How can I stop?

Do what I did. Get rid of your system. That might be drastic but it was a tremendous benefit to me ultimately.

Sell them. It’s the only way.

Okay, real answer: Loan everything to a friend until summer.

Or have a friend destroy it, if you can’t.

I second Riser. If it’s a computer thing, I’d suggest uninstalling, and then breaking the CDs. If it’s a system, sell it on Ebay. Make some dough and move on.

Hhhmmmm, tough one. Just find another hobby to take up your time for a while. As expensive as systems and games are now, I wouldnt suggest braking it, and if you sell it to a game store, you won’t hardly get anything for it. If its loaned to a friend, you might not get all the “parts” you loaned, back.

The thing to do is just allow yourself a limited amout of time to play, then spend time doing something else. It’s gonna take a lot of want to power though.

Oh! I just thought of another idea. Take one whole day and play it all day long. You may have to do this for each game you like to play. I’ve found that if I play a game long enough, it becomes boring and I just shelf it. Good luck. Hope this helps.

i agree with with richardhenry;
get some money from it.
if that’s a little too drastic just pick up a new hobby to not think about playing games.
<3

I’m with Randy. Go for it! Enjoy it fully! And when you truly want to give it up, you won’t need to ask us flutherers, you’ll find yourself doing it effortlessly.

Personally, I was really drawn to indulge my love of video games this winter. Which I did – I went for it. I found it to be not totally satisfying, but part of me loved it. It loved the games themselves, and just escaping from the drudgery and responsibility of life.

Recently, I stayed up all night playing a game – went to bed after 6:30 am. I notice I haven’t touched the game since.

its better than doing drugs or drinking ;)

Game addiction is usually more of a sign of depression. Something to consider. Try substituting half your gaming time for exercise.

What you are dealing with is a “process addiction.” Gambling, fluther internet use, and shopping are also process addictions. Similar to substance abuse, your brain is seeking a “fix” every time you play, and it works because you get that fix for very little effort. Another characteristic you may be familiar with is that when you have time on your hands, and you haven’t already decided to play, you may feel at a loss for what to do with yourself.

With due respect to the folks above, I don’t believe choosing to limit your time is a realistic option, because my guess is you may say you’re going to play for 1/2 hour but before you know it it’s 4 hours and you’re still not quite done.

Assuming you’re not going to quit cold turkey, here’s what I’d do (and in some ways am in the process of doing for myself):

1. Don’t buy any new games. Don’t read any more game reviews. Don’t browse games at the store.

2. Look at your collection. Write down the number of hours you think it will take to finish each game. Decide whether there are any games that aren’t going to be worth finishing and get rid of them. Don’t trade them in for credit, either. Just get rid of them and get cash if you trade them in. The difference in the dollar amount isn’t significant compared to clearing things out.

3. From now on, concentrate on simply becoming aware of the parameters of your behavior without judging or berating yourself. Keep in mind how many “total hours” you’ll need to finish the rest of your games. Work on becoming an expert on your habits. Keep track of how much you play (or shop if you can’t follow the suggestion above) each day but don’t be judgmental, just be accurate. Try to catch the urge to play coming on and observe what’s going on in your head. What thoughts are you having that are leading you to want to play? Simply becoming an observer of yourself (similar to zooming out to third person view in an FPS) will eventually slow down those “trigger” moments enough for you to gain an awareness of what your thought process is before you slip into a video game coma, and that awareness will eventually enable you to choose a response to those thoughts other than gaming.

4. I’m guessing there are other things you feel you should be doing. If you’re in a deep enough hole, tackling those “good” things can be incredibly overwhelming, panic inducing and can easily trigger the need to cool the brain circuits with another 4 hours of game playing. To avoid this, take on those good things with really small steps. In other answers, I’ve cited this example. If your goal is to exercise, make it a point to just drive by a local gym every day. No more, no less. From there, move on to pulling into the parking lot and sitting there for five minutes every day. No more, no less. Write down other things you want to do for yourself and ask, “what is the most miniscule step I can comfortably take in those directions?” Pick just one thing if more than one thing is too overwhelming. The key, though, is to remain persistent with your effort, even if it is small. Success breeds success, and over time you’ll be comfortably and habitually doing things other than video games that make you feel better.

So, sorry for the longwinded answer, but my personal experience with this has been a “knowledge is power” kind of dynamic.

Also, this is something that a decent cognitive behavioral therapist can help you with if you want to go that route. You’ll just need to find someone who recognizes video games as a potential addiction.

To clarify… gambling, etc. have the potential to become process addictions.

I’ve been addicted to internet use, video games, a lot of stuff like that, and personally, I just realized that I have other priorities. i realized this after not using the computer for five weeks, and now while i still enjoy myself, i actually get stuff done. that’s just my experience tho, don’t know if it will work. the problem for me with throwing out the computer is that I need to use it for other, actually important stuff.

sry for such a late response but my addiction is not that bad kevbo but great answer and I have barely played all I do is like play for an hour a week

kevbo zip it!! leave it to the pros, ask wrestlemaniac. Adios!

Tell someone!
Ask them to hold you accountable.
& then, hold a video game funeral.
That’s right. Get your friends, gather all things video game related and throw them out. Cry if you want to, laugh, cheer. Whatever you do, get rid of anything tempting you & let your friends be a part of it!

Brilliant! A video game funeral!
Love it.