Gaming addiction destroying my brothers life and tearing the family apart.

[Crystalchild]

I dont want to share my story, but some years ago, i was a goddamn addict, placing games above everything. (and playing 12 hours a day was usual to me) - if ya want to hear the story OP, i could PM it to ya so you can get a picture of the "how's" and "Why's", but in short;

i think your brother has to realize that he's doing something terribly stupid.
if games have a higher priority than family, you have to find someone whose opinion matters to your brother.
And if such a person exists, he/she mustnt lecture him, but show off the amazing stuff that your brother missed. like an awesome party/convention/event, something that might motivate him to do something different for a change.

Something you shouldnt do, is playing captain obvious. if your brother isnt totally stupid, he'll know he is ruining his life, but this doesnt mean he care's about it- if you tell him he's doing it wrong, he'll remember what he didnt want to, and that might eventually cause damage, instead of helping him. (So in short, dont lecture him that he does something wrong, instead show him that there is other awesome stuff aswell. goddamn it, you could even invite him to a games convention, i think even that would kinda help temporarily, since he'd get outside, experiencing something cooler than just sitting at home)

@psychologist: it might be that your bro was right, and the guy youve sent him to was an idiot. possible. but if you think that guy would be able to help your brother's condition, trick your Bro. convince him that he should just go there once or twice a week to make your mother smile, and just give him the facts. tell him something like 'give this "idiot" an hour or two of your week, you'll still have X hours a day left to play, so you can still be playing games, while people around you would be proud about you to take some form of action. you dont have to take it seriously, and other than that, you could rest assured that you wont have to face other responsibilities.'

PS; Another problem might be, is that your brother maybe suffers depression (Since my guess is that it wouldnt be the best news of the day to get told that you have chronic whatever.)

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this really is only my opinion, but this is how i think about it.