Which game is it?
Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
131–140 of 165 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#132Which game is it?
League of Legends maybe?
I have the opposite problem, I can't find a game that I don't get bored with really quick :)
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#133Part joke part truth: become a game developer. Since I started to make games I spend much less time playing them. Also sometimes I just have to play more diverse set of games to use them reference for my game design job. Okay now here is serious note. > Is it possible to have a "healthy" amount of playing? Talking from experience - even without taking real drugs into account it's certainly possible to get "unhealthy"…
> Part joke part truth: become a game developer. Since I started to make games I spend much less time playing them. Also sometimes I just have to play more diverse set of games to use them reference for my game design job. I played an unhealthy amount of video games through college, to the point where it affected my grades, and for a few years after graduation. My first job was not in game development, but was extrem…
It's great that you found your own happiness elsewhere in life, but for me games are essential part of my personality. They're as important as traveling and my family. Even if I only actually play something once a month.
Also I'm not offering to replace gaming with just media consumption. Of course it's better to have diverse interests in life like side-projects, education, sport, social dancing, hiking, social or political activism, etc.
But if for some reason person is addicted to media consumption and okay with it then they can at least consume some high quality content instead of "junk food". For several years I've been literally addicted to fantasy books and listened for like 100+ of them. I have no regrets about it.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#134If 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.
I disagree. It's easier to do none of something addictive than it is to do a little. Your advice goes against what most addiction specialists purport. Obviously this person couldn't manage the vice in the past, so he should avoid it.
Cheating works for me, because the addiction is not directly to the game but to the sense of accomplishment that I derive from the game, and often the anticipation too. Cheating removes that accomplishment and allows me to lose interest in a game way faster.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#135Sounds 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 was considering re installing the game and try to just play less hours, but you are right, it actually feels really rewarding even if it's just 4 months. I'll try to not install it again for more months
You wouldn't tell a recovering alcoholic to try to drink alcohol again but "drink less this time".
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#136Hey! Founder of The Ultimate Video Game Addiction Course [0], I've coached people through it, and about a decade ago I wracked up several thousand hours myself.
It's a really difficult issue to experience and the fact that you can face it and start to solve it is a huge step. Kudos to you.
Yes it's possible to play in moderation - I play poker and chess with friends. That said, I do my best to cut off anything if I see the warning signs of slipping back into bad habits.
Be VERY careful about watching games online - it's usually a powerful trigger.
For a few tactical pieces of advice for anyone who isn't "clean" yet:
- Changing the wiring in your brain takes time. Do your best to build new habits away from gaming each day, but know that it's unlikely to happen all at once.
- Take note of triggers (people, times of day, locations) and do what you can to remove them from your environment.
- Remove access as much as you can. If you can't do it all at once, set yourself smaller (regular) goals like being off of games for 30 mins, or for 4 hours, or for 1 day once per week. Eventually I did 1 year without a smartphone or a computer that could play games, and it really helped reset.
- You need to replace friends and activities you had with new ones outside of gaming. This takes a fair amount of work and time, but it's worth it. Self-improvement is a great area to focus on as it can give you the same sense of progression as games, and you'll meet great people. I also recommend team sports.
- Have a long hard look at anything that could be causing this escapism - it could be big and obvious, it could be subtle like a nagging stress from work, a mild existential anxiety, or one of a million other things. Journalling helps uncover this sort of thing.
- Embrace boredom. After the initial discomfort, you'll realise the boredom is not the worst thing in the world.
[0]: https://www.udemy.com/course/healthy-gaming/learn/?referralC...
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#137> Gambling disorder is the only behavioral addiction (as opposed to substance use) identified in DSM-5. There is no such thing as video game addition. Video games do not directly hijack the substrates your brain uses for calculating motivation and interest. It's just another stimuli coming in through your normal senses. There is nothing magical, good or bad, about stimuli on screens.
There is nothing magical about other addictive substances either… I don’t believe anything about the definition of addiction has to do with how it “hijacks your substrate”. As far as I found - OP is describing addiction: an overwhelming desire to do something one knows is harmful, which provides no benefit to one’s life, that one cannot maintain a healthy relationship with.
Addictive substances directly effect the biochemistry of motivation. Directly acting on some subset of receptors (or other mechanisms) in the brain on neurons and glia is entirely different from something coming in through your senses.
One is direct and one in indirect. For video games to become addictive they actually have to be fun and rewarding; probably in a random interval operant conditioning pattern. For methamphetamine to become addictive you don't even need to be having fun or experiencing reward. That's a big difference. Addicting drugs are usually intrinsically addicting. No video game is.
Most video game "addiction" material is from for profit private treatment centers and rarely peer reviewed. It is not represented in the legal medical codes or in high impact journals.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#138If 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.
However, the micro-transaction games often start getting fun after you start cheating (aka paying). Especially things like card games.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#139Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid video game addiction?
#140I think some games are healthier than others. Something like Baldur's Gate 1 lets you have a full session within one hour, whereas for many recent games, 2 hours might be the minimum dose to enjoy yourself. I'm very annoyed at how many games require several hours to get through the filler of walking from one city to another.