Anyone know how to meaningfully quit this game properly? I need help, I’ve tried many times and keep coming back but I can’t handle the emotional rollercoaster of playing, it just makes me so miserable. Any advice/success stories would be greatly appreciated 
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Uninstall the game client, its the most effective way to step away from a game you need to take a break from.
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I recently picked back up VR, its like the antithesis of this game.
If you play daily then stop playing little by little until you just stop completely.
Also try to find a new game/hobby that will keep you busy.
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Can confirm this basically what I’ve done. Play like once a week now if that.
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Do yoga meditation, look at urself in the mirror daily.
Create systems that elevate your life like some physical activity
Eat fruits atleast 30% of your food.
This will reduce impulsiveness a bit which in turn will reduce addiction.
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Find something new that you like and isn’t as competitive/frustrating. Substituting one competitive game addiction for another isn’t great so I encourage you to pick a casual or singleplayer game.
Ffxiv has been good for me personally :^)
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What I do is when I’ve already played about more than 2-3 hours when i still feel I want to keep playing I just do something else to forget example, read a book watch a movie go to the gym hang out with friends etc…
I went to visit a friend in london a while back and after a few days I was like “omg, Imma have to cut this short and go home… I miss ow too much” I think a big part of it is probably that for the past few years I’ve fallen asleep whilst watching OW streamers, and OW has kept me sane during some really dark periods. It’s going to be hard to let go but its such a useless and negative time sink lol. I think its super unhealthy for depressed people or something.
The whole fantasy of getting good, chasing that high of a new peak and feeling like all of the improving you’re doing is finally paying off and getting recognized in the game- it can all just get ripped away when your hero gets reworked anyway. Plus its usually just a winstreak because of random chance, and it’ll be followed by a loss streak. All the improving you feel yourself doing invariably just leads to more losses in my experience. Not to mention the experience of the grind is such a rollercoaster of highs and lows. When I’m winstreaking I feel almost like I’m on a stimulant with how euphoric it is. But losing 2 or 3 games in a row just hits like a truck, everything hurts.
The forums are surprisingly addictive too. The whole loop or entertaining stupidity, anonymity and likes is weirdly more fun than the game sometimes. Helps to scratch the itch of playing when playing is just- crap. When I look on my profile and see how much time I spend on here and in OW I’m like wow… and I know that both added together doesn’t even touch the sides on hm time I spend watching streamers.
Its probably a personal MH problem as well, but now that I’m thinking about OW today as an actual problem in my life all of a sudden… I’m like wow, this is actually not just a symptom of, but its actively making worse my productivity, my social anxiety, my mood, my physical fitness, expectations for the future etc.
This is probably the only way tbh. I’m gonna unsub and flag no interest in overwatch content on youtube as well.
This is a big deal. I was never a competitive gamer before overwatch at ALL. Now every game I play I’m thinking about how to minmax it. It actually has reduced my enjoyment of playing things casually. I’m always asking myself how to optimize it. Which is great if you can apply it to yourself in real life, but its not enjoyable at all LOL
I think I’ll play some monster hunter rise. I’ve had it and this switch since last Christmas and not touched it. I haven’t been able to play anything except OW for years
I think if i pick up an mmo I’ll just lose years more of my life to it tbh. I wouldn’t touch ff14 with a ten foot pole
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What are your other hobbies and / or other game genres you enjoy?
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Play like 16 hours one day then uninstall.
Or reduce play an hour everyday until you don’t play then uninstall.
I used to be a die hard jrpg fan, FF, kingdom hearts, monster hunter, pokemon LOL
I recently signed up for a spanish course which is mostly just revision and I’ve bought a harp because I’ve wanted to learn since forever, but its scary trying something new knowing you’ll be terrible at it and it might not work out. Tbh I think a big part of why I find OW so emotionally exhausting and punishing is because I take failure really seriously and beat myself up about it to the point of not actually trying to achieve anything LOL
impromptu therapy sesh but wow thinking about this rn I’m realizing OW has been a bandaid for so long, but the cure has kinda become the cause. And it was never the cure, it was just soothing
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Advice:
- Find a new hobbies/interests (notice plural)
- Uninstall the game.
- Stick to #1
- Do things to keep your mind off OW
- Don’t even read forums, watch videos about OW or any other game.
- Maybe go on a vacation some where new to take your mind off it.
After a few weeks, you’ll actually forget.
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Play single player games like the Witcher 3vor Mass Effect. It will make you appreciate what gaming used to be … Fun and engaging. Then you’ll realize that there are other options.
Im currently playing dragon age, and i barely touch OverWatch. And when i do and the stress kicks in i just go back to my much more relaxing single player games.
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Sounds like you’re on a good path that you’re identifying an issue and exploring solutions. JRpgs are usually narrative single player affairs so maybe play more games like those. Most recent narrative linear game I’ve played was pathfinder: wrath of the righteous.
Best written narrative game in recent years is hands down Disco Elysium.
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Pick literally any other game and you will find out how much better time you can have with it instead of getting mad at incompetent teammates all the time.
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Try to truly reflect on how this game affects you. E.g. I had this period of time in the past in which I only kept playing out of some sort of weird “obligation” (“cuz my friends do”, “I’ll miss out cuz constant events”) but when I really stopped to think about it and realized that I was effectively only wasting my time, I managed to drop that mindset and take some much needed distance. I switched focus on other games (which I truly enjoyed, single-player stuff) and ONLY played OW when I really felt like it and could actually enjoy it. The moment I became frustrated, I quit.
Because, again, if you’re playing a videogame you don’t even enjoy, you are only wasting your time. You’re not having a good time nor are you doing anything productive (e.g. one may hate cleaning but it’s useful and you’ll feel better after). The whole point of games is entertainment. If it only make you miserable then there’s ZERO point to it.
Eventually I became so distanced from OW (something that I admit was helped by their direction for the game) that I don’t even care about the events anymore. I no longer feel like I’m “missing out”. I might grab a skin for a hero I still feel some form of attachment to but other than that… meh. I even completely skipped the Ashe event because I deemed the amount of time and frustration I’d need to endure it wasn’t worth it. I rather spent that time doing something I actually enjoyed.
I know other people might need more incentive in order to quit but, for me, just reflecting on my choices and how “life is too short to waste on something simultaneously unproductive and unfun” was enough.
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As someone that do have a tendency to hyperfocus in a single game, and once it become habit, have trouble letting them go, I’ll share with you what worked for me.
First step is to admit that you have trouble with that. Not only to youself, but also to someone close to you. A friend, family member, whatever. The point here is that you get someone to “keep an eye” on you and prevent you from lapsing back. At least for me, disappointing “others” is more shameful than disappointing “myself”, so relying on someone else helps me a bit in staying strong.
Second step is uninstall the game and the Blizzard client. Since Overwatch requires you to access via the Battlenet launcher, that’s an extra layer of actions I have to perform before I “come back”. I can stop myself after downloading the client, after logging back into my Blizzard account, and after downloading Overwatch again (but before starting it up). That’s two more points to stop myself instead of just downloading OW and starting it up.
Third step is finding something else to play. Something that, if possible, is as far away from OW gameplay as possible. IMO, ideally it should something that is not a FPS, not PvP-focused, not competitive, maybe not multiplayer, maybe not an online game at all. I’m 99% certain that you must have a backlog of games that you have been aching to play, but couldn’t because you prefer to play OW all day. Give those games a chance and take some time off.
Fourth step was unsub from all OW-content in my Youtube and Twitch. On Twitch you can even actively search for the game, and tell the platform to “not recommend this game for you”, so that it stop showing you OW streamers in the frontpage or the sidebar. Minimizing the chances that you see OW-related content also minimize the chances of you being tempted back.
Even with all that, when I quit, I still used to come back and check the events out because I was hyped for OW2 PvE, and wanted to keep my hero gallery up to date until the game released. Since it was taking too long, it was easier to stop doing only events, and leave for good.
Now I can access and read the forums now and then to see what changed (nothing), and have much less attachment to the game, that I don’t feel tempted anymore to play because of a shiny new skin.
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Uninstalled the client. Stopped watching/reading anything to with OW. After a month no longer had any desire. Pretty sure it’s almost been a year now since I last played.
Also I found switching to something not video-game related during the times you would normally play also helped. In my case- I listened to more audiobooks.
Go play Mystery Heroes, that should tilt you enough to quit.
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