Hey,
Changing an ingrained habit is hard and will probably involve a fair bit of sliding back so do keep in mind that if you do at some stage revert back to gaming more than you "want" to that this doesn't mean you're failing - it's a normal part of the process that you've just got to work through.
There are a few different approaches that you can take to try change and maintain new patterns, here are some thoughts:
- use some way of tracking how much time you spend gaming. This might be a journal, a browser plug in, an agreement that you'll send your hours spent gaming that day to a friend, a productivity website or app... lots of options here
- before you start gaming set an alarm for x time to remind you to stop. Depending on how you are with alarms you might want this to be alarms that automatically go off at set times. Even if you don't stop gaming then, being consciously aware of the choice you are making is a step
- make sure you do things and talk with your friends in ways that aren't game related. It's going to be a lot easier to get sucked into playing a game for hours on end if it's your main or only social activity or if you're always getting notifications from discord etc.
- try aiming for incremental progress and celebrate achievements even if you aren't perfectly sticking to your goals
- Iirc, it's easier to create a wanted habit than remove an unwanted one. The issue here likely isn't gaming - it's neglecting other areas of your life from disproportionate focus on gaming. Think about what those other things are and make an effort to focus on them.
Hope this helps & good luck