# Deleted all my video games.



## Chandan

I am not sure if this is the right forum to post this but I just finished deleting my entire video game collection.To me,this is a personal triumph.

I believe video games are the cause of my social avoidance.I was always socially anxious but was not avoidant.But ever since I got my first taste of playing video games I did almost nothing else.I even failed a year of college because all I did was play games.The last straw was recently,when I did the same thing and didn't study for my exams.I believe I'm gonna fail again.:blank
My parents are gonna be like:mum

I have seriously thought about just ending it all,but I just don't want to run from my problems anymore.

So,this is my first baby step towards a better life.I will also now have the time to work-out and have a healthier body.

The games I deleted are:CODMW3,Splinter Cell conviction,Counter strike,Return to castle Wolfenstein,Battlefield 1942,Skyrim,Crysis:Warhead,Mass effect3(recently downloaded),COD4MW and some others.

All the games are downloaded singleplayer games.I've never played multiplayer or online games or MMORPG's,and I thank God for that.

The problem is I'm finding it tough to get rid of one game:CODWAW which is a WW2 FPS which is my favorite.I have literally spent hours playing the game over and over again.I just want some motivation to do this.


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## piratesfan22

Man I don't know deleting all your games, but if it works then do it to it. I'm a gamer myself and I realized that moderation is key when it comes to playing video games. I had this problem when I got MW3 a while back. But one day I realized my grades were suffering so I stopped playing and haven't played it since, although I still played other games but no nearly as much as that game.


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## Openyoureyes

Video/Online games killed me too in a way. They help contributed to my loneliness and not willing to put myself out in the world. So it definitely stopped me from being more social even with my family. I overcame the video game addiction this year though. So high five to you 

Whatever you do, don't give in to redownloading them.


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## avoidobot3000

You're doing the right thing. I spent most of my youth/teenage years playing games, and I got caught up in the WoW craze when my friends were playing it. Now I've I grown out of video games, after losing so much valuable time; time I now spend reading and exercising. I still have a problem with spending too much time on the internet, but I'm working on it. Just make sure you have something productive to do and you will be fine.  

With the last game, can you use parental controls on yourself? It would limit the amount of time you could play, which would be a good start.


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## Chandan

Openyoureyes said:


> Video/Online games killed me too in a way. They help contributed to my loneliness and not willing to put myself out in the world. So it definitely stopped me from being more social even with my family. I overcame the video game addiction this year though. So high five to you
> 
> Whatever you do, don't give in to redownloading them.


Yeah,I think this is going to be tougher when new games come out and everybody is going ape-**it over them.

High fives to you too,m'lady:high5 Is your social life improving?


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## Chandan

avoidobot3000 said:


> With the last game, can you use parental controls on yourself? It would limit the amount of time you could play, which would be a good start.


Just deleted the last game.I just thought if I'm doing this,I had better go all the way.

Thanks for the support.Helped me get over the last hurdle.


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## avoidobot3000

^You're welcome. I hope you don't get too bored without them. :b


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## Und3rground

If you felt that was what you needed to do, then more power to you. When breaking attachment you often need to do something quite drastic like that so major props for doing that.


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## mugenishere

I stopped gaming since the last few months. It gave me a lot of time to focus on other activities. I'm happy that I've cut down on gaming like this. But when I look back at my childhood I don't feel that I became socially anxious because of my games. In fact I feel that I remained sane thanks to my video games.

The video games provided me an outlet for my frustrations and kept me involved with something. I had a pretty rough childhood and there was no one whom I could speak to openly or who could understand what I was going through. Video games helped me survive through all that bull ****. It gave me an escape route. 

And now that I'm an adult and more independent, I feel that now situations around me are better although I'm caught up in this anxiety. So I keep trying to find reasons why the present is better and not as bad as my childhood time.


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## gamerguy

I deleted all my video games too a couple of months ago, but for a different reason. I had way too many and couldn't decide which ones to play. I'd start one then want to start another one, meaning I never finished them. I've now started re-populating my list of games but actually finishing them before getting more.


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## Grog

That's what I do get 1 game and play it night and day till it's totally finished every little bit of it then won't touch another for a long time until I feel like it might be 6 months + sometimes but while I'm playing nothing else exists .


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## Malek

Do what you think is right. I do love introverted activities such as gaming, watching shows/anime, reading, etc. Perhaps if I didn't have these methods of coping with boredom/loneliness I'd be forced to socialize in the outside world more often, yet I find that overrated. Mingling at parties and events drains me emotionally. I prefer quality friends over quantity. Moderation is key. Obviously you can be addicted to anything really, it just takes self control to maintain equilibrium. I consider my dorky interests the lesser evils compared to other vices such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. Things that take off the edge as well supposedly. Escapism is bliss, just don't escape too much, there's responsibilities and time is money friend.


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## slowlyimproving

Congratulations. Personally, I need to spend less time online.


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## ShatteredGlass

To be honest, I really think you are going to want those games back.

Try to enjoy video games in moderation. Go outside in the back yard, smile, just try to enjoy yourself.


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## ShineGreymon

When I was in school my mum took my xbox during exam periods. Could you ask your parents to keep it from you for a while ? that way you will still have the remaineder of your faviourite games when you next use it.


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## Noca

ShineGreymon said:


> When I was in school my mum took my xbox during exam periods. Could you ask your parents to keep it from you for a while ? that way you will still have the remaineder of your faviourite games when you next use it.


When you have an addiction you have to abstain completely from your drug of choice if you are ever going to get better. Congrats OP.


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## Marakunda

Chandan said:


> The games I deleted are:CODMW3,Splinter Cell conviction,Counter strike,Return to castle Wolfenstein,Battlefield 1942,Skyrim,Crysis:Warhead,Mass effect3(recently downloaded),COD4MW and some others.


Good for you. Most of those games are terrible.


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## Beanstalk

I just deleted steam and all game content. I have a gaming addiction. I needed this step. Thank you.


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## CubeGlow

Marakunda said:


> Good for you. Most of those games are terrible.


This made me laugh.


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## camilo borja

*congrats*


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## RenegadeSam

If you feel like deleting your collection will help you then by all means that's great, but video games in themselves don't cause people to develop social avoidance that is usually caused before hand, and can you really blame video games for not studying for your exams, that's called self control. The reason why I'm saying this is because if you don't learn self control then regardless if you abandon video games you will just pick up something else. Moderation and self control is most important.


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## The Cynical Furry

I find myself in the opposite situation, I'm trying to get back into gaming but find that I am simply too bored and unmotivated to play anything. I want to more than ever, yet once I'm there I feel like exiting and will give up easily. If anything, quitting games made me less sociable-- at least I talked to people while playing games.


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## naturevalley

Pretty radical move to delete all your games. I cannot agree that overcoming Social Anxiety is as simple as that. I believe the above posters are correct. Moderation is the key and It starts with you. Try filling your time that you normally spend playing games with another activity. When I am gaming and there is some downtime like my character has died, respawn, etc. I just push myself to the ground and start doing a set of push-ups. Then on another pause I will do a set of sit-ups. Try getting a job to fill your time with. Then you have an environment to work on your relationship with people you work with. And make money at the same time. I dunno, but good luck.


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## BeholdtheCamaro

I also did this a few weeks ago. It's helped me in terms of grades and got me off my *** and running track instead of sitting in a chair playing games. I allowed video games to make me lazy and a liar for far too long. Very glad I finally ditched them and I don't see myself going back any time soon.


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## SA go0n

You'll be back.


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## LiamTheHornet

Between the ages of 14 - 17 I would say I hardly ever went out on days off/after school with my friends because of online gaming. I could easily sit there for hours on end and just play Call of Duty, I'm not sure how I done it to be honest. In the Summer of 2011 I genuinely think my life revolved around the Xbox, and if I was invited out I would have to consider how much gaming time I would get before deciding lol. I used to stay up until 3am - 4am playing, too, how pathetic is that. I've grown out of this now though, and haven't played Xbox for about 2 months. TRYING to be more social now...


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## Pseudo Lone Wolf

RenegadeSam said:


> If you feel like deleting your collection will help you then by all means that's great, but video games in themselves don't cause people to develop social avoidance that is usually caused before hand, and can you really blame video games for not studying for your exams, that's called self control. The reason why I'm saying this is because if you don't learn self control then regardless if you abandon video games you will just pick up something else. Moderation and self control is most important.


Exactly my thoughts. Your life will not be the story of a movie hero just because you quit or delete your games. This is going between extremes. I can not tell you how much wisdom the concept of moderation in life has.

Substance of your addiction does not make you weak. Your weakness makes you an addict.


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## Kendrick83

I know the feeling. Growing up I played video games a lot, but it never became a major problem until I was about 17/18 and chose, foolishly, to completely escape my in real life problems through playing Call of Duty. I recently logged into Modern Warfare 2 for the first time in over a year the other week, and looked shamefully at my playing time stats......105 days logged into Multiplayer! That's over 2,500 hours!

I'm ashamed to admit this but on a near daily basis I would get angry at the game, to the point I was cursing up a storm and alerting the neighbours. Thankfully I quit the game cold turkey about 18 months ago and haven't looked back.


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## GroupTherapy

Marakunda said:


> Good for you. Most of those games are terrible.


Lawl. I agree. Where's the DOTA?!


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## JonZA

If you're anything like me that's a smart move. I can literally quite sucked into games for hours and then I neglect all my responsibilities. It's my form of escapism. We're better off without them, well played(pun intended)!


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## AnxietyIknowRight

*Just Stopped*

I haven't played any of my games since getting divorced. Life got so terrible in a marriage without love that I did everything I could to hide the pain of knowing that it had to end.

I used gaming to shut everything and everyone out. Now nothing is the same, I've been changing my entire life, and drastically. I'm not sure if I stopped playing games due to depression or because of all the life changes but I look forward to a better future, that something good will come out of all this.


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## MrKappa

I did that sometime around 1998, and yeah, the occasional game snuck back on the computer, temporarily.

Eventually though, yeah, I quit, fairly quickly.

The problem with video games, and most certainly this is hearsay, and probably nowhere accurate, but it tends to make one a little addictive in general.

There have been times where I have tried installing website blockers, to prevent myself from visiting specific websites, so maybe consider that, somewhere in the future, as well. Psychology and mental disorders are a fairly interesting subject.

Stories of people dying from video games are common, wonder how much truth or widespread the issue is?

https://www.google.ca/search?q=found+dead+in+internet+cafe



The Cynical Furry said:


> I find myself in the opposite situation, I'm trying to get back into gaming but find that I am simply too bored and unmotivated to play anything. I want to more than ever, yet once I'm there I feel like exiting and will give up easily. If anything, quitting games made me less sociable-- at least I talked to people while playing games.


I dunno... it might feel as if we are talking with people, but if those stories about that gamer dying unnoticed for 9 hours are true, then yeah, it's probably not very social.


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## Brisby

This is why I try to stick with games that are short and I would only want to place once. I do own a few games that are open though and I've spent hours upon hours of my life on them. I usually will play them all the time for maybe a week and then I'll get burnt out on them, thank god.


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## eyes roll tears

Chandan said:


> I am not sure if this is the right forum to post this but I just finished deleting my entire video game collection.To me,this is a personal triumph.
> 
> I believe video games are the cause of my social avoidance.I was always socially anxious but was not avoidant.But ever since I got my first taste of playing video games I did almost nothing else.I even failed a year of college because all I did was play games.The last straw was recently,when I did the same thing and didn't study for my exams.I believe I'm gonna fail again.:blank
> My parents are gonna be like:mum
> 
> I have seriously thought about just ending it all,but I just don't want to run from my problems anymore.
> 
> So,this is my first baby step towards a better life.I will also now have the time to work-out and have a healthier body.
> 
> The games I deleted are:CODMW3,Splinter Cell conviction,Counter strike,Return to castle Wolfenstein,Battlefield 1942,Skyrim,Crysis:Warhead,Mass effect3(recently downloaded),COD4MW and some others.
> 
> All the games are downloaded singleplayer games.I've never played multiplayer or online games or MMORPG's,and I thank God for that.
> 
> The problem is I'm finding it tough to get rid of one game:CODWAW which is a WW2 FPS which is my favorite.I have literally spent hours playing the game over and over again.I just want some motivation to do this.


I never know why some one is addicted to video games .. I never found them interesting :mum


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## skys

LiamTheHornet said:


> Between the ages of 14 - 17 I would say I hardly ever went out on days off/after school with my friends because of online gaming. I could easily sit there for hours on end and just play Call of Duty, I'm not sure how I done it to be honest. In the Summer of 2011 I genuinely think my life revolved around the Xbox, and if I was invited out I would have to consider how much gaming time I would get before deciding lol. I used to stay up until 3am - 4am playing, too, how pathetic is that. I've grown out of this now though, and haven't played Xbox for about 2 months. TRYING to be more social now...


I hope I can grow out of it too sometime...


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## The Enclave

lol, not to be "that guy" but you've just made a massive mistake.

I didn't game for like 5 years and my SAD went *no where*.

But if you think it's helping, I guess that's all that counts...


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## SA go0n

I've been gaming since I was 9 years old. However, that's not the reason I have SA. I got it from being bullied at school. It was just an escape for me. People with SA know what the fantasy world is like. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't gaming. I've been isolated my whole life, and no one taught me how to do those "male activities". I can see where it can be a problem if taken too far, but if you enjoyed it, maybe just train yourself to only play it so much. Set limits maybe. If you really have other interests, than do what you have to do.


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## The Enclave

azstl25 said:


> I've been gaming since I was 9 years old. However, that's not the reason I have SA. I got it from being bullied at school. It was just an escape for me. People with SA know what the fantasy world is like. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't gaming. I've been isolated my whole life, and no one taught me how to do those "male activities". I can see where it can be a problem if taken too far, but if you enjoyed it, maybe just train yourself to only play it so much. Set limits maybe. If you really have other interests, than do what you have to do.


100% correct. Just like all the "no fap" non sense, one has nothing to do with the other. Not to be mr negative, but it sounds like grasping for straws more than anything else, but as I've said, I was at a point where I couldn't game at all, and I know I would be gaming even if I had no SAD, so it could be different for him to a point.

Hopefully the OP will fill us in on rather it works for him or not. I'm curious to see if it does.


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