A temporary slowdown perhaps, a mere delaying tactic - sort of like giving an alhoholic a crappy made-in-China bottle opener that can only open every other bottle. Withdrawal is likely to cause frustration to pile up until it unloads itself in a binge if the desire to buy games is not channeled and transmuted into something more productive that doesn't feed the quick reward addiction loop.

you know..... if I wanted to listen to someone bitch about me, my addictions, and life I'd still be married to the Georgia water mellon Demon of an ex she ain't no peach, she's WAY to big for that, her circumference is almost equal to her height...
I only have 48 games 18 here amd 30 on steam and I've been playing through steam from it's release to the public.
Yes I consider myself an addict, but compaired to what I used to do this is by far less deadly. I consumed enough alcohal on a regular basis to make me numb, I smoked a carton a day, I was overweight by 300lbs, got seperated lost the 300lbs almost instantly, she was a bitch to carry...:P haven't had a drink or cigarette since March 3 2005, so let me have this one vice....

Dear awalterj,
can't deny my sincere feelings towards your honest and precise post above: they're real. It's all real. As the wise men, sages and saints from all climates and weathers have said, I quote that the mind is tough and hard to control since it "has it been compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough some one made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind!"

So yes, allow yourself to grow deeper and deeper, in all levels I say. Be wise, brave. Remember this determination of yours, make up your mind (always be good, towards others and yourself, be healthy and happy — and spread it among the beloved ones). Put this idea inside your head and make it your life at all costs, in all moments. Then "think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success."

Regarding compulsive purchases too and other bad practices I say: the moment these unhealthy desires get inside through the front door peace of spirit and mind exit through the backdoor.

Sincerely,

Victor ;)

It must have been her final form. From the sound of things, you fought her in an epic rap battle and - starved and outnumbered - won your freedom.

tinyE made a similar plea in this post.
Of course, this is not a destructive cult built on coercion, peer pressure or one-upmanship. More like a constructive cult where everyone who feels they share the same problem and want to do something about it can exchange experiences, tips and strategies.


Thanks for your encouragement and for the Monkey story - I guess most of us can relate to that crazy (but somehow fun to picture) allegory. Seeing as human nature is at the core universal world-wide, it's no surprise to see lust, envy and pride being identified as major evils in not only Eastern teachings but among the capital vices in Christian teachings of the Western world, as well.
In terms of counter measures, I gravitate towards Eastern methods of meditation with roots in Hinduism/Buddhism/Taoism rather than Christian meditations because the former can be practised effectively without having any actual faith in the supernatural whereas the latter's effectiveness seems to be built around passively surrendering to a divine and gathering spiritual willpower that way.
I'm not trying to simply increase willpower though because no matter how high one raises it, passive defense will break at some point, same as any security firewall can be broken through given enough time. More interested in transmutation of energy than simply "fending off". In Age of Empires terms, more wolololo than catapults.

I do realize this all sound like some "weird Dragonball shit" to most people but I'm sure you understand exactly what I mean.

It used to be my mistake that I focused too much on one idea which would leave me blindsided so my current approach is to strive for more balance in the various areas, not overdoing anything at too much cost of essential other things (like quality sleep for example). Maybe my overarching idea wasn't noble enough (and certainly never selfless) but I doubt there exists an idea so noble and selfless that one could leave every other idea alone. Maybe enlightenment will suffice but perhaps there are some entry-level jobs for that one, such as achieving mastery in your chosen field of expertise.


Thing is, they often don't enter thorugh the front door but climb over the castle walls, like creepy little ninjas. So my current strategy is not to simply fortify the front door but build a maze of pathways like the ones in Japanese castles so that the intruders can be picked off by archers and musketeers before reaching the main keep. Or -preferably- converted to join my side! (the Dragonball stuff again)

Looks like i became immune against Gog sales .

I keep thinking, when I retire,
I'll have all this time to play
all the games I have accumulated....

If they'd just quit making more games,
I'd quit buying them....

Help???

I discovered something interesting. My spouse lost his job in late January 2017, and didn't get a new one until mid-December 2017. This meant we were down to one income for most of the year, and I could spare very little on games, even on sale.

I bought 8 games (either expansions to games I already owned and loved, games that were about to go away, much-wanted new-to-catalog old games, and in one case, a game I couldn't resist) during February to early December.

GOG provided me with 13 games for free (or "free gift with purchase") over the same time period.

I accumulated more games just by hanging out here than I did by actual purchases!

The situation also made me take a hard line on "if I buy a new release, it must be something I really want to play immediately, not put in backlog".

I have often wondered how things were with you. I'm still taking cold showers most of the year. :-)

I'm mostly self-employed so I could play games whenever if I chose to, but interestingly I was still buying games all the time instead of playing the ones I already had. So having more time doesn't help to get rid of the game purchasing addiction. I'm not playing any games currently, trying to use the time more creatively. In my opinion, even going for a simple walk or skillfully doing nothing (=meditation) is more satisfying than firing all those artificial quick impulses at your brain and creating that equally artificial sense of achievement one gets when playing a game.

If they would quit making more games, you would find something else to feed the quick-reward addiction loop. Even if you were to reitre to an abandoned island where you live quietly and peacefully without any of the temptations and vices of the civilized world, you'd probably find some funny berries or magic mushrooms before long and then you'd have to fight the quick reward temptations all over. But you can't beat an addiction by starving it to death anyway, abstinence does help initially to bring clarity to the mind and prevent further damage but then you still have to do a lot to address the root causes and work on yourself in a holistic way.


Only 8 purchases in 2017 is very good, I hope you can keep up a restrained purchasing pattern even now that you have double incomes again. Due to living costs where I live, it's really hard to resist sales where games cost less than riding the bus for one stop. On the other hand it forces more in-depth counter measures.

During 2017, I collected 8 freebies (on GOG) and only bought 2 games so I'm in the same "thankfully not all our customers are like that" bracket :)

Regarding your hard line of only buying a game if it's something you want to play immediately (and actually WILL play immediately), that is a very sane and balanced stance. Can be tricky though because I took the same stance and then my brain would lie to me, telling me that I really pinky-swear-really want to play game soandso and yaddayadda and I ended up not playing those games instantly, or I just installed them and played them for an hour and as soon as the novelty died off or things became tedious, the games remained untouched. At one point, I had around 80 games in progress. All because I thought I wanted to play something immediately but in reality it was all bout wanting to feed those quick reward circuits.

With due care, your stance is one that I still adopt though. There are two games that I know I will buy, most likely on release day:

1.) Unavowed by Wadjet Eye games
2.) Pathway by Robotality

Those two are, after very careful consideration, the only games I am expecting to buy this year (I already preordered Beautiful Desolation by The Brotherhood during their crowdfunfing last year so when it's released later this year it won't count as a relapse, yay).
Not sure if I should still count those planned purchases as "relapses" when I do buy them, perhaps it's time to do away with the silly clean streak day counting. I have kept that system in place for one reason only: to avoid the chaser effect, meaning that after I make a carefully considered purchase, my brain might start making excuses and say "why not buy some more games and then go back on the clean streak train again?" So I'll probably still protocol those purchases.




I never got up from my group therapy chair, just been silent for about a year. Still in the fray, and still taking cold showers - been doing that for 2 years now, it's become a habit. During December to February, my showers are really short though, January being the most brutal month usually. I don't need any willpower to take cold showers though, I see it as a privilege that I have the opportunity to do something so beneficial and it requires no extra money or time, on the contrary it saves both time and money.

Thank you for your time, pal. Mean it.

Not trying to act stoic in here but excellence isn't a mundane task or ordeal, I believe. Way more than that. Way more than a habit, too. Transcends and rises above human reason. Took me +20yrs or more to realize something (lemme quote heavily) "simple" as that. Above all, productive threads like these keep us, all diverse folks, united in our similarities and differences. Neglecting poisonous stuff and bearing compulsions face to face is often a great task. A huge, important one, a "first step of many" one I dare to say and I'm here speaking personally; therefore yes, one can tell I've gotten into waves of personal messes over messes and that includes compulsive purchases. They actually played a part in all this. Nothing too painful to declare but I pull my own weight, so lemme be the sculptor of my spirit, eh? Nothing higher to achieve than that.

It's not everyday I say that *grabs a chair* I say I admire Satan (good gosh, indeed!) in Milton's "Paradise Lost" but one's gotta admit he has a ton of disposition. He's accurate, he knows what he's up to. So have this tremendous willpower flowing through you day by day and you'll achieve what you're after.

C y'all!

https://imgur.com/1XTAiJS

;)

Simple rules. I like these.
Oh and january's almost over. What's your haul, folks?

ps: zero for me! ;)

I'm clean since Oct 23, 2017 .

I'm 1 month clean, but I have a scheduled relapse once Bloodstained comes. (Or Cities: Skylines, or a Firaxis product newer than Civ4...)

*pulls up chair*

Hi y'all.

This is more of a preventative thing, a "what am I doing" kind of "before the apocalypse", "full of quotation marks" joining of the club.

I will first and foremost admit treachery and say that I'm on GOG for the games that I can't get on Steam or the games that are so bad or overpriced on Steam not even I would touch them. Proud abuser of the Connect and I have to sadly admit this in order to start this train, a game hoarder. Only problem is, that in addition to being a game-hoarder, I'm also something of a chronicler. And someone trying to keep up with 20 years of gaming history. Reason why I'm saying this is because I'm coming here after a recent Steam sale "breakdown".

I need to bore you with some history here, but this thread has seemed accepting of this sort of thing, so here.
When I was a kid, I used to own maybe five or six games and replace them every now and then (we're talking years) and play the living daylights out of them, not even finishing a lot of them. I chalked it up to a few things, mainly that I'm not skilled enough, my English wasn't good enough and that I'm not even getting the subtle nuances of what I'm playing. Then, I discovered MMOs, mainly, Guild Wars. I foolishly abandoned my sacred single-player meditations for grinding, albeit sometimes with close friends (and we did bond at least 5% more because of this experience), but I let things slide. Hardware was also an issue from about 2010 on. I missed out on stuff, is what I'm saying. I didn't really have the money for them either. Then, about 2 years ago, I re-played some games I had as a kid (because I had bought them on Steam), and I got into this routine of playing through games I played as a kid, then expanding to games that were out at the time. When I finally came to a stable life and a decent income (still no steady job but I have an honorary scholarship which I busted my ass for), all hell broke loose. I wanted to play ALL the stuff I missed as a kid. And to be fair to myself, I've played a big part of it already.

Fast forward to today. While I'm a functioning game junkie (no broken relationships or neglected academic or professional duties or poor health, knock on wood), I recently realized I'm really taking on more than I can wade through. When I read an article some years ago that an alarming percentage of games bought do not get played, I said to myself "hah! Not me!". Well, I just sank 40€ into the complete Tomb Raider collection. Alright, not too harsh, I've spent more in drips during Summer/Winter sales. But then, I suddenly realized the Metro bundle was on my account followed swiftly by Battlefield Bad Company 2. I was watching a YouTube video about AAA game design and someone brought these titles up as positive examples, and they just dropped like headshots on a Russian CS:GO server. Suddenly, I was "richer" (hehehh... heh. *starts crying*) for a whopping 12 new games (plus countless DLC) which are all around 10+hours long and poorer for almost 50€.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a patient person and I have gone through entire game series over the course of a year or so with no internal pressure. In the last year, I have played through pretty much all the old idtech games (DOOM, DOOM II and countless mods, Heretic/HeXen) save Strife, and a lot of Star Wars games (got that as a gift, from my mother-in-law of all people). But right now... I feel like my own head is turning gaming into a chore. I want to finish Far Cry 1 (which is fun interspersed with all kinds of chepa and terrible) so I can go to Far Cry 2 (the one I hold dear to my heart and I actually enjoyed) and then Far Cry 3 (which, a small victory, I HAVEN'T bought) which I'm intrigued by because it was the first of the "big annoyingly populated" Far Cry games. I finished TR1 and had a blast, but then there's the expansion for it, TR2, TRIII, and all the terrible post-Last Revelation games and all so I can get to the new ones and Legend-Anni-Underworld trilogy I bought the whole damn collection for n the first place.

I guess the simple question I'm asking myself is... when am I going to play all of this?! I have answered that question many times, and the answer was mostly "when I feel like it" and mostly I've been fine, since I had an incredible itch for a game (like GUN, recently) and I very much enjoyed inhaling it in 10 hours. That's the whole reason I buy games on Steam/GOG, so I can play them whenever. But I feel I'm going nuts. I look at big, timeconsuming titles like Dark Souls, The Witcher 1 and 2, Arx Fatalis, STALKER, old Fallouts... these are games people sink 60, 80 even 100+ hours into and I am a teacher in training soon to be fully fledged teacher. I must admit that video games have helped me enormously in my teacher training, but I'm afraid my reptilian head will win if I keep piling up more stuff to get through. I have been a good boy and I've finished both my teaching placements and one of my two theses, and I think I'm still doing fine in life. I just don't want to spiral out of control, so I figured I should figure shit out while I still have the reigns.

I know abstinence in addiction is a bad thing... but I've deleted my Steam and GOG wishlists. I've had enough. I have 182 games on Steam and about 10 more on GOG, and I've played through maybe 100 of them (not even counting DLC, alarmingly enough I'm starting to lose track of those, last time I checked I had POSTAL 2, Dishonored and DNF). Today I literally paused mid-gameplay because I got a notification on my phone that Tomb Raider is on sale.

If you have read all of this, thank you. That's really all I need. I needed to get this out of my system. What makes me the saddest is the fact that I tell my dearest girlfriend anything and everything (yes, I have a girlfriend and she's the world to me), but I just can't bring myself to look her into her eyes and bitch and moan about my alarming knack for game-hoarding when I realized I've been talking about games almost exclusively for the last 2 months. Anyway... I feel a lot better now.

Any comments are of course welcome, my "that's really all I need" wasn't meant as a discussion closer.

EDIT since it makes sense to me to set clear goals for the future, I have set the next goal. I have hoarded plenty of games and I intend to buy myself a beast PC as a graduation gift for myself (this was much "pre-meltdown", and this hasn't changed). However, I will not buy any more games until I have played through the NEW games that came out recently and I bought in advance, on my future new PC (and until I get my new PC, I still have plenty of old games to play, old Hitman, Thief, Fallout etc.). So essentially, no new games until further notice for me. I'll start my Days clean on 0 today.