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The Lure of Heroinware
blankmange writes "news.com reports: When games stop being fun; where the line between reality and fantasy blurs. Another story about games and the adults who can't stop playing them. It seems that we can't be held responsible for our actions -- it must be the 'heroinware' that game companies are producing...." Mmmm, Evercrack. T. pops in: Don't worry, games aren't addictive, but here's the announcement of a 24-hour gaming TV network for those unexplained late-night cravings. (Thanks to joestump98.)
Comparing games to heroin? Ya, because sometimes I shutter violently if I havn't played for a few hours.
So thats why my friend hasn't stopped playing Everquest for the past 6 months? Damn you, Sony! Damn you to hell!
People in general can become addicted to almost anything. Salt,Big Mac's, Pepsi, if there is a way to make reality a little more pleasureable someone is going to do it to excess. For that matter there are QVC addicts. The herd really needs to think about a little self control. Who knows they might enjoy not having blood shot eyes and blisters on their fingers everyday. I doubt it though.
sig this!
The game had nothing to do with his problems, nor any of the other problems described in this article, and likening video games to heroin is just rediculous.
These are just incontinent people. They understand that neglecting family, work, friends and what not is wrong, but they freely choose to do so. There's no physical addiction, their hair won't hurt when they stop playing, they can stop if they want to.
Yeah, I know somebody is going to say 'but they have an addictive personality.' Here's four words for people with addictive personalities, "sucks to be you." I'd try to feel bad for you, but everything can be addicting at some level, and a true addictive personality has to take extra care to make sure that they're getting hooked on good things, like exercise, family, laughter, and prostitutes, and stop blaming the rest of the world for making things you like.
I've spent the better part of the last 3 years playing everquest and I've seen many people waste away.
The players who make up the high level game spend MASSIVE amounts of time in game. I know many people who have over 300+ DAYS of time logged into the game...
Players often quit, only to return a few months later usually with an excuse like *RL is boring* or something similar. Sounds more and more like drug addiction doesn't it?
The thing that worries me the most though is that most of these people are kids who are either in high school or just got out. They have no ambition or desire to do anything but play everquest. When I was their age I was spending all my time programming, reading books, and learning skills necessary to succeed in life. If everquest were around back then, I would probably be working fast food making $6 a hour now.
Almost every game company out there now is making a MMORPG like everquest. Worlds of warcraft, shadowbane, neverwinter nights, final fantasy XI, Everquest for the console, star wars galaxies, daoc, anarchy online, and many more. The market is going to be completely saturated with heroinware in the next fear years.
The current generation of kids growing up is going to be nothing but a bunch of computer crazed, game addicted losers who spend all their time in some virtual world slaying some pixel dragon.
Oh well, I'm glad I quit (again).
It's just that our real lives tend to suck. This makes fantasy lives so appealing... Can we hope for the day when our real lives are as stimulating and rewarding as the games are today?
My blog can kick your blog's ass
How do these folks come up with the money to pay for their gaming habit? If they haven't left the house for years, I'm going to assume that means that they don't have jobs.
I'm sure a lot of people would be quick to interject the fact that EQ items are sold all the time on online auction services, but I think it's a stretch of the imagination to say that they're all doing that. What seems to be the case is that mommy and daddy are paying for their habit.
If mommy and daddy are taking financial responsibility for their habit, what would make sense would be to stop paying for it. How can you blame Sony for offering an addictive service if you're the one who's feeding them money?
I say put one of these so-called addicts in their own apartment, maybe pay for their rent and food, and see how long their addiction lasts. Think about what would happen if you were to kick one of these folks out of the house? Or if you were to destroy the power cable running from the PSU (or indeed soon, PS2) to the wall?
I'm not going to say that I don't play more than my share of Q3A or UT, but for Christ's sake, what's going to happen if you do some kind of drastic action that forces them to quit cold turkey? Are they going to get a case of "the shakes" or something?
Think of the teenage Everquest addict's likely profile--a smart geek with a lot of ability but no respect in real life. Our society--particularly our highschool society--accords brainless people with athleticism limitless respect, and people with tremendous minds but not so impressive bodies almost none.
That's a nice way to get modded up, but probably not so accurate. Try: Our society--particularly our highschool society--accords outgoing and friendly people (who tend to move toward social activities like sports and dating) limitless respect, and people with tremendous egos because they unlocked the secrets of programming instead of flirting almost none.
As for Columbine- the world does not exist to be fair and to cater to unbalanced individuals. Fairness is nice, and something we should probably strive for, but being unfair never ever ever justifies that kind response. It is sad and alarming that people could read anything into the Columbine incident but the tragedy that two very sick youths took out their rage on their classmates and peers.
(Mod etc blah blah blah)
I can no longer easily count the friends I have seen do serious damage to their "real" lives by playing these games. I know numerous people who have lost their jobs, signifigant others, social lives, and even their sanity due to addictions to EverQuest, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, and StarCraft. Sometimes in my circle of friends, I am the weird one for being the person who goes out and interacts with the real world, and not vice versa.
What really scares me, though, is that I don't find the term heroinware at all offensive, because I actually know more people who have completely ruined their lives with these games than I do people who have ruined everything with drugs - and at least the drug users manage to quit!
Seriously, this problem is just beginning to rear its ugly head. Once Blizzard releases World of Warcraft, things are going to get really, really nasty, as entire offices have their IT departments stripped on important "game days." And that will be the beginning of the end for these virtual worlds; as companies lose the benefits of computers to an increasing number of problem staff members, there WILL be some sort of legislation to wean geeks away from these games.
Really.
But before Everquest and Ultima there were addicting games. I remember logging hours and hours with CIV1 in Highschool. In College I remember logging obscene amounts of time playing UT and chatting late into the night on ICQ.
And yes, I cut some classes. In fact, so did my roommate. He cut so many classes playing computer games he had to drop out! He even skipped an exam because he was too busy playing games on his computer.
basically what I am saying is the problem has always been around. Before MMRPGS, these shy, anti-social people might have just read books to escape.
Heck, Simon and Garfunkel wrote about this in the 60's:
I am an island
I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no-one and no-one touches me
I am a rock
I am an island
And the rock feels no pain
And an island never cries
Alex
Addiction is a behaviour. You learn to become addicted. You can also unlearn it to a certain extent... but (as all the psych people out there probably already know), a behaviour can never be completely extinguished once learned. Hence the "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic" mantra of AA has a real foundation.
Behaviours are like memes: they compete with each other. To the extent that you exibit one behaviour more than others, it defines you. Getting locked into a certain pattern of behaviour(s) makes you boring, IMNSHO. Thus, addiction may be a response to boredom, but it in turn makes you boring. Got to love the irony.
Of course people who feel inadequate, unsatisfied, and ignored in "real life" (whatever that is) will try to find a way to experience the thrill of power, exultation, and adulation. The fact that they are "only acting" has nothing to do with the reality of their experience. Other people may choose to devote their lives to, say, show biz for the exact same reasons. You could argue that acting in a play and playing in an online game are equivalent, except you are more likely to be paid for the former. Keep in mind that this may change.
So really, when someone retreats into addiction, they are seeking well-being and belonging. The fact that people identify more easily with their game alter-egos than with their equally-artificial social persona is not only a matter of mental health, but an indicator that our culture (the ones in which these games flourish, that is) itself is sick.
Why are people so ready to give up the world of wage slavery, voter apathy, anti-intellectualism for worlds like EverQuest? I think the answer is obvious: it's more rewarding than involving themselves in the game of "real life". They want to live the life of a hero (or villian) in the true sense: they want to take on the role of the archetype, to accept the hero's challenge to conquer his own weaknesses and transcend The World itself.
We all are, really. Some of us have kids to keep our name/genes alive. Some try to make their mark on history. Others may work in their community to improve things for the next generation. All are seeking a "place" in the world--not the world of time and space, but the world of stories, lore, and cultural memory. Looked at from this point of view, what the EQ addicts are doing isn't so strange. They are trying to do what we all do, just in a different medium.
The problem here is that no game can deliver on the promise of the hero's quest. The closest they will come to this experience is not to "beat the game" from within the game, but to beat it from the outside, BY PUTTING THE GAME BEHIND THEM. They can then move on to the real challenge: finding a way through life that reinforces their spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being.
Our Western lives have been organized around things that seem custom-made to make us feel bad about ourselves, which drives us to find comfort in one addiction or another. We spend our lives trying to make up for the guilt and regrets of what we "had" to do. Basically, through the long process of dividing people into halves (private/public, personal/professional) we have created a world for ourselves where everyone walks around fighting with themselves and each other. Why is it so strange that we would want to escape from this?
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
If only these crazy terrorists would learn to leave our stuff alone,
Consider, most of those crazy terrorists were just powerless and bitter people until the CIA gave them American weapons and training in how to use them. In some cases we have been through a few cycles of this.
Our problems in Iran happened because we supported the Shah's regime. The people revolted and declared America the real enemy. So, we funded Saddam to fight Iran.
In Afghanistan, the CIA supported the people who would become the Taliban because they were fighting the USSR. Now, guess what?
The CIA supported Noriega because he was fighting the communists, gues what?
How many times will the millitary have to bail the CIA out before they learn?
There is a big difference between a physical addiction (such as heroin or tobacco) and a psychological addiction (such as marijuana or porn or video gaming). It may be true that "seeking" behavior is exhibited for the second class, but no one goes through withdrawel at risk of death from a psychological addiction. Different syndromes. A federally funded drug clinic can't check in people for detox who abuse psychologically addicting substances (and expect to recieve payments).