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Fighting the Scourge of Gaming Addiction
speby writes: "With the growing popularity of LAN parties and other such channels to game (which the article at Wired doesn't mention) is it possible that gaming has become a real addiction? How can a person become addicted? And why?"
Before it was called an "addiction" is was called a "hobby".
How about a thread commenting our addiction to slashdot?
People with 'addictive personalities' can become addicted to ANYTHING.
Period. End of story.
"And like that
In the final analysis, almost anything can be called an addiction if it routinely interrupts life's basic components, including school, work and relationships, he said. The important thing is balance.
I doubt very much that gaming is physically addicting. But I don't doubt at all that -- for some people, in some contexts -- it can be psychologically addicting. That's not unique to gaming, of course, but it's certainly worth being aware of.
If your gaming causes you to ignore loved ones to the point whe it affects the relationship in a dangerous way,
causes a you to stop doing something that is required (IE go to work, pay bills... etc)....
or it becomes an excuse for not doing what you KNOW you should be doing (i.e. I should be studying for a exam... but I NEED to show off my l337 counter strike skillz..
Problem
Hey, all of us gamers (myself included) go off on a bender every now and then, but when gaming becomes your life rather than just a part of it.. then.. well
get a life.
When I was in college, I "lost" several of my friends for a few weeks because they discovered a MUD (Multi User Dungeon for the uniformed). They spent every waking hour down in the computer labs, only coming up for food when the delivery boy came. They neglected class, sleep, and basic hygeine, all so they could power up these non-existant characters which they would eventually no longer use years down the road. It was a pretty pathetic scene, and a couple of them actually dropped out of school because of it.
There's a difference between playing a game all night once in a while and completely cutting off friends and family. In terms of mental disorders, it becomes a problem when you cause distress to yourself and those around you. I learned early on to walk away from the computer once in a while, and I completely avoid MUDs and MMORPGs because of their potential to addict. It's fun to escape once in a while, but when the escape becomes your life you need help.
Electronic Frontier Foundation for online civil rights information
From the article:
;)
The "EQ Wids" commiserate over tales of woe (one husband insisted on playing the game in the delivery room while his wife gave birth) and offer each other encouragement and company.
In my honest opinion, if you can't stop playing a video game to assist/be with your wife during labor, then chances are you have several other problems that are much deeper-rooted than your addiction to video games!!
Seriously though, as much as I love video games, they don't come before my family, friends, or my health. If you can't pull yourself away from a game for the things that really matter in life, then you do need to get help.
No no no. To quote William Blake, "The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom".
You want a real endorphine (correct spelling) rush? Get off your computer/video game console and go out and do something. Ride a bike down a mountain. Take your car to the race track. Pierce your nipples. Have sex. The adrenaline and endorphine rush you get from those kinds of activities FAR outweighs anything you'll get from a video game, no matter how good that game is. I do agree that such a rush is addictive, however. Just not in the amounts you'd get from playing a game.
That's what is interesting about this question. Most games have some sort of "payoff" device that is implicit when you play it. When you get that payoff, whether it is the final goal or some sort of intermediary plateau, you take a breather and appreciate your accomplishment. If a game defers that payoff and continues to promise it, it will become more and more of a time-sink. THis fairly much appeals to the natural structure of human motivation - it's *designed* to generate obsessive behavior.
This is all so true. I have found myself regularly addicted to various pursuits since I was a kid. I have found that the games to avoid are the ones with more long-term goals/payoffs. For instance, I'm not really addicted to UT or Q3. On some particular night, I may find it hard to tear myself away from "just one more" deathmatch, but that's it. Eventually I go to bed and I may not play again for 2 months.
But then there are games where that's not possible. We all know the examples (usually RPGs, quest style, or puzzle games in general).
Basically, here's what to avoid (I'm not a shrink, but this works!): Any game or activity with a non-determinate payoff pattern. In other words, avoid random (or semi-random) reward systems. UT doesn't fit in this category because I generally know how long a match will play and I usually have a good idea of who's going to school who. Zelda? Forget it. You never know when you're going to find the very next quest item.
This is basically the same problem as an addiction to gambling. Don't subject yourself to the overall patterns, and you should be ok.
Oh, and to everyone who thinks this isn't a real problem, good for you. It just means you haven't been bit yet. Good luck ignoring the problem though.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
While I didn't play on many arcade machines when I was younger, I spent countless hours on my C=64, and then on my XT, playing games. True, my case was mild as I wasn't able to monopolise either the TV or the computer, but I am sure there were others who had problems with severe addiction.
One of my favourite episodes of News Radio is when a "Stargate Defender" arcade machine is brought in to the office and Dave recalls the time when his SAT scores suffered because he stayed up all night playing that game. It's funny because it's true.
ian.
ian
That's exactly what those educators were doing who commented near the end of the wired artice: "No way is gaming addictive". They had to pump something out for the reporter so they could get back to their online world.
:(
What scares me most is that many are either ignoring the topic - brushing it off as just another step in the technology vs. humans debate -or so completely immersed in the technology that they don't see it themselves.
I used to have a serious liking to Starcraft, so much that in my youthful ignorance I created a *shudder* starcraft clan. It's not just exhilarating to kick someone's butt in the game, the instant acceptance from thousands of people online is like a hit of ecstacy right after your crack. You rock and everyone loves you
Best fix for this: dump your gaming system for a p300 with windows 98 and office XP. The system can't do anything but work applications now, even solitaire is chunky.
-Wrexsoul
--- Need web hosting?
The truth is, the world is pretty fucked up. And we get into our little inward worlds to try and ignore that. Some of us are workaholics, others watch TV incessantly, etc. Every different thing has it's angle. Video games are addictive especially to the technophile crowd because face it, we geeks like flashy stuff (no rhyme intended). We want feedback, interactivity (another "duh"), eye-candy, excitement, etc. But when it comes down to it, these are just desires that get filled the same way as anyone else fulfills them: abuse. I would argue that 70% of Americans are television addicts.
The point I'm getting at here is that we are a nation of hedonists because we don't need to worry about the consequences of our consumerism, apathy, etc. (bear with me as I get a bit political) Not to induce a guilt trip here, but I don't think anyone in Somalia has a problem with buying too much crap, watching too much TV, or spending too much time jerking their thumbs in front of CRT's. But they have all their own problems to worry about: AIDS, drug warlords, starvation, etc. What do you do in a situation devoid of all pleasure? It probably would involve heavy, heavy drugs. I, for one, would not be able to sit through 6 hours of Metal Gear Solid while two gangs have a firefight next door.
My point is, people find outlets for their frustrated desires everywhere. Very seldomly do they have the courage to actually seek out the root causes of those desires. Here in the States, I think most of people's anxieties are caused by:
- working too much and taking it too seriously (ie. "miserable-ism" as termed by the Situationists)
- depending on others to make decisions for them ("pathological fascism" as called by Deleuze & Guattari)
- rampant commercialism driving down our self-esteem (and driving up demand)
To relieve this we watch: movies/shows about cops, criminals, rich people, sexy people, futuristic people, fantastic people, etc. (I'm talking mainstream, here, not "Clerks"-style stuff). All these movies/shows whatever romanticize these roles that only a few of us get to ever do. Since we're NOT those people, we feel more like a piece of shit, thus leaving us vulnerable to subconsicious suggestions that Diet Coke will instantly bestow us the sex appeal of Victoria Secret models.
So of course we want to feel like heroes, or drive ultrafast cars, or be the super-killer-soldier with the most frags: video games fulfill those vicarious pleasures because the media industry has successfully planted all those desires in us already!
So naturally, the best way to break a video game addiction is to withdraw from Hollywood/Viacom/AOLTimeWarner/Disney in every conceivable form. Or at least develop enough of a cynical veneer to be able to look someone in the eye and say, "The Matrix was good...for a Hollywood film."
[pink beam of light]
Unless when you stopped playing the game(s), you could think of nothing else for days on end, but the game, and you lost sleep, paced endlessly, and basically had your entire life ruined for weeks, not able to perform normal functions, in a pain that lasted to some degree at least 6 months or more, if not for ever, then you weren't addicted.
Just because you could stop doesn't mean others can.
Slay a dragon... over lunch!
Yes, gaming addiction is real. So is information addiction. It's pathetic the amount of time I spent sucking down worthless piles of information on the net.
/., k5, Drudge, Shack, .5e, x-e, penny arcade, SA, POTD, Filthy, The Atlantic, TNR, HowStuffWorks, Ars, Onion, Blogdex, CNN, check e-mail, rinse, repeat until dead.
Fark,
The 2 hour morning web surf through my first two classes and before the shower is probably the most depressing after its over.
The only thing worse than having a day go by in front of the computer is having that day go by with the end result being that you got farther in a game or read a bunch of meaningless drivel by some web admin or forum-goers. See, I'm doing it right now!
The only way I feel like I'm using the computer effectively is when I'm doing homework or coding a personal project. Everything else is worthless, except maybe a regular check of the daily news (since I have no TV.)
I spend days, hell, weeks sometimes, away from the web and realize how stupid it is and what a waste of time it is. Too bad I never learn.
Don't even ask about what happened when Quake 3 fit itself into this routine two years ago. I finally got over that one this semester when my cable provider decided to suck. I should be thankful.
--
But because it's "normal" doesn't mean it's good. Someone else posted that somebody who spends all their time working as a lawyer would be praised as a "hard worker". Well, (disregarding the obvious jokes about the value of lawyering) anything that takes you over and locks you into a specific set of behaviours is bad. The great thing about being alive and human is the potential for doing new things. Doing the same exact thing for hours, days, months, years... that doesn't just make you an addict, it makes you uninteresting.
Whether you're an alcoholic, a crackhead, an obsessive EQ'er, or Bill Gates, it just isn't healthy to devote every waking moment to something that diminishes your capacity to be an interesting human. Obviously, whatever behaviours these types of people engage in give them some short-lived boost to their self-esteem, but at the expense of their lovability.
Do you want to be loved? Stop being so damn boring then, and take a fscking walk. Read a book. Hell, write a book... just do something different! Try to find a little balance in your life.
That goes for you, too, Gates.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
I think the term addiction is being misused in this case. Addiction used to be a meaningful medical term. Some substances are addictive because they build a physiological tolerance, requiring greater use for the same effect, and which, if use is stopped, turns around into physiological withdrawal symptoms. What you're calling an addictive personality is really an obsessive-compulsive personality. The obsession is the inability to get away from the whatever mentally, the compulsion is to engage in the behavior the obsession leads to. It's significant because addiction means bad and it is used to vilify all sorts of things that are really value neutral. Plenty of OCD types clean obsessively but you don't see anyone talking about "Cleaning Addiction" or suggesting that cleaning is intrinsically bad. No functional difference between that behavior and playing Everquest all night.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
Then I get embarassed and ashamed at the time I'm wasting on a persuit that leads nowhere.
So what, you plan to work 24 hours a day now? No wasted time to achieve optimum efficiency?
As another poster pointed out, gaming can become an addiction, just like anything else can, if you have an addictive personality. But I fail to see why wasting some time playing a computer game is any worse than wasting some time watching television, hanging out at the mall, or any number of other activities that aren't exactly "productive".
Who's to say gaming is bad & working is good?
Maybe we've all got it backwards & we're supposed to be maximizing the amount of fun we have instead of maximizing the amount of numbers in a bank account somewhere?
I geek alot, EQ, DAoC, RtCW, MGS2, you name it; as a result I don't have alot of other time to do things other people might consider "normal". But ya know, I've got friends I've made in EQ & the other games, that I've had for years now that are way closer than most people I know in a strictly non-gaming sense. Who's honestly qualified to say which is 'better' for you?
Its just the games that have changed. Everquest is no more addictive than Quake, which is no more addictive than Civilization, which is no more addictive than Nethack, which is nore more addictive than Zork, which is no more addictive than TinyMud, which is no more addictive than pac man, which is no more addictive than space invaders, which is no more addictive than combat, which is no more addictive than pong. Each had their addicts that had the journals, the "Wired"s of their day, all claiming we'd all end up "game-heads" by the end of the century...
well, the century is over, the games are still around, and so is society. Unfortunately, so is Wired.
And its not so much a psychological "mystery" as so many have tried to paint it as. If it was, then Psychology Today would still be arguing about it like they did over the Pac Man fascination.
Yes, a gamer can be in a "zone" where nothing but the game matters during that time, but that "zone" as an ASC is the same kind of zone that anybody gets when concentration on a single topic is at a high (literally and figuratively). Its the same zone that hackers get (see "Peopleware"), its the same zone a musician gets when the music takes over his body and spirit, its the same zone an author gets. Sometimes the zone is productive, sometimes its an escape. But the zone is the same.
Basically its like this. Reality sucks. Its hard. Its painful. Its a fucking bitch at times. For geek guys, its full of bitches. Games are fun. Games have rules that don't change. Games have NPCs whose behaviour can be relied on.
So play games 'cause its easier than reality. People suck 'cause they and their expectations are always different from one day to the next. Games don't change. 'til you download a new update. when YOU want to, not when "they" do it.
And you keep playing games because games stay fun and reality never improves. (now mind you, the fact that you never do anything to change your reality because your always playing games doesn't help, of course, but when you're playing games, you can't see that).
And they knew this 25 years ago when Pong hit the streets. Hell, you think Thompson and Ritchie would have gone to so much fucking trouble making an O/S for an empty computer to play Space War was done for the "intellectual excercise of it"? Hell no. They were addicts who needed a fix. They just managed to get better and keep up with reality as well, as most of us do. Usually its because you finally get bored with games, and you keep thinking "the new games suck...they aren't nearly as good as the games I used to play".
Irrellevant Postscript: Back in "the day", I was a moria addict...'til i got a D in English 102. I saved the graveyard scene (you could do that, at least on vax-moria), and modified it so that it said "Rest In Peace : My English Grade" in the tombstone.
"But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
-- Joe
Here's what gets me - how is playing five hours of any worse than watching five hours of television a day? Around my household, I game, and my roommate watches TV. We'll both spend an hour or so per day doing our respective activities, and on a "bad" day, maybe we'll hit that five hour mark (say, an X-Files marathon on FX or really getting into Mechwarrior: Vengeance.)
:)
What I'm saying is this: it seems like gaming is more a replacement for television around here - but instead of merely watching something happen on TV, you're _making_ something happen in the game. There's people out there that easily watch five hours of TV per day, and nobody's calling them "addicts" (okay, I would, but...) Both activities are somewhat anti-social, and as with all things, moderation is king, but I really don't see that gaming is worse than television, an "addiction" that is probably more of a problem to the populace in general. I mean, what's worse, renting "Tomb Raider" or playing Tomb Raider?
But what does my opinion matter, I just vote here. It's not like I have any money or anything.
Blaming the game is, to an extent, just as much a mistake as an alcoholic blaming their problems on the alcohol. Ultimately it was a collection of bad decisions that led the person down their path. Certainly in the case of drugs and alcohol there is a biological and psychological element.
There is a certain psychological element to games like EverQuest as well. The simple, repetitive behaviors of trade skills and combat can be habit forming. Nonetheless, such patterns are much less controlling than a biological addiction instigated by chemicals.
I recently canceled by own accounts under the observation that my time spent playing them is time better spent programming and studying. After all, I feel that I built myself and my career off of such late night sessions...and without them I wasn't really moving forward.
Granted, in my career I play a lot of games. But I could play a couple hundred other games in the same time I could get a few levels playing EverQuest. I could also read, program, paint minis, or otherwise diversify my time.
I suppose I see these games as relatively simple to break out of when compared to biological addiction. I think that people who play them to the exclusion of their families, school and other priorities suffer from a combination of lack of self-awareness as well as a need for escapism. School is hard. Families are hard. And playing a game lacks the same kind of responsibility.
I have absolutely no interest in trying to interdict on other people's gaming behavior or direct their interests. If someone else wants to burn their life away focusing on a single interest so be it. My own self-realization is, however, that my time is best spent elsewhere. That I enrich myself as a person by diversifying my interests and I enrich myself as a programmer by spending my weekends working on a project instead of camping Guk.
Even as a gamer, I feel that my time is better spent playing a diverse number of games on different platforms than playing one game to the exclusion of all others. After all, the argument that I'm gaining a unique social perspective or learning a particular kind of design technique sort of falls flat after a month or two of play.
Brandon Reinhart
3D Realms Entertainment
Programmer, Duke Nukem Forever
Brandon Reinhart
You are missing the entire point! We are not talking about anything precise, this is the hysterical, media propagated idea of addiction that has nothing to do with anything relating to medicine or science.
It's the "Are your kids addicted to Counter Strike?? It's more likely than you think! Find out at 11." type of addiction.
I am sure you can plainly see that this way is a lot more fun than your dry and unimaginative "diagnosed dependence" - who is going to be screaming "Please God, won't somebody think of the children??" with your way of looking at things?
sic transit gloria mundi
You describe him as an IT pro who is working. Assuming that he is doing all of this in his free time, then maybe it is just that the room mate thing isn't working out. Gaming is what he chooses to do with his free time, for whatever reason. It doesn't seem to mesh with your personality.