Per u/Thotwrecker.....

This subject comes up in many forms and I can always predict the top level comment.

I say stop playing video games, they are a waste of time building no real life skills, and tricking your brain into thinking you are improving / conquering challenges / facing down real competition. And thus sapping your will to find those opportunities in real life for masculine growth.

Top level comment says "dude maybe YOU had a problem with video games but that's on you, video games are fine in moderation. I make 200k a year and play LoL daily, so kindly fuck off from attacking my beloved pasttime (present-time?).

You say "don't smoke, it's a worthless hobby, there's no point, and if you think it's adding value to your life you are probably just hamstering to rationalize it because it feels good."

Top comment... "Nah bro you can smoke in moderation. Here, smoke in these reddit approved ways, have a vape, have an edible, and by the way, you can be successful and healthy and productive while responsibly using pot."

The bottom line is we all have to make DIFFERENT sacrifices to reach a level of success. I can't eat all this delicious shit, I am a food addict and if I start eating shit food, my puny little brain is going to want more, and I will start eating more shit. I'll feel like crap then and I won't work out. 6 months will go by and I'll have undone my last cut. That is because I have self-knowledge; I know I love food, I know I have a bottomless stomach and I still can fuck up a buffet like I'm a broke college kid. So I have to have stricter control and stricter rules in order to be happy and fit on a long term basis.

Another guy might be eating whatever and working out 2x a week, and will look shredded. I know these guys, many of them are 'naturals' physically in the sense of having great genetics and athleticism. These guys can fuck a pizza into their gullet every week and wash it down with a few porters and they'll be fine. Their relationship with food gets to be "I eat what I feel like, and magically my body still looks and performs pretty good."

So the key to TRP is "I do not get to do what a natural gets to do."

If you are a fuck up, you don't get to eat shit. You have to eat the chicken and greens and sweet potatoes and shit. If you are a fuck up, you don't get to smoke. You need to be maximizing your alertness and productivity, and you never should be just chilling in a bored state. Ever, like fucking kill yourself if you want to do that, because you need to be extreme. If you are a fuckup, you need ESCAPE VELOCITY from the shithole of your life, which means you don't get to just do what you see already successful people doing.

Let me repeat that - if you are NOT SUCCESSFUL, then you cannot just do what you see successful people doing. You must have a more extreme work ethic, a more retarded absolutist attitude, and less "cheat" days if any.

Now about weed, is weed really that bad? No. The only problem with weed as far as I'm concerned (especially if you aren't smoking shit-tier reggie joints) is that it makes being bored and doing nothing "fun". Go fuck yourself if you want to chime in like "when I'm high I like to write books and compose music and program apps! Hurr hurr!" You know damn well you're the exception and 99% of redditors are watching netflix, eating food, or doing the same dumb shit with the same beta low achiever friends when they get high. South Park nailed it - weed is bad because instead of doing other things, you're smoking weed which is going to help you enjoy doing things that aren't helpful or productive.

"But but thotwrecker life isn't about being productive! Why do we have to be such nazis! You are allowed to relax bro!"

No fuck that, Elon Musk is allowed to relax. Successful people are allowed to relax and do things that aren't focused around accomplishing shit. Unsuccessful people aka all of you who don't own a home, don't drive what they want to drive, don't have the rotation of bitches they want, etc... you should orient your life around being productive. You shouldn't tolerate a hobby that lets you have fun sitting on the couch. If you are unsuccessful, you have weak will. If you have weak will, then the lucy leaf is too much for you - you will enjoy it responsibly until you realize you're smoking to help yourself avoid stress or anxiety about your life being shitty. You're using it responsibly until you blaze up when you have nothing better to do, and you realize that when I ask you what was the last book you read, you respond with something you read in college.

So that's my perspective. The Red Pill knowledge is only useful if you have the self-awareness to say "here is where I am in life, and here is where I'd like to be." TRP is also about looking at yourself in the mirror and figuring out why that gap exists. If there's a gap in your life and you're spending a lot of time on gaming, netflix, weed, shit friends, reddit, drinking, whatever it is... then chances are completely eliminating those shit hobbies with an autistic level of absolutism WILL help you. You have to have the self-knowledge to say "I'm a little fuck up who doesn't have the work ethic I need to hit my goals, I'm not fucking the bitches I want to fuck or making the money I want to make, so I don't get to do the fun stuff that a more successful guy would." That is the heart of TRP - you do not get to do what I get to do, and I do not get to do what Chris Pratt gets to do, and he doesn't get to do what Leo gets to do.

Because most totally introverted guys on here that fall into the trap of videogames get addicted if they aren't already. Playing videogames all day saps your energy and motivation. If you can handle it, handle it.

I personally try to get a couple hours of Xbox per week usually on the weekend. Doesn't affect me at all either.

[deleted]

almost anything in moderation is fine

You need to quit all habits that bring 0 or insignificant value to your goals.

Identifying these activities is hard. Quitting them is harder. Replacing them with something valuable is even harder.

Most of us have the same vices. Drinking, smoking, stimulants - drugs, energy drinks, preworkouts, fast food, social media, video games, porn. Any minute you spend doing any of these activities is largely wasted.

Sure, there's some that can use them sparingly, but the majority is not firing up that xbox in the corner as rarely as they should.

But I unwind with 1-2 <multiplayer-games> after a productive day!"

Anything you do daily is not occasionally unwinding, it's addiction. Useless activity that doesn't bring you closer to being valuable and controls you.

This is to wind down, where my brain is too tired to get any work done

Then you probably need to increase your work capacity, buddy. Do you really deserve this wind down? Stop being a pussy and work more.

It's not videogames specifically, it's something I only just realized myself from Jordan Peterson's talk on how to stop being lazy and progress through life. Even though trp preaches it, it didn't really click with me. It's the willingness to give up comfort for progress, sacrificing your own likes and enjoyments for the bettering of yourself. Becoming comfortable being uncomfortable. If you want to get better, you have to strike out on your own and suffer all the pain, and humiliation, you will encounter from your failures, but through those failures as well as the suffering, and sacrifice, will you further yourself as a man. Only once it's death has come, can it rise from the ashes, and become the mighty Phoenix.

Edit: spelling, wording.

Have you ever heard the sentence " To do nothing is okay, but to be busy doing nothing is not"? We all need rest,entertainment,pleasure, and video games are perfect for that sometimes. They stop being good to you when you don't manage your time well and start loosing out on more important stuff, because its nice to be good at a video game,its nice to conquer that achievment or end that story line, but tbh it translates to nothing irl.

Don't give a shit about it.

I get my work done. I relax and earn my play time.

Video games are a use of time without a clear benefit, so trp doesn't like them in that sense. You might find a game with deep themes and meaning that might be valuable for you, but that's usually 5% of a game experience (most of it just playing). One aspect of gaming I'd say trp might be ok with is playing coop as a bonding experience, whether face to face or online thru discord. If you can make vidgams work for you do so,but don't let it become a crutch. By that I mean playing games to relieve stress or gain a sense of control, but that can easily become a negative cycle to be in.

It's a waste of time. We all waste time but its such an easy thing to axe and depending on how much you play it can create a huge surplus of possible productive time.

For example.

2 years ago i was 260lbs.

Today I weighed in at 161 lbs.

Disclaimer- i was 175lbs at 11%bf but suffered a severe neck injury last april. Cant lift weights and have severe muscle atrophy in my left torso so the 160lbs is actually 14%bf with diet and cardio. Hopefully getting close to some concrete answers and a plan of attack for surgery/recovery. (Yay free Canadian healthcare)

I digress..

Guess how I started my journey? Besides a HEAPING dose of self resentment, anger and determination I switched my two extra large triple triple coffees to black coffees.

"But whats wrong with cream and sugar in coffee?"

Nothing is inherently wrong with it. But why bother?

"You only live once why not enjoy it"

I believe it was a famous stoic that said "choose your pain"

I like to also see it as "choose your pleasure"

Maybe it starts as you cutting out video games on the weekends. Who knows where that choice will take you. Maybe you start going out to try things you wouldnt normally because you made a choice not to sit inside and play games. Maybe you try rock climbing. Maybe you love it. Maybe it becomes your passion in life. Fuck maybe you become an elite level climber. Maybe that passion takes you around the world, meeting interesting people, seeing real things.

"Without some battle, without a war to fight.. then the warrior may as well be dead"

-My boy Apollo Creed

Choose your pain. Choose your pleasure.

I would say that since you found TRP because you life is basically shit.....and you seem to have decided to work toward improving your life THEN...

The very fact, that after researching all the things that TRP and other improvement methods may bring into your life, you are primarily just SCARED SHITLESS THAT IT MIGHT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP YOUR PRECIOUS VIDEO GAMES means that you have a real fucking problem.

And that means that you should drop that shit out of your life for a while because you are addicted no different that the heroin addict who when told that they can have a 3 hour job making a huge amounts of cash, paid vacations to the most awesome places on the planet, and women dropping their panties at the first available moment in their presence, the addict starts worrying that

"yeah, it sounds nice but what about my heroin? "

There's major hate for it because many of the people who complain about it on here took it to the extreme. What it really boils down to is total lack of self control. I play video games still and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. BUT, the major difference between me and the people who give it a bad rap on here is that I have self control and don't blow off the entire day and skip class to play video games LIKE THEY DID.

All in moderation. Get what you have to get done for the day IE work, responsibilities, lift, homework, whatever. But at the end of the day reward yourself with a little bit of video games or netflix. Key word LITTLE. Don't play call of duty for 6 hours after you just completed only an hours worth of work. But an hour and a half of video games before bed or for taking a break isn't so bad. I bought the new Assassins Creed when it came out and i'm nowhere near done with it because I only play it maybe 2-3 times a week. It's very fun though.