How do you moderate yourself?

Umm… having a job? Takes care of that problem very easily.

Do you play games, or do you play a game endlessly. If it's games then it might be easier to sprinkle other activities into the mix like learning to play a musical instrument, etc. If it's a game, especially if it's a live service game, MMO, hatch's, etc, then they might have successfully tapped into "your formula", in which case if recommend dropping the game entirely. Games like that are specifically designed to keep you playing indefinitely.

Source: I'm a former Destiny addict.

Wait 10-20 years. Play games that are way too large and complex for your attention span. Build up such a huge Steam backlog that whenever you try to play a game, you feel guilty about all the ones you're not playing. Play games that require reflexes better than the ones you have.

Using these tricks, I've cut my gaming time down almost to zero!

Honestly, mine came about organically with other responsibilities and interests.

Earlier on, I'd moderated myself but picking up another hobby, like playing bass guitar and adding that into my priorities.

Once out of college, other priorities, like making better than decent meals, my significant other, and continuing my tabletop RPG crew kinda helped me stop spending endless weekend or day off hours on a game.

Probably, the largest piece for me is having a family and a friend group that I care to keep up with. When I was younger, I escaped through games, but now I use them more like how I use a book or TV series and look for experiences I'll find meaningful instead of just grinding rep or xp points in a loop.

Multiplayer games in general are hard to regulate. MMO's, Mobas, FPS, ARPGs. This games are designed to swallow weeks of your life before you react. When I stopped playing these type of games it didn't become as much of a problem to regulate my gaming.

Write down what an optimal day for someone your age, in your living area, looks like. Weekly activities. Exercise. Etc. Start implementing the we things into your life at a pace that isn't to slow but not too fast either.

Set goals what most of your days should consist of. Most days. Don't set routines that are too nailed down. Don't go overboard. Excersise three times a week? Two days need to be back to back but the third can be anytime during the week? Things like that.

Work this into your routine. Take one step at a time.

If I regret one thing at the age of 37 it would be not having some kind of exercise in my weekly routine from my early 20s. I would be in sooo much better shape, have more energy, be more alert.

Balance in everything is key.

By staying the fuck away from MMOs. 😂 🙃

You have to find other outlets.

It’s a long process with therapy etc…

But you have to find something else that’s more important to you. Video games are designed to appeal to your need for quick feedback, and it’s awful

This may require some significant lifestyle changes.

Get married and have a kid, you'll moderate yourself quickly, don't you worry about that my friend.

Short attention span leading to doing gaming in short bursts. Sometimes I lose interest in games for months and get more into the mood to watch TV shows and movies. Then lose interest in that and move to reading then lose interest in that and going back to gaming. Rinse and repeat. Has helped me avoid the whole not having fun with games anymore threads that I'd see a lot, since my focus just naturally shifts back and forth to keep things feeling fresh.

I agree with what others have said about gamifying life. For example, 'oh it's 5pm, I need to spend 30 minutes doing some tidying before I can play a game again'. And for games with no clear end point, set yourself goals so you know when to take a break. 'Once I've built this factory, I need to take an hour's break before I can play again'.

Depression? Don't try that at home, would not recommend!

I recommend having no job and having the feeling that you're wasting your life and feel like a NEET. That always helps me stop playing games

When you get older it gets harder and harder to play video games frequently.

I don't like being interrupted while gaming so as a student I study till a certain hour than I do whatever (maybe gaming) till 11PM

I think the best way to moderate gaming addiction is to be deliberate and disciplined about your goals. I love gaming and don't want to be interrupted, so I try to deal with responsibilities first, to get more enjoyment out of an uninterrupted gaming session. Make hard rules for yourself. You want to be fit? Work out before gaming. You don't even need a great workout routine; consistency will get you there. Use your drive for gaming to reach your goals. That's my opinion

My big thing after graduating like others have said we're other hobbies, I got into painting, 3d printing, sometimes just watching TV. Most of the games I play now are single player I hardly play multiplayer games anymore. I used to be too into destiny and games like that but I just eventually wanted to play games I could pause and go do other shit

Listen, if you are neglecting your household chores or other important duties, then it doesn't really matter how much time you spend playing games. Time you enjoyed spending is never wasted, and if you enjoy playing games on your downtime, then do it.

If youre adhd try gamifying aspects of your life.

I only really tend to play with a group of mates - the most fun to play with is like four or five hours ahead of me, so when they hop off, the whole group tends to head off at the same time. If we don’t, it’s usually just a smaller game that we have fun with for like an hour before finishing.

Basically, I push being responsible off onto someone who is actually responsible.

How do you enjoy playing video games endlessly when life is passing you by, skills are going unlearnt and passions undiscovered?

It's pretty self moderating. Every 5 years or so there's a game i might be mildly interested in, play it for a few hours until I'm bored of it. Rinse and repeat

My wife keeps me in check. Not in that she's telling me when I can play, but that, I'm thinking about her before and while I play, and whether or not I'm being considerate.

By living on student loan and playing them endlessly until I got bored of the lack of things I haven't seen before 😂. Now Im bored of them I managed to land a good paying job but it mostly goes towards paying the student loan 😅

I make games a fallback activity. If I can go be social, I'll pick that instead. I date people so I try to spend time with them.

I set timers. Every hour or two the timer goes off, and I have to go do something else. Either something productive like an errand or just something not on the computer.

I have a full time job. I never play games when I'm supposed to be working. I work from home so it would be easy to fire up the other computer and play a little between work stuff, but that's a horrible idea so I don't.

I have a self imposed bed time. I had to use an alarm for this for a while but now it's just habit. Also I'm getting old so I get tired sooner.

Allot yourself a certain time of the day to play them. Basically, schedule your play time and only play during that play time. That's what I do. I play at a certain time of the evening, for 2 hours maximum. Otherwise I don't really touch my games. If I'm doing something else at that time that I feel takes priority (such as working on something or doing something else with friends or family) then I'm probably just not going to play that night. That's basically how my friends and I helped get one of our group out of a gaming addiction: hanging around with his brother at their place doing other stuff. Over the course of a few months he slowly would come out and make his way closer to us or hang around in the doorway of his room watching us for increasingly longer periods of time, until he eventually would actually log off the game and join in our activities. We just consistently got together at the same time every week. Nothing more to it.

Find a hobby to do on the side that you can use, maybe something with progression so you have something to focus on and track progress to keep you wanting to do that and not just stick to playing games. Something like drawing, learning an instrument, maybe even exercise, whether it be standard gym stuff or something else like skating or bouldering. If you still want to stick around a computer for whatever reason, maybe learn to code? Having a creative outlet will help loads to keep you from games if you have troubles endlessly playing them because you start getting the creative itches that makes you want to get something done related to that hobby, instead of just procrastinating.

Be careful with games without stopping points. Also be aware of the games that engross you in a way that you just lose track of time, play them only when you can get lost like that.

If there is nothing I need to do that day, I don't see a problem with playing for a long time

I tend to hyperfixate. So I got into habit of getting up every 3 hours, going outside, walk around block. I will say to self, get up, right now, out of this chair, outside, now. Been doing this so long now, it's become habit, part of daily routine. Has helped a lot.