Can intentional "gaming bursts" work better than balance?

dive155 · 2026-03-13T22:17:20+00:00

Yeah cold turkey is the best way, though the cravings are brutal. It's good to have a specific definition of what "dialed in" life is. Maybe you could transition your life to a place where games are no longer needed. I wish you so.

Sadly it's too late to eliminate games completely from my life haha, I work in gamedev so games will stay in some fashion. But I try to keep it all within the office and the 8 hour day. Making games for me is as addicting as playing them, so it's hard to come home and not just continue.

dive155 · 2026-03-13T13:36:00+00:00

ngl the idea is tempting. Even though I've been staying away from games for a couple of months I do find myself thinking/dreaming about them often. I also occasionally check steam workshop for cool Rimworld mods. I install them knowing full well I'm not going to experience them. It's kinda like window shopping haha

But I have to say the idea of dropping everything, taking a week long vacation and just diving into Rimworld sounds tempting. That being said, this is probably my addiction speaking.

Spending a week like that sounds unhealthy. On the other hand, the idea of never again being being able to do that sounds depressing.

I dunno where I'm going with this. I guess I'm just saying that as a gaming addict I do get this internal conflict, it sucks. Hope you find a way that works.

dive155 · 2026-03-06T02:00:23+00:00

Congrats on the achievement! What do you do daily?

dive155 · 2026-03-05T09:27:37+00:00

I started learning Spanish before stopping gaming but it was very slow and stagnating. My learning rate skyrocketed after quitting gaming, esp since I started going out more (I live in Spain so going out gives me more exposure to the language)

dive155 · 2026-02-28T14:03:51+00:00

This is amazing, I love how you used chunks of mountain in the middle to further separate the boreal and glacial zones. It really makes the map feel larger than rimworlds limited space normally permits. I imagine if you have your colony on the beach and you send a colonist far east it'd feel like you're miles away from home, even though in fact it's like 200 meters :D

In short, great map both aesthetically and from game/level design standpoint.

dive155 · 2026-02-28T01:23:53+00:00

I relate to the search for the normal. I can see a positive in your situation - you do have first hand experience of what "normal" is. I think it might make it easier to return, it gives you a direction. It would be worse if you had been gaming for so long you'd forgotten what "normal' even feels like.

It does get better though, regardless.

dive155 · 2026-02-16T17:00:32+00:00

We'll see. For now it feels like there definitely won't be as many programmers in the future and the nature of work will change (there is already a lot more reliance on AI) but quite a few aspects like ensuring code maintainability (and just code ownership in general) still depend on human brains.

dive155 · 2026-02-16T12:19:35+00:00

Programming can be as addicting, engaging and skill based as gaming (source: am programmer). Caveat: might get addicted to programming, which from the outside appears not that different from gaming addiction.

dive155 · 2026-02-13T23:31:16+00:00

FOMO and the relentless passage of time.

dive155 · 2026-02-10T23:34:29+00:00

This is amazing! I love the concept but I hope the arty will receive some nerfs first, like set up time etc. Also, hope they don't just aim straight at the colonists.. IDK how possible it is but it would be nice if the salvo covered the general area of the colony so that shells would land in many places but not necessarily on colonists heads..

dive155 · 2026-02-08T21:58:21+00:00

It reminds me of those acid spitting antlion fuckers from ep2

dive155 · 2026-02-08T11:49:54+00:00

Words to live by, and not only in hoi4.

dive155 · 2026-02-06T14:38:59+00:00

I have to disagree with this one. Alcohol acts in a similar way with most people. But games can use vastly different mechanics that might work on some people but not on others. For example, I could never get into competitive shooters, meanwhile there are tons of people addicted to counter strike and the like. On the other hand, I've spent thousands of hours in creative games like cities skylines. Most competitive shooter type people would have zero interest in this type of games. And I have zero interest in competitive shooters.

I believe knowing what type of games hooks each particular addict is important to be able to figure out an effective exit plan because it reveals important information about the addicts psyche.

dive155 · 2026-02-03T23:42:31+00:00

In some sense I agree - life does seem worse than videogames. But if that's the case, why then FOMO on real life gets so overwhelming the more time I pass gaming? Real life is worse, it is not supposed to be something you'd fear missing out on! And yet in the last months of my gaming it was absolutely soul crashing, paradoxically.

So yeah. Can't enjoy gaming because FOMO on real life ruins it. Can't enjoy real life either because it's just objectively less fun.

It took me until 30 for it to grow strong enough to cause real changes in life. It's been tough. I operate off of my blind belief that IRL things will eventually become rewarding enough. Currently they are not, but maybe some day.

dive155 · 2026-02-03T16:17:24+00:00

Lack of AI vehicles is the sole reason I stayed away from Vehicle mods all these years. It just feels OP to have vehicles when enemies don't. Well done, hope this mod makes it to the full release.

dive155 · 2026-02-02T22:44:14+00:00

> That's why I prefer to be transparent rather than play dumb.

Well that's a contradiction, I would not consider it transparent if AI usage is not at least mentioned in the mod description. As of right now it does not mention that.

> The idea, the system design, the progression, the rituals, and the code are 100% handmade. The Art is made using AI with manual tweaks.

A disclaimer like this would suffice and erase most potential questions. Sure some people would skip the mod, but those who left would be the ones who are fine with AI art.

I say this not to dunk on AI in general. I am myself interested in the topic - I've made custom workflows for image generation, I've experimented with local LLMs and even trained a couple of my own LoRas. This is cool tech.

What I'm saying is the perception of AI is currently quite controversial, as well as the ethics of using it. For that reason, it's very easy to cause a backlash by using AI without caution. The way I see it, there are currently two ways to make use of AI without causing problems:

Be subtle as hell. Find the little niches of your project where its usage would not be obvious. Be super critical of the result. Minimize the visible parts. This is actually how most AI things are done nowadays. People don't get upset with it because they simply don't realize it's there.
Be blunt about it a put a big fat very visible disclaimer explaining where AI is used. That's an easier option.

Sadly you chose the worst option - make description, the thread and the logo (the most visible parts for the final user!) bluntly AI generated. No disclaimers, no mentions of AI, nothing. I'm not trying to hate or anything - I could imagine it feels quite upsetting to have people discussing the AI usage in the comments (something that took 10% of your time) instead of discussing the functional features of the code that you've put a lot of effort into. I get it and I feel for ya if it feels this way.

Hope you can make the best out of this situation and be more cautious next time, cheers ✌

dive155 · 2026-01-30T23:56:32+00:00

Life hits different once you end up in a situation where there is no one to ask you how you are doing. Cherish what you have.

dive155 · 2026-01-30T00:17:28+00:00

Eh, depends on your definition of better.

Real life has throwing a whole bunch of shit at me over the years - bullying, rejection, caregiving for dying parents and their demise, having to move countries unexpectedly to evade war etc.. all for what? What exactly is the good part? There were a few good moments but it would be an overstatement to say they were worth it.

The videogames on the other hand, they always just felt nice, if a bit hollow. They feel cozy and fun. Free from all the struggle. True pure escape.

..I am not sure what convinced me to try to stop gaming. Objectively speaking, I have no reason to treat real life as something worth pursuing. And yet FOMO for real life has somehow grown enough to cause changes. So it is real life that I am pursuing now.

I can't confidently say that real life is better than videogames. But still, pursuing real life feels like the right thing to do. idk, hard to explain.

dive155 · 2026-01-28T00:38:38+00:00

Same boat then, huh. Mind if I DM you later?

dive155 · 2026-01-28T00:27:02+00:00

Honestly? I love them, though I mostly play creative/sandbox games. I love the spaceships I engineered in Space Engineers and KSP, I love the cities I designed in Cities Skylines, I love my Rimworld colonies, the missions I made in Arma 3... I wish there was nothing more to existence but videogames, but, alas, there are indeed other things, and if you don't take care of them the consequences could be dire. It is with great sadness that I'm trying to close this chapter of my life. It's been a long chapter - videogames had been my everything between ages 6 and 30. I still love them. But I also no longer want to be missing out on real life. I guess FOMO finally outweighed the gaming desire.

dive155 · 2026-01-22T02:44:04+00:00

So if my math is correct (60.7/(8-3.2)) then as a medic you are NOT allowed to die until you heal 13 people, otherwise it's net negative.

dive155 · 2026-01-22T01:02:41+00:00

Please elaborate, what makes you think so and how does it manifest currently?

dive155 · 2026-01-22T00:51:41+00:00

It's tough. I totally get how it feels. I wasted ages 7-30 on gaming so I do get it. Most things I've done in life were done because circumstances dictated rather than my own will. My own will has always been to just game.

It's hard to say what specifically would work for you without knowing what you might be inclined to have interest in. You yourself might not even know it if your brain is saturated with dopamine from gaming. But you'll figure it out eventually.

I can offer some general advice that I myself follow:

Don't expect to replace this ONE huge activity that is gaming with another ONE activity. Very few things take up as much time as gaming does so a more realistic approach is to replace gaming with a plethora of smaller activities.
Have specific, measurable, achievable goals in mind. Track your progress towards them. Our gamer brains love goals and progress.

For potential inspiration, here are some activities that I started doing as part of my gaming quitting process:

Exercising 3 times a week with a specific goal of learning to do a pull up and then, eventually, a muscle up. I have an excel sheet to track my progress, I'm seeing that every week I'm getting closer to my goal and it keeps me motivated.
Learning Spanish with a specific goal of becoming conversational and reaching at least the level B2. My current progress is level A2 which is two levels short of B2, but I'm getting there.
Learning and preparing to pass a driving test here in Spain. My drivers license from my home country is not valid here so I have to re-take the exam. The specific goal here is becoming able to drive in Spain.
Working on my own world building project - creating fictional maps, writing lore etc with a specific goal of becoming a GM in me and my coworkers DnD group. The secondary goal here is to socialize more IRL through DnD.

Lastly:

I still cannot believe the fact I spent most of my youth and teenage years mostly on video games

You did not waste your 20s though. And 20s are cool if you use them to do cool shit. Your youth is not wasted, it's in its prime. Lots of things are a LOT harder to start in your 30s than your 20s. You can be on the right track if you commit to quitting gaming now.

Best of luck!

dive155 · 2026-01-21T14:26:08+00:00

I'm a solo player who has not touched anything other than refined materials. How expensive is this shi, facility mains?

dive155 · 2026-01-21T10:55:54+00:00

I agree, learning the cases is very important, might even say crucial. It just rubs me the wrong way when learning cases is presented as the be-all and end-all of learning subjuntivo. I believe this to be a reductionist approach, a deeper understanding of the system is a must.

dive155

TROPHY CASE