Peer support · free · worldwide

The fellowships: four rooms, different doors.

One is built around gaming specifically, one covers every compulsive use of the digital world, one is the oldest community of recovering online gamers, and one is for the binge that isn't a game at all. All four are free. Here's the map, in plain language.

Read this first. Gaming Recovery is an independent educational resource. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by GAA, ITAA, OLGA, MAA, or any fellowship named on this page. We name them so you can find them; their own websites hold their literature, their meeting lists, and their voice. Peer-support meetings are free mutual help — they are not therapy, medical care, or treatment, and nobody at one is a clinician on duty.

GAA · Gaming Addicts Anonymous

The fellowship built specifically around compulsive video gaming

A mutual-support fellowship for people whose video gaming has become compulsive — the raids-until-sunrise, one-more-ranked-match, life-on-hold pattern. Members define their own bottom lines around gaming rather than swearing off all technology, and meetings are people comparing notes on staying stopped, not being lectured.

What it is not: Not therapy, not a treatment program, not anti-gaming activism, and not run by professionals. No fees, no sign-up — you show up.

Official site ↗ Official meetings ↗

ITAA · Internet & Technology Addicts Anonymous

The broad-spectrum fellowship — every compulsive use of the digital world

The widest doorway of the four: compulsive internet use in any form — phones, social media, streaming, news, shopping tabs, AI chat, and yes, gaming too. Members identify their personal problem behaviours and build their own definition of sobriety around those, since living with zero technology isn't the goal or the option.

What it is not: Not digital-minimalism coaching, not a productivity program, and not a place anyone will shame you for owning a phone.

Official site ↗ Official meetings ↗

OLGA · Online Gamers Anonymous

The longest-running online-gamers recovery community

Running since the early 2000s — before most people would say “gaming addiction” out loud — OLGA is a community of recovering online gamers with forums, meetings, and, distinctively, a strong family wing (OLG-Anon) that grew up alongside it. Distinct from GAA: older, forum-rooted, and family-integrated, where GAA is a newer meeting-centred 12-step fellowship. Some people try both and stay where they fit.

What it is not: Not a clinic, not a moderated therapy group, and not affiliated with GAA — they are separate organizations.

Official site ↗ Official meetings ↗

MAA · Media Addicts Anonymous

For compulsive media consumption — the binge that isn't a game

For people whose compulsion is consumption itself: series bingeing, video rabbit holes, compulsive news cycles, background media running every waking hour. If your nights disappear into autoplay rather than a lobby queue, this is the room where that's the shared story.

What it is not: Not a media-literacy course, not screen-time coaching for kids, and not a substitute for mental-health care.

Official site ↗ Official meetings ↗

Yes, most of these meetings happen online. Recovery meetings for internet addiction, held on the internet — we know. It's less absurd than it sounds: for most members the goal isn't zero technology (modern life doesn't offer that option) but freedom from their specific compulsive uses. A scheduled video call with people who understand is close to the opposite of a 4 a.m. autoplay spiral — it has a start, an end, and other humans in it. In-person meetings exist in some Canadian cities; the official finders list both, and either counts.

For the family — your own rooms

These exist because worrying about someone is its own full-time occupation, and you need people who get that — whether or not the player ever attends anything.

Gamer-Anon

For parents, partners, and family of compulsive gamers — support for you, whether or not the player ever seeks help.

IT-Anon

The family counterpart to ITAA — for those close to someone with internet or technology compulsion in any form.

OLG-Anon

OLGA's family wing, and one of the oldest gathering places for parents of gamers anywhere. Forums and meetings via olganon.org.

The deeper family playbook — what to watch, the calm conversation, when to bring in a professional — lives on our parent playbook page.

When a meeting isn't enough.

Fellowships are free, proven, and nobody's business but yours — and their own traditions stop them from recommending treatment programs. If school or work has already collapsed, if there's depression or anxiety underneath, or if you're a parent whose limits keep detonating, professional help is the right call, and this site points at it plainly. We can make that introduction.

Ask us to connect you

In crisis right now? Call or text 988, any hour.

Some imagery and copy on this site were generated with AI and reviewed by a human.