D

Although she hated the fact that while I was playing I was so focused that I didn't listen to her (I also had headphones on), in the end she accepted it and would just write me a message telling me to talk to her when the match was over...

Also the decision to cut the game off completely came from me 100%, she never demanded that I should stop playing completely

Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?

#60

Post by Volrath89 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:32 PM UTC

sb057 wrote: post #24

>According to Steam I played over 2.000 hours during 2020 and 2021. Less than three hours a day for passive recreation is hardly out of line with modern western lifestyles. The average American spends more than that watching television. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-07-22/... I obviously wouldn't want to deter anybody from productive work in favor of entertainment, but physical and mental rest…

I'd like to play again if I could go down to 3 hours per week.

3 hours per day including weekends is too much in my opinion. Take into account I work full time, we went to trips and did stuff together with my wife in those 2 years. So if I was away for a weekend I would play 6 hours for 2 days to compensate.

I basically was playing that game at every slice of free time that I had available.