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If you really need to stop, use cheats. That will break the dopamine cycle and you’ll be free. Maybe it also works to limit play time to healthy levels. For

by redsh 5y ago

If you really need to stop, use cheats. That will break the dopamine cycle and you’ll be free. Maybe it also works to limit play time to healthy levels. For example, I was once playing quite a bit of WoW, and after I trying it out on an unofficial server where I could teleport anywhere made the game lose all its appeal.

PawBer 5y ago
Getting banned from the game because of cheating will also be helpful.
genericone 5y ago
Seconded, cheat to break the cycle. It's helped me out of many mobile games.
- singularity2001 5y ago
  How can you cheat on mobile games?
  - genericone 5y ago
    Well, on a rooted android device, specifically to combat mindless tapping games, tap titans / egg inc /etc, an auto-clicker program helped me break a multiweek long gaming cycle.
  - cercatrova 5y ago
    There are modded apks. I have one for Stardew Valley because it's pretty mindless to continuously click on farmland.
lofatdairy 5y ago
This gave mixed results in helping me break my online chess addiction. Some games its too easy to recreate an account. Blocking myself from the website helped deal with habitually opening the site whenever I felt bored, so I would try uninstalling first, just to add a bit of resistance.
AndrewOMartin 5y ago
Thirded. I broke (nascent but potent) Diablo 2 and Minecraft additions by giving myself everything and realising there was nothing for me to look forward to at the end of that path. I still had some fun, but I didn't have that know in my stomach when going to sleep that I was seconds away from something great. I do the same with long TV series', if I find myself wanting to stay up late watching an episode of something, I read the plot of the entire thing on wikipedia (either the entire summary or season by season summaries). I have never, not once, had anything "spoiled". Even if I did I'd prefer that to spoiling a single good night's sleep.
Volrath89 5y ago
Cheats are not enabled in multiplayer mode (which is the addicting one for me)
- wincy 5y ago
  I have this same hyper competitive drive. Dungeons and Dragons somehow scratches this same competitive itch without the toxicity. There’s a cap on how much time I can play because I have to get a group of people together to play it.
bko 5y ago
I disagree. It's easier to do none of something addictive than it is to do a little. Your advice goes against what most addiction specialists purport. Obviously this person couldn't manage the vice in the past, so he should avoid it.
- pixxel 5y ago
  We’re not talking about an alcoholic cutting down to a couple of drinks. So maybe there’s merit in it. From my experience, running cheats gives short term fun but then can ruin the game.
- Zababa 5y ago
  Cheating works for me, because the addiction is not directly to the game but to the sense of accomplishment that I derive from the game, and often the anticipation too. Cheating removes that accomplishment and allows me to lose interest in a game way faster.
- redsh 5y ago
  Can you elaborate on the advice of addiction specialist? What would they propose to do here instead?
dr-smooth 5y ago
Worked for me with Simpsons Tapped Out. I loaded a cracked version that let me have everything I wanted for free. Very quickly lost its appeal. I broke a 6-month, 7-sessions-a-day habit in about 3 days.
gnulinux 5y ago
Uhhh I did this back when I was an infant (probably 12 or something I'd play games with cheats) and to this day I can't derive any enjoyment from most games. Cheats really do ruin it for some.
muzani 5y ago
However, the micro-transaction games often start getting fun after you start cheating (aka paying). Especially things like card games.
bradknowles 5y ago
I haven't seen any games that held any interest for me since Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I guess it's easier for me since I refuse to buy any computing devices other than Apple, and since many games are console or PC only, I just don't ever get tempted. I'm okay with that. I haven't even played Baldur's Gate or KotOR in years, even though I do have them on my iPad.

by redsh 5y ago

PawBer 5y ago

Getting banned from the game because of cheating will also be helpful.

genericone 5y ago

Seconded, cheat to break the cycle. It's helped me out of many mobile games.

singularity2001 5y ago
How can you cheat on mobile games?
- genericone 5y ago
  Well, on a rooted android device, specifically to combat mindless tapping games, tap titans / egg inc /etc, an auto-clicker program helped me break a multiweek long gaming cycle.
- cercatrova 5y ago
  There are modded apks. I have one for Stardew Valley because it's pretty mindless to continuously click on farmland.

lofatdairy 5y ago

This gave mixed results in helping me break my online chess addiction. Some games its too easy to recreate an account. Blocking myself from the website helped deal with habitually opening the site whenever I felt bored, so I would try uninstalling first, just to add a bit of resistance.

AndrewOMartin 5y ago

Thirded. I broke (nascent but potent) Diablo 2 and Minecraft additions by giving myself everything and realising there was nothing for me to look forward to at the end of that path. I still had some fun, but I didn't have that know in my stomach when going to sleep that I was seconds away from something great. I do the same with long TV series', if I find myself wanting to stay up late watching an episode of something, I read the plot of the entire thing on wikipedia (either the entire summary or season by season summaries). I have never, not once, had anything "spoiled". Even if I did I'd prefer that to spoiling a single good night's sleep.

Volrath89 5y ago

Cheats are not enabled in multiplayer mode (which is the addicting one for me)

wincy 5y ago
I have this same hyper competitive drive. Dungeons and Dragons somehow scratches this same competitive itch without the toxicity. There’s a cap on how much time I can play because I have to get a group of people together to play it.

bko 5y ago

I disagree. It's easier to do none of something addictive than it is to do a little. Your advice goes against what most addiction specialists purport. Obviously this person couldn't manage the vice in the past, so he should avoid it.

pixxel 5y ago
We’re not talking about an alcoholic cutting down to a couple of drinks. So maybe there’s merit in it. From my experience, running cheats gives short term fun but then can ruin the game.
Zababa 5y ago
Cheating works for me, because the addiction is not directly to the game but to the sense of accomplishment that I derive from the game, and often the anticipation too. Cheating removes that accomplishment and allows me to lose interest in a game way faster.
redsh 5y ago
Can you elaborate on the advice of addiction specialist? What would they propose to do here instead?

dr-smooth 5y ago

Worked for me with Simpsons Tapped Out. I loaded a cracked version that let me have everything I wanted for free. Very quickly lost its appeal. I broke a 6-month, 7-sessions-a-day habit in about 3 days.

gnulinux 5y ago

Uhhh I did this back when I was an infant (probably 12 or something I'd play games with cheats) and to this day I can't derive any enjoyment from most games. Cheats really do ruin it for some.

muzani 5y ago

However, the micro-transaction games often start getting fun after you start cheating (aka paying). Especially things like card games.

bradknowles 5y ago

I haven't seen any games that held any interest for me since Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I guess it's easier for me since I refuse to buy any computing devices other than Apple, and since many games are console or PC only, I just don't ever get tempted. I'm okay with that. I haven't even played Baldur's Gate or KotOR in years, even though I do have them on my iPad.