Smokémon? Guy attempts to quit smoking by playing Pokémon.
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Q: How does it work? Walk us through the process.A: I decided that every time that I wanted a cigarette, I would turn on my DS and play some Pokémon. But the thing about going from two packs a day to cold turkey is that at first, you always want a cigarette. So the first three days, I did nothing but play Pokémon non-stop. My routine was to sleep extra late (because if I'm not awake, I'm not craving a smoke), play Pokémon for about 8 hours with breaks to stretch and eat, read Pokémon walkthroughs, F.A.Q.s, strategies, and websites, and then sleep. Experience has shown me from previous attempts to quit smoking that the hardest thing is to be around other smokers. Unfortunately for me, every single one of my friends that I see on a regular basis are smokers. So for those first few days, I went into seclusion, locking myself in my room and not answering my phone. After the initial push, it just required the willpower to keep playing Pokémon instead of smoking.
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That's pretty much how it worked for me. My wife finally decided to quit. I've wanted my wife to quit smoking for years -- nasty, stinky, & EXPENSIVE habit. She couldn't quit unless I quit. I told her to get me a Gameboy to distract me...for those times of weakness. So I played Advance Wars II and Mario Gocarts.
That was over 2 years ago. Now I just have to figure out how to give up my Gameboy -- stupid Tendonitis and/or C.T.S! The design of the Original Gameboy was way better ergonomically speaking. Why must company's change things for the WORSE?!
I was going to post something about lieking mudkips but decided that was too obvious.
I did something similar, too, only with Mechwarrior on the old Super Nintendo.
Man, it must be nice not having a job.
This is more or less how I anticipate quitting when the time comes. Take three or so days out of mind, take out the N64, replay ocarina of time, finally get to egypt in goldeneye, Cruise the World and, theoretically, Ill have been throuh the worst of it. Beer is the monkey wrench here. Three days I can maybe manage, but one beer, and I reckon Ill be right back on the cravings.
I wonder how many people have started smoking to help kick their Pokemon addiction?
This story actually reminds me of a common trend in the skill toy community. I've heard many stories of how yo-yoers and jugglers got into yo-yoing to help quite their smoking habits. The trick is to find something to do with your hands, and something that can also keep your brain busy. Things like yo-yoing or pokemon are nice because there is also a goal associated with it, something to strive to.
Synchronicity, I'm planning on taking a long weekend starting tomorrow and using City of Heroes for the same goal.
This is precisely the method that worked for me 15 years ago. I played Super Mario Bros for a week solid. Didn't leave the house, barely left the bedroom. That first week was super-tough, but it got easier, to be sure.
In the weeks that followed I let myself do ANYTHING else that came to mind - ate a lot, got drunk by myself a few times - as long as I didn't smoke. Once I'd gone a month I started to pull back on the other excesses, and used a squeeze ball and gum to keep the hands and mouth busy. And it totally worked.
Smoking is the lamest thing ever. Kicking it feels great, and the years of non-smoking and great health that come afterwards are fantastic.
Would this work for tweakers? Is there a game where you try to clean the grout lines between the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush?
em.. nevermind.
#2 posted by standard_grey , April 17, 2008 2:56 PM
I was going to post something about lieking mudkips but decided that was too obvious.
I was thinking something along the lines of "So I herd you liek nicotine," myself.
You're right though, it is too obvious.
I smile and congratulate you quitters, and think it's great that the handheld game solution seeems so ready and obvious that y'all discovered it independently.
Every other person in my nuclear family's had to quit smoking at some point, and it was an ordeal every time. The final one to go was my oldest brother. He doesn't cotton to video games, so his alternate hands-doing-thing was making coffee. So yeah, he would have like 20 coffees a day for a while. He was like Fry in that one episode of Futurama. This led to memorable times.
So, basically, he traded in his ashtray for some "Ash play." :)
So what is he gonna do to kick his Pokemon addiction?
@13: That was terrible. Good job, mate.
smoking is the best habit i've ever quit.
just choose it, and do it. no drags.
(then everything else will seem easy by comparison.)
Other Obvious jokes:
This guy's smoking lead to him catching Koffing. Then his Koffing evolved into Weezing.
@ #17:
You are my hero. Thanks !!!!
I had a similar experience with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
Man, you guys did the same thing as me. When I quit was when I got into martial arts. But I also indulged myself in video games. This was more than ten years ago and I used to hit the arcade (tha arcade!) and shoot pool every time I had a craving. So, yeah, same thing.
With quitting, you can get the nicotine out of your system in like 5 days but changing yourself psychologically is the hard part. For me, that meant going vegetarian, hitting the gym and taking up martial arts. I started drinking more, too, but that could be at least in part because my taste buds returned and I started liking wine and scotch a lot more.
I noticed that Guild Wars was interfering with my drinking, so I had to stop drinking.
Hey, I know someone who quit drinking with the help of MMORPGs, no joke. Set fee, kept him at home, saved him from cirrhosis and DUIs, and better than those AA meetings where everyone smokes like a chimney.
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Wouldn't work for me. Video games are one of times I smoke more.
I posted this a few days ago, but I quit smoking by doing pushups inbetween rounds of online video games. It was my trigger, when there was a break in the action, I'd light up a cigarette. I had to wait until I got a new game (so the trigger wasn't quite so imbedded) and just started doing pushups instead. Or crunches, or whatever.
I also bought a bag of zip ties (you know, the things that cops use for handcuffs when they're out of handcuffs) and chewed the ever-loving crap out of them to help with the oral fixation.
OK, SCORE!!!!! I totally quit smoking by playing Loco Roco. I smoked since I was 13, quit more times than I can count. Considered that I quit even though I would smoke a cig three times a month. But now I have totally lost any desire to smoke, even when I try it tastes horrible.
Every time I wanted to smoke I would play Loco Roco. I think I rewired the "reward" neural pathway from nicotine rush to the rush I would get every time I heard "bllloooooble-dee-oop", or found a hidden room.
I believe my health insurance company should pay for all my games and PSP, and DS, and Wii, and now the PS3 I wanna get. Yeah...gaming has kind of become an issue in my household (where I am the 42 yo mom). I remember when I go my first brick gameboy back in the early 90's, I honestly believed it could cure crack addicition (not mine)...but I really needed better graphics to quit smoking.
@dmonbot: Buy a PSP and put a CFW on it. Play all the GBA games you want on a nice big screen, with perfect ergonomics for long play sessions.
Best investment I ever made.