[cainxinth]

I didn't start a habit, I killed one: F2P mobile games designed to hook you. Never spent a dime on Hearthstone but I could tell that I was playing less and less for entertainment and more out of habit and chasing some quick hit of dopamine. I dropped that one a few months back but almost relapsed on Marvel Snap when it became available last month. It is in fact a really good game but I had the good sense to delete it after just a few weeks of trying it out. No shame for anyone that likes these games, but I could tell they weren't healthy for me.

[mattbrewsbytes]

That's awesome. I realized this year I too was playing games out of habit and now do kind of a starting check to see if I'm playing for fun or if I'm feeling compelled to do things in a game because of one or many feedback loops that have been engineered to keep me "engaged". Most of my history of playing video games is solo games with campaigns/stories, etc. so the always online multi-player games have these feedback loops with FOMO, stats on weapons/gear, etc. that make it appear to be worth your time to be constantly playing.

It was hard to pull away sometimes but became much easier when you realize the top tier loot you grind for isn't making drastic differences in outcomes of playing for an average player like myself.