Hi guys,
My brother (26yrs old) lives with me. We recently moved to the UK (i was living by myself already, he was living with our parents). The problem is that he is addicted to playing. He does have a job, works full time, is very productive at work (as far as i know, even being promoted), but when he gets home, he shuts down and stands in front of the computer for hours until he goes to bed. When he gets a day off, he just stands there from morning till late night. He does make sure he sleeps as much as he needs though.
The bad thing is this: He stopped communicating to people of his own initiative. His best friends are worried and started contacting me to see what's going on with him. They say he is apathetic when talking on Skype and hasn't said anything to his Girlfriend in 3 weeks. My mother and father complain that he is cold when talking, and he even forgot our sister's birthday and father's birthday.
Here's what confuses me: He playes for hours, but he gets up to eat, he goes to bed early to sleep properly for work, and he gets up ultra early (like 2 hours before work time, travel to work takes 20 mins).
I feel that my brother may have some hidden problem. He never speaks much, although we live together. However, when playing, he is lively and communicates a lot, mostly telling people strategies on how to defeat things (he plays HoN, Guild wars 2 and such games).
In the past he also had some worrying behavior, like enrolling in 2 separate degrees only to drop out for different reasons: The first degree he felt was useless, but the 2nd one he enrolled, made our father pay, and eventually we found he wasnt attending classes at all, this after 2 years of starting the degree...
I am posting this because I am not sure on how to handle this, since I am the only person who contacts with him on a daily basis. And i have to do something. Our family back in our hometown is sick worried, and so are his friends and girlfriend. And even so, he seems to not care at all. This is not normal.
Let me know if you had similar cases, and what steps did you take to solve it. I am thinking that reducing his computer time drastically, exchanging that with other activities, may help, but it has to be done on his own initiative.
Thanks for reading. Sorry if it is a bit confusing.
EDIT:
Just to clear some things:
- He has a GF for over 4 years. They have been together happily and she knows of his love for gaming, and understands. Up until coming to the UK he always found time to be with her and away from gaming. Now they are apart (she is studying in Japan for 6 months) but there is a chance she will come to the UK after to be with him and work here.