Strategy

Plan

Avoid gaming sites, people or devices

Jamie’s plan: Now I understand what triggers me. It’s these constant notifications I get from Discord channels. Tonight, I will get on and mute all the channels. I will set the mute as “Until I turn it back” so it doesn’t randomly un-mute itself in a few hours. 

Refocus towards the future

Aaron’s plan: I will join some student clubs at my uni. There are heaps listed online. This weekend I will sit down and read about them. I’ll pick 2 or 3 and sign up for them and see how it goes. It could be a good way to make friends and choose a better alternative to gaming.

Clean up your environment

Marnie’s plan: My gaming console is always in sight because I keep it in my bedroom where I study. Tonight, I am going to separate work from play by moving the console to the garage. I'm planning to keep it this way. Out of sight, out of mind.

Substitutions for gaming

Charlie’s plan: For me, it’s the competitiveness in games that has me hooked. I’m going to sign up for the university basketball team for the upcoming season. I have a friend that’s in the team and it looks like the type of the environment I’d thrive in.

Curb your urge

Alex's plan: I will ‘surf the urge’ next time an urge to game comes about. I will imagine myself surfing on that wave and waiting for it to break. Then, I'll write in my journal what went well and what I found difficult about surfing the urge to help me practice and refine my strategy.

Professional support

Tom’s plan: I’ve been feeling really anxious lately and have been gaming out of control. Tomorrow morning, I am going to book an online appointment with my GP to check up on my anxiety which might be affecting my gaming.

Social network

Manu’s plan: I have a good friend. I’ll talk to him first. I just don’t know how to tell my girlfriend about how much gaming is affecting my life. I think my friend can help me figure out the best way to talk to my girlfriend. I will be seeing him tomorrow after our basketball practice. This should be a good time to talk.

Support groups

Hyunsoo’s plan: As soon as I finish writing this plan, I’m going to join r/StopGaming and make a post. I’m also going to interact with other posts and see what other people are doing to reduce their gaming. It might help me learn new skills but overall, I just really want the feeling of being in a supportive community.

Track your gaming

Hemi’s plan: Times flies when I game. I never know how much time I actually spend gaming. To keep track, I’m going to make an Excel spreadsheet to record how many hours I game every day. Since I game late at night, I will record my hours before I go to bed.

Rewards and penalties

Kiri’s plan: I will make an advent calendar with little chocolates for the first month that I change my gaming. Every day, at the end of the day when I stick to my goal, I will open one segment and eat the chocolate.

Keep a journal

Kim’s plan: I am going to monitor myself by writing in my journal every night before bed. These are the things I will write about: Am I playing more than before? Am I still enjoying playing or is it merely a compulsion? Am I thinking about playing games when I’m doing other things? Am I neglecting other areas of my life in favour of playing games?”

Change the way you play

Rod’s plan: Every time I start gaming, I’m going to set a 45-minute timer on my phone. When the timer goes off, I will take a break from gaming for at least 1 hour to do work, edit videos, play music, and get some fresh air.

Plan gaming in advance

Jacob’s plan: When I start gaming, I lose sense of time. From today, I am only going to game two hours a day, between 10am and 10pm (so I don’t game throughout the night into the morning). I’m going to use my phone stopwatch to make sure I only game for two hours.

Lifestyle change

Carlisle’s plan: When I get home from work I usually head straight for the computer. From tomorrow, I’m going to break this routine by doing something else first – chat with my family, walk my dog, or make food.

Wellbeing

Zee’s plan: I will do mindfulness exercises on the mornings when I’m commuting on a train. I will do mindful breathing to start with for 5 minutes and after that I will focus on each of my senses for another 3 minutes.

Get inspired

Esther’s plan: Tonight, I’m going to join r/StopGaming to get some inspiration. I’ve never had a community of support for gaming reduction before, so this will really help me to get inspired and even learn new techniques to change my habits.

Maintain momentum

Jordan’s plan: I’m going to take it day by day and set small milestones to reduce my gaming. Every time I hit a milestone I am going to celebrate my progress by rewarding myself (like buying photography equipment).

Manage underlying issues

Karl’s plan: I am going to confront my emotional reasons for gaming excessively. I’ll set up a journal of all my triggers for gaming, how I feel when I want to game, how I feel when I actually game, and try to see any patterns. I’ll briefly write in the journal before and after every game.

What are the facts?

Cherie's plan: When I come home from work, the first thing I do is game. Gaming is definitely a priority in my life - but I don't want it to be. Every night, I am going to write down what non-gaming activities I am going to do when I come back home from work the next day. This way, I can stop procrastinating doing other life activities and hobbies.

Come to a realisation

TJ’s plan: I will write down all harms (no matter how small they are) in these two areas – stress, relationships. And I will think hard of what it means to me and my partner. And then on Wednesday, when my wife has a day off, I will talk to her about my gaming.

Pros and cons

Tom’s plan: If I keep gaming, I see problems in my relationship and with my family. If I stop gaming, I see myself rebuilding my relationship with my mum, and spending more time with my partner. I will write these negatives and benefits on a paper and stick it on the fridge so it’s in front of my eyes every day.

Assess yourself

Jim's plan: I'm really surprised becuase I found myself saying "yes" to five out of the six common signs of a gaming problem. I'm going to check out r/StopGaming every Monday and see how others are approaching their gaming reduction journey.

Name the trigger

Kane’s plan: I’m going to sit down tonight, when everyone goes to bed, and think about what triggers my gaming. I will write my triggers and split them into internal and external. And then I will check the other information in this module on how to tackle these triggers.

Internal triggers

Luke’s plan: My trigger for gaming is feeling stressed. Sometimes when I feel too stressed from uni assignments and work, I start thinking about gaming. When I get these feelings, I will buy myself a treat or do an activity with a friend, to make me feel good.

External triggers

Isaiah’s plan: I will unsubscribe from gaming emails online tonight. My partner will switch the channel if there is a gaming advert on TV and I will skip YouTube ads related to gaming.

External reasons for gaming

Leila’s plan: Gaming in my friend group is just the way we get together online and hang out. Tonight I’m going to talk about this in the group chat and see if there is another way we could catch up online.

Internal reasons for gaming

Riley’s plan: I have been struggling with depression for a few years. It’s not too bad so I just coped with it. But the problem is that I coped using games. I will book an appointment with my GP next Monday. If I sort my depression out, my gaming issues may just go away.

Kick-start momentum

Pele’s plan: I’ve really struggled to not give into temptation. I kind of try and then I just give in. I'm going to put some more effort in. I like the idea of counting the times I say "no" to a gaming session with my online friends. When I say "no" 10 times, I’m going to go to the pool for a relaxing sauna. When I say "no"100 times, I'm going to buy myself a pair of sneakers that I've been wanting for a while.

Diffuse your thoughts

Jim’s plan: Every time I hear my inner voice saying “I’m no good”, I’m going to say it out loud in the same voice as Matthew McConaughey. His voice always makes me smile. When I’ve done this in the past, it always makes the inner critic go away.

Unpleasant emotions

Sam’s plan: I chose reading, doing some gardening and going for a walk. Next time I start feeling down, I am going to look at my list of ‘feel good activities’. I will then choose one that I can do straight away.

Living in the now

Phil’s plan: I often get so caught up in my emotions that I don’t realise that the headaches and tense muscles I have are connected to my emotions. I found the body scan meditation really helpful to release tension. I’m going to practice this type of meditation every day.

Just say no

Helen’s plan: People often tell me that I’m a people pleaser. I feel really uncomfortable saying no to my friends and family. I think they won’t like me if I don’t do what they want. But I have to remember that I have the right to say no, particularly when it’s about making my life better.

Getting ready to say no

Joe’s plan: Lots of my friends game and we often spend weekends gaming online. My plan is to tell my friends that this now makes be uncomfortable and that I would prefer to do other activities with them. There’s a great restaurant down the road that I've been thinking of going to, so I will invite them to hang out there this Saturday.

Safe and risky people

Vincent's plan: I used to game with a friend, and she continues to ask me if I want to game. I realised after reading over this module that even though I told her that I’m trying to cut down my gaming, I haven’t been really clear about how important this is to me. I’m going to ask her out for a coffee to explain.

Thinking traps

Indy’s plan: Before going to bed tonight, I’m going to make a list of the evidence that I can’t stay in control. I'm going to carry it around with me in my wallet as a reminder.

The slip chain

Jane’s plan: I gamed for several hours a couple of weeks ago when I didn’t plan to – and I was really upset about it. Reading this module made me see that I made quite a few “mini-decisions” that lead me to sitting at my computer for hours. My plan is to write down this information on my phone and look at it once a week so that I can avoid being in this situation again.

Pros and cons

Henry’s plan: Before reading over this module, I hadn't really thought about the harms of gaming excessively. I’m going to screenshot the section on harms on my phone, and pull it out when I’m thinking about testing myself to remind myself of the negative consequences of gaming.

Know your style

Aaron’s plan: I have a super stressful job where I’m always competing. This happens in my relationship too. I’m going to be more like the fox or the owl by compromising with my partner when we argue and also collaborating with others at work.

Resolve conflict

Minsung's plan: I have defined a conflict that I’m having with my brother and see where he’s coming from a bit more now. I used the conflict spinner twice and landed on state my needs and problem solve together. I’ve set up a time with him next week to discuss the issue with him.

Assertive skills

Chloe’s plan: I realise that I’m often passive in my relationships as I want to avoid conflict in the short-term. But this reduces my self-esteem and seems to make others make unreasonable demands of me. I’m going to start practicing “I-statements”. I’m going to practice with a supportive friend this week. I know she’ll give me good feedback.