Gaming Fanatics Show Hallmarks of Drug Addiction

Game_addict writes "There's a story over at New Scientist saying that a new study has found that game addiction has the same effects on people as drug addiction."

Comments

MMOGA

[myheroBobHope]

myherobobhope says: hi, my name is myherobobhope, and i'm a gamerholic. elitehackorz says: hi bob! mashdubuttons says: hi bob! 2sexy says: hi bob! 2 questions: What's the end game like and how much a month is it?

I am addicted to(aka The Obligatory)...

[codecracker007]

CowboyNeal!!!!!

now we're WAY off-topic

[theStorminMormon]

I don't really take this post as a troll post at all, but it's not as hard as you think to get answers to the questions you seek. I'm not saying you'll buy them, I'm just saying they're out there. At the extreme risk of getting hounded by anti-Mormons, I'll try to give you some reactions from that point of view.

1. God doesn't need human worship/belief, etc.

Mormons believe that the human soul is eternal - uncreated. We're all God's kids, and he wants us to grow and develop. Life is a phase in that development. He is there to assist us in developing. The point is not to make life easy - obstacles and trials are part of the development process - but to enable us to rise to the challenges that we face.

2. Not everyone's going to Hell.

Mormons aren't into the whole hellfire and damnation thing so much. We have a much different take on how things work out after this life, but the central doctrine is this: we are radically free. In this life we suffer from all kinds of circumstances that we can't control, but the one thing that we can control is who we are. And that's what we have to live with after this life: the person that we've become. So for most people the after-life is only Hell in the sense that it's a life of mediocrity when it could have been a life of peace and enlightenment if they'd consciously strugged to live up to ideals instead of being satisfied with avoiding major guilt and getting away with as much self-indulgence as possible. But there's room for development after death as well, so it's not like you just have one shot. That's the whole point of the atonement (the suffering Christ went through). It enables us to "do-over" the stupid things we do.

The only ones going to hell as in infinite torment are those who willfully choose it. And even then I'm not so sure on the "infinite" bit. So naturally Mormons believe hell is going to be almost empty.

3. Pain and suffering in life.

Some of the pain that we suffer in life is unavoidable and part of the design. Working out hurts, but it makes the muscles stronger. That kind of thing. Other suffering is a result of the fact that the most important element to our life on earth is our moral freedom. We choose who we want to be. Some of use choose to be evil, and further pain and suffering - both self-inflicted and otherwise - comes from those choices. But I believe that since we have lived an infinite amount of time before this life (which we can't remember because it would taint our choices so that we wouldn't choose good for the sake of goodness) that when we have passed through the troubles of this life the pain will seem as a momentary thing. I'm not saying that the hardship faced in the world is not real or genuine - it is. Just that I believe that we all chose to be here in the first place, and that in the end none of us will regret our decision. Some of the hardest things we do in life are also the most worthwhile. I think the same holds true for life itself.

4. Vague rules

Right now we live as children, following the rules of our parents. But the point of this life is for us to grow up. The rules were never meant to be all-inclusive because that would negate the chance to develop our own internal morality. The rules are supposed to be a framework to keep us from doing really stupid things, but the vagueness is intentional because it is when we start thinking for ourselves about morality that we actually develop.

5. Why doesn't this whole system work better?

That seemed to be an implicit question. If God wants to spread the truth, why do we have thousands of creeds and denominations out there? Why not pick one, show up now and then so we all know which one it is, and then we know where to go! Part of the answer is what you get in #4. Another part is that there has to be a force for evil as well as for good. Otherwise it's not a genuine choice. Some people follow that evil side just as much as others follow the light side. And if there was a force out