Doctor Urges AMA To Classify Gaming Addiction

Doctor Mario writes "The AMA has issued a set of findings and recommendations (Word document) which follow a lengthy look at possible connections between gaming and violence, as well as gaming addiction. Ars Technica has a very good summary of the report, which suggests that gaming addiction is likely to be a subset of Internet addiction 'as it most frequently occurs in players of MMORPGs. In both of these addictions, the current definition is currently informal — the described symptoms actually most closely resemble pathological gambling, rather than an addiction. In either case, the report notes, "there is currently insufficient research to definitively conclude that video game overuse is an addiction."' The report also recommends that Internet and videogame addiction be included in a revision to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."

Comments

Hoping the Proposal is Rejected

[duerra]

It's probably a good thing if this gets voted down by AMA. Right now most of the states' laws that are being passed in their respective legislatures are being declared unconstitutional because it has not been demonstrated that video games pose a legit risk to children or their mental health. If the AMA votes through this proposal, we could start to see states pointing to this, and seeing the courts side with the states regarding the legislation that they are passing, which are all currently and consistently being ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

Re:Hoping the Proposal is Rejected

[StikyPad]

There is a distinct difference between someone who is participating in escapist behavior and a particular substance or activity being addictive.

The difference between physical and psychological addiction are indeed distinct, which is why they have different names.

Take a completely average, well adjusted, completely within the bounds or normalcy guy or gal from the street. Now force them to injest considerable quantities of Nicotine, Alcohol, Cocaine or Heroin over an extended period of time.

That is an excellent illustration of the difference between physical and psychological addiction. Nonetheless, it does not disprove the existance of psychological addiction. That one is more valid than the other is debatable at best and, given the evidence to the contrary, disingenuous at worst.

I've known first hand a good amount of people with this so called "game addiction" and in every single case they were running from life not toward games. Conversely, I've interacted with people with real addictions and though many were running from life there was a not insignificant number who were just hard partiers

Just hard partiers?!? Hard partying is the very definition of escapism. You seem to be confusing isolation with escapism. While there may be an overlap, not all isolation is escapism, and not all escapism involves isolation. Moreover, there is nothing inherently wrong with escapism; the problem is taking things to excess, to the detriment of life obligations or personal development. Some people compulsively engage in escapist behavior, and have difficulty controlling their urges for various reasons.

If only these nut jobs who want to term anything and everything under the sun as "addictive" could be brought to realize the truth of this they'd see that not every negative human behavior can be blamed on an external cause.

Aside from a few misguided extremists, nobody is laying the blame, or calling for a ban, on potentially addictive activities. Clearly the problem is with the individual. Nonetheless, it is useful to identify activities which the addictive personality will find seductive, if for no other reason than so they can be avoided *by those people*. You are correct that -- much the way anything can be called toxic -- in enough quantity, anything can be called addictive. However, there is clearly a scale of potential for addiction in activities, just the way there is a scale of potential for toxcicity in substances, and some people are clearly more susceptible to addiction, or toxins, than others.

On a side note, much like innate homosexuality, there is little to be gained from denying the existance of gaming addiction, a fact which calls into question the motivation of those who try to deny its existance. Many believe they are trying to deny a part of themselves. If there is no such thing as innate homosexuality, then they cannot be gay. Likewise, if there is no such thing as gaming addiction, then they cannot be addicted. Personally, I think the root cause is less insidious -- I tend to believe some people simply have a hard time understanding that other people experience life differently than they do, and they insist that their experience is the "correct" one. Both explanations are plausible.

Politically Expedient Research

[unlametheweak]

Instead of projecting mental conditions onto physical entities and behaviors like gaming, people should spend more time just trying to understand addiction and obsessive compulsive behavior in general.

Just studying addictive personalities however is not as sensational or politically expedient as the more sensational avenue of linking games to violence and anti-social behavior. I'm sure a researcher can get more money by studying the latter.

why an addiction?

[Lurker2288]

Presumably addiction here means that playing games stimulates the pleasure centers in the brain, which leads players to play more in order to sustain the dopamine rush (or endorphins, or whatever). But can anybody explain to me why this is any different from, say, somebody who loves playing soccer, or playing piano? I know people who get cranky if they don't go to the gym at least once a day--are they addicted? What makes gaming (or gambling, for that matter) an addiction?

Here's your tinfoil hat thought of the day: at least one major drug company is currently working on drugs intended to treat nonspecific 'compulsive' behaviors, and the list of populations they're targeting includes gamblers, overeaters, and gamers. Bit creepy, or is it just me?

They are addictive, let's get a better cure though

[freshmayka]

Seriously folks, anything which can stimulate ones mind in such a dramatic fashion as video games can will become addictive to people whose brains are susceptible to chemical addiction. Playing a video game releases chemicals in your brain, tons of them. I believe it's the same exact endorphins or whatever (I'm not a neuroscientist) that get released when you get 777 on the slots as it is when you get a purple epic drop in World of Warcraft. At least my therapist tells me so and she's got a PhD in this stuff.

Addiction science needs a lot of work though. As it stands right now they seem to be quite good at saying "look here, the brain starts to behave this way when a person gets addicted to a specific behavior or chemical" ... However they then tell you "Give up your problems to god and go to a spiritual advisor at a Generic Anonymous support group." I'm sorry but after all your science and reasoning you're telling me the only cure to my excessive Molten Core raiding (or drinking, or drugging, or gambling, etc.) is to talk it over with my peers and let God sort out the details? A higher power is the only one who can re-balance my out of whack brain chemistry???

I'm sure a good amount of people here might fire right back at this response and say "There is no proof of addictive nature of games etc. etc." but reports like this are becoming more common and I think anyone with 25+ years of gaming experience would just answer the question "Are games addictive?" with a resounding "Duh!"

What we do need is a better way to help people who suffer from ALL addictions. If guys like Jack Thompson get their way then they'll just use the banner of video game addiction to push a Christian cultural agenda - not to improve anyones health or lifestyle. Way too much of the "solution" to addiction right now is based on some mystical guardian of your spirit who only comes to your aide if you follow twelve specific steps put together by two midwestern americans nearly a century ago...

I see merit behind it, but doubt it's usefulness.

[kinglink]

I see this becoming like ADD and ADHD, where a few of us actually have it to the point where when we are an adult we can't shake off some of the tendencies. But then then it was classified as a major problem, and all of a sudden EVERYONE has it, and those of us who actually have it (not just appear to have it) get screwed. Suddenly it's Normal to have it, and that it's "ok" to have it, when half the people I saw with ADD were just suffering from normal adolescents that they weren't even growing out of because it was "ok" that's what made me understand what bullshit is. That was the point I told my psychiatrist to go to hell, and dealt with the problem myself because no external source could give it me. I still have some of the tendencies but the fact is I've dealt with them rather then just accepted them and most people don't realize I ever had an issue with it (and it was a severe case).

We have the same situation with autism currently. So many kids are being diagnosed with them, but is it merely a case of a genetic defect that is all of a sudden present in them or is it a case of a diagnosis that is just too broad and doesn't realize the term "borderline" really should be "is similar but not really". Personally the research and the cases I've seen seems to be the later. That doesn't mean there isn't autism, but the severe cases are getting grouped with the "normal" cases of anti-social kids who have imaginary friends (imagine a kid having that?)

Even the behaviors involved with the identification of the conditions are often at odds with itself.

But even this makes me believe gaming addiction is ripe for another "autism" where there's people with serious problems (read "people who play themselves to death", aka the two Korean gentlemen I read about 6 months ago.) who really do need help, will once again get clumped in with anti-social people who'd prefer to play a game than go to a bar. Do I play games more than I should? Yeah, but I do it rather then going out all night and partying. Losing a job because you're playing WoW is an issue, but preferring to have fun playing games doesn't qualify as a disorder, just as reading too many fiction books isn't one. Sadly the AMA tends to broaden their definitions too much to if you play more than 2 hours of games a day you're sick and need help.

Re:Obligatory Penny Arcade

[Anonymous Coward]

It could be that online games are filling the community aspects that society seems to have shunned.
Hanging out, spending time, talking with people, getting to know the people around you, etc...

That's exactly what it is. Most of the game addicts I've known were formerly addicted to other internet-based socialization mechanisms. Many of them had been bullied severely, teaching them that, while loneliness was painful, interaction with the majority of the population was even more so. But when they found the internet, they suddenly don't have to be lonely anymore.

Re:Obligatory Penny Arcade

[StikyPad]

Next thing you know someone'll look at a bookworm and claim books are addicting because they were unhappy at being able to read their favorite book, or a moviegoer unhappy at being barred from seeing a movie

While I don't think game addiction necessarily needs a distinct category in the DSM, there is a difference between the hobbies you mention and potentially addictive activities. Namely, the latter involve persistant and compelling reasons to engage in the activity. Aside from delayed gratification (which can be more satisfying than instant gratification anyway), there typically isn't a downside to waiting to see a movie or read a book. In a MMORPG, on the other hand, there are countless disincentives to allow the real world clock to tick without accumulating /play time. Granted, these aren't immediately obvious to the novice who may have no problem stopping play, but I've never met a smoker who was addicted after his first cigarette either. From the low levels, the disincentive is to prevent peers from out-leveling you (or perhaps the satisfaction of outleveling them yourself). As you progress in the game, the disincentives turn to missed "rare" opportunities and potential ostracism for failing to help the group. In short, MMOGs are dynamic environments which people can and do miss out on by failing to play. In contrast, books, movies, model-building, and so on are static and exhibit little to no disincentive to ignore them.

Note also both the similarity between, and integration of, gambling and MMOGs. Each exhibit similar characteristics: They are ostensibly social activities. They never end; there is always another potential goal*. They offer steady but random rewards and punishments. There also appears to be a large overlap of gamblers and gamers: From "guess the number," to full-blown casinos in Second Life, gambling is ever popular among the gaming population.

I'm not making a value judgement on any of these activities -- I enjoy gambling, and I've enjoyed years of MMOG playing -- but to say that they are no different from avid reading or moviegoing is disingenuous. If they were not fundamentally different, they wouldn't be so seductive, and it's not difficult to see how people can be drawn in to MMOGs to the detriment of all else.

* The fatal flaw in many MMOGs is that they do, in fact, run out of goals if a player is dedicated enough, which is why high-level guilds tend to have a high turnover of players who become disillusioned once they actually "have it all."

Comparing it with Alcohol Classes

[Durrok]

If you get a PI, DUI, or possession charge in Indiana the court puts you on probation for a year and makes you take anywhere from 8-40 hours of classes. I received a PI and had to take 20 hours of these "Prime for Life" classes. Among many things, they explain the various stages leading up to physical addiction with alcohol and marijuana and I can definitely see some similarities between "WoW addiction" or addictions of any kind. Here is a quickly adapted WoW addiction phase table

Phase one: Take it or leave it

You can stand to be without it and while you do enjoy when you do get to play you only do it when you have free time that you might have spent playing other games. Your odds of ever getting to 70 are pretty low and are likely to have a few low level alts.

Phase two: Anticipation

You look forward to playing WoW when you are leaving work or places where you cannot play. You spend some downtime when you can't play the game looking up some items or character builds and other information about the game. You probably talk about WoW with some friends or co-workers who play. This would be your normal player of WoW who will likely hit 70 some day, make some twinks, and even join a light raiding guild. If anything else comes up with friends, work, or family you will /quit without thinking twice and go spend time with them.

Phase three: Occupation

You spend almost every waking moment thinking about WoW in some fashion. Typically work and social life are impacted as you re-prioritize your choices and life around WoW. You probably join a raiding guild and have set times everyday when you login and play. WoW is the only game you spend any serious time playing. Anything that interrupts those things will highly annoy you and you are likely to alienate yourself from others who do not play as to minimize distractions. Relationships with friends and family begin to become strained. You have 2-3 70s and clock in at least 30 hours a week.

Phase four: Complete Psychological Addiction

Note: This would be physical addiction for drugs

Your life is WoW. Every activity in your life revolves around it. You might seek out a job that gives you the best hours for raiding, pass up on promotions that would interfere with it, or even quit your job altogether. Your friends and family rarely see you and you grow distant from everyone who is not a member of your guild. Health and productivity go down the toilet after weeks and weeks of little sleep and complete occupation with the game take its toil. You lose many of your friends and any relationships where your partner does not play WoW as well. You may leave your guild as they are no longer "hardcore" enough for you and either start your own or join a very serious raiding guild. If not you are likely a guild leader or very high up in your guild.

Maybe I should start a "Prime for Gaming" support group. :P

Re:Addiction?

[Reality Master 101]

So my question is, why isn't anyone doing something about your mom in laws behavior?

That's like asking, "why don't they take the bottle out of the alcoholic's hands?"

It's not that simple when you're dealing with an adult making their choices.