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Game Addiction Clinic Swamped
Via the Gamers with Jobs Press Pass, an article on The Australian site claiming that the Dutch gaming addiction clinic is swamped with fearful parents and glaze-eyed children. From the article: "Although experts are still debating whether excessive game playing counts as an addiction, Mr Bakker has no doubt that the symptoms are the same. 'If we see a car burning outside, we don't sit around wondering what to call it,' he said. 'It is not a chemical dependency, but it's got everything of an obsessive-compulsive disorder and all of the other stuff that comes with chemical dependency.' Tim, a 21-year-old from Utrecht, said he had hardly left his bedroom for five years because he was so obsessed by his computer games. "
I may be 21 but sometimes I feel like an "old fogey" -- what happened to self control?! This isn't crack or nicotine or anything physically addiction, it's a video game. I play a LOT of video games when I have free time, but all it takes to stop is a little thing called will power. I don't understand why so many people can't just put down their damn controllers. You know, while they're in the game clinic, they should at least ship me their game library.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
I personally have met someone who was addicted to World of Warcraft- he stopped going to classes to play, would fall asleep at his chair while his characted rested, and unless he's changed since I graduated, has probably flunked out of college by this point.
However, for all that, I don't think that gaming addiction is all that common- compared to alcholism or compulsive gambling the number of gaming 'addicts' are trivial. Also, gaming is less physically harmful than alcohol or drugs, and much cheaper to indulge in than compulsive gambling.
I suspect that the same people who are susceptible to compulsive gambling are also the compulsive gamers, so research on the larger, more important issue (compulsive gambling) might also help compulsive gamers.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
I'd think that throughout the history of mankind, parents have had times when they thought "I wasn't there when I should have been." It's impossible to always be there. Those that understand this and are able to instill a sense of responsibility into their children can at least rest easier when they can't be "there."
Life is full of mistakes, problems and other nasty things and the only way we'll ever progress is if we learn from them. That's the most important lesson anyone should learn, ever, and as long as we keep passing the buck around, we'll never get out of this vicious circle; in fact, things will only get worse.
Unfortunatly, the thought of the populous seems to be "keep them coddled and safe and sheltered until 18" at which case they're instantly full grown adults with complete knowledge of right and wrong in the world...
There's more and more research emerging to support the hypothesis that any addiction to a substance without physically addictive qualities (i.e. crack and its ilk) are all rooted in the same dopamine reactions. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1669601/p osts is a short synopsis of a story I read in long form in Chicago magazine about a woman who took a drug that affected how her brain handled dopamine and ended up with a massive gambling addiction. Stopping the meds brought back her original problem but allowed her to almost effortlessly quit gambling.
All of these non-chemical addictions seem to have the same core symptoms. People do something that makes them feel good. They do it often and begin to notice other things don't feel good anymore, then they notice they need to do this new thing more and more to keep the good feeling coming. Just because our brain makes a chemical doesn't mean it won't acquire a tolerance to it.
Are these "addicts" getting the Dutch equivalent of disability payments for this bullshit?
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Sometimes when a teenager or young person plays computer games excessively, there is another problem hidden underneath. Usually when a young boy (not that females are not affected, but the majority of the cases are male) stays in and plays computer games all day, it is because he finds it easier to beat the game than confronting society and his problems.
My advice to parents is to pay attention to their children and what the messages their children send. It is really important to be able to tell what's bugging your kid and deal with it.