unfortunately, by experience, its a hard task to do.
but not impossible
I played for like 300 hours and it feels like a waste of time, but people waste a lot of time doing random shit, the only difference is there is no counter that measures their time doing that. Visiting social media, making dumb posts, watching youtube/streams, these all add up. You need a lot more than just not playing games to not feel like you didn’t do shit during the day, because of how hard every single activity online tries to farm you off of your free time.
As long as you genuinely enjoy an activity then it should be easily justifiable for spending your time on it, but I doubt for the ones I listed above would be something people enjoy doing. It’s all adhd/idle shit you do for no reason.
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videogame addiction is real and we gotta be careful and discuss this indeed… i have noticed myself the game was doing me harm, I took a break of a month and I’m controlling myself so much better
But yeah, for realizing if it’s too much i have a line that i won’t cross, that is when stop hanging out because gotta do dailies, or anything of the sort, that’s a huge red flag 
It’s okay to miss some weeklies, let rested build up, game’s for the long run! we’ll get there eventually
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There’s no bigger red flag than this one…
Not hanging out with your friends/family for the sake of playing the game(not only Lost Ark, other games too)… it happened with me before several times
@Johnydepp its a hard situation to deal with, I’m just tagging you because you said you want your children to be gamers, dont let them reach this situation bcs, by experience, the memories I have while hanging out with friends are far more relevant than the ones I have while playing (most of them I dont even remember) and I feel pretty empty about this matter
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thank you i appreciate the tag and totally understand what you are saying. It definitely can get to the point of interfering with daily life. Truly I dont have many friends at the current moment. Why may you ask? Not because of Lost Ark personally but because I chose this lifestyle for myself over the past few years. For me hanging out with friends, going out, and socializing felt like a chore for me. Additionally, I have been hurt and lied to by these so called “Friends” and “family” so much staying home, working from home, playing these games, and socializing through the computer keeps my mind more at ease. I felt obligated to text my friends back, always check up on them, make time for them, and slowly losing sight of what makes me happy. At the current moment Lost Ark is a big part of my happiness. It keeps me going and in a routine that gives me an extra drive each and every day. Is that a bad thing? Obviously thats subjective but in my case, I promise you I rather play games than hang out with friends. I want my kids to choose what they feel makes them happy. I can only be there to lend a helping hand and give them advice. Some of my best memories in the past few years, amid covid and all is actually through the gaming community. The community made me feel like i am not alone in this gaming journey and using it as an outlet. Like i said earlier i realy think the key is moderation moderation mdoeration… Make time for everything and dont put all beans in one basket. @slycks
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In my case, I lose contact with every friend I had, mainly because I choose to stay at home playing games while they called me to hang out, and yes, I understand your situation, its 10000 times better being at home playing than outside being influenced by bad people, in a chance to take wrong steps, ending up using drugs or being addicted to alcohol
But the memories I have while playing is very less memorable than the ones I made while hanging out with ex classmates in High School time (I didn’t go to college) for example.
An addicted will just see himself as an addicted when it’s late (usually)
Its not like I stopped playing, its pretty impossible I guess, but now i’m trying to priorise rl, stopping once and for all would make things worse
I love it so much that I’m learning 3D sculpting rn
But still I consider myself as an addicted to gaming
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i agree that usually one realizes when it is 2 late. I am glad you are not giving it up completely as it will likely consume your mind daily. It is awesome that you are finding your middle ground. This thread is even making me take a second look into my own situation. What more can I do to improve my self as a person? I think we all can get better and invest our time into other hobbies, friends, work family, etc… like you said… Each experience will certainly teach us something new
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Of course here I’m talking about irl friends, not the online ones, fortunately I have a few) 
Yes, that was when I realize that I had a problem. I thought about taking a week or month break and reevaluate, but I feel the game stop being funny to me hundreds of hours ago. I think I did all I wanted to do at the game and the roadmap for next months don’t makes me hype about It. So I just stop play completely. Maybe next summer I will return few days, but for now, it’s over.
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yes , it’s a business but it doen’t mean they have to use addiction mechanism inside the game.
it’s disrespect for all of us customers who plays the game.
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Agreed. I’ve never understood why people want to argue about issues that are exactly the same as two people arguing about red wine vs white wine.
It’s personal preference, and either this game is for you or it isn’t. And anyone who thinks …white wine is superior and red wine should be changed to make it look and taste exactly like white wine to appease their personal tastes … is the reason why we have so many issues in society today.
People vale their personal opinions so highly with zero care about other’s opinions - it’s not just sad, it’s fascist.
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lol what a shame, they left him unpunished thats disgusting
when he tagged roxx I knew that would happen
life didnt teach him that tellers are unacceptable, he is doomed for me once he tagged roxx
lol 1 post he says “i agree with you, you have 100% valid point” next one is “dont mind him he is a troll” wtf
go play lost ark 16 hours a day instead of raising your kids…
Sir i’m trying my best to think the way to help you as much as possible , the best way i found is just give me your account
And good news i stopped playing overall and deinstalled it. Ill never come back. Done with this FOMO and chores in this hollow game. I dont give a crap about my time and money investment even when it was at first a little painful but it was a great decision. Now i found my love for games in diffrent videogames again and have a good time and feel ALOT better.
This game didnt feel like a videogame at a certain point.
I quit the Game about 6 Weeks ago had also ~1600h and probably alot of people feel the same around the time now it became more than a job then fun.
Advice: Quit it! Best decision i made. I felt about 1-2 weeks bad then played some other Games and forgot about Lost ark.
Funny thing is how stupid i find this alt system now everday… every fking day do the same stuff on alot of chars.
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good for you
but playing a different game is not a solution
Oh it is aslong as you have fun. But of course i only play currently 2-3h not 5h+ like lost ark
And why? Gaming is a legit hobby like all hobbies and should make fun. When it becomes to excessive its no hobby anymore and doesnt feel like one. Gaming should be all about fun and not about gold gold gold, greed, FOMO, chores,time investments,money investments,feeling the need to play bc it will be a miss to not do so,being online multiple times per day to do actions and have to adjust accordinly your life to it. Then its not a hobby anymore its a problem.
I hope more people will understand it and try to live a healthier life. They should watch at “Jimi” who has 2k hours and think my 1,5k hours are not bad and im fine. Self reflection is important and sometimes the decisions to come out this spiral are painful and uncomfortable but needed and will let you grow your character.Learning from mistakes but you will always have people who say playing 6 hours per day is normal blabla.Everyone knows it and even themselves that it isnt.
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Hi, my name is Lia, a 39 yo woman and i am an addict. One of the games i play is running for more than 15 years - 9 dragons and i still play it. I had moments when i played for 16-18 h straight. But, luckily for me, all my friends are gamers. I have close to 1900 h in lost ark, close to 3000 h n PoE, not to mention D3, D2, and so on. I played terra online with my friends for hours before they shut down servers. And somehow i still have a social life and go out with friends and family.
But, like i said, 90% of them are gamers, either working in game industry or just plain game addicts. My BF (for 16 years +) is a major game addict… actually before meeting him i wasnt even playing solitaire on my them pentium something PC. He introduced me to D2 and the rest is history.
If we find a nice game, we may have even a sleepless night and then off to work. We are similar to functioning meth addicts. Except our crystals are games.
I still make time to go outside (i love the outdoors) and read. The only real downside is my sleep pattern is a bit wacked, but it works for me.
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15 years
you can tell how far it can go
this is a dangerous addiction