How do I quit video games to read more? It is a colossal waste of time, and after Dark Souls 3, I plan on reading. Any advice for a pleb like me?
>>7885157
Exit game
Like any other addiction, either get some willpower or die
>not treating reading like a video game
>not leveling up by becoming better read and knowing more philosophy
>>7885171
Addictions usually offer immediate satisfaction with little effort, that's why people get hooked on.
A lot of books require concentration to get through, so I don't really believe they can become an addiction.
There's no such thing as 'objectively better'. Books can give you pleasure, insight and knowledge, but replacing a time sink with another more complex one is not a smart thing to do.
Reading stuff about your career might be very useful but ONLY if you apply it. There's a lot of people who read stuff like philosophy all the time and consider themselves enlightened for it, but in reality there are not much better than the vidya addicts unless they are making positive changes in their lives.
>>7885157
Read Gene Wolfe. He's better than most video games.
>>7885157
Buy some LSD or Mushrooms or if you don't have the connects order a legal LSD analog online like 1p-LSD.
Then plan for having two days in a row completely free where you don't have to do anything. On the first day literally play video games the entire day from the moment you get up until the moment you go to bed. You should feel sick of them and like you wasted your day by the end of it. For bonus points go on facebook at the end of the day and look at what all your friends and hot girls you know are doing to be reminded about how they have real lives while you are just wasting yours.
Day two, get up in the morning, uninstall all the video games from your computer or pack away your xbox etc into a box for storage and then take whatever psychedelic drug you obtained. During your trip go outside into nature and think about how the limited time you have while alive is so valuable and how you waste it with videogames. At the end of the trip instead of going back home and being tempted to hop on the computer or xbox instead go hang out with people you know or go downtown for a walk around to see whats going on. Don't come home until late and once you do go right to bed. The day after your trip be aware its a new start and just don't start playing them again.
>>7885170
This is how I see it. I like the progression that comes from a video game
>>7885260
This can work but after a couple of months you returnt to your old habits.
I used to do this, forcing myself into being productive with psychodelics.
You get a 'rush' of energy for about a month and do cool stuff, but then you need to keep taking them probably forever.
That's why I dropped the psychodelics and I'm trying to learn how to get that 'rush' by myself.
Phew. I can't wait to play DS3 but I've got about ten more papers and 1000 pages to go until my year is done; can't afford to get distracted now.
You need willpower OP
>>7885264
Lol that's the whole point of video games, that feeling of progression and achievement.
That's fake progression tho, you achieved nothing but waste time.
Men need to feel like they are progressing end evolving to feel worthy, that's why it's mostly men who get hooked up on video games; and that's why a lot of internet 'intellectuals' consider themselves so superior, they feel (deep inside) like the accomplishment they had in video games are equal to real life ones.
>>7885281
I would say that psychedelics give some motivation for the short period after the trip but don't make it easier to keep working hard once you reach a few weeks or a month after the trip. At that point its just as hard to do it as its was before the trip. It can be a little helpful to have been working hard for the short period after the trip where you have more motivation because it can help you get a feel for it and for it to become routine however. You still have to work hard though and if you aren't willing to do that it won't work, if you only rely on the motivation they give you without putting in the work it'll always eventually fail.
Whatever works for you though man, learning to get that rush by itself is a great decision no matter how you go about it.
>>7885157
Dark souls 3 isnt even out yet, why not read while you wait?
Dark Souls was more /lit/ than the dogshit that passes for 'reading' among the general public. It's really a timeless game, one of the few I can go back to and play through without it feeling old at all.
>>7885292
They both release the same chemicals in our low-tech brains.
Accomplishment in video games = accomplishment in life, because both are based on fictional structures of social achievement that have no lasting merit when viewed from an objective, inhuman lens.
It's even worse if you consider the activity of mirror neurons, which produce almost the same sensations of accomplishment when watching an action as personally performing the action.
In other words, going out and becoming the richest man on earth is chemically equivalent to watching Pewdiepie clear Dark Souls 3.
>>7885361
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
>>7885332
Only makes DS2 all the worse.
>You set off from a distant land, leaving your wife and child behind to find a cure for your terrible curse..
>CHARACTER CREATION, PLEASE SELECT YOUR SEX
>Now that I'm here, I really don't care about the curse at all. I actually really want that throne I've never heard of
>Guess what, anon? You're the rightful heir to that throne.
>Great. Let me just sit in this stone tomb real quick.
>Wife and child die afraid and alone because you would rather get yourself locked in a throne room, curse and all
Here's to hoping DS3 will be better, at least after all the DLC coming down the pipeline.
>>7885157
>It is a colossal waste of time, and after Dark Souls 3, I plan on reading
Me too, probably won't happen.
I'm gonna get butchered for this...
listen to audiobooks while gaming. I can't remember the last time I actually picked up a book and read it. I just listen to audioboks now and it's not bad. it might be hard at the start, especially keeping your concentration on the book while playing something as difficult as dark souls, but I think everyone can get used to it. It's like exercise
>>7885418
>>7885379
B-but time is convoluted
>>7885157
Reading is not an exalted hobby. You do not become a better person just by following stereotypes that say reading is better than any kind of pastime.
The suggestions here would work if you are reading to achieve some objective (a test or whatever). But if you don't like it you don't need to force it. And especially if you are going to read young adult fiction it's pretty much the same as games anyway.
My point is do what you want to do.
>>7885432
that image made me laugh way more than it should have.
may I save it so I can share it with my friends?
Here's one funny image I have. btw the save tool is crap haha
>>7885418
Do whatever you want man. Most people playing video games end up regreting all the time they've wasted playing.
Like some guy above said, chemically saying, playing videogames and achieving 'higher' stuff might be identical, but that's the point.
Do not waste your time on immediate satisfaction, its a degenerative non sustainable life choice. This is assuming you aren't a hedonist and actually care about how your life will turn out. If you in fact just care about the pleasue you get, go take a loan and buy as much heroin as you can, hook that shit to your bloodstream and start play videogames, listening to music and eating pizza until you die.
>>7885157
Make a slow transition. Quitting video games cold turkey in favor of dense, complicated novels is going to be very difficult. Try starting with pure fantasy genre fiction or whatever happens to interest you. From there, you'll begin to be more accustomed to reading and can begin (And probably will want to begin) transitioning to "higher level" literature.
>>7885418
This will never work for dense philosophical works. It's better to get used to sitting down in a quiet spot and learn to not view reading as a chore.
>>7885196
So true, and yet so sad. If only reading literature somehow paid the bills.
Why not do both?
>>7885418
You get my support.
OP, you should try to start by listening audiobooks, then move your way to books.
>>7885361
Reductionism is for idiots. In relation to neuroscience and philosophy of mind, it is actually a thousandfold more retarded than in other cases.
>>7885196
I hate it how the capitalist agenda has caused people to no longer consider knowledge and being educated and cultured to be intrinsically valuable.
Being knowledgable and cultured always makes you better, regardless if it is immediately convertible to montary gain/career promotion.
>>7885157
Pick up meditation. Mindfulness in plain english is a good beginners guide. Helped me kick a poly-drug addiction, with cocaine and heroin being the main offenders.
>>7885292
the funny thing is, I play a lot of games but I don't feel this way about it
I play some games for the romantic settings, others because I enjoy making a character and investing them with a face and a story, others because I like playing cooperatively with friends. Once in a while I do get sucked into fake-achievement games like D3, but I get tired of them quickly—I know exactly how empty the 'fun' is.
If there is a problem with games, it is not that their joys are totally illusory—only that they are weak. There is a real kind of joy to be had from creating a lovely character in an MMORPG, but it is less than the joy of sculpting her like Pygmalion, still less than the joy of loving a human being. Likewise there is mystery and romance in the spooky castles of Dark Souls; but less than in the alleys and woods of the real world. And so on.
Games are not bad or empty in themselves; but too often people turn to games because they have lost their love for life.
>>7885157
There's nothing inherently anti-art about videogames, but just keep it balanced and don't play massive, essentially contentless timesinks (Sandbox games, MMOs, multiplayer versus, open ended stuff) or videogames that try and fail at having some kind of literary value. (The Last of Us, Telltale Games, Heavy Rain,
>>7885658
Not OP but curious, you just meditated yourself out of addiction?
>>7885197
OK sam
>>7885197
go to bed aramini
>>7885157
Go to a coffee shop that doesn't have internet.
Read.
Go back home to play video games when you get bored.
I used to play a lot more but since I got a kobo reading in bed is comfier so now I read and study and sometimes have human contact. I mean reading is a way to self improvement and if you want just try hard.
Authors that first got me into serious literature, although accompanied by lower quality stuff, were Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Wolfe.
>>7885685
Yep. Having relapsed numerous times during previous failed attempts to quit, I managed to stick with my abstinence after I picked up meditation. It completely wipes out the kind of conditioned, automated behaviour that lies at the root of many addictions. Furthermore, it makes it much, much easier too see through all the bullshit excuses that comprises the bulk of addict reasoning.
>>7885171
vidyo games are fun ways of passing time but I if you spend 5 hours reading a book vs 5 hours playing video there is a lot more of a chance you will remember the contents of the book the rest of your life compared to what you gained from the video game
Delete steam for starters. There's always the nuclear option of just removing all your games, they're a sunk cost after all.
are you still a teenager OP? I kind of grew out of them in my early 20s but I am not sure if everyone does.
Why would you quit something you enjoy?
>>7885157
Start reading when you sit on toilet. (Family members might get angry because you will spend more time on toilet - but do not worry, they will get used to it.)
As soon you are used to read regularly, you will start to read more automatically.
>>7885787
this isn't necessarily true. i'm not that guy and i'm not a gamer at all these days. but i can remember the levels of the original half-life to this day as though i explored them in person, whereas i can't remember a fucking thing about the brothers karamazov which i read at around the same age
Is Bloodborne /lit/?
>>7885906
no but it's still an excellent videogame and excellent artnot as good as dark souls tho.
>tfw I both read too little and play too little video games
I feel oppressed by the clock
>>7885450
>Beer Types and Styles
>Search: BeerAdvocate
u should optimize your bookmarks bar better
>>7886076
it's actually my mom's. she picked up this hobby albeit being very weak to alcohol. Now she feels like a beer prodigy. I get lectured daily about which beer to drink.
>>7885769
OP here. I read "Lolita" a few months ago, bought a ton of books, and I still haven't read them yet. I spend a lot of time screwing around on 4chan and Youtube and occasionally gaming. I'd love to start reading more, though.
>>7885816
Honestly, most of the games I play aren't that enjoyable and following them seems to be a huge waste of time (in my opinion) when I could be reading, becoming more cultured. I have nothing against video games, it's just I want to steer away from them for good after I beat Dark Souls 3.
You don't really want to turn your private time into some constant struggle for arbitrary and uncertain "self-improvement".
If you want to read more your best bet is actually to adopt a more relaxed attitude towards it, try to read things you'll enjoy and are interested in, don't feel, associate it with pressure to read since you believe doing anything else is a waste of time? Chances are you will actually enjoy it a lot more and do it more often if you have this attitude.
Damn, I only just beat ornstein and smough for the first time and I'll probably beat the game a couple more times as well. I also want to play the other soul games. But don't feel too bad OP at least you're playing good games.
Should I feel bad for cheesing the fight with super ornstein?
>>7886762
I don't like this copypasta but it's relevant.
>I became an avid reader like three months ago and I can't stop. I stopped watching tv and I don't spend much time on 4chan anymore.
>Here's how I did it.
>-Remember the average person reads like zero books a year. If you read 5 pages a day, you are 5 pages above the average person
>-Don't force yourself to read. Commit to read 5 pages a day. I swear after three days you'll feel like reading more and after a month or so you should be reading 50-100 pages a day for pleasure
>-Read various books at the same time. When I grab a difficult book or one that makes me sleepy I grab another and switch. This should refresh your head. Keep them thematically different. I read economics and fiction.
>-It isn't a race. Reading slowly won't make you sleepy that fast. Try to acknowledge what books are for you to read fast and which aren't.
>-Buy the physical copies. When you get the books from your own money you'll feel the need to read them to avoid the feel of wasting your money.
>-Start with books highly discussed here so you feel motivated to discuss.
>locate the video game device
>apply violence until it no longer functions
you are now free
>>7885157
start by reading the instruction manuals to every game you've ever played cover-to-cover
>>7886834
No, but you won't be able to get Ornstein's set unless you go to NG+ and fight super Ornstein instead.
After Dark Souls 3, I'm probably going to say goodbye to gaming for good (or at least for a long time). It's the only series I've actually had the pleasure of playing in years.
>>7886904
What, I did fight super ornstein though, but I poisoned and shot arrows at him while he was stuck doing the same move while I was hiding behind a pillar. I didn't get Leo ring however because my game wasn't updated and it isn't the final edition. I'm also probably not going to NG+ with this character.
>>7885646
holy fuck, I'm not alone in thinking this. thank you for validating me, anon.
>>7887331
That may be true but it doesn't matter if all do is read posts on social media site, you dork.
>>7885157
Go cold turkey like me.
I sold all my consoles and stocked up on books and took the PC out of my room for months.
I learned slowly how to not crave the lure of a screen, and how to love the pages more than anything else. I realized I developed an addiction due to my depression and loneliness, and I had to fight it.
"How to Read a Book" by Mortimer is also very useful for book appreciation.
When I got bored of reading, out of necessity I started drawing, going outside, learning photography, writing, etc.
Doing anything but playing videogames and staring at 4chan all day as a common habit will make you a better person.
Videogames were interesting in their golden era, I truly believe videogames used to have lots of creative juices and were a worthwhile past-time, but that time has passed.
It's not worth it anymore OP. Let it go. It's been dogshit since the xbox 360 days and a lot of us don't want to accept it. We don't know how to let go.
>>7885157
How do you decide what is and isn't wasted time? If you truly enjoy playing videogames (like I do) then keep doing it, but limit them. If you're worried that you're not spending enough time doing something productive then start running every day, practising a new language/instrument etc. and you'll naturally game less.
>>7885157
I find modern video games utterly boring, and at some point I got tired of most old games since I have that feeling of 'already played it' that let me abandon them often.
Currently I mostly play classic games I missed back then when developers made games for children they considered smart instead of the dull adult audiences they try to pander nowadays.
Just start reading books you think you'll enjoy. If you get interested in literature, you'll crave for new and more "advanced" stuff in no time. Read for amusement, not for validation of other people. Be curious. Try new things. You'll end up reading the "big guys books" before you even realize it.
It's the fear of boredom that draws you in because video games for the most part are repetitions of the same stuff, it's basically a chore, it might look nice and responsive but if it no longer challenge you intellectually or give you any sense of awe than it's not doing what it is suppose to be doing, you do it because you feel you have to
find something else to do
>>7887432
Thanks! I've been depressed lately, and I'm in the very early stages of my transition (MtF), so I find it easier to pick up a video game than a book. I still have a stack of physical books I've been wanting to read, but with physical books, there is no built in dictionary. What dictionary do you recommend getting? I don't want rely on my smart phone constantly.
>>7887470
To me, it's very easy to determine that.
Recently, I played Runescape and I couldn't help but feel like I grinding all day for the sake of grinding. I wasn't actually enjoying myself when I played this mindless grindfest of a game. I simply grinded because it was easy and because I could. With Dark Souls, however, I truly enjoyed every single second of it, and don't think it was a waste of time at all.
>>7885496
It's called being a book critic.
Level up.
>>7885157
Stop playing crap. Unless you're new to video games, you have played most games that are worth your time.
There's nothing wrong with playing something good once in a while, but stop playing shit.
