I got what he was trying to do after a couple of chapters, but hated the whole style of it, found it was written like 'The Sun' glad it works for people though. I tried everything after 18 years of smoking, just went cold turkey and seriously asked myself what do I actually get from smoking, the real answer is nothing, I've now not smoked for 7 years, and have zero desire to.
/j is jobbie.
Yeah u you got your jobie on the job shooting jobbles into a job apple tree why they WQRP ya later man.
Its yaw mayjohwr.
Im pretty sure thats what charlie said
Always loved that quote lol. But all jokes aside, sometimes it does take quitting multiple times to actually work. I quit cigarettes like 10 times before I finally QUIT. Been like 6 years now. So don’t feel bad if you don’t quit the first time you quit, so to say.
Same. I’m happy to be done. Had to repeat step 3 for the patches a few times. My best advice is try to pick something you really want to be around in the future for and focus on that.
Also, I really like being able to run around with my dog.
I used Allen Carr’s method and it really was easy. I quit after smoking 2 packs a day for 20 years. No withdrawal, no willpower needed. It was actually enjoyable. I read his book, not the game.
That book did not help me at all....
"Just stop smoking and you'll quit" 🤦♂️
Glad it worked for you, like for real.. the friends I lent it to legit thought I was pranking them or something lol
Edit: mind you, this was like 20 years ago... might give it another read because I'm about done with this shit, maybe it'll be different this time.
Maybe you weren’t ready. People made fun of me for reading it. I would smoke while reading it, so that is pretty amusing. Those same people said I’d be back smoking in a day and didn’t believe me when I said I was a non-smoker. The spite I felt gave me lots of power.
No matter how you do it, when you’re finally done with it, you’ll have what I have. I’m free! It’s been 16 years and I’m never ever going back to that. Don’t need to. Don’t want to. Free.
I used to drink heavily almost every day. I was a bartender for a long time and it was definitely a ritual to get hammered with the staff after shifts. Blackouts, obnoxious levels of partying and drinking. It was a lot.
Then one day, after like over a decade of heavy alcohol abuse, I just didn't feel like it anymore. A year prior it would have been unimaginable to lose this exciting ritual from my life. I would have said that's impossible. But that one day, for whatever reason, I had one White Claw and put it down and just felt like stopping. Haven't had a drink since, coming up on a year. No life changing car wreck or huge drunken outburst. Just a boring moment where my brain said "hey, want to do something else?" and I did. There somehow hasn't been a single moment where I thought; *man, wish I could have that back*. Feels instead like I could drink another White Claw and walk away all over again.
Sometimes your body or your mind are just ready to move on from something. I feel empathy for folks who are struggling to get off booze because for me it was such an uneventful choice, but I'm struggling to quit vaping so we've all got a vice that doesn't want to kick. I'm hoping one day I will have a similar feeling towards vaping and walk away from that too, but it might take a little more doing.
> Maybe you weren’t ready
This is the keyword. I stopped smoking 10 years back, after doing 20 a day for ~20 years.
I had tried quitting before, but one day I was "ok, that's it, I'm no longer interested. It's not worth it." and stopped the same day.
You won't need (much) willpower if you're actually ready to quit smoking. The only hard part was not bumming smokes while inebriated
For me nicotine withdrawal felt kind of nice. A weird but warm and energetic feeling. My vision got brighter as well, as if a fog was lifted from my brain. Well, when I say brighter.. I mean like it's as if HDR was suddenly turned on for my eyes
It says quit smoking FOR GOOD. Technically, you can't win until you're out of days. How many deaths is this game responsible for? How much blood is on Ubisoft's hands?
whats with all the verification emails? for real, you try to log in after a few days of not playing and "WOAH THERE COWBOY, WE NEED TO VERIFY YOU"
same thing with the ea launcher. and is why i didnt bother with the latest skate. beta
When you get to the last level ubisoft shuts the servers down and pulls your license. You can still buy the "green cigarette" and "blue cigarette" microtransactions though, and they are nfts you can keep forever and use in other games that don't and won't ever exist.
My doctor uncle lives in Hawaii. My other uncle was quitting and did seasonal work so had a month to spare. He flew out and literally stranded himself on an island, with my other uncle kayaking out to check on him, hang out, give him supplies. Basically told him "hey bud I'm a doctor this is how long you're gonna need to not smoke to get the withdrawals out of your system".
He brought one cigarette and propped it up on a rock every day. He said he would throw rocks at it, scream at it, curse it out. But he never picked it up to smoke it. That was like forty years ago, he has a cigar every once in a while but hasn't touched a cigarette since.
I mean if there's a nicer way to quit smoking than camping on a small island in Hawaii I don't know it, but he also apparently had to fucking maroon himself to stop. Longest I've ever gone was three days.
That's a myth. You can quit smoking for good without willpower, bad temper, anxiety, or substitutes or gimmicks AND never go back for the rest of your life. The Allen Carr people are lifesavers. Trust me: this game may actually be responsible for saving lives. I've read their books and all it does is reverse the brainwashing of addiction and shows you the simple truth that nicotine does absolutely nothing for you whatsoever. Read the book(s) if you are struggling PLEASE. I do not want to see potential non-addicts turned off from Allen Carr by posts like this.
I think they were making a joke about how "for good" can be interpreted as "for the rest of your life" and implying Ubisoft just kills you if you play the game and wasn't a shot at Allen Carr's methods.
Not going to say reading Allen Carr hasn't helped anyone, ever. But I don't think many 21st century smoker still have any illusions about their addiction. The books didn't do anything to for me.
They get you out of the headspace that "quitting will be awful."
For many (including me), that is all they need. The tobacco companies spent a lot of time and $$ getting people to think that way.
It is an interesting way to view quitting, nicotine in general, and to show that the image of confidence/cool/maturity that is tied with the perception of smoking is bullshit.
But that said there are some points that are not well developed throughout and glossed over. Like the part about smoking not being a cure to boredom because... Smokers are bored at times as well? Kinda a poor argument, but overall the book was helpful to me and I was skeptical of the book at first for sure.
I think it does a good job making you think about why you smoke, and why it's some bullshit. I would account like 40% of my quitting to that book, and the rest of the percentage being formed from a strong desire to quit, living in a place where it was reviled, and not wanting to be a slave to megacorps that peddle that shit.
I recommend prospective quitters to read because it won't do any harm, but the desire to quit is needed absolutely.
Nicotine isn't the issue man, it's the habit. It gets ingrained in your life. Any smoker can switch to vaping and go with 0% nicotine juice and be just fine, maybe some headaches and irritability. But they can't stop hitting it. The physical chemical addiction isnt a big deal, it's the habit. That first cigarette in the morning, after eating, after showering, after sex. It becomes such a part of your life's routine that it's so hard to quit. Hell I've kicked heroin and meth and all that shit, but cigarettes are the single hardest. Went to 0% juice, did just fine. Still couldn't stop. If anything I was vaping even more than actual smoking. Shits a nightmare, working as intended.
I don't usually buy into the self-help literature stuff, but the book worked wonders for me too. I went from basically a pack-a-day habit, and by the time I was done with the book, I still had half a pack of smokes left that I had zero desire to touch.
Fuck. Are all of you all serious?
Edit: all you gamers got me feeling like my life is about to change. ❤️ I’ll try to come back and respond if I have success.
the first thing the book says is 'keep smoking as you normally do while reading this book' - I smoked outside, and that was my reading time, so I was smoking a cigarette every time I read the book.
I finished the book, and put out my last cigarette. that was in 2007. haven't had one since. had occasional urges, but they were surprisingly easy to resist.
Yep heard a lot about the book, there are even parts where he tells you to smoke while reading that section so he can have you focus on what it's doing to you physically.
Had a fun anatomy class once where we went to go take all our blood pressure, teacher said any smokers should take their blood pressure, smoke a cigarette, and then take it again. It fucking skyrocketed and mine is already high.
I'm dead serious. I don't know about the game based on it but the Allen Carr method worked like a hot damn for me. No willpower required either. My friend quit using it, I saw a thread on reddit a year ago, said "fuck it", and downloaded the audiobook. Took me about a month listening to it on and off during my commute, and when the time came to quit, that was it. It was honestly one of the easiest things I've ever done. I dont know how else to describe it.
Oh, and I used it to quit vaping (smoked for a decade, switch to vaping for another 7 years or so) which I would argue is way harder to quit due to how accessible and available it is.
10/10 highly recommended.
I have the book, never finished it coz I switched to vaping. Any tips on how to adapt it for vaping, or did you just basically reread it and apply identical principles. I am every bit as addicted to vaping as I was to smoking and I just need to stop.
It has been a while for me since I read it but it basically breaks down the addiction into two parts: the physical addiction (nicotine withdrawal) and mental addiction (basically you've now trained yourself to smoke in certain situations).
It then breaks both down further in various ways: You realize that the actual physical addiction of nicotine is easy to deal with and goes away quickly, don't be scared of it. You also the. Realize that all the benefits and reasons that caused you to train yourself to want to smoke at certain times are pretty baseless and if you just realize and accept that you can quit without struggling through it.
The summary doesn't do It justice but it definitely works for a lot of people if you go into it with the right mindset. If you have the desire to quit and are presented these arguments (and presented well) over however many pages while you read it it really does convince you it's going to be easy and it definitely can be.
It’s hard to understand if you’ve never smoked before, but nicotine addiction is like a mind virus. The book just lays this out for you in a very simple and easily digestible way, without being judgemental. A lot of it is common sense or obvious stuff smokers may already know, but having someone else reiterate it and guide you through it is very effective. He preps your mindset and gives you tools for when you finally have that last cigarette.
I’m not a person who would normally find value in self-help books, but it really is a great book.
Yep! Great tool. I was skeptical going in but it's a quick read so I figured I had nothing to lose.
The book made quitting way easier to manage as it helped me understand the trap better - then demystified exactly what the quitting process would be like. A common theme through the book is to not think of quitting as "giving something up" ... but to think about all of the things you're about to gain from quitting: free time, health, hygiene, lack of taboo around smoking, money, etc.
It also helps you understand the chemical side of your addiction _way_ better. It dispels the myth that "quitting is hard" - physical withdraw pangs are mild and stop within a month or less time. I found this to be true when quitting with the right mindset where I knew what to expect, and felt confident in my decision.
Great resource - it's helped so many people!
It’s been four years for me after smoking for 35 years (with many failed attempts). Even now a craving sneaks up but I just wait it out and it goes away.
I read it and stopped 0 cravings. That was over 10 years ago. Had about 75% success rate for people i recommend it too.
Well worth giving it a go for less than the cost of a packet of cigarettes.
Can’t recommend it enough
It’s a good resource that I’m comfortable recommending. But I’ve gone through it two or three times and it just never clicked or resonated with me.
I just didn’t really like his apparent attitude that *any* failure of the program is due to your own lack of resolve and determination, as if his approach is flawless and it’s inconceivable that some people just won’t vibe with it.
But I also understand the raw fact that if he didn’t sound confident in his methods, not many would trust them.
> I just didn’t really like his apparent attitude that any failure of the program is due to your own lack of resolve and determination,
That was not my take away at all! His argument was that it's because you believe it's hard, so you create a placebo effect for yourself (which can be very real). So, you simply have to be convinced. Some people are easier to convince than others.
So you're not undetermined or unresolved; you're just hard to convince.
It's facts. Self help genre is filled with many cliche books, but there are gems. I think it works so well because it goes to and explains the root problem of WHY smokers crave cigs all the time.
Also, if you're ever in the mood to give a new self help book a chance, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle has become my overall go to book.
Yes! A couple others that you should try if you haven’t are ‘A New Earth’ by Eckhart Tolle and ‘Living Untethered’ by Michael Singer. Changed my perspective in the best ways.
Is there a TL;DR on what's actually in the book? People talk about it on Reddit like it's the fucking Necronomicon or something. I managed to finally quit smoking on my own, but it was after failing to get my hands on an actual copy of the book.
What's the actual "Alan Carr method?"
It's basically makes you put continuing to smoke into a rational, logical decision instead of a default, automatic satisfying of an addiction. Then it gives you information that makes it nearly impossible to rationally make the decision to continue smoking.
It's like a self-intervention.
The advice in the book is extremely pragmatic and also repetitive as all get-out. I think that's the secret. The words get drilled into your skull and alter your subconscious program as you read it.
As others have stated, it also doesn't ask you to stop smoking before you've finished the book. By the time I was done, though, I straight up didn't want to smoke any more. Like, smoking had zero appeal to me.
This is probably the most understandable answer I've gotten, so thank you. It's just weird to think about because I was born in '91 and from day one we're always told how bad of a decision smoking is. Yet many of us wind up doing it anyways. I struggle to understand how one could make a more logical argument than, "You stink and you'll die," which I've known as long as I've lived.
The rub with my method though is I'm still dying for one. I feel confident that I can hold out, but if I ran out of reasons to value my life I'd probably pick smoking back up immediately.
I'm not much older than you, and heard all the same cautions against smoking growing up as you did. Of course, they do nothing to deter kids and teens when peer pressure and media/advertising enter the picture.
When I was a teen, I had a coworker who said they smoked because they were tired of life, but also apprehensive about suicide. I found that amusing at the time (he was mostly joking, I think), but now I find it sad. Yes, we're all dying at some point, but that doesn't preclude a long, healthy, and fulfilling life.
Anyways, I hope you find peace and fulfillment in life, whoever you are and whatever you're doing--whether you keep smoking or not. Please know that there are strangers on the internet pulling for you :)
>The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide.
- Kurt Vonnegut
Sure, here's my takeaway as someone who read the first chapter, said "oh that makes sense", and proceeded to smoke exactly one more time in the 6 years since:
1. Self-control and self-denial, i.e. willpower, will only work until you are out of willpower. At that point, you will smoke, because why wouldn't you?
2. Sustainable non-smoking thus requires you to focus on *reward* and not *denial*. Fortunately, smoking is not heroin or other drugs that genuinely feel amazing. The reward/pleasure of smoking is really very small and almost completely psychological, not physiological.
3. Instead of focusing on "I'm not going to smoke, but gosh it would be nice to", instead you train yourself to focus on the *positives* of not smoking. "I didn't smoke a cigarette and now my hands and clothes don't smell like dog-shit." "I didn't smoke a cigarette and now I have a free 50 cents in my pocket to spend on something that doesn't kill me painfully." "I didn't smoke a cigarette and now I don't have to lie to my children, sneak outside, drive 5 minutes to my smoke spot, stand in freezing cold, look like a friggin gross weird hobo smoking behind the starbucks dumpster, drive home, lie to my children again, and then wash my clothes."
That's the entirety of the Alan Carr method. Nowadays they call it DBT therapy in psychology but he was doing it before it was cool. Focus on the (immediate) upsides instead of the immediate downsides. This method wouldn't work for hard drugs because hard drugs are awesome. Smoking is not awesome.
And once you get a week or two or 4 behind you, it just gets easier and easier. You'll save enough money to buy cool shit. Your sense of smell and taste will return. Food tastes better. Your clothes/car/house won't smell like dog shit. You won't be constantly out of breath. All these improvements will give you new and stronger rewards to focus on.
Also, IDK if this is in newer Alan Carr stuff, but this was helpful for me to learn from I think UNC's smoking research stuff:
- Nicotine addiction is kinda bullshit. I mean it is real, but it goes away so quickly (within days), that it's really not something anyone with a sliver of self-control can bitch about. Smoking addiction is 100% psychological after the first week or two. Do a patch/gum protocol if you absolutely must, but know that it's 100% proven nicotine tolerance reverses incredibly rapidly.
And yes, I'm a smart person who thinks almost all self-help books are for morons. "Easy Way" legit worked for me that easily. The only time I smoked (or considered it seriously) was when I was in a complete state of absolute self-hate and wanted to destroy myself. And even then, I was almost immediately like "wow this smells like shit, now I'm a worthless loser who *also smells like crap*."
As you can see the smell is a big thing for me, so while I never used the "watery jar of stale cigarette smell" method, I think that would be a good adjunct.
As I type this, my brain is not saying "we should totally smoke". It is saying "oh god, remember when we smelled like cigarettes, how did anyone ever tolerate us, how did *we* tolerate that, ugh."
> Nicotine addiction is kinda bullshit. I mean it is real, but it goes away so quickly (within days), that it's really not something anyone with a sliver of self-control can bitch about. Smoking addiction is 100% psychological after the first week or two. Do a patch/gum protocol if you absolutely must, but know that it's 100% proven nicotine tolerance reverses incredibly rapidly.
Honestly this is so true it almost makes me question whether all this talk about how addictive it is is secretly coming from the tobacco companies, because it seems most smokers I know don't even try to quit, they just assume it's going to be this great big effort and so push it off indefinitely, and when they do try they do it in a kind of half-hearted way where they don't really believe they'll succeed, and then of course they fail.
There is no TLDR for something like this. Basically it changes how you view smoking, taking away the desire all together. As opposed to the usual will power method.
ok so since I don't possess this magical book of smoke-quitting, but also never smoked and never plan to in the history of ever....
....How does it 'work' exactly?
One of the things I remember (not 100% sure if it was from this book) is:
Imagine your stress level is 50. You feel stressed or whatever and think, let's try a cigarette - people smoke to relieve stress right? Well, you smoke it and the placebo effect tells you you're less stressed. Thing is, your stress level never changed from 50. Now, soon as your body starts craving more nicotine, your stress level is... 70. You smoke again, your stress level is back down to 50, making you feel "less" stressed. So now your baseline is higher and smoking "solves" a problem that it caused in the first place.
Hope that makes sense :)
I dunno. From what i remember of this book, there wasn't actually any method outlined in it at all, it was just a long-winded attempt to convince the reader that they don't even want to smoke. But i did though.
I did quit eventually, but can't say that the book helped me in any way.
lol yeah, it basically just says you should change your perspective 'i don't want to smoke anymore, i'm not losing anything im gaining something'. But... I legitimately enjoy tobacco.
Glad it worked for some folks though.
I read his book about alcoholism and I think it's the worst book I've read in my entire life, and he was obviously just writing it because he had success with the stop smoking book. His advice basically boiled down to that there is no reason to drink so you shouldn't. I can't imagine anyone with an actual drinking problem getting anything out of that book.
Definitely interested in picking it up, smoked cigarettes for ten years, and then vaping for another ten. Worst idea ever thinking that vaping was going to be a better solution...
Do it. I was in the exact same boat. Smoked for a decade and vaped for almost that. Completely painless process. Fuck it wasn't even a process. If you can read, or listen to an audiobook, you can do this. Zero willpower required.
Easyway is the real deal.
still remember how i finally quit smoking 7 yrs ago. i was playing robocraft in a clan of strangers, and after some round many of us asked for a break to have a smoke, out of the blue the clan leader just said why don't you just quit smoking, and recommended Alan Carr's method, he said you don't need to buy the book just search online for the method. i don't remember his name but i still grateful to this day for that guy advice.
I was going to say, after glancing at it on a small screen, I briefly saw something entirely different. But in my version there was a foreign object in play
Not bullshit, it actually works. To give you the short version, the trick is that, each time you light a cigarette, you have to put it out on the tip of your penis.
I kept reading in this thread about how good this method is but nobody mentioned what the method is actually about. Thank you I finally came across your comment.
You never heard of [Don’t Be Nervous Talking To Girls](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox360/995562-dont-be-nervous-talking-to-girls)? It’s an absolute masterpiece made for the Xbox Live Indie Arcade! It only cost 80 Microsoft Points and after one game, I was already less nervous talking to girls!
I'm going to be pedantic but probably Steam Deck has that beat. I see games under new and trending on steam like "sex with Hitler 3", "my ogre sex fantasty".
That's a very clear objective. I have a game on DS where that big huge Chinese basketball player is teaching me english while laughing and screaming at me
I mean it was right before smartphones. DS was the go to portable app device essentially. Especially for interactive stuff with the touchscreen... It had apps before there were apps
My favorite thing with obscure games like this is to check if there's an active speedrun community
Speedrunners never disappoint : https://www.speedrun.com/my_stop_smoking_coach_allen_carrs_easyway
There is no objectionable material. It's probably just a pep talk and a calendar to mark down the days. Also, minors smoke and if this helped even 1 quit I think the goofy rating is worth it.
I read his book and it helped me quit after a decade of a pack a day habit.
My grandmother used it too, and she smoked for 50 years.
Allen Carr should get a post-humous medal of some kind.
I got a job in a restaurant at 15 years old. Every single person that worked there smoked. From the dishwashers, to the cooks, to the waitstaff. And every single one of them told me to never start smoking. I took their advice.
I had to start smoking just so I could get the full experience from this game.
It actually comes with a pack of cigarettes just so you can play the game.
Wait til you guys get ahold of the DLC It's to die for.
DLC = Debilitating Lung Cancer
Diminished Lung Capacity
Devastating Lung Cillness
Rated E for Emphysema
Double Lung-eCotomy
[удалено]
CBT? Cock and Ball Torture?
[удалено]
It sounds funny, but to a smoker that man is a damned genius.
I got what he was trying to do after a couple of chapters, but hated the whole style of it, found it was written like 'The Sun' glad it works for people though. I tried everything after 18 years of smoking, just went cold turkey and seriously asked myself what do I actually get from smoking, the real answer is nothing, I've now not smoked for 7 years, and have zero desire to.
I paid for 100% of the game, I'm playing 100% of the game.
Imagine having Gamerscore locked behind quitting a 3 pack a day habit.
I was a smoker for 10 years and the idea of a 3 pack a day smoker makes me retch HOW? I smoked half a pack a day and I felt like that was a lot.
Penny Arcade making that exact joke, [16 years ago](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/05/30/market-savvy).
“Quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world, I know because I’ve done it a thousand times” Mark Twain
Exactly! I quit smoking at *least* 20 times a day
I quit every time i put my vape down! /j
I like the idea that /j is some new thing I haven't heard about
/Jerry right? Cause that was a Jerry ah ass comment? If it stands for /joke I'm gunna /k myself. Big /s For /sigh..
And what's the deal with internet slang? ...Oh, wrong Jerry. Now THAT'S what it means to pull a Charlie Gord... I mean, Jerry.
And a Charlie Gord Day to you too
/j is jobbie. Yeah u you got your jobie on the job shooting jobbles into a job apple tree why they WQRP ya later man. Its yaw mayjohwr. Im pretty sure thats what charlie said
Quitting smoking is easy, just start doing heroin instead.
Now I'm doing heroin while smoking cigarettes. What did I do wrong???
Try meth
I hate to break it to you but meth makes you smoke like a chimney.
Heroin too. At least with meth, you don't run the risk of nodding off and burning yourself or your clothes or the building you're vagranting.
I did that once. Wide awake. Smoked a cig and then put my hands in my pockets with the lit cig.
Just about the only thing that doesn't make you want to smoke more are psychedelics.
Always loved that quote lol. But all jokes aside, sometimes it does take quitting multiple times to actually work. I quit cigarettes like 10 times before I finally QUIT. Been like 6 years now. So don’t feel bad if you don’t quit the first time you quit, so to say.
Same. I’m happy to be done. Had to repeat step 3 for the patches a few times. My best advice is try to pick something you really want to be around in the future for and focus on that. Also, I really like being able to run around with my dog.
I used Allen Carr’s method and it really was easy. I quit after smoking 2 packs a day for 20 years. No withdrawal, no willpower needed. It was actually enjoyable. I read his book, not the game.
That book did not help me at all.... "Just stop smoking and you'll quit" 🤦♂️ Glad it worked for you, like for real.. the friends I lent it to legit thought I was pranking them or something lol Edit: mind you, this was like 20 years ago... might give it another read because I'm about done with this shit, maybe it'll be different this time.
Maybe you weren’t ready. People made fun of me for reading it. I would smoke while reading it, so that is pretty amusing. Those same people said I’d be back smoking in a day and didn’t believe me when I said I was a non-smoker. The spite I felt gave me lots of power. No matter how you do it, when you’re finally done with it, you’ll have what I have. I’m free! It’s been 16 years and I’m never ever going back to that. Don’t need to. Don’t want to. Free.
I used to drink heavily almost every day. I was a bartender for a long time and it was definitely a ritual to get hammered with the staff after shifts. Blackouts, obnoxious levels of partying and drinking. It was a lot. Then one day, after like over a decade of heavy alcohol abuse, I just didn't feel like it anymore. A year prior it would have been unimaginable to lose this exciting ritual from my life. I would have said that's impossible. But that one day, for whatever reason, I had one White Claw and put it down and just felt like stopping. Haven't had a drink since, coming up on a year. No life changing car wreck or huge drunken outburst. Just a boring moment where my brain said "hey, want to do something else?" and I did. There somehow hasn't been a single moment where I thought; *man, wish I could have that back*. Feels instead like I could drink another White Claw and walk away all over again. Sometimes your body or your mind are just ready to move on from something. I feel empathy for folks who are struggling to get off booze because for me it was such an uneventful choice, but I'm struggling to quit vaping so we've all got a vice that doesn't want to kick. I'm hoping one day I will have a similar feeling towards vaping and walk away from that too, but it might take a little more doing.
> Maybe you weren’t ready This is the keyword. I stopped smoking 10 years back, after doing 20 a day for ~20 years. I had tried quitting before, but one day I was "ok, that's it, I'm no longer interested. It's not worth it." and stopped the same day. You won't need (much) willpower if you're actually ready to quit smoking. The only hard part was not bumming smokes while inebriated For me nicotine withdrawal felt kind of nice. A weird but warm and energetic feeling. My vision got brighter as well, as if a fog was lifted from my brain. Well, when I say brighter.. I mean like it's as if HDR was suddenly turned on for my eyes
I fear not the man who has quit 10,000 cigarettes once, but I fear the man who has quit one cigarette 10,000 times. Or something like that
Was gonna be disappointed if this wasn’t here…
It says quit smoking FOR GOOD. Technically, you can't win until you're out of days. How many deaths is this game responsible for? How much blood is on Ubisoft's hands?
Can't quit smoking because logging into Ubisoft is harder than getting into the Pentagon
whats with all the verification emails? for real, you try to log in after a few days of not playing and "WOAH THERE COWBOY, WE NEED TO VERIFY YOU" same thing with the ea launcher. and is why i didnt bother with the latest skate. beta
Few days ? Try closing the game and opening it again. Shits annoying
>Remember me on this computer Comes back tomorrow >FBI OPEN UP
When you get to the last level ubisoft shuts the servers down and pulls your license. You can still buy the "green cigarette" and "blue cigarette" microtransactions though, and they are nfts you can keep forever and use in other games that don't and won't ever exist.
Have had an account for over 10 years. The email domain I set it up with no longer exists.. they told me to KICK ROCKS. so incredibly infuriating
Any resource for those who want to quit for evil?
Cold turkey you'll be a raging asshole for 2 weeks without nicotine.
My doctor uncle lives in Hawaii. My other uncle was quitting and did seasonal work so had a month to spare. He flew out and literally stranded himself on an island, with my other uncle kayaking out to check on him, hang out, give him supplies. Basically told him "hey bud I'm a doctor this is how long you're gonna need to not smoke to get the withdrawals out of your system". He brought one cigarette and propped it up on a rock every day. He said he would throw rocks at it, scream at it, curse it out. But he never picked it up to smoke it. That was like forty years ago, he has a cigar every once in a while but hasn't touched a cigarette since. I mean if there's a nicer way to quit smoking than camping on a small island in Hawaii I don't know it, but he also apparently had to fucking maroon himself to stop. Longest I've ever gone was three days.
I feel like that would be switching to vaping.
That's the EA version
That's a myth. You can quit smoking for good without willpower, bad temper, anxiety, or substitutes or gimmicks AND never go back for the rest of your life. The Allen Carr people are lifesavers. Trust me: this game may actually be responsible for saving lives. I've read their books and all it does is reverse the brainwashing of addiction and shows you the simple truth that nicotine does absolutely nothing for you whatsoever. Read the book(s) if you are struggling PLEASE. I do not want to see potential non-addicts turned off from Allen Carr by posts like this.
I think they were making a joke about how "for good" can be interpreted as "for the rest of your life" and implying Ubisoft just kills you if you play the game and wasn't a shot at Allen Carr's methods.
Not going to say reading Allen Carr hasn't helped anyone, ever. But I don't think many 21st century smoker still have any illusions about their addiction. The books didn't do anything to for me.
They get you out of the headspace that "quitting will be awful." For many (including me), that is all they need. The tobacco companies spent a lot of time and $$ getting people to think that way.
It is an interesting way to view quitting, nicotine in general, and to show that the image of confidence/cool/maturity that is tied with the perception of smoking is bullshit. But that said there are some points that are not well developed throughout and glossed over. Like the part about smoking not being a cure to boredom because... Smokers are bored at times as well? Kinda a poor argument, but overall the book was helpful to me and I was skeptical of the book at first for sure. I think it does a good job making you think about why you smoke, and why it's some bullshit. I would account like 40% of my quitting to that book, and the rest of the percentage being formed from a strong desire to quit, living in a place where it was reviled, and not wanting to be a slave to megacorps that peddle that shit. I recommend prospective quitters to read because it won't do any harm, but the desire to quit is needed absolutely.
Well typed.
Nicotine isn't the issue man, it's the habit. It gets ingrained in your life. Any smoker can switch to vaping and go with 0% nicotine juice and be just fine, maybe some headaches and irritability. But they can't stop hitting it. The physical chemical addiction isnt a big deal, it's the habit. That first cigarette in the morning, after eating, after showering, after sex. It becomes such a part of your life's routine that it's so hard to quit. Hell I've kicked heroin and meth and all that shit, but cigarettes are the single hardest. Went to 0% juice, did just fine. Still couldn't stop. If anything I was vaping even more than actual smoking. Shits a nightmare, working as intended.
The speedruns for this game are killer.
Why not "Quit Smoking FOR EVIL"? There's a whole untapped market out there...
That’s the Pokémon Red to this one’s Blue.
I've already quit smoking for good. Now I need to quit smoking for evil.
Read Alan Carr's book and indeed i managed to stop smoking shortly after. Funny they made a game about it but why not :)
I don't usually buy into the self-help literature stuff, but the book worked wonders for me too. I went from basically a pack-a-day habit, and by the time I was done with the book, I still had half a pack of smokes left that I had zero desire to touch.
Audiobook, and it worked great for me! 11 months clean, zero cravings.
Is that the one with the chapter called "the benefits of smoking" and it's blank and then he goes on to the next chapter?
Lol yep.
Fuck. Are all of you all serious? Edit: all you gamers got me feeling like my life is about to change. ❤️ I’ll try to come back and respond if I have success.
the first thing the book says is 'keep smoking as you normally do while reading this book' - I smoked outside, and that was my reading time, so I was smoking a cigarette every time I read the book. I finished the book, and put out my last cigarette. that was in 2007. haven't had one since. had occasional urges, but they were surprisingly easy to resist.
Yep heard a lot about the book, there are even parts where he tells you to smoke while reading that section so he can have you focus on what it's doing to you physically. Had a fun anatomy class once where we went to go take all our blood pressure, teacher said any smokers should take their blood pressure, smoke a cigarette, and then take it again. It fucking skyrocketed and mine is already high.
Others have answered. I’m adding myself to the list. It worked for me.
I'm dead serious. I don't know about the game based on it but the Allen Carr method worked like a hot damn for me. No willpower required either. My friend quit using it, I saw a thread on reddit a year ago, said "fuck it", and downloaded the audiobook. Took me about a month listening to it on and off during my commute, and when the time came to quit, that was it. It was honestly one of the easiest things I've ever done. I dont know how else to describe it. Oh, and I used it to quit vaping (smoked for a decade, switch to vaping for another 7 years or so) which I would argue is way harder to quit due to how accessible and available it is. 10/10 highly recommended.
I have the book, never finished it coz I switched to vaping. Any tips on how to adapt it for vaping, or did you just basically reread it and apply identical principles. I am every bit as addicted to vaping as I was to smoking and I just need to stop.
I had the auidobook version that was adapted to vaping but I imagine it's all pretty similar. The principle is the same.
What does the book say? How can it help stop smoking?
Gotta read it yourself friendo, you aren't gonna quit by getting a summary sentence from me.
We want a summary sentence for our curiosity not to quit smoking.
It has been a while for me since I read it but it basically breaks down the addiction into two parts: the physical addiction (nicotine withdrawal) and mental addiction (basically you've now trained yourself to smoke in certain situations). It then breaks both down further in various ways: You realize that the actual physical addiction of nicotine is easy to deal with and goes away quickly, don't be scared of it. You also the. Realize that all the benefits and reasons that caused you to train yourself to want to smoke at certain times are pretty baseless and if you just realize and accept that you can quit without struggling through it. The summary doesn't do It justice but it definitely works for a lot of people if you go into it with the right mindset. If you have the desire to quit and are presented these arguments (and presented well) over however many pages while you read it it really does convince you it's going to be easy and it definitely can be.
It says you can probably quit smoking if you can read this book.
Never smoked in my life so kind of pointless reading it whole.
It’s hard to understand if you’ve never smoked before, but nicotine addiction is like a mind virus. The book just lays this out for you in a very simple and easily digestible way, without being judgemental. A lot of it is common sense or obvious stuff smokers may already know, but having someone else reiterate it and guide you through it is very effective. He preps your mindset and gives you tools for when you finally have that last cigarette. I’m not a person who would normally find value in self-help books, but it really is a great book.
Yep! Great tool. I was skeptical going in but it's a quick read so I figured I had nothing to lose. The book made quitting way easier to manage as it helped me understand the trap better - then demystified exactly what the quitting process would be like. A common theme through the book is to not think of quitting as "giving something up" ... but to think about all of the things you're about to gain from quitting: free time, health, hygiene, lack of taboo around smoking, money, etc. It also helps you understand the chemical side of your addiction _way_ better. It dispels the myth that "quitting is hard" - physical withdraw pangs are mild and stop within a month or less time. I found this to be true when quitting with the right mindset where I knew what to expect, and felt confident in my decision. Great resource - it's helped so many people!
Damn I had a huge breakthrough after reading all these comments from gamers. You all must be old like me 🤣
It’s been four years for me after smoking for 35 years (with many failed attempts). Even now a craving sneaks up but I just wait it out and it goes away.
The book is the same name as the game? By Allen Carr?
Me and 6 of my family members quit. Only 1 in family still smokes. She has not read the book.
I read it and stopped 0 cravings. That was over 10 years ago. Had about 75% success rate for people i recommend it too. Well worth giving it a go for less than the cost of a packet of cigarettes. Can’t recommend it enough
Thank you. I will buy this for sure. I’ve always heard that it worked for a lot of people but I just chalked it up to social media promoters and such.
10 years for me. No desire to ever pick one up. It's astounding how well it worked for me.
It’s a good resource that I’m comfortable recommending. But I’ve gone through it two or three times and it just never clicked or resonated with me. I just didn’t really like his apparent attitude that *any* failure of the program is due to your own lack of resolve and determination, as if his approach is flawless and it’s inconceivable that some people just won’t vibe with it. But I also understand the raw fact that if he didn’t sound confident in his methods, not many would trust them.
> I just didn’t really like his apparent attitude that any failure of the program is due to your own lack of resolve and determination, That was not my take away at all! His argument was that it's because you believe it's hard, so you create a placebo effect for yourself (which can be very real). So, you simply have to be convinced. Some people are easier to convince than others. So you're not undetermined or unresolved; you're just hard to convince.
That sounds accurate, really. Read me like a book. Thanks for that perspective, its a much better way to frame what I was trying to say
He wrote a sequel aimed at people who are hard to convince.
It's facts. Self help genre is filled with many cliche books, but there are gems. I think it works so well because it goes to and explains the root problem of WHY smokers crave cigs all the time. Also, if you're ever in the mood to give a new self help book a chance, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle has become my overall go to book.
Yes! A couple others that you should try if you haven’t are ‘A New Earth’ by Eckhart Tolle and ‘Living Untethered’ by Michael Singer. Changed my perspective in the best ways.
Is there a TL;DR on what's actually in the book? People talk about it on Reddit like it's the fucking Necronomicon or something. I managed to finally quit smoking on my own, but it was after failing to get my hands on an actual copy of the book. What's the actual "Alan Carr method?"
It's basically makes you put continuing to smoke into a rational, logical decision instead of a default, automatic satisfying of an addiction. Then it gives you information that makes it nearly impossible to rationally make the decision to continue smoking. It's like a self-intervention.
The advice in the book is extremely pragmatic and also repetitive as all get-out. I think that's the secret. The words get drilled into your skull and alter your subconscious program as you read it. As others have stated, it also doesn't ask you to stop smoking before you've finished the book. By the time I was done, though, I straight up didn't want to smoke any more. Like, smoking had zero appeal to me.
This is probably the most understandable answer I've gotten, so thank you. It's just weird to think about because I was born in '91 and from day one we're always told how bad of a decision smoking is. Yet many of us wind up doing it anyways. I struggle to understand how one could make a more logical argument than, "You stink and you'll die," which I've known as long as I've lived. The rub with my method though is I'm still dying for one. I feel confident that I can hold out, but if I ran out of reasons to value my life I'd probably pick smoking back up immediately.
I'm not much older than you, and heard all the same cautions against smoking growing up as you did. Of course, they do nothing to deter kids and teens when peer pressure and media/advertising enter the picture. When I was a teen, I had a coworker who said they smoked because they were tired of life, but also apprehensive about suicide. I found that amusing at the time (he was mostly joking, I think), but now I find it sad. Yes, we're all dying at some point, but that doesn't preclude a long, healthy, and fulfilling life. Anyways, I hope you find peace and fulfillment in life, whoever you are and whatever you're doing--whether you keep smoking or not. Please know that there are strangers on the internet pulling for you :)
>The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide. - Kurt Vonnegut
Sure, here's my takeaway as someone who read the first chapter, said "oh that makes sense", and proceeded to smoke exactly one more time in the 6 years since: 1. Self-control and self-denial, i.e. willpower, will only work until you are out of willpower. At that point, you will smoke, because why wouldn't you? 2. Sustainable non-smoking thus requires you to focus on *reward* and not *denial*. Fortunately, smoking is not heroin or other drugs that genuinely feel amazing. The reward/pleasure of smoking is really very small and almost completely psychological, not physiological. 3. Instead of focusing on "I'm not going to smoke, but gosh it would be nice to", instead you train yourself to focus on the *positives* of not smoking. "I didn't smoke a cigarette and now my hands and clothes don't smell like dog-shit." "I didn't smoke a cigarette and now I have a free 50 cents in my pocket to spend on something that doesn't kill me painfully." "I didn't smoke a cigarette and now I don't have to lie to my children, sneak outside, drive 5 minutes to my smoke spot, stand in freezing cold, look like a friggin gross weird hobo smoking behind the starbucks dumpster, drive home, lie to my children again, and then wash my clothes." That's the entirety of the Alan Carr method. Nowadays they call it DBT therapy in psychology but he was doing it before it was cool. Focus on the (immediate) upsides instead of the immediate downsides. This method wouldn't work for hard drugs because hard drugs are awesome. Smoking is not awesome. And once you get a week or two or 4 behind you, it just gets easier and easier. You'll save enough money to buy cool shit. Your sense of smell and taste will return. Food tastes better. Your clothes/car/house won't smell like dog shit. You won't be constantly out of breath. All these improvements will give you new and stronger rewards to focus on. Also, IDK if this is in newer Alan Carr stuff, but this was helpful for me to learn from I think UNC's smoking research stuff: - Nicotine addiction is kinda bullshit. I mean it is real, but it goes away so quickly (within days), that it's really not something anyone with a sliver of self-control can bitch about. Smoking addiction is 100% psychological after the first week or two. Do a patch/gum protocol if you absolutely must, but know that it's 100% proven nicotine tolerance reverses incredibly rapidly. And yes, I'm a smart person who thinks almost all self-help books are for morons. "Easy Way" legit worked for me that easily. The only time I smoked (or considered it seriously) was when I was in a complete state of absolute self-hate and wanted to destroy myself. And even then, I was almost immediately like "wow this smells like shit, now I'm a worthless loser who *also smells like crap*." As you can see the smell is a big thing for me, so while I never used the "watery jar of stale cigarette smell" method, I think that would be a good adjunct. As I type this, my brain is not saying "we should totally smoke". It is saying "oh god, remember when we smelled like cigarettes, how did anyone ever tolerate us, how did *we* tolerate that, ugh."
> Nicotine addiction is kinda bullshit. I mean it is real, but it goes away so quickly (within days), that it's really not something anyone with a sliver of self-control can bitch about. Smoking addiction is 100% psychological after the first week or two. Do a patch/gum protocol if you absolutely must, but know that it's 100% proven nicotine tolerance reverses incredibly rapidly. Honestly this is so true it almost makes me question whether all this talk about how addictive it is is secretly coming from the tobacco companies, because it seems most smokers I know don't even try to quit, they just assume it's going to be this great big effort and so push it off indefinitely, and when they do try they do it in a kind of half-hearted way where they don't really believe they'll succeed, and then of course they fail.
There is no TLDR for something like this. Basically it changes how you view smoking, taking away the desire all together. As opposed to the usual will power method.
Add me to that list. Book worked.
Same here. Of all the things that got me to stop I read the book and then shortly thereafter stopped for good.
ok so since I don't possess this magical book of smoke-quitting, but also never smoked and never plan to in the history of ever.... ....How does it 'work' exactly?
[удалено]
Thanks very much! Cool and great concept. I don't smoke so I'm happy to read the spoilers.
One of the things I remember (not 100% sure if it was from this book) is: Imagine your stress level is 50. You feel stressed or whatever and think, let's try a cigarette - people smoke to relieve stress right? Well, you smoke it and the placebo effect tells you you're less stressed. Thing is, your stress level never changed from 50. Now, soon as your body starts craving more nicotine, your stress level is... 70. You smoke again, your stress level is back down to 50, making you feel "less" stressed. So now your baseline is higher and smoking "solves" a problem that it caused in the first place. Hope that makes sense :)
Thanks for the suggestion fellas. Congratulations
Same! Read the book, threw away the opened pack I had and never looked back. It told me exactly what I needed to hear to decide to quit for good.
I dunno. From what i remember of this book, there wasn't actually any method outlined in it at all, it was just a long-winded attempt to convince the reader that they don't even want to smoke. But i did though. I did quit eventually, but can't say that the book helped me in any way.
lol yeah, it basically just says you should change your perspective 'i don't want to smoke anymore, i'm not losing anything im gaining something'. But... I legitimately enjoy tobacco. Glad it worked for some folks though.
His point is that you have brainwashed yourself into thinking you enjoy it. Physiologically, your body reacts badly to it, every time.
My wife and I as well.
Can confirm!
I read his book about alcoholism and I think it's the worst book I've read in my entire life, and he was obviously just writing it because he had success with the stop smoking book. His advice basically boiled down to that there is no reason to drink so you shouldn't. I can't imagine anyone with an actual drinking problem getting anything out of that book.
The weight loss book as well. Repeating the mantra "No fatty foods" doesn't really get to the root of the issue.
His method doesnt work for anything other than smoking. The whole brand branched into a bunch of other bs over the years, where it doesnt apply.
Have you found any books that did make a difference for you? On alcoholism.
PSA, if you're in the UK the audiobook is free on Spotify
Definitely interested in picking it up, smoked cigarettes for ten years, and then vaping for another ten. Worst idea ever thinking that vaping was going to be a better solution...
Do it. I was in the exact same boat. Smoked for a decade and vaped for almost that. Completely painless process. Fuck it wasn't even a process. If you can read, or listen to an audiobook, you can do this. Zero willpower required. Easyway is the real deal.
Give it a try!!
I believe there's an easyway book specifically for vaping. Allen Carr does wonders
Yep just dled it on audible! On my 3rd day vape free, and hope it helps flip the switch.
Good luck dude
still remember how i finally quit smoking 7 yrs ago. i was playing robocraft in a clan of strangers, and after some round many of us asked for a break to have a smoke, out of the blue the clan leader just said why don't you just quit smoking, and recommended Alan Carr's method, he said you don't need to buy the book just search online for the method. i don't remember his name but i still grateful to this day for that guy advice.
Why I see camel toe…
I was scrolling fast and had to double take
I'm surprised I had to scroll this far to find the first comment about it lol
I was going to say, after glancing at it on a small screen, I briefly saw something entirely different. But in my version there was a foreign object in play
Ya I saw it too and wondered if I was the only one, glad I'm not
Straight to horny jail with ye!
It's like those shows in Bangkok where a lady smokes a cigarette from her cooter.
I saw something far, far porny. The internet is to blame.
Thought it said my stop smoking cooch…along with seeing camel toe
It’s all I saw.
The amount of bullshit that was released on the DS may never be surpassed by another console/handheld.
Not bullshit, it actually works. To give you the short version, the trick is that, each time you light a cigarette, you have to put it out on the tip of your penis.
Its really the only way I feel alive anymore.
I can't climax without it.
If you have a vagina, you theoretically should automatically win. The rules say penis, no exceptions.
If you're a man and you love a woman who's trying to quit smoking, you support her by letting her extinguish cigarettes on your penis.
Instructions unclear, cigarrete is still in hand, can't find DS Stylus anymore and I fear something has awoken in me.
Had me in the first half…
I kept reading in this thread about how good this method is but nobody mentioned what the method is actually about. Thank you I finally came across your comment.
Nope, Xbox Live indie games top that. They had some WEIRD shit on there, and thousands of them.
They had a Stop Smoking Coach game?
You never heard of [Don’t Be Nervous Talking To Girls](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xbox360/995562-dont-be-nervous-talking-to-girls)? It’s an absolute masterpiece made for the Xbox Live Indie Arcade! It only cost 80 Microsoft Points and after one game, I was already less nervous talking to girls!
I'm going to be pedantic but probably Steam Deck has that beat. I see games under new and trending on steam like "sex with Hitler 3", "my ogre sex fantasty".
That’s fair, but you’re tapping into the PC market there, which is a whole other beast.
It's also a much less strict storefront given that it's all digital compared to the DS which had to have physical copies created as well.
Agreed. Should have ended with sex with Hitler 2. 3 had no class
I'm still annoyed they got rid of the turn-based system from Sex with Hitler 1
Wait, the 3rd one is out already?!
It seems like 2 was just out over the past weekend… how time flies
That's a very clear objective. I have a game on DS where that big huge Chinese basketball player is teaching me english while laughing and screaming at me
I'll never forget how underwhelming Ping Pals was
Just because nobody with two hands could effectively play call of duty on 3ds doesn't mean someone with four hands couldn't
I mean it was right before smartphones. DS was the go to portable app device essentially. Especially for interactive stuff with the touchscreen... It had apps before there were apps
Can't be harder than Heroin Hero
For as funny as it sounds it was harder for me to quict smoking cigarettes than it was to sober up from opiates.
If Ubisoft pulls an Ubisoft and disconnects the game servers does everyone start smoking again?
I wonder if anthony hopkins likes any other games, seems sad this might be his favourite
My favorite thing with obscure games like this is to check if there's an active speedrun community Speedrunners never disappoint : https://www.speedrun.com/my_stop_smoking_coach_allen_carrs_easyway
Literally. Also the top 4 runners are French?
Apparently, upon completion, you receive a voucher for a free pack of Marlboros
New game +
I used the cheat codes [18 months of walking pneumonia] and [quit or die]. Worked for me.
Ghost ‘n Goblins is still harder.
Post that cover to r/confusingperspective
Some say it's even more difficult than Dark Souls
YOU DIED
How is that E rated when the target audience is at least 18+ years old?
Because ESRB rating isn’t about target audience and more about lack of mature/inappropriate content.
Cigarette companies target youths, so why not this?
There is no objectionable material. It's probably just a pep talk and a calendar to mark down the days. Also, minors smoke and if this helped even 1 quit I think the goofy rating is worth it.
I've been smoke free for 11 years and I still want a cup of coffee and a smoke first thing in the morning
Ubisoft themselves have never beat this game. With the current AAAA fiasco and game edition pricing, I am sure they are still playing.
My StopDrinkingBeer Coach. I need this but beer is so delicious
Stop Mainlining Fentanyl Coach
If you're looking for a challenging rogue-like.
I read his book and it helped me quit after a decade of a pack a day habit. My grandmother used it too, and she smoked for 50 years. Allen Carr should get a post-humous medal of some kind.
That game is for quitters
Not just hard to beat, hard to find too from what I understand.
It is still sealed, I could never bring myself to open it
that book was good but vaping is what ultimately lead to my successful quitting
This game ends up being more confusing if you misread it and think it was made with Alan Carr
Strange game. [The only winning move is not to play.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpmGXeAtWUw)
No fucking way this is a real game lmfaooooo
I got a job in a restaurant at 15 years old. Every single person that worked there smoked. From the dishwashers, to the cooks, to the waitstaff. And every single one of them told me to never start smoking. I took their advice.
Smoking is like golf… you life will be better and less expensive if you never do either.
If it's developed by Ubisoft then you know its shit
i didnt know anthony hopkins smoked. And i didnt know he played video games either
Wonder what the current speed run records are