90% of Gaming Addiction Patients Not Addicted

phorm writes "BBC is carrying an article which states that 90% of visitors to Europe's 'video game addiction clinic' are not, in fact, addicted. The problem is a social one rather than a psychological issue. In other words, the patients have turned to heavy gaming because they felt they didn't fit in elsewhere, or that they fit in better 'in the game' than elsewhere in 'the real world.' This has been discussed before, with arguments ranging from gaming being a good way to socialize, the clinical definition of gaming addiction, and claims than males are wired for video-game addiction."

Comments

Really?

[Darkness404]

Why do people still listen to the media is beyond me. Every single year they come up with something that is either A) addicting and damaging to minds B) corrupting the family/children/society or C) is somehow harmful. Be it rock and roll, cell phones, video games, comic books, etc, the media always comes up with some "studies" to back them up while two months later showing studies that prove just the opposite is true, why haven't people realized that the media has cried wolf far too many times and just tune the crap out?

Re:Really?

[causality]

Why do people still listen to the media is beyond me. Every single year they come up with something that is either A) addicting and damaging to minds B) corrupting the family/children/society or C) is somehow harmful. Be it rock and roll, cell phones, video games, comic books, etc, the media always comes up with some "studies" to back them up while two months later showing studies that prove just the opposite is true, why haven't people realized that the media has cried wolf far too many times and just tune the crap out?

Because maybe the only real addiction we have is allowing self-appointed "experts" and authorities to do our thinking for us.

Re:Really?

[Ethanol-fueled]

The problem is a social one rather than a psychological issue. In other words, the patients have turned to $ADDICTION because they felt they didn't fit in elsewhere,

Fixed. A good support system is a cure for all but the most virulent psychoses, but there's a lot of money to be made on medicalizing things which are otherwise curable through a support system. Unfortunately, most addicts are given drugs and/or forced to attend $ADDICTION anonymous meetings which do more harm that good: If you were a drunk, would want to do be forced into a smoke-filled room crammed in with other folks who are just as pissed for being there as you are, probably fiending for drinks? Also, the "higher power" thing dosen't work for atheists.

Males?

[girlintraining]

Yeah, I'll say. I just got done having a three hour bitch fest yesterday with a friend of mine who's BF is 'addicted' to World of Warcraft. She doesn't have a lot of experience with boys (much more with girls -- no comments on this please!), and I've had to mother her a bit on why a boy can sink twenty or more hours a week into a video game and says it "helps me relax and challenges me", but afterwords can't come up with anything better to do than "go bowling" ("where"? "Umm... I'm sure there's one around somewhere"), or "go for a walk".

I tried my best to explain how men are so much more visually oriented than girls, but it's a hard concept to really explain. It's not that they're addicted to video games, it's just that the game provides more visual action than the real world so they're more strongly attracted to it. Girls read books, boys watch movies--Boys play video games, girls play board games, that kind of thing. They really are wired different and it's damn frustrating.

I often find myself wishing for video games that helped build social skills for these kind of boys -- the ones that are awkward and introverted in public, but if you can get them to open up they're nice teddy bears. I don't think they'd want to play it though, unless it involved blowing up or shooting something. :( Like The Sims -- awesome game, but the only people I know who play it are other girls! Am I hoping for too much here? Is there some way to use some visual medium to help boys crawl out of their shell?

Re:Males?

[Yosho]

Yeah, I'll say. I just got done having a three hour bitch fest yesterday with a friend of mine who's BF is 'addicted' to World of Warcraft. She doesn't have a lot of experience with boys (much more with girls -- no comments on this please!), and I've had to mother her a bit on why a boy can sink twenty or more hours a week into a video game and says it "helps me relax and challenges me", but afterwords can't come up with anything better to do than "go bowling" ("where"? "Umm... I'm sure there's one around somewhere"), or "go for a walk".

This may be a silly question, but -- she may have spent three hours bitching to you about it, but has she spent that much time talking to him about it? Nothing is going to change unless he wants to change, and that will not happen unless he understands and accepts that there is a problem.

As a guy, one of the largest frustrations I've had with many (but not all, fortunately) girls is that when something is upsetting them they won't just tell me about it. They might make it obvious that they're upset about something in general, but me being unable to guess exactly what is apparently just another failure on my part. Casually saying something like, "Oh, I wish you'd spend less time playing WoW" doesn't count -- his internal reaction will be "Ok, I'll log off fifteen minutes early today," then he'll shrug and move on.

If the amount of time he spends playing WoW is a serious problem, he needs to be told plainly that it is a serious problem. If he accepts that it's a problem, he can fix it, but otherwise his girlfriend will either have to just accept it or leave him. She's only going to make herself more frustrated if she thinks that he'll change if she just waits long enough.

Nerds not addicts

[camg188]

turned to heavy gaming because they felt they didn't fit in elsewhere

So 90% were nerds, not addicts.

Re:Demise of hobby clubs

[teh moges]

+1 Insightful if I had mod points.

Another contributing factor is, I have to say, laziness. It is much easier to stay at home, connect the Xbox to the net and play a game, then it was even 5 years ago to organize for all your mates to come around to play Perfect Dark multiplayer in the same room.

People often ignore the benefits of the social interaction, and this causes problems long term, as its hard to switch 'back' once you have isolated yourself even a little from your community.

Re:Demise of hobby clubs

[Aladrin]

You seem to be claiming that the disappearance of these clubs is causing kids to be gamers. I think it's exactly the opposite: Video games are causing kids not to be interested in those clubs, so they disappear due to lack of interest.

I -love- math and science, but if you give me the choice between hanging out with a bunch of kids that are interested in math or playing video games, the choice is obvious.

In addition, I can get all the info I need from the internet. I no longer have to deal with people or libraries or anything. Kids have the exact same access that I do, so it's not surprising that the smart ones choose to get their information fast and accurate, instead of wasting time. (Yes, information on the net is still far more accurate than talking to schoolkids about it.)