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S. Korea's Stress-Driven Online Gaming Addiction
techsoldaten writes "The Washington Post is running an article about the ever-increasing problem of videogame addiction in South Korea. From the article: 'The situation has grown so acute that 10 South Koreans -- mostly teenagers and people in their twenties -- died in 2005 from game addiction-related causes, up from only two known deaths from 2001 to 2004, according to government officials.'"
I hate the idea of regulating games, but smart adults should know what these games do to your health. I played WoW for a long time when stress in the real world shoved my ego the wrong way. I stopped fairly recently and resolved my real life problems. Then I realized that I had stopped exercising. I used to run 5 miles a day and lift weights 3 times a week. I'm now about 40 pounds heavier, my muscular strength is about 1/2 what it used to be, and my running endurance is greatly diminished - about 1/5th what it used to be. I'm not blaming WoW per se, but just warning everyone - when I was in the game I had no idea what I was doing to myself. Don't let it bite you in the ass too.
you know, that's unfortunate and all, but no one is putting a gone on their head and forcing anyone to do anything...unless if you live a bit up north I guess....but yes, to each his own, and if you die from it, what can i say you died while doing something you loved. i blame the parents... ;-)
Insinct is stronger than Upbringing - Irish Proverb
I am sure that more than 2 people died from gaming related causes in that time period. The medical community just wasn't yet aware of the effects of non-stop gaming. I am an EMT, but if someone dies of a blood clot, the cause of death will not be listed as "LAN Party," it will be listed as "Pulmonary embolism."
Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
I would love to see video game manufacturers being sued for "death due to overplaying". I mean they already have to put on rating stickers.
Next sticker on the box: "Warning: Death or dismemberment may ensue if this product is used in excess"
Wow. If only people acted like the "advanced species" we are supposed to be.
Take it in context. Gaming isn't an inherently dangerous activity, like say, mountain climbing, bungee-jumping, or even driving.
The danger they are describing isn't a physical one (for the most part) but a social, personal and pyschological one primarily - the deaths simply highlight how extreme the problem is in some people.
Replace the word gaming with internet, wouldn't you sit up and take notice if several people died from internet addiction?
That said, I don't blame gaming, because it might as well be replaced with the word internet. But as in everything else, learn (and teach the kids) moderation.
I beg to differ. As a former alcohol/drug addict, online games have been a godsend. Yes, I am "addicted" to a game now, but I have used the MMORPG as a substitute for my previous addiction to drugs and alcohol. I may be somewhat antisocial by normal standards, but at least, now, my relationships to others are somewhat normal.
Before, I could not hold down a job, or maintain any sort of lasting relationship. My relationships with family members were severly strained.
Now, that I am a MMORPG addict, my relationships with my (most recent) girlfriend and family are excellent by comparison, and I have been able to hold down an excellent full time job for a year.
It is all a matter of perspective. There are many worse things in this world that a person could be doing with their spare time.
And, to be honest with you, how is spending 10 hours "gaming" any different than spending 10 hours reading fiction, or watching TV? They are all "wastes of time", right.
Time that could have been spent...
You know, that sounds like just what pushed me towards programming.
For whatever other qualities my parents had, and much as they did give me some good education too, they had two problems:
1. Between them and grandma, I had exactly zero privacy.
It may sound like "wtf, he'll have privacy when he's on his own, not in _my_ house", but seriously, please don't do that to your kid. Even the most affectionate cat needs its moments when it's alone.
It's not even just that _they_ were with me all the time (I couldn't even just go to a freaking summer camp, one of them had to come there to keep keeping an eye on me), the worst was that they told everyone every single detail I ever did. It's a freaking nightmare to live with your whole life posted on a public billboard, so to speak. Virtually _noone_ is _that_ extroverted. It gives everyone in town control over your life: e.g., you can't tell your friends "sorry, can't come now, I haven't finished homework" when you know they already know, or will find out, exactly at which hour you were already done with your homework. Or not without quickly losing every single friend you ever had.
Or to give an example that's still traumatic to think about, I had a girlfriend at some point in high school (yes, I wasn't that nerdy) which pretty quickly got addicted to my computer. Well, fairy 'nuff, I'm not even opposed to sharing the computer, but let's at least try to do something else too. So I pull a "let's go out today, mom doesn't let me use the computer today." (Right, I'm losing all nerd credibility here;) Mom actually called her to tell her that's not true. That was one relationship that went down hill very fast thereafter.
2. Their approach to "rewarding" any personal initiative was, well, best illustrated by Mac Hall Comics. (It's just a comic and safe for work.) Just about everything I did was most likely to be met with, literally, "*sigh* Who the hell told you to do that?" or "*sigh* Who the hell told you to do it like that?" It was as good as a slap in the face, let me tell you.
You get the idea.
Thing is, programming was something that side-stepped both issues and put _me_ in control. Finally. Bloody finally.
Now they're both programmers and perfectly capable of understanding what I did there, but:
A) Anyone they _could_ tell stuff like "our little Moraelin used a goto instead of a loop today" (and have any hope they'd understand that) was usually way outside the circle of people I was in. Which was as good as having some privacy for a change.
B) They were actually pretty easy to satisfy in that domain. I suppose that when a kid writes machine code and it works, it's pretty hard to pull a "*sigh* Who the hell told you to do it like that?" (And I really mean machine code: the 1K RAM in a ZX-81 wasn't enough for an assembler, so I had to convert it to hex by hand.) If nothing else, it works.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I have an above average intellige (nothing special, half the world has that) and was in the top classes at the trade schools (for dutch people, lts and then mts). Yet while still focusing on some theory it also had plenty of practice sessions. LTS first two years were "general" meaning I got more DIY skills then are healthy for a person. I am not talking about knowing how to use a hammer here. I can draw and read blueprints and actually put up a wall. One that remains standing.
I would never have finished school if I had been forced to attend an all theory school (for dutch mavo/havo) as the 2 days 8 hours practice lesssons allowed me to get the energy out. Theory was not a problem for me but I know for kids who didn't do well in them the practice was also a place where they could do well.
It was good for the economy too. The world can always use another bricklayer, welder, painter. Craftsman are in short supply and lts/mts yes even hts (this is just one step below university) turned them out by the bucketload. Ask yourselve this, what is more usefull, a kid with an american highschool diploma or a kid who you can hand a blueprint and he will build it for you?
This whole system was changed and now we got classes that seem far closer to what you got in america. 100% theory with only faggot shop sessions where nothing real is learned.
Since the change school dropout rates have soared in holland (while industry complains that kids with diploma's ain't worth shit anymore).
So how does this relate to this game article? Well I get the distinct impression that these kids who escape into a gaming world are being pressured into going to theory schools for wich they are just not suited. If you try to fit everyone into the same mold you are going to get people that just don't fit.
With the dutch system there was a choice. Tradeschools were not lower. In fact they rated slightly higher then the administrative schools of the same level. Hell HTS gives you an engineering degree, whole HAVO just makes you eh, fit to be a clerk.
I think gaming addiction may be a real problem but it is merely the sympthom of a far larger problem.
Stop trying to force everyone to fit into the same schooling system and do well. The world doesn't need yet another manager. It does need people that can actually do things with their hands and be good at them. No a cheff or a welder will never rule the world but neither will 99.9% of kids with a theory diploma. But I am willing to put some serious money down that people in practical proffesions are a lot happier.
How many office workers snap vs craftsman?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
There are adults who become addicted (more or less) to computer games, especially when under stress.
I know when I have a tight deadline coming up, it can be tempting to pop open freecell. It just takes a few minutes to run through a game and be victorious. Freecell doesn't make me "an unbeatable hero", but I do win about 98% of the time. While the alternative -- doing the work I ought to do -- is much more time consuming, and obtaining a perfect result is usually impossible.
And that's just freecell. I have stayed far away from MMORPGs. Even the worst "freecell bender" lasts only 15 minutes or so before you get tired of the damn cards. I'm told MMORPGs can swallow up hours at a time.