r/StopGaming

Today, I made the decision to leave FFXIV after 1.5 years and over 2,500 hours of playtime. I was a FC (guild) leader with no successor, so my quitting also led to the closure of my FC. 

I tried to do everything right. I messaged members who might want to take over first (nobody wanted to), I messaged all my closest friends letting them know before hand and writing personal thank yous, I made a clear discord announcement with actionable steps and a final date of closure (1 week from today). I was met with overwhelming support, kindness and understanding by my members/friends. 

But I feel such a mix of emotions. I will miss the game, the social side, the feeling of reward from a long grind, the creativity to come up with events and decorate my houses, but, I can't help but feel like it is not worth the trade of all it's taken from me. 

Before finding FFXIV, I had never played an MMO. I had gamed lightly over the years, some Minecraft 2 week phases and single player adventures (and a scary amount of overwatch during early COVID but we don't count that ok). I had other hobbies then - I read dozens of books a year, I was working on my own novel (for real this time I swear), I did yoga and meditation regularly, I did embroidery. I had plans to try pottery and one day learn piano. All of these things fell to the wayside once FFXIV consumed me. 

For the first several months of FFXIV, I was unemployed, depressed, heartbroken/newly single, and empty. I woke up and turned on the computer. I barely took care of myself, eating only when I was starving, barely drinking water, only playing the game. When I would get off after a day of gaming, I would read FFXIV subreddits in bed until I passed out with my phone in my hand and I would do it all over again the next day. 

If starting FFXIV was my first mistake, becoming an FC leader was my second. Now, I had people expecting me. I had crops to water every day and ships to send out and social obligations to fulfil. I had events to schedule and plan, a website to update, applications and interviews to process. It became a job that I was paying to do, halfly with the nominal subscription fee, halfly with the hours and hours sunk every week. 

I even had to private my steam hours from friends because I was so ashamed. 

Despite all this, somehow I landed an amazing job. With opportunities and a promotion and something I had always wanted to do. This is what broke me out, because as I sat with my planner writing meetings and configuring the summer schedule I realised, I couldn't do it all again this year, not only because I simply did not have the time, but because I couldn't allow myself to waste away another year. 

I thought of last year's summer, when I didn't watch a single sunset. I didn't swim once. I didn't go to a beach or a farmer's market or hike or anything. An entire summer - WHEN I WAS UNEMPLOYED!!! completely wasted. Gone. 

I realised then it was addiction. I found this subreddit. I scrolled and scrolled. I made the plan, I consulted my friend, and I put it into action. 

I still have more free time that most, even in this beautiful future without FFXIV. Without a partner or family, with a flexible, healthy-hours job, I have so, so much time. So, as long as I'm writing again, reading, watching the sunset and trying new things, I'll still game a little. Maybe some Minecraft or overwatch with a friend. A transition, in a way. But when the summer peaks, I'm going to do a month or two completely away, no games, just real life. See how it feels. 

Thank you for listening. I wanted to share my story in case there is another guild/FC leader feeling trapped by obligation, or formerly hobby-full people feeling empty and hollow. You aren't alone. 

I know 1.5 years, 2,500 hours isn't that bad. Like a stage one cancer, I'm glad to have caught it when I did.

I noticed this the other day. I see normal people sort of playing videogames casually on a weekend with their friends or even as a dedicated hobby in their free time. And yet, it has zero negative effect on their daily lives. Prime example is my brother. He has it all, a good stable job, family and a social life. He loves videogames as much as I do.

Like, even some highly successful famous people play videogames as a hobby. And yet, they don't seem to fall into addiction.

By contrast, if so much as just grab a controller I get into addiction mode and start playing for hours on end. My social skills have degraded, and I am constantly fatigued. I know I know, I am gradually weaning off gaming so hopefully I'll recover. But still, I've been wondering why some people can play videogames without any problem, while others get addicted

I try to post my own gaming experience, but was removed by Reddit filters. Any reason? Please help. Thanks.

The new TOS for PlayStation pushed me over the line today. I have spent hundreds of dollars on digital games and they are now saying that I in fact will not own any of them. Also I refuse to consent to more mass surveillance. I’m 23 and I do not have any hobbies besides gaming but it is no longer conducive with my values and life. Where do I go from here?

Hello everyone.

I'm just writing this post to see if anyone else had a similar experience and I would like to know how it benefited you. But a week ago I quit playing video games to lock in on life. I'm soon to be 24 year olds and I cannot seem to get over this feeling of being extremely childish when I play on the game constantly, I am drawn to competitive shooting games and ranked modes in particular. Rainbow six siege, call of duty etc etc. I would get home from work, sometimes not eat, or go and get some junk food because by the time I HAVE to hop off it was too late to cook a decent meal. I did this day in, day out, completely neglecting my diet, sleep and gym routine. It seems to have made me depressed and bad with habits I never had before. I used to be a pretty disciplined person but kept using video games as an escape.

It hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, and there has been days where I haven't really been that productive but I have been outside on my own going for walks, enjoying the sunshine and going to the gym after work, eating proper food and just overall looking after myself a little bit better. I get the urge to play so bad, but when I have gotten over that feeling I genuinely cant think of anything id rather do LESS. Removing these games from my PC and getting rid of my XBOX help with that because they're not easily accessible. I know it's not an overnight fix, but I am already feeling optimistic about it, not having the feeling of pure guilt and shame at the end of the night when I have not even left my room after work is honestly a breath of fresh air, and being in my room for an extended period of time feels like I'm in prison, I want to be outside.

Anyway, not sure where I was going with that, please do let me know if anyone has a similar story, how you managed and how life turned out for you. Thank you for reading if you got to this point, be safe guys.

But it scares me, especially this year with so many new games coming:,(

Hi I see a lot of peoelle who do game but avoid certain games that you commonly see in this subreddit like wow or league or pokemon go or final fantasy xiv or valorant or fortnite etc. can you tell me exactly why some gamers avoid these games.

Are gamified habit trackers a good way to quit gaming without quitting gaming. Would stuff like Ronin Reborn, Habitica, Zombies Run be helpful or does it just feed the loop?

I don't know if this is the right sub for this since my obsession is less about PLAYING and more THINKING about playing

Basically I often get this URGE to play the game

I would get ideas of structures I want to make (in particular, medieval buildings), and I would start to ponder how to achieve those designs, what blocks to use, how to get those resources, how to produce them and automate them

Then the ideas grow and I start thinking about functional aqueducts and sewage systems, gears and watermills, either with mods or playpretend

I even researched these topics and I'm fascinated by them, how did Romans build aqueducts, how did they work? How do you make bricks and how are traditional roofs constructed?
I live in Europe near the countryside, here is full of ruined buildings taken over by nature which trigger these ideas oh so much

Redstone, dont get me started on redstone and what u can do depending on the version you are playing! I did spend several days constructing working analog clocks and treefarms both in beta and with modern redstone.

I have a folder with all the images that inspire me and several txt files of ideas ( cities construction plus lore plus enviromental details on how to do sounds, animated stuff etc)

then editing textures

etc etc etc

you get the point!

the funny thing is that... I CANNOT PLAY MINECRAFT!
I would set everything up, or start blind, or play that version or that other, think ways to avoid what's coming, making a planner on how to play and then... I just wander aimlessly in a world and close the game after 5 mins, or actually start for a while and then close it, or get the "why am I even playing?" and close it

Sometimes besides this I even get this anxiety swelling up in me before the quit.

One time I got a panic attack(?) from thinking about the game!
Was during University, I barely slept cuz bad combo of late lessons plus bus travel time, I slept like at most 4 hours each day,
AND YET
I had to carve another 30 mins cuz this new mod just came out, "CREATE". Basically it adds gears and such. So I would spend 30 mins each day exploring the mod.
My panic attack started when I was thinking how to use the mod to play in an amplified world defendind a village and I couldnt think of ways to use it instead of vanilla mechanics

and I was there panicking, my neurons buzzing, breathing hard, thinking thinking on how to use all the potential of the mod!

I'm so tired of this cycle, because I'm spending even entire free days thinking about the game! And it's making me miserable!
Imagine someone spending 12 hours of their free day from work just standing in theliving room thinking, having internal battles of ideas in their mind...
Yeah, sometimes I felt satisfaction making that cool building or that redstone contraption, but, even if I could play, at what cost? days spent in front of a screen with nothing tangible, real, in my hands?

Besides minecraft I dont play any other game. Used to!
Was addicted to pokemon, remember finishing Diamond in 2-3 days when I was a kid, what got me to quit was realizing I was... making a spreadsheet of type matchups plus moves and stats for each pokemon in a romhack to find the mathematical best team to beat the endgame arena...and I was like "ok that's stupid, im not even enjoying myself anymore"
Used to play TF2, Ive like 1.7k hours on that, stopped cuz got boring since I cannot control the fun, the fun is dictated by the other players present plus I felt it was a waste of time, I'm not getting anything out of this game

I tried to quit Minecraft, the problem is that

1. I get obsessed with games that have an high potential, see pokemon, oh if only they added this n that it would have made a better game without such a stricking ludonarrative dissonance etc. In fact one thought pattern I have with minecraft is "thinking about how I would change it to make it perfect for me" which is the only thought I dont mind, since if I complete it I can just leave it with the rest of my completed ideas in The Folder on my pc. I can accept it and I can turn it off whenever I want, my problem is with the urge to play that it's obsessive

2. I really like the "mosaic" way of building of the game, I look outside and see textures and the frame upon which the tiles are ordered. It's voxel art. Minecraft is basically an infinite box of legos that doesnt cost a country worth of left kidneis. And with traditional art I cant make a world I can walk in n explore, I can make a miniature but I dont have the place and I cant explore its insides

3. redstone and circuits, I love problem solving when I have simple basic tools and clear rules to achive specific complex tasks, that's why I liked math in highschool and coding

In Conclusion: How can I stop this urge to play minecraft when, in practice, it doesnt even make me happy since I can't even play it and even if I did it would make me feel miserable for having wasted hours of my time on something untangible?

It's funny how when you have stopped gaming for sometime - closing in on a month for me. You notice just how much time you have, it feels so abundant. The days feel longer, you almost don't feel pressed for time or anxious, it really is an amazing feeling.

So naturally it makes me look back, when I used to play Multiplayer games like Overwatch. Man, I used to love playing that game so much. You could drop 6 hours in one go and not feel it. And it got me realizing just what a time killer your choice of game poison can be. I remember so many weekends thrown away. They would come and easily go and I wouldn't feel them at all, it was because I allowed myself to kill time instead of embrace it. But then you stop and wonder, what was I killing the time for? Time is my friend if I use it wisely, so why do I put myself in an almost hypnotic state to allow it to pass as fast as possible.

It's amazing just how short time felt when you wanted to game, 2 hours would never feel enough. But try to use those two hours for something else, maybe to draw, or any other hobby you may have and you will realize that those two hours feel abundant, but with gaming, they are nothing, they pass so quickly.

So yeah, wanted to throw some of my perspective out there. I'm sure many here who have quit have realized just how much longer the days now feel, that is a good thing!

Tenho 18 anos, meu primeiro contato com videogames foi quando eu tinha 4 anos, eu lembro até hoje quando meu pai trouxe aquele nintendo wii contendo 5 ou 6 jogos, e era uma sensação maravilhosa jogar por horas ali, eu era uma criança né? tinha que aproveitar. Joguei Sonic and the Black knight, Mario kart, até aqueles jogos das olímpiadas... era uma época boa de fato. Mas tudo começou a piorar quando eu ganhei um computador, ali eu tinha uma diversidade enorme de jogos pirateados, e eu já chegava da escola querendo jogar, minha vida era basicamente não estudar pras provas dos colégios, socializar um pouco na escola, chegar em casa e ficar preso no computador jogando por horas. Enfim, agora eu terminei o ensino médio (sempre não estudando pras provas, obviamente) e eu preciso estudar pro vestibular de forma séria, já consegui ler 2 livros de matemática (O algebrista e o Fundamentso da matemática elementar volume 9, recomendo muito inclusive) desde o início do ano, mas sabe aquele monstro que tá querendo sair do armário quando você menos espera? esse é o meu vício em jogo, direto eu me pego dando desculpas pra poder jogar e tá ficando cada vez mais dificil meu lado racional ganhar essa disputa, eu sinto que to lutando sozinho contra um exército inteiro dentro da minha cabeça, é aquela sensação de você sair do jogo mas você ficar pensando nele enquanto você tá tentando ler ou fazer um exércicio, minha prova é daqui 3 meses, eu ainda preciso ver biologia, física e química (Já comecei química e revisei um pouco de matemática) mas eu to num momento que tá muito dificil se segurar pra não jogar, mesmo eu encontrando os argumentos mais racionais possíveis pra me convencer a estudar, o videogame ainda não sai da minha cabeça... Enfim, só quero postar isso porque eu preciso colocar isso pra fora, é realmente muito difícil ter que se aguentar por todo esse tempo tendo a pressão de ter que estudar, e eu só percebi o quão viciado eu era quando eu coloquei uma meta de parar de jogar jogos onlines competitivos (consegui) mas ai o vício só mudou de alvo e pulou para o roblox (eu sei, é um jogo bem infantil, mas pra um cerébro que tá viciado em dopamina barata desde criança qualquer coisa serve). Mas acho que é isso, só queria dar uma desabafada, espero que alguém se identifique com esse post.

I played Lol in college, for hours each day.

One time, only one time, I didn’t play it until midterms, then I got highest scores in exams. Then I said, oh great I can have some fun now, installed the game again.

I become a less than average student again, got 04/100 on finals on physics, continue to fk up my life.

You know what’s worse, this is like 10 years ago and I still regret it.

I am some corpo slave now, but I wonder what would happen if I never introduced to video games. Maybe I would be an academician. Maybe I would still be corpı slave with higher salary.

Now lol is gone from my life, but there is other games, like fc26. I don’t even work during my workdays, only try to handle things half ass like 10 minutes per day, working makes me really suffer, and makes me anxious.

Hi, I stopped gaming in July 2025 after 27 years. Since then, my life has tremendously improved. I am never late on doing things I need to do anymore, I did a 20 weeks long truck driving training in a specialised school and in about 3 weeks I'm gonna start a career in a field I actually enjoy.

I'm feeling better than ever. I always struggled with anxiety and depression. But I'm realising that even though gaming felt like a way to escape, it's also what held me back mentally and professionally.

I wouldn't be surprised if quitting gaming saved my life. I needed to talk about it. I am so proud of myself and I hope this can give motivation to anyone that might need it.

Hey, I'm interested in limiting my gaming hours and do something more productive. However, I don't know if I'll entirely stop though. Maybe hundreds of millions of people game daily to fill in the void of a mundane life, including me. What do you guys think?

for the last few years, i played easily 8 to 10 hours a day and was telling everyone that it was just my hobby. but let's be totally honest, nobody plays a competitive game for 10 hours, screams at their monitor, and goes to bed at 4am because they are relaxing.

one night i was playing rdr2 and got a random thought after which i immediately closed the game. that thought was a realization of what my life had actually become. i was half-assing my work, ignoring my girlfriend, and eating garbage, just so i could get back to my desk and put on my headset.

i had this sick realization that the only time i actually felt successful, powerful, or respected was when i was winning some game. i was grinding for 10 hours a day to level up a digital character while my real-life character was broke, socially awkward, and miserable.

a lot of guys here say they don't have time to fix their lives. but you have time to play a game for 40 hours a week. you have the discipline to learn complex mechanics, memorize maps, and communicate with a team.

you aren't lazy. you are just applying all your hard work to a fake world because it's easier than failing in the real one.

HOW I ACTUALLY QUIT the first time i tried to quit, i failed in a week, because i had a massive 10-hour hole in my day. i just sat on my bed staring at the ceiling until i went crazy and re-downloaded everything.

you can't just quit. you have to transfer the energy to something else.

i started focusing on my work, reading, watching podcasts and going to the gym. that is what made me not relapse.

but to make it more like a game, you need to set yourself goals, just like in a game. so i'm not just reading—i want to read 12 books this year to improve my speaking skills. i'm not just going to the gym—i want to get jacked to 80kg to feel better.

that way it feels more meaningful and it's easier to stick with.

i don't know if i can mention apps here, but there are a few that helped me stay focused on my goals. i use the Purposa app for my goals, habits, and gamifying the process of leveling up and i use Opal so i don't just get a new habit of scrolling tiktok all day.

6 MONTHS LATER the difference is actually insane. the constant baseline anxiety i had is just gone. my sleep is completely fixed because i'm actually physically tired at the end of the day, not just mentally fried from staring at pixels.

if you're still sitting in the dark for 10 hours a day pretending you're happy, just stop. delete the accounts. sell the PC if you have to. the real world is genuinely the best game there is, you just have to be willing to play it on hard mode for a little bit.

who else is on this journey? what day are you guys on?

Too much minecraft....

I quit video games entirely around 5 years ago after wasting sooo much time playing nearly over 6 hours a day since I was like 7 years old. After I quit 5years ago I really got my life in order and things were thriving.... Some things have happened over that time.. anyway I find myself inside a lot at the moment and I started playing again recently. Played Minecraft for over 10 hours each day the past 3 days. I had a blast and told myself it was only temporary. I would love to play more but the impact the constant interactive stimulation has made on my brain is just too much... Super anxious and just off. I don't really want to talk to anybody and I can't let another addictive habit ruin and hinder built relationships again. So.... I'm quitting again I'm done, never touching it again and I'm just posting this as like a time stamp for when I quit, thank you

:)

Persona 5 is maybe the biggest example of this; in the game you can hang out with the characters, study, work jobs, play darts with friends, and even get into a relationship with the game's characters. I regret pouring in 100+ hours into this game.

She was right.

I had a girlfriend that would tell me I would die alone, and she said it one last time as she walked out on me.

I felt a sting, and then I turned back to the screen

to continue playing my video game…

that painful feeling quickly dissipated as I took myself back into a different world.

She was right, she was watching me drown for years.

I created a way out, I stopped the unconscious pull to this vice. It was the hardest drug for me to walk away from,

and to this day I think that harsh statement she said with tears rolling down her cheeks, saved my future.

As both of our hearts were breaking, I stayed glued to other lives in other worlds so I didn’t have to process my pain in this one.

So, to the woman that pushed me to save my future,
and you know who you are,
thank you from the bottom of my heart.

It still took me another decade to get out,
yet those words didn’t leave my sight…

So I have not played Videogames for 3 weeks now, this is probably the longest I have gone without playing for years and years. At 45, and unsatisfied with how my life currently is, I decided I was going to stop videogames until I have reached where I wanna reach in life, from financial status, to friends, to possibly marrying again after a failed 10 year marriage.

What I have noticed in these 3 weeks is that mentally, I don't feel anxious since I quit. There is this calm almost indifferent feeling that I have most of the time. I've also noticed that I enjoy other things more now which I didn't care much about when I gamed. I enjoy watching movies and shows more, I enjoy reading books and comics, I enjoy going for walks, drawing, boardgames etc.

I have found that I am more open to achieving goals in my life now, there is this small fire in me I can feel getting stronger, I find myself slowly moving towards wanting to write that novel I have wanted to write for 25 years now and never have, that flame that makes me wanted to be a damn great artist. I remember that flame was more focused on completing videogames than any of those other things. Easy, cheap goals.

The funny thing is, in 3 weeks, I could care less about all those single player games. But what has remained so powerful, is wanting badly to play Fortnite, Call of Duty and especially my two favourite games Overwatch and DBD and I wanna play those games badly.

Overwatch recently got an update on the Switch 2 and I have been fighting with myself internally not to try it.

This shows me just how powerful these multiplayer games are. Just what a hold they have on you and how much dopamine they release in your brain, they also make you feel that you are sociable and part of a community even when you are alone mostly in life, they make you feel like there is people around you. This is how powerful they are.

I'm still struggling to take it day by day, but just wanted to put this on here. Not sure why, maybe to let my thoughts out and to see if there's someone else out there that feels the same way but they continue to fight.