As a 24M who quit video games for the first time in summer 2019 and definitively in 2020, the euphoria tens of millions of young men are feeling right now is very familiar to me. The last game I was excited for and played before the hobby felt empty for me, was RDR2 in 2018. Nothing came close to how that game pulled me out of my mundane, empty life and made me feel like I was a handsome cowboy on an adventure across the wild west.

Flash forward to 2026 and the same company is releasing its next juggernaut, with all the same promises as the last. It promises to outdo its predecessor in immersion, realism, things to do. It even seems to give you a nice girlfriend to commit misdemeanours with. I cannot help but worry about how this is going to further keep young men secluded and essentially put their lives on hold for many months to come, thus promoting sloth and laziness.

GTA 6 looks to be a life simulator which is very conveniently timed by the men in suits, as life gets harder and more uncomfortable for a lot of people. Has your rent increased in the last few years? Why not live out a virtual life in GTA and live in a big, cozy mansion! Have fuel prices increased in your area? Why not play GTA 6 and drive your flashy sports car to the beach to hang out with your virtual girlfriend! This is all very diabolical. And speaking of diabolical, although its "just a game", GTA teaches us to hate God's commandments and very boldly opposes God, and represents everything a Christian ought to abhor (not everyone here is Christian but enough seem to be for me to add this point).

Lastly, and this is not unique to gaming, but is to do with consumer rights in general: they are using the hype for this game as a vehicle to end physical media. Notwithstanding the fact that all the other negative gaming trends are here in full force, with various editions paywalling what can be considered basic features.

To everyone out there who is being tempted to buy this game, just remember that to simply not buy it is a winning move. The CEOs are literally banking on everyone mindlessly buying it out of sheer hype. They will never get my money again.

I wish you all well.

Help, my brother is addicted to his phone. He's 12 years old and has always loved playing video games. Back then, it was just Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch or some Mario games. But things changed drastically.

He got a PlayStation 5 and a VR headset about a year ago, and ever since, everything has gone downhill. When it all started, he was in 5th and 6th grade at Gymnasium. He started gaming more and more, especially this one game: Roblox.

Because he was playing constantly, his grades plummeted and he failed to make it into the 7th grade. Up until then, he was at least playing with real friends from his actual life. But last summer holidays, that changed.

Through Roblox (specifically 'German Voice', a voice chat mode where you can talk to strangers online), he met older people online. His 'best friend' there is a 16-year-old junkie who smokes and drinks. Over the summer, my brother started drinking too—drinking vodka just because he thought it was cool. When my parents found out, they poured everything out, and things were quiet for a bit. But he stayed aggressive the whole time.

When my parents realized he was talking to older strangers online, they tried resetting his Roblox account to his actual age. (He had tricked my mom earlier by using her ID because my parents don't know much about this stuff.)

But now his account is finally set back to his real age. His account was set to the 16–17 age group, which allowed him to accept money, play with older people, and play 16+ games. Because it's set back to 12, he basically loses access to around 800 euros worth of in-game purchases until he turns 16.

When he found out, he completely wrecked the house—throwing chairs around, unhinging a door, and screaming at the top of his lungs for three full hours. This isn't the first time an outburst like this has happened. He's even run away before, just for a few hours out of pure anger.

Then, a few days ago, this happened:

My mom and I happened to drive past the South Station because we had an appointment in town, and I wanted to go to the next big city to buy some manga. My mom dropped me off, I went to the platform, and who do I see? My brother, sitting there having been there for ages. He wanted to meet his online friends in that city and go to their place. I decided to go with him to keep an eye on him while I bought my manga.

In the city, my brother checked our parents' location and saw they were waiting for him at the station—they’d figured out he went into town without permission.

He immediately turned around and called his online friends to arrange to meet somewhere else in the city. My parents tracked his location and started running after him.

Suddenly, they heard my brother's voice coming out of a phone speaker held by two kids standing nearby. They went up to them and asked if they were meeting up with my brother. The girl was reasonable and admitted that wasn't right. But the boy—his 'best friend'—was completely unapologetic, saying it's totally normal and that he was just like that at that age.

Where things stand now:

- My brother doesn't have Roblox anymore, just Minecraft and TikTok.

- He still talks to those people.

- He's started stealing: alcohol, energy drinks, lighters.

- He vapes (he has two vapes right now).

I honestly have no idea what to do anymore. My mom took him to therapy, but the therapist couldn't help either. He's also skipped school for two days.

My mom spends all her time in online webinars, but they just beat around the bush and try to sell you expensive programs in the end. I don't know what we can do anymore. He's only 12 years old and comes from a good family.

I had this thought come up, this is point a to point b. But the path is windy, difficult, and long, i get that. Thing is what can i do, i really don't have many interest in hobbies. I would like to get into crafts but it seems my minds not all there, easily distracted. Biggest addiction is not the games in my hands but in my head. I think about games, mostly ttrpg alot and i don't want to since its addicting and interfering with my day to day life, even causing anger and being distracted or moved away from it. I just cant do hobbies, rather than a lack of discipline it feels like im thin brained as doing anything with focus just drains me.

Because I was upset. But then I calmed down