I think it can be successful, but it has a lot of pitfalls that could lead to even more substantial backsliding.
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I can admit I am addicted to WoW, however. Here’s the scary part: When I think about how meaningless my accomplishments in WoW are, I mean it is just a game and my 3 level 80s could disappear tomorrow if Blizz shut their doors, I am forced to realize that so many other things I have done in my life are just as meaningless. If I got hit by a bus tomorrow, what would all my various “accomplishments” in life be worth? Sometimes after I think such thoughts I go spend time with my kids. Other times I just figure playing WoW isn’t any more of a waste of time than all the other things I would be doing instead so I just keep playing.

Great article
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From personal experience, though, if you want someone to help you organize your life and tell you what to do, therapy is a great option. It’s always helped me whenever I’ve hit a major crisis. My therapist helped me pick a graduate school and get over a major breakup–I think it’s a myth that you have to have really “big” problems to benefit from counseling. But maybe it’s my personality–if I want to do something new, I take a class or ask someone how to do it. I’m very good at following precise instructions.

It’s actually hard to convince people that gaming can be part of a healthy lifestyle. In my opinion, it can. If I went to my therapist and told her that, say, my novel reading was hurting my personal life, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t tell me to stop reading cold turkey. However, gaming doesn’t have that same kind of social acceptance. The trouble here is that many people want to scale back without quitting entirely.

That was my situation. I did, and still do, have an enormous amount of free time. What I think I’ve achieved through moderating my play time is having WoW be a part of my social life instead of most of it. I’m still working on getting to a place where WoW has a 0% impact on my work performance. I’m doing better, but I want to be in a place where I read NO blogs or forums while I should be working.

I certainly agree with the last portion of the post: seek help. With ANY addiction, it is extremely difficult to overcome alone, which is why support groups/meetings became an integral part of the 12 Step Process in AA and then NA, CA, etc. And you made a good point, no one should be ashamed of asking for help. As I tell my clients, it is actually a strength to be able to reach out and ask for help.

However, out of the 4 “strategies” listed prior to seeking help, the only one I can fully agree with is Quitting Cold Turkey. I still do not feel it is appropriate to compare gaming with an opiate addict needing methadone, or an alcoholic that requires detoxification. As I stated before, those are to assist people in recovery who have a medical need for them. (Granted there are always some that slip through..) Opiates, such as heroin, are extremely dangerous to quit cold turkey. It can be life threatening.

Cold Turkey would still be the ideal option – you’ve heard of alcoholics and drug addicts needing to stay away from “old people, places, and things,” right? That would mean no game, no gaming blogs, no internet, no computer, no friends that “use.”

But, if you or someone else struggling with gaming are finding it too extreme to cope with quitting cold turkey, then gradually decreasing time played would be appropriate.

I do have an issue with the alter playstyle portion, especially since the post series has made other comparisons to AODA treatment. That option would NOT be suggested or condoned, as it would be like saying “ok, don’t use THIS drug, but you can use all the other ones.”
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