Yeah, there's something about video games in particular. They're not "just another thing" one can become addicted to.

Here's what I mean:

Back in the 90's, with my Super Nintendo, my mother (a Baby Boomer) offered this sage observation:
"We never got so addicted to playing Monopoly back in the day..."

And as a teen, I thought she was silly. I mean, our video games were SO much better, so much more advanced, so much more fun than Monopoly! Don't you DARE compare our games to your crappy Monopoly!

But today I would side with her, and say the same thing! What IS it with video games that make them different from every type of game that came before -- from tag, to hide and seek, to cops and robbers, to board games, etc.

No one spent all day, or stayed up into the wee hours of the night, playing board games. You get tired of them after a while, and you put them away. People didn't propose a "Professional Monopoly league" where people spend 12+ hours a day playing Monopoly to become absolute masters of the game and then competing professionally. People would have laughed at you.

But today, you DO have professional video gaming. People play the games 16 hours a day like Olympic athletes to become masters, and then compete professionally. So playing THESE kind of games like an 80-hour-a-week full time job is a thing!

So yeah -- they're different all right.

  Having grown up with Monopoly and other board games this post made me lol.  

This thread encouraged me to leave them too. What I don't know is what to replace them with, in my case I think I used them to have a temporary evasion from problems.

The problem for me (OP) is that I started watching a lot more youtube after I quit video games a year ago.

The solution is not to avoid the games, but to realize you have an obsessive personality (which is a blessing) and use it in a positive manner.  Use your God-given talent in more productive ways — to learn a skill, to repair something, to study the Faith, to write a book, to focus on your job/studies, etc. 

Once you put your priorities in order…then…you can play games.  Obsess all you want, enjoy the game, and have fun… because you will have deserved this mental break from real work. 

You can’t stop nature and you can’t alter your personality.  Use your personality and gifts for their best use, then have fun with games, in moderation. 

I am so tempted to download the game again. Sure it's probably more pleasing to God to quit altogether but I am considering if I should take my confessor's advice of 1 to 2 hours MAX. I know we are supposed to listen to our priests but his was advice and not a command. I can somewhat see why my priest said that quitting altogether may not be the best option, seeing how I am already thinking about the game without even playing it...

I think the worst things to me though is that pagan elements. Typical of modern society, it features 'light' and 'darkness' and these could have once been 1 and maybe the 'darkness' isn't really bad, typical.
I know that real evil is just the lack of good and not a substance in and of itself. Also I don't like how the community refers to the best weapon rolls as 'god rolls', seems blasphemous but I am scrupulous. 

You're not scrupulous, if you were scrupulous you'd give up the games. What you are is luke-warm and indecisive and that will cost you.

You don't need to follow your priest's bad advice since Our Lord has told you how severely to deal with occasions of sin.

And if thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

I recommend St. Alphonsus' sermon on avoiding occasions of sin, you can find the text online or audio on Defeat Modernism YT or Odysee.

How is it an occasion of sin? Recreation is not a sin. If i do all my prayers and other duties first there is nothing wrong with taking some leisure in my free time.

Not all leisures are created equally. See Matthew's post on Monopoly.

Video games are not just any leisure, if they were, you'd have no problem swapping them with one of the many examples given. No, they are very special, that's why you won't give them up for much better leisures such as sport, reading, etc.

I have no interest in 'sports' and I already do reading.

“My children, jump, run and play! Make all the noise you want, but avoid sin like the plague and you will surely gain heaven.”

-- St Don Bosco

My interpretation, in regards to this thread:  St Don Bosco's point is that having fun is better than idleness and boredom, which can often lead to temptations.  Occupy your mind (in moderation) with entertainment and it's harder to sin.  Thus, you are using entertainment as God intended (i.e. to relax and refresh the mind, after the day's work and duties are fulfilled).

This sounds like an addiction to me.  Is there such a thing as a Video Games Anonymous group like Alcoholic Anonymous?

This sounds like an addiction to me.

There's a big difference between getting really, really into something and being addicted.  Some people (especially introverts) are able to fully immerse themselves into a topic and not be addicted.  You can be temporarily obsessed with something but not be addicted.  God created this personality type, so it's not wrong.  But it must be moderated.


On the opposite end of the spectrum (extroverts) are those people who hate studying and struggle very much with things that are intellectual.  Are we to label all of these people lazy and stupid?  No, they just think/react more to tangible things, instead of the abstract.  They are the types that react to stimuli of the senses (i.e. people, conversations) instead of ideas and thinking.

People nowadays throw around the word addiction way too often.