Shrek-Hulud

Greetings!

I have Bipolar II and pretty much been maxed out on debt up until the last couple years. It wasn't until I accepted that I was a gambling addict that I was able to start living free of debt.

Here's the thing, I gamble very little. I have probably spent 2,000$ on traditional gambling. I have spent upwards of 50,000$ on useless shit on videogames (this is over the course of 13 years.)

Is there any difference between this and traditional videogame addiction?

Is there any movement to expand gambling addiction to include microtransactions?

I would have never gotten out of the cycle if it didn't just click when I was talking to someone in Gamblers Anonymous, after hearing their story and relating to it at a very emotional level.

or you can use your parent's credit card

Definitely one of my warning signs.

There are definitely differences, mainly when it comes to traditional gambling, it is always worse when they win (I have casino gambling addicts in my family.) Loot boxes and other microtransactions don't commonly feed back into themselves.

I know group therapy helped me a lot, but I want to be a part of something that is more gaming-oriented, or at least internet-oriented.

What is an appropriate way someone like myself could help foster a Gaming Anonymous type group? Would it be irresponsible to try and start meetups with the intention to mirror the other Anonymous programs without professional guidance or involvement? Any recommendations beyond that?