Yes, if you are thinking about it—it’s worth it. The people you think will miss you? They won’t. The people you believe consider you irreplaceable? They don’t.
The people in your life begging you to quit? Listen to them. The people telling you that you play too much? They’re right. That nagging sensation of depression, discontent, unhappiness, desperation, loneliness, or whatever it is? It’s trying to tell you something.
So here is what I did:
1. Did not pre-plan, but hit a tremendous low where I knew I couldn’t log back into the game or I would never stop playing. No goodbyes to anyone, no grand giveaway of my pixelated junk.
2. Decided to not log back in for any reason. Uninstalled game, destroyed discs. Did not visit guild or game forums.
3. Sought help at http://olganon.org
4. Went through withdrawal—yeah it’s a bad sign when stopping a computer game causes physical withdrawal symptoms, but it’s also a humbling sign that I needed to stop.
5. When I had inclination to do any activity, even small inclination, I didn’t question it.
6. Had a friend delete my characters for me.
7. Begin picking up real life activities. Keep adding new ones. This includes things like housekeeping, work, social activities with friends.
The biggest piece of this is first wanting to quit. Then it’s not logging back into the game. If you are sincerely an addict the “don’t log back in” is very, very hard to do. Anyone in that category (and I was one of those) should seek some help from friends, a counselor, or http://olganon.org. Also sites like http://exgamer.net and http://wowdetox.com are helpful too.
Is it worth it? Absolutely! I have a life again, and I’m a better employee, parent, friend, even a better neighbor.
It’s important to keep some focus on why we game in the first place—I found http://olganon.org helped me with that, and now I’m learning how to do other things when life gets stressful, or even when it’s good.
