Coping with Gaming Addiction

Several readers submitted this story in the Washington Post about gaming addiction in adolescents and adults. The main sources of the story are two people who get paid for solving this problem, so they have an incentive to make it sound scary and widespread, but on the other hand, most Slashdot readers probably have a... friend... who spends too much time playing video games.

Comments

We're supposed to worry -- why?

[plover]

Let me get this straight: she names her male kid "Jaysen", and sixteen years later she starts worrying if he's going to grow up normal? And we're supposed to feel sympathy?

Here's a hint: if you're one of those idiots who insists on giving your kid a name with "unique" spelling, at least don't pick a "gaye" name.

Re:We're supposed to worry -- why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't have any games. I'm using Linux.

--
some linuks-luser

Re:We're supposed to worry -- why?

[oscast]

He likes to play Gaymes

Re:We're supposed to worry -- why?

[gcaseye6677]

There was a kid in my 3rd grade class named Jack who definitely got made fun of. It didn't help that his last name was Goff.

slashdot addiction

[pronobozo]

pay me to do a slashdot addiction survey. please.

Re:slashdot addiction

[antifoidulus]

she, can quit anytime and never look back.
I think the she gave away the lie more than anything else, now I know you are talking about a made up person.

I can quit anytime I want!

[darth_MALL]

Oooh! Doom 3! [CARRIER LOST]

I do NOT suffer from game addiction

[grunt107]

I do quite well with it, thank you very much.

try this

[Coneasfast]

try and play doom3 on a radeon 9200 . that should scare you away from video games for a few weeks.

Occupational Hazard

[Anonymous Coward]

The main sources of the story are two people who get paid for solving this problem,

but instead, play games all day.

i don't have an addiction

[rhino_badlands]

I don't have a video game addiction, I only make them, play them, and spend every waking moment thinking about them ...

This goes with spending all my free cash on them, dreaming about them, and of couse the occasional pleasuring my self over them.

So what..

[suso]

Call me when they have something to cure a slashdot addiction.

gamers anonymous?

[lawngnome]

Gamers anonymous would rock, atleast I could get some cheat codes and strategies while being "helped"

I have a roommate

[MinusBlindfold]

who is dangerously addicted to Warcraft III battlenet games. He works shifts and when hes not working, hes playing the game... and swearing constantly, banging his fists on the desk and using the F word quite excessively. It scares me and my cat. When I've had enough, I log into the good ole Linksys and block ports 6112 through 6120 and the problem is solved for a little while. At this point he does something constructive, like laundry or cleaning his room. This a good solution for those who have control over their home networks. :)

Re:I have a roommate

[Anonymous Coward]

So that's why my Warcraft III sessions have been so erratic! And here I've been wasting my f*cking time with tech support.

Scare you and your little cat? You little sh*t...I'll show you scared. Wonder what's cooking for dinner? I'll give you one hint...it tastes like chicken.

If I could figure out how to block porn through that little box of yours you'd be screwed. Oh, yeah, you always say you're studying in your room. I guess "studying" must really dry out your hands and give you a runny nose because I see how often you're picking up lotion and kleenex at the store. Little f*ck.

Whatever

[Antony.S]

I'm not addicted, I've /quit games hundreds of times

just like my grampa always said about alcohol...

[Narcocide]

"Its not a problem until you can't afford to pay for it anymore."

Re:I have a friend

[the Howard Dean Camp]

I watched him kill bugs for an hour in Everquest to build experience points (I made fun of him till he quit). I'm sorry but that's just a waste of time.

The only bigger waste of time is YOU SITTING THERE WATCHING SOMEBODY ELSE PLAY EVERQUEST.

just to clarify:

[to_kallon]

i'm not an alcoholic. i'm a drunk. alcoholics go to meetings.

Yeah, real problem with them ball games...

[SysKoll]

From the article: "I used to be heavy into basketball," he says of his days before Socom. "Now I've been playing basketball again, I've been going to high school football games. I've been going to that youth group with friends. . . . We're trying to keep my schedule busy."

Poor guy. I understand the problem. A lot of sports, when practiced intensely, are linked to drug abuse. This poor kid is probably doped up to his eyes. His parents must, for his own good, take him off these dangerous sports fields and let him stay home! Why not buy him a couple of video games?

Hi, my name is [...], and I'm a recovering....

[cvd6262]

I attended an instructional technology conference last month where a doctoral student presented her research into Never Winter Nights. A brief discussion followed where several "former gamers" commented, I being one of them.

When the session was over, one of the other recovering gamers approached me and told me going cold turkey was really difficult. He then asked me how I quit. The only answer I could give him was, "I got married."

Yeah...

[No Such Agency]

At least when you're playing Madden NFL 2004 you know your dad won't yell obscenities at the other team, shit on the ref's car hood after the game, or beat you for not "giving it 110%". There's no chance of your coach molesting you, or of losing your first adult teeth to a cleat in the face. And the other players won't stick pine cones up your butt when you join the team.

How I got over my gaming addiction

[gphinch]

I bought a Mac

Re:I have a friend

[aussie_a]

I watched him kill bugs for an hour in Everquest to build experience points (I made fun of him till he quit). I'm sorry but that's just a waste of time.

You did the right thing. I too would have taunted him. The wolves offer much better experience.

Re:Nutjobs

[karnal]

Bullets are actually made to kill

No, bullets are made so that you can put them in a gun and shoot stuff. Incidentally, if it happens to hit a person, IT DOES DAMAGE. Probably doesn't kill all the time though.

I'd be impressed to see the ratio of bullets bought in the US to total people murdered. I'll bet the paper targets at the gun range are pissed for having holes in them, though....

As good a place as any...

[Lord Kano]

I have been developing a list of "Ghetto Names" and the following is the current incarnation. Take a look.

• The following list is made up of the criteria for determining if one has what shall be
• 
  henceforth known as a "Ghetto Name". A Ghetto Name implies a lack of education or sophistication
  on the part of the one who gave the name. By no means is having a Ghetto Name indicative of anything
  negative about the individual unfortunate enough to bear it.
  
  The list applies only to those of us who are native born black Americans. I will leave the list of Red Neck names or
  Trailer Park names to Jeff Foxxworthy or someone else. This list is mine.
  
  #1. If your name is misspelled, it is a Ghetto Name.
  #2. If your first name includes an apostrophe, it is a Ghetto Name.
  #3. If your first name includes the sounds "eeta", "ona", "eekwa", "onda" or "eesha", it is a Ghetto Name.
  #4. If your first name is an adjective or an adverb, it is a Ghetto Name.
  #5. If your first name is the last name of a former president of the US, it is a Ghetto Name.
  #6. If your first name consists of a regular name preceeded by "Ne", "La" ,"Le", "Ra", "De" or "Je", it is a Ghetto Name.
  #7. If your first name begins with the sound "My"/"Mi", "Ty", or "Shy"/"Shi", it is a Ghetto Name.
  #8. If your first name consists of a monosyllabic word repeated two or more times, it is a Ghetto Name.
  #9. If your first name is the same as a City, State, Country or Emotion, it is a Ghetto Name.
  #10. If you have never known of another human being who bears your name, it is a Ghetto Name.
  

LK