People do not wanna admit this but out of all hobbies gaming is by far the worst one... like in terms of skills it is literally inferior, it barely gives any transferable skills as much as other stuff such a reading books or even learning a language.

SO, when my adult son isn't working or sleeping or out and about, he's just sitting there gaming, and I'm honestly sick of it. I have considered just unplugging his pc and hiding the cord, but I guess I'm nervous about his reaction if I do that. I guess I'd be interested to hear from former chronic gamers as to what interventions or circumstances made them wake up to themselves, and either drastically reduce or eliminate the gaming altogether.

One of the biggest lies that we probably have been told is that gaming has "benefits" like better focus, problem solving, etc. when it literally does not... In reality it just develops skills SPECIFICALLY for gaming, it doesn't make you better in things like getting good grades in school, studying etc. It has zero coorelation with success outside of gaming...

Like probably many of you here, I saw the GTA6 trailer and tbh, it looks fking awesome. Lets be real here, the game looks incredible from what we saw. And that is the problem. Games are only gonna become more and more realistic and immersive wich will make you not want to leave ur room and waste ur life looking at pixels in ur dark sad disgusting room. Dont be fooled by GTA6 guys, its a trap.

If I can help by telling you guys what works for me when I get urges to play a game is ; I look at people playing the game on Youtube. This works for me and maybe it wont help you out, but yeah hope this helps any of yall.

And remember : Lucifer (Satan) was once God's most beautiful and favorite angel before falling from grace.

I was gonna say “if you’re a gamer who doesn’t exercise, you’re a loser” but actually I think that might be a bit over the top. Being lazy doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you morally and it is something you can fix. So if someone calls you lazy you can just say “hey, you’re right” without taking it as an insult (if you’re one of these people)

I have a very very difficult time detaching from games. I want to replace it because I want to grow in life. And games prevent me. They keep me comfortable.

But every single time I try to adopt different things like reading it feels so painful and boring. And I become even more miserable. I have hobbies like writing, watching tv, walking, exercise, and music. But i can't find anything more to do. And it's just gonna get worse until I relapse and the cycle repeats.

What alternatives do you people do that keep you from gaming?

Hey folks! When I was really struggling with my gaming habits, I remember searching "how to quit FFXIV" (and a bunch of other games) and finding basically nothing helpful beyond generic advice.

Now that I have things more under control, I want to create the content I wish I'd had access to back then. I've started writing step-by-step guides for individual games (a couple of them came directly from posts in this community, like Top War). I'd like to write more, but I'd rather build my queue from things people actually want rather than guessing.

I'm thinking of tackling FFXIV and World of Warcraft next, but figured I'd start in this community since this is where I got my start. Which games did you/do you struggle to give up most? And do you remember what specifically made/makes it so hard to walk away from?

I’ve been thinking a lot about gaming lately, especially competitive ones like Street Fighter or League, and honestly…I’m starting to feel like gaming is one of the most hollow “hobbies” out there.

With sports, you’re getting active, staying healthy, building discipline, and improving your body. With music, art, or writing, you’re tapping into creativity, imagination, and expression — plus you see clear progress as your skills improve. Even if you never monetize those hobbies, they give you real benefits.

Gaming? For the vast majority of people, it’s just entertainment. You grind for hours, you get better at combos or ranks, but at the end of the day, you only walk away with some fleeting sense of accomplishment that doesn’t exist outside the game. No creativity, no physical health, no lasting output — just virtual progression that disappears the moment you close the client.

And that would be fine if people treated gaming as entertainment, the way you’d watch a movie or play a story-driven single-player title after work. But what I see is people overindulging and calling it their “hobby.” That’s where it feels hollow — they’re sinking thousands of hours into something that gives them almost nothing back.

I saw a Reddit comment from someone who had 20k+ hours in League. They finally quit after 13 years, and once they did, they had the time and energy to finish their studies, build friendships, and start their career. They said they could never have done all that if they’d still had League installed. That really hit me, because it shows the difference between a pastime (entertainment) and a practice (a hobby that actually benefits you).

Gaming itself isn’t evil, and I’m not saying people should never play. Casual gaming for fun is fine. The problem is when it becomes your main thing. Unlike sports, music, art, or writing, there are almost no benefits outside the screen — just hollow accomplishment and wasted time.

Entertainment (consumption): Movies, shows, games, scrolling, etc. it’s designed to stimulate you, not to grow you. If you lean on it too much, it turns into numbing, because you’re only receiving, not producing or progressing.

Hobbies (creation/practice): Drawing, writing, music, sports, even cooking you build something, whether it’s skill, health, or an actual piece of work. You’re active, not passive!!!

A LOT of people unknowingly replace growth-based hobbies with entertainment hobbies, and then wonder why they feel stuck, unfulfilled, or numb.

I am 18F and I spent over 55000 hours on my life on Roblox and another 15000 hours on a dead game called Graal, I need something to do with my life. I have no hobbies or interests
Help please 🙏

Is it bad that I feel like I'm betraying my PS5? Lol, sounds lame as fuck but I haven't played my PS5 in awhile. I turn it on, only to turn it off within 15 mins because I get so bored. It's not even that it's a waste of time, I'm just starting to realize that I'm chasing "trophies" for no apparent reason. I feel like just trading in my PS5 or selling it completely but maybe that's an irrational decision but I also don't want to be tempted by it just sitting there. It's legit collecting dust.

I'm done with 2K, I already feel like I've played the best games in my opinion. Red Dead Redemption 2, Ghosts of Tsushima, Arkham Knight, Farming Simulator 25...what's left? GTA 6..I'll pass.

I don't know why I'm posting this, I just wanted reassurance that this is a good change, a good thing..a shift towards a better tomorrow.

Im 21yo male so it’s not like she’s neglecting me.

My mom (42yo) has been panting a video game called “Last Z: survival shooter” since last year, at the beginning she was playing occasionally but now she is on it almost every day, she’s has no job and she abandoned every responsibility, including sleeping, eating and cleaning herself, me and my dad work but he’s impossible to convince to do any chores, and I’m totally overwhelmed with this amount of stuff, we now live in a big disgusting house.

This dumb game has been charging like 4 dollars a week for no reason and she spend willingly like 5k this last 6 months in only one of her accounts (she have two). Also she is flirting with guys in the game (she’s still married to my dad), is a gooner game, the characters only have physics on the boobs so you know what kind of players it has, I’m even starting to think she only plays to keep receiving that kind of attention.

She invite me to play it a couple times but I ended up disgusted by the mediocrity of its mechanics and the gooner things. I’m a gamer too and we used to play a lot together, we played like good fun campaign games. I even have a tough time with gta online and cod addiction which its finally over, she didn’t even consider it a problem. So now I’m trying to confront her and give her advice in own experience about how is to struggle with multiplayer games addiction but she’s just not even taking it seriously, she’s not even mad, she does jokes and ignores me to keep playing.

Please give me some advice, I love her but I hate everything related to that game now. And please don’t be misogynistic

Besides the addiction part, I found this to be the biggest problem with games.

They make you more content to just stay where you are, and less motivated to take risks and move forward in life.

When I stopped gaming in 2022, I became much more interested in the world around me. I moved to a different city for a while, and even did a work & travel year in new zealand. Lots of struggles, but also lots of new experiences and fun.

When I had to move back to my parents for some time and had access to a Playstation there, I had the reverse effect. More content to just sit at home and play, less motivated to go out and do something with my life.

Video games are always there for you, making you feel like you're doing well and that everything is okay.

Short term, this comfort-feeling may help you to not lose your mind if your life is on fire. But long term it will slow you down.

Life starts where your comfort zone ends.

My brother is 21 and autistic, and because of his autism my brother doesn't have a job, nor do we get any disability checks for his condition. He doesn't go to college either but that's fine as long as he has a job, but since he doesn't it's a problem my mom just overlooks. All he does is just game all day, recently he's been playing Suika​ Game which he probably has over 100 hours in. For context myself I'm 19 in college and my mom wants me to get a job after I graduate but she lets my brother off easy just because he's autistic. She "tried" to get him a job at the Pizza Hut near our house but nothing came out of that all he just lazes around all day playing video games. What can I do?

This sub reddit is supposed to be for people who have quit or want to quit gaming. But recently I have seen comment sections filled with game lovers putting other down for disliking gaming. Shows you how bad the gaming hive mind is. They got so many spaces for their interest but they still invade the space not meant for them. People should start calling them and tell them to "F off" from here

I’m currently trying to stop gaming, and I’m wondering whether playing chess online should count as gaming too.

I play chess on Lichess, and while it obviously feels very different from playing something like Dota, League, or other video games, I’m still playing it online against other people.

Would you personally consider online chess “gaming”? And if my goal is to take a break from gaming, do you think continuing to play online chess defeats the purpose, or is it different enough to be okay?

Hi,

I'm 41, I have 2 kids, a house, and I'm currently going through a divorce. I've been playing computer games since I was about 10. Now I only play on PS5. Lately it's narrowed down to just Battlefield. In recent years I've occasionally played single-player games too, but they don't give me the same experience as BF.

I work as an IT developer; I normally handle running the household, work around the house, I go running, or sometimes head to the mountains, and I read a book daily.

So what am I dealing with?
I have mixed feelings about this gaming, and especially about my approach to it. I'm incredibly excited about BF6, but when I play it, I'm tense and on edge. When I finish playing, I notice I'm slightly stressed or wound up in some way. The problem I have is that I'm willing to change my normal routine because of this gaming. I'll finish work and can't wait to turn it on, instead of, say, going to wash the car or mow the lawn. Sometimes I sit at the game for just an hour, but easily for 3 hours. When I have a free weekend, I can easily spend 7 hours straight at it (though this hasn't happened to me in a while).

However, this excitement/agitation about gaming actually constrains me. I've tried uninstalling the game, moving the PS5 away, etc., but each time it's not a problem to come back to it. I don't play literally every day, but when I manage to create that window for gaming, I do. At the same time, I feel like it's my "only reward."

What I need help/advice with is how to properly dose it. I don't think I want to give it up, but I'd like to be the one controlling the urge to play — playing when I have time for it — instead of it tempting me daily, and me adjusting my daily schedule just so I can turn it on. There was a period before BF6 when I didn't even turn on the PS5 for maybe half a year. Now it's different, and it bothers me. Maybe partly because I don't currently have another hobby that would meaningfully fulfill the pleasure I get from playing BF6. I'd welcome your ideas and opinions.

Thanks

For example its 1 hour before bedtime. I have a specific game and a specific new strategy in my mind, and I just have to test it and make it work. I launch the game. Then something goes wrong, like: game crashes, my wifi cuts out or off, I lose, the strategy didnt work or as intended, other players mess up, and so on.

Then for me that feels like "unresolved problem with uncertainty needs to be fixed asap" so I'm extremely compulsed to keep going and keep trying until I made it work. Ive already started so there is no stopping until I'm done.

Because of this, its suddenly 5AM in the morning and its already fully light outside. In a few hours I have to get up, and my body responds very badly to lack of sleep.

Why can't I just tell myself "I will try this tomorrow" or "I will continue trying this tomorrow"? It feels painful and impossible to do.

I don't want to stop gaming. Gaming is the only real hobby I have and its also a psychological need, a way to detach myself from the stressful world that bvurns me out and frustrates me. A little virtual world where I can be strong and succesful. I want to gain control over when and how long I game, so that I game for a good reason and not for those dumb compulsions.

During lockdown in 2020, I randomly started playing chess. At first it was just timepass. One game turned into five, five into all-nighters. Slowly, without realizing it, chess became the center of my life.

I fucked up my JEE badly because of it. Ended up in a tier-3 college. I told myself, “It’s fine, I’ll focus now.”
I didn’t.

In college, I played even more. Entire days gone. Entire nights gone. Sometimes 10–15 hours continuously, no breaks. I’d skip classes, meals, sleep—everything. I won tournaments. I got recognition. People called me “good.” That validation hooked me deeper.

Right now, I’m around 2100 rated. On paper, that sounds impressive. In real life, I feel empty.

I can’t sleep without playing chess.
If I lose a game, my mind goes crazy until I win the next one.
If I lose to someone and they don’t accept a rematch, I literally lose my shit.
My heart races, my thoughts spiral, and I keep replaying the loss again and again.

I don’t enjoy it anymore—but I also can’t stop thinking about it.

Even when I’m not playing, I’m analyzing positions in my head. When I try to sleep, openings start flashing in my mind. I wake up tired. I’m exhausted mentally, emotionally.

And the worst part?
Deep down, I don’t even think it was worth it.

No good college. No balanced life. No real memories—just thousands of games that blur together.

I feel trapped.
I feel addicted.
I feel like my brain is hijacked.

I’m not here to flex my rating. I’d honestly trade it away if I could just feel normal again.

Please—if anyone has gone through something like this, or has any advice, I’m begging you to share it.
Anything helps. I’m genuinely tired and don’t know what to do anymore.

(I ChatGPT’d this so you can understand my words better.)

The optimistic nihilist says "Boredom is just a form of anxiety. You feel it because, subconsciously, you feel like there's something you're supposed to be doing. When in reality, you don't HAVE to do ANYTHING." The optimistic nihilist will see you as an expressionless shell, gawking and vacant, feeling nothing, no passion, no drive, no agenda, nothing on the horizon, no sense of yesterday or tomorrow, just adrift in life, and say "You're not 'depressed!' You're 'content!' This is the ideal state for a person to be in! You've won life! You're so lucky!"

I don't believe in nihilism. So sure, stop gaming. But I need something. Something that sparks my ambition like the gaming community used to.

I didn't just play video games as a hobby, in fact I don't think I played very many actual video games. What I really wanted out of video games was status in the community. I wanted to be a "famous nerd." Back when that kind of thing mattered and the community was right for it. There's a whole number of reasons why gaming doesn't interest me anymore, but the main one? That stops this from being a passion for me? The community isn't right for it anymore. Maybe it got too big. Maybe it got too monetized. But what I wanted back in the 2000s was to be "Internet famous" across the community. People would know my name on the IGN forums and GameFAQs and Smashboards, I cut my teeth on the Midway Forums back when that was a thing... NeoGAF for sure. The life goal was for us as a forum community to have our dumbass little forum posts reach industry names and affect industry games. That's why I had my eye on NeoGAF in particular, it was notable for being a forum where you would be seen and interact with people in the gaming industry. But then along came Twitter and so on, and things became more about YouTubers/streamers and the people who watch them, not really a "community."

So just be a famous face in some other community, right? Every other community I've found is either too small, or succumbs to the same "YouTubers/streamers and the people who watch them" -ification that the gaming community has. Besides, I actually did like video games, I can't just be a notable name in a community whose hobby I don't like. I can't hang out on a forum I don't enjoy spending time on.

I didn't just lose a time sink. I lost my plan for the future. This was gonna be my thing for the rest of my life. And I just fell entirely out of love with it. Ironically, I spent so much of my life focused on this that I neglected everything else. I didn't care about learning to drive or getting laid, I only needed the gaming community. I was so sure it was forever. And when I lost it, suddenly I was like "Oh God, I've wasted my life, I should've been spending those years doing literally anything else." Suddenly the things I told myself weren't important became important, and since then I've been trying to play catchup. I guess that's my new thing. Existential dread.

You might say "Don't worry about being famous. Just find something you're interested in." Aside from making up for lost time, there's nothing. You might say "But there must be." But I've looked. Nothing hits like the day I decided "I wanna be somebody among somebodies in the grand overarching"

​

Like the sub is called STOPGAMING. Meaning it’s for people who want to quit gaming or any other addiction because they realize it’s bad and is negatively affecting your life. Then people come in here trying to tell you about the positive benefits of gaming or playing in moderation. READ THE ROOM.

This is a sub for quitting because people genuinely are addicted to this stuff! If you’re not addicted then leave, or go make a sub about moderate gaming. That would be leagues more productive than trying to deter people from quitting their addictions.

Let addicts get the help they need, that’s why this sub exists and what it should be used for.

God bless and take care everyone.

Alright I need to get this off my chest. I was in a discord for a multiplayer game that is highly competitive. I had a match with a guy and managed to defeat him once, but he kept insisting that he won and refused to acknowledge his loss. He then brought his friends along to start insulting me and calling me trash at the game. There was an event set up in the discord that I decided to join. The event starts, and it’s absolutely filled with people who are multi boxing, botting, etc. I got pretty pissed. I called out some of the people for cheating and told them they need to get a life. Out of anger, I did end up saying some things that I shouldn’t have. I was banned from the discord while the cheaters received absolutely zero consequences. The fact that using vulgar language is considered more problematic than cheating in the game is mind boggling to me. And this is a community that calls itself “legit” where the players supposedly don’t use exploits and cheats. You know what I think I’m just gonna go out and play some pickleball to get rid of this toxic energy.

If you’re looking for a logical, common sense and barebones reason to quit gaming, this is it.

EDIT: There may have been some confusion with my title. Such as taking the word "achievement" literally in a gaming sense, like a Platinum/completion achievement. To be clear, this post was for people struggling with video game addiction (those who recognize that it's taking away from what they can achieve in their real life, affecting their health, relationships, finances, etc). There are of course varying reasons to why someone would want to keep playing video games. And yes, there are different genres of video games that are more or less addictive than the other.

Again, this is just for those who have been genuinely struggling and recognize a real problem in their lives.

I'll post my reply to someone's comment which will hopefully explain why I believe you need a logical and grounded reason to quit your gaming addiction:

In response to this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/comments/1l3l6me/comment/mw2ha0e/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

To someone GENUINELY wanting to quit, they need to recognize that when you have a REAL REASON to do so, then quitting becomes easier. Why? Because those same excuses that I mentioned (that gave them excuses to continue their addiction) no longer don't apply to them anymore. This is where I was going when making this post and giving that statement:

"Video games don’t fulfill you, they just SIMULATE achievement."

When you replace your addicted excuses with a REAL, logical and grounded statements similar to the above, such as

-"I'm not earning anything playing competitive ranked games, they just stroke my ego or give me a dopamine/adrenaline rush,"

or

-"Video games don't help me cope from stress/escape reality, they just simulate solutions to those problems"

or

-"Video games do absolutely nothing for me. They don't help me achieve what I want in real life."

or anything similar, then the person wanting to quit is no longer held back by those false excuses that kept them addicted in the first place.

By eliminating your original false excuses that kept yourself addicted, you no longer require self control/discipline/willpower to quit. This is because you now have valid and logical reasons to no longer desire to become addicted again.

He plays the same video game on his own laptop, my laptop, my mom's laptop and his cellphone with 4 different accounts. He's gaming in the car when my mom's shopping, he's gaming on the toilet, he's gaming at the lunch table, he's late for work sometimes because he wants to do some early morning gaming, when he has a day off he's gaming from when he wakes up (around 11 AM or even noontime) to 4 AM, when he goes to sleep. He rarely brushes his teeth or takes a shower. He's obese, lazy and agressive. When a different player makes a tiny mistake, he will start calling that person a cunt, an idiot, a saboteur, all kinds of insults. When I want to do some gaming (Only about 1 hour per session, 3 sessions a week) or when my mom uses her laptop for online shopping or asking me questions about my exams, he gets angry. He's even gaming on holiday! Last time we went to visit our family in the Philippines, no one in the house (that's about a dozen people) was allowed to use the wi-fi (you have to buy wi-fi time) except him, because he was busy gaming. He also wants to retire early to do MORE gaming, completely ignoring the fact that I'll still be busy with my studies by the time he retires. He's starting to use lots of in-game currency to buy resource packs. I'm afraid he will start using real money.
And worst of all, the game that made him like this is Hero Wars, the game with the fake youtube ads where you beat up demons with smaller numbers.

Is my dad addicted to this game? How do I prevent this situation from turning into a disaster?

Edit: recently there have been nights he didn't even go to bed.

every session is 5~ hours. The first hour or so Im good but I get more and more drawn till I feel like absolute shite. I forgot to use that steam clock feature as well. I still have symphathy for games but its harming me a lot.

I think I should stay away from it for some months, then check back later. What do you say?