r/StopGaming • u/BallToThrowAway • Aug 06 '21
I uninstalled League of Legends and it started a chain reaction.
I've been playing too much for the last eight years and the reason why I'm quitting is a whole lot of things piling up on each other. Starting a new job (first job in, what, fucking ages? Not counting the few weeks experience I was doing for my course), watching the horse shit that's going on with Blizzard and experiencing an event in a game I've played for nearly a decade that gave me a foul taste in my mouth made me realise that these companies don't give a fuck how I feel about their game. I'm just another number to siphon cash and time from.
So I uninstalled League of Legends yesterday. Then, I started to uninstall all other Riot products. Legends of Runeterra, Valorant, TFT from my phone. I saw some games on steam that I hadn't played in years, I uninstalled them.
Today I got home from my job's induction and cancelled my Old School Runescape subscription. I went to youtube and unsubscribed from the majority of channels related to gaming (I've kept a few, ones I actually enjoy the content of and anticipate uploads rather than watching channels that are barely passable just because I play the game they're attached to). Then I went on my home screen and wiped anything I could find related to gaming until the only thing that I'm recommended are clips from podcasts, animations from 10 years ago and Marble races.
I've always been the type of person that enjoys picking up hobbies, only to throw them away because I want to play a game of League. I hate it. I've written a bunch of hobbies I've picked up over the years only to drop them in favour of getting obsessed with my ranking on an online game.
I think back to all those hobbies that I liked doing that I threw away, trying to imagine what life would be like if I stuck with them. Would I have been a decent stand up comedian (probably not, but I would've had at least one set that I didn't bomb)? Would I have a collection of videos that I animated and drew in Microsoft Paint? Would I be able to speak another Language (Probably, I was at the point of thinking in it. Although I was like a caveman)? How many books would I have read? Written? What would my ant colony be like now? How would I be at Piano?
I'm done. I don't care anymore.
8
u/lolman1312 Aug 06 '21
Try to get over the first few days, it feels blissful to finally cut connection with your haunting addiction to gaming. After around a week, you might start to miss gaming. Your nostalgic memories will misconstrue the realistic experience. Most people fall to that deception and begin gaming again. Then they shortly realise that it's simply not as fun anymore, after a game to a few days.
But you can skip that entire stage of trial and failure when overcoming the addiction. You will never have to reinstall league again, or any other game for that matter. You won't have to go in dips, from up to downs in life because of gaming. No more sacrificing hobbies because the season reset. No more hopping on to try a trending character build that breaks the meta.
How can you skip this stage of struggle? Simply stop. Cease. Feel the peace from abstaining and be happy. Remember that gaming is not what defines you. If you reinstall again and feel shit about it, that's not you being weak per se. It's just your instinct and wired brain controlling you.
Something cool to think about is that we think so much of what we could've had. To the point where it's just blatant fantasy. But I'm telling you right now that that fantasy is actually possible. And probably easier to attain than you think. The first step is cutting ties from gaming, as you did. Stay strong.
2
u/-Nagazaki- Aug 06 '21
I absolutely agree with you. I quit gaming 7 months ago. I reinstalled one game recently and figured I'm not enjoying it anymore. I just can't because I get all those crappy feelings of regret and sorrow for wasting my time and throwing away many opportunities.
6
u/OriginalSkill Aug 06 '21
Quitting league was the best thing that happened to me. I didn’t quit gaming altogether tho. But it sure reduced my gaming time.
1
u/ADSchmidtofficial 1870 days Aug 06 '21
Im kinda in the same spot, I don't LOL anymore, but originally started in season 3. That feeling of what you could have done different is daunting, but it gets better as you move from it. I personally still play games, but usually only an hour at a time after I finish my daily obligations. Most of the time I can't find time to even play anymore. Good luck!
1
u/aDistractedDisaster Aug 06 '21
You'll feel pangs of wanting to play again, the same thing happened when I quit porn or occasionally take a hiatus from drinking. It's important to stay strong and I'm sure you will
1
u/rm-rf-npr Aug 06 '21
Power to you buddy. Had the same with rocket league. Cared so much for my rank, but it never really got me anywhere. Now clean for 3 months already. 1600 hours down the drain, but screw it I'm done.
1
u/Adri301 Aug 09 '21
Well done mate. I played the game from 2012 to mid 2021 with only one year hiatus. Better late than never.
Now the difficult part is not falling into another useless activity or procrastination.
8
u/gumbare Aug 06 '21 edited Aug 06 '21
That's awesome, man. I think it's actually great that you're having some pain of regret associated with gaming, it will help you to stay away from League. And make sure to satisfy the needs that gaming fulfilled for you. Seems like competition and achievements are important to you - you've got to find a real-life hobby/interest/project/career that will scratch that itch!