As I had promised myself, yesterday was the last evening I indulged in the game. 6 hours of sleep later, I am now perfectly okay with removing it from the system and moving on to better things. The trick here is not to worry too much about a potential next gaming binge... I hope I won't need it, but if I do, I'll see how to best deal with it.
New day, new challenges. Also, looking forward to recover better sleeping habits. Overall mood right now is not the best, but could be worse..
UKGuy said:
Your gaming point is an interesting one Leon. I occasionally indulge (my daughter got me into Fortnite - that?s all I play, even though she?s now moved on!) I am undecided whether playing helps or hinders my PMO progress. In some aspects it gets me ?wired? in a way that has some similarities to porn or chat, but there have been other occasions where I have been tempted with PMO and the choice to game instead has eradicated the PMO urge by providing alternative stimuli. Whatever the answer, I agree that taking breaks is beneficial so good luck with your last blast for a while, and readjusting to life without it, including your MO ?diet?. Take care.
Isn't it strange how such simple things can reel us in and yet, teenagers pass through them like a tornado moving northwards! At this point I'm uncertain as to whether the two 'indulgences' are tied. Like you said, gaming has had that effect of thwarting the odd PMO craving. But it gives me the sense that gaming fills the void left behind by MO avoidance. And if I remove gaming then.. something else would need to fill it in its place. It's a loop:
when will I be satisfied?
Fortnite has been on the news, so pretty much everyone has heard of it... but it operates like most other games: built to be addictive. Indulgences are fine from time to time, but not everyone is able to handle games like a proper hobby. It can soon blow over into prolonged hours-long sessions daily. So I believe judgment as to completely sidestep or not depends on whether there is control over the activity. I don't think I exercise complete control over gaming, I'm afraid...
TheNorman said:
Leo and UK you can count me in as someone who has binged on games too. Rocketleague was a big one for me. Mercifully they pulled the plug on Mac support and that took care of that (although I did toy around with modding my mac or getting a PC!). Like UK said, if you can indulge in games without going too wild and it's keeping you away from PMO then I say go for it!
Hey TheNorman, if it took a change of system support to get you to stop, then imagine the power that thing actually did exercise on the mind! I would be an absolute addict if I had ever been exposed to it. For me, negotiating that fine line between enjoying and over-indulging is blurry business... like adding an extra challenge that isn't really necessary. I think the most important question regarding gaming is this:
"How do I feel right after I finish gaming? Do I feel good, uplifted, proud, satisfied? Or is it something like: indolent, apathetic and bored?" And I think that's the crux of it: gaming feels good in the moment, but once it's over it feels like 'meh'!
LetItGoAlready said:
Hey Leonidas-Good for you for recognizing that you might be crossing a healthy boundary here. I recently started playing Age of Empires Definitive Edition but had to pull back when I began cannibalizing sleep because of it. No doubt in my mind it's trading one addiction for another. Who knows, maybe it's all connected. It could just be another clever scheme by your brain to kickstart your sputtering PMO cycle again. Nothing would surprise me at this point!
LetItGoAlready, I believe you and I share a few things in common! Losing sleep over the odd gaming binge. A penchant for ancient warfare strategy games (and probably a love of ancient history too). And of course recognizing the game binges for what they are. I don't know if the reason for gaming is the brain hacking away for some extra hits of dopamine. I doubt it in my case... because it would not explain why I indulge once every few months rather than needing it every day. For me it's the escape from the real world, a way to forget who I am for a minute and just wallow in a different world.. I mean what is there not to love about the Chi-Rho shields of the Byzantine Romans! But back to the real world, I recognize it as a fantasy escape, it's not wrong per se... but it is also saying to me: "find something to do that'll make life a thrill to live".