Tactics For Overcoming Video Game Addiction
When I was younger I played too many video games. It held me back from learning useful skills and pursuing a career in earnest. When I wasn’t playing them all I could think about was the chance to get back to them. I had a few games on rotation. Before I get into my one strategy, a note on some preventative measures.
In order to avoid game addiction from the start:
- Don’t play online games. The more competitive, the more addictive. Play offline mode if you must. You will also avoid a lot of toxicity and frustration. Some games I got very good at, but I was never the best and it was a waste of time to even try. None of the games I spent hundreds of hours perfecting are even playable online anymore. The servers are gone, the communities dissapated, the websites archived.
- Don’t play mobile games. This also goes for any other type of game that has in-game purchases, meaning pay-to-win. Why? Because these games are designed to hold you back, to frustrate you and delay you so you end up spending money on them to “save time” and progress, or, I guess, to win. At one time I played Clash Royale, got addicted to it, played every day and progressed almost every card to max level. I hated the game but kept playing out of habit and the sunken cost fallacy. I ended up deleting it and never returned. You know why I never returned…
