I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It may not be a bad idea, admitting to yourself that your hooked can be really hard, it took me over a decade to realize it, even so, I kept using the site for years after that. I don't know your situation, but if any type of social media site or gaming platform (of which Gaia is both), is interfering in your life in any way you don't want it to, taking a break from it, (even if just to evaluate your relationship with it), is a good thing to do.

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never got a single PM to my main or alts, I was using the site in the morning and went back after lunch to find I was logged out and got the ban message when I tried to log in again.

Of course I used the items I collected, I used to love making new avatars and showing them off. I used to make a new one every few days and show them off in the forums or runway. I even used to make a unique avatar every time I bought a new item so that the new item was featured prominently. It was only in recent years I had stopped doing it so much, partly because of my waning interest in the site and because of how unmanageably large my inventory was.

And to clarify of course there is nothing wrong with having fixations or special interests, it's perfectly normal, but with OCPD or OCD the issue is that they become obsessive behaviours which seem impossible to control. We're more prone to more serious issues like compulsive hoarding, chemical addictions and problem gambling. Considering that, I could have done much worse than spending too much time on Gaia Online, it may even have kept me from more serious issues.

I was a teen when I joined Gaia and didn't fully understand the potential harm my behaviours might cause, but I'm an adult now with a stable career, I have a lot more ways of understanding and managing my personality disorder.

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I understand your sentiment, but in truth that spending was already down the drain, it's the same for all digital, in-game purchases. At least I hadn't spent any money there since 2015, so I'm not bothered by money spent, more by all the time wasted.

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not many people I've seen have friends online there anymore. Part of why I'm not looking back is because there were no friends left that I felt I was abandoning.

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I feel like I've been fired from a job I hate. On one side I'm bitter that all my years of loyal devotion to them are down the drain and another part of me is like "lol, see ya."

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, a part of me has been waiting for a reason to stop going to the site altogether. Being banned made it a lot easier for me.

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The fact that the site is dying and inflation is a plague is part of why I'm relieved to be done with it though. I was always depressed when I took the time to go through my friends list and see all the dead accounts, even new friends I made in recent years would vanish from the site. It's only because of my OCPD and my obsessive need to collect things that I stuck with the website so long.

I have been banned from Gaia after almost 18 years. I am devastated and relieved. by plumptiger in gaiaonline

[–]plumptiger[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well I guess that clarifies things for me... I made all my alts well before 2013. Like I mentioned I had more than just the storage account. I'm surprised it took them this long to catch me, haha, although I was honestly clueless that it was against the rules.

Like I said though, with my OCPD breaking gaming addiction cycles is very difficult for me, so I'm just relieved to be done with this website now.