Dr Phil slates gaming... gaming addiction question
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This quote alone opitomizes why "videogame addiction" is a joke.elitepie931 said:Hm...Runescape got addicting, but I stopped when I saw that I ruined myself.
Garry's Mod is addicting, but I can stop whenever I want toI only play it because my girlfriend and my best friend play it with me.
Fallout 3 was addicting in a good way, then I got to the ending and was like...
"man...screw this..."
:3 I also have an addictive personality, So I'll never play WoW.
Oh yeah I was addicted to Runescape, but then I made a concious decision to stop and boom, there you are.
Compare with.
Oh yeah man I was addicted to crack, but then I saw it was screwing me up so I quit, easy as pie.
The reason we play videogames for too long is because we WANT to. Sometimes we go too far, and can ruin our social lives a bit, but have you noticed how every single ex-addict's testimony is "oh yeah I realised I was taking too far so I stopped", THAT IS NOT ADDICTION, that is getting way too in to something, realising it, and sorting yourself out
Videogames aren't addictive, they're just really fun and we really love playing them, but unlike actual addictive drugs, "giving them up" isn't a horrendous trial, we're not gonna vomit, hallucinate, go temporarily insane, or really suffer any pain whatsoever.
The WORST you're gonna get is "aw man I miss that game" in which case, PLAY it, but take it in moderation, man!
Thats almost as good as when A Current Affair, a fairly popular 'news' program that airs in Australia, did a story on WoW addiction.
They interviewed one pimply teenager from Melbourne. They stated that he had spent up to 8 hours playing this game once! That he had anger issues when he got killed in pvp and threw his (wait for it...) mouse pad at the wall.
His mother cried about how she couldn't stop him, and how he refused to get a job and that his grades had dropped. The subscription was being paid for by her.
So no I don't believe any drivel that fat shrink spews.
At one point I spent far too much time playing WoW than I should have, but I had problems at the time, and would have been out drinking and doing drugs if I wasn't gaming. I know this because when I wasn't gaming I was drinking or doing drugs or working.
They interviewed one pimply teenager from Melbourne. They stated that he had spent up to 8 hours playing this game once! That he had anger issues when he got killed in pvp and threw his (wait for it...) mouse pad at the wall.
His mother cried about how she couldn't stop him, and how he refused to get a job and that his grades had dropped. The subscription was being paid for by her.
So no I don't believe any drivel that fat shrink spews.
At one point I spent far too much time playing WoW than I should have, but I had problems at the time, and would have been out drinking and doing drugs if I wasn't gaming. I know this because when I wasn't gaming I was drinking or doing drugs or working.
Im just going to say one little thing to this...Amarok said:This quote alone opitomizes why "videogame addiction" is a joke.elitepie931 said:Hm...Runescape got addicting, but I stopped when I saw that I ruined myself.
Garry's Mod is addicting, but I can stop whenever I want to
Fallout 3 was addicting in a good way, then I got to the ending and was like...
"man...screw this..."
:3 I also have an addictive personality, So I'll never play WoW.
Oh yeah I was addicted to Runescape, but then I made a concious decision to stop and boom, there you are.
Compare with.
Oh yeah man I was addicted to crack, but then I saw it was screwing me up so I quit, easy as pie.
The reason we play videogames for too long is because we WANT to. Sometimes we go too far, and can ruin our social lives a bit, but have you noticed how every single ex-addict's testimony is "oh yeah I realised I was taking too far so I stopped", THAT IS NOT ADDICTION, that is getting way too in to something, realising it, and sorting yourself out
Videogames aren't addictive, they're just really fun and we really love playing them, but unlike actual addictive drugs, "giving them up" isn't a horrendous trial, we're not gonna vomit, hallucinate, go temporarily insane, or really suffer any pain whatsoever.
The WORST you're gonna get is "aw man I miss that game" in which case, PLAY it, but take it in moderation, man!
No U.
Now I feel like an idiot.
Maybe thats because I am
Oh well.
I've seen that tooUshario said:
If I recall, they stated that he played 16 hours a day (doubtful given that the guy's gear sucked) they also claimed he had learned the word "fuck" from WoW (he's 16...) and one arsehole of a psychologist actually said "Cameron thinks he can just stop whenever he wants to, but no, he has a disease because I say so, and just like a drug addict, he's going to find quitting to be absolutely impossible (slightly paraphrased the end there).Then to completely up the bullshit factor they broadened it to "Addiction to Technology" claiming that psychologists were seeing more and more victims every day, and by psychologists, I think he meant him and him alone.
Video games are quite capable of being addictive, much like most other positive stimulus the brain can receive. But there is also a difference between just losing track of time and being addicted.Amarok said:
Some people actually do get addicted to games like WoW, where they'll skip school or work to play, and not playing enough gives them clear withdrawal symptoms like mood swings and irrational behavior.
Now, Fallout 3 is addictive. It draws you in, and it can be a bit hard to stop playing, but that doesn't mean you're addicted the instant you realize that you've been playing through the night and can see sunlight outside. This is, however, a good time to start thinking about not playing too much, because the risk is clearly there.
But then it also depends on the person in question. Different stimulus affect different people in different ways. I, for example, am pretty much unaffected by caffeine, and don't run much of a risk of getting addicted to that.
I think they can be addictive but its only a harmful addiction in extreme/rare cases. I won't lie. I do get really worked up when I play Street Fighter IV online. Sometimes after great matches my hands shake from the adrenaline rush and during work I watch matches on youtube and study peoples technique. Thankfully I pretty much get paid to do nothing anyway so its not a problem
Video games are more like drugs than people think. I can be so addicted to a game that I play it non stop, but once my "supply is cut" like if I'm going away for the weekend, when I get back I'm not into it any more.
All these people bashing video games for being "evil" are making parents stupid. "O, that man on the TV said video games are EVIL! I'm not going to let my kid play Halo because those snipers used it as practice!"
To my Mom: If driving games don't make you a better driver, shooters won't make you handle guns better. I was a social reject because you over-sheltered me, and now that I'm playing Halo 3 for the first time, while everyone else has years of experience, I'm dieing, a lot. When I have kids, they are going to be playing every popular game on its release date.
All these people bashing video games for being "evil" are making parents stupid. "O, that man on the TV said video games are EVIL! I'm not going to let my kid play Halo because those snipers used it as practice!"
To my Mom: If driving games don't make you a better driver, shooters won't make you handle guns better. I was a social reject because you over-sheltered me, and now that I'm playing Halo 3 for the first time, while everyone else has years of experience, I'm dieing, a lot. When I have kids, they are going to be playing every popular game on its release date.
hah i like that, a current affair tends to find one person for their entire sample then use them as official and incontrovertable proof that such-and-such is bad/good.
I know people who have been addicted to original Banjo Kazooie - if playing for a full day counts as addiction.
although i've spent full days, say, watching movies or at uni and i wouldnt say i'm addicted to either.
if MMORPGs are addictive then it really makes me wonder why WAR online and age of conan are collapsing so speedy. people have no probs giving them up
I know people who have been addicted to original Banjo Kazooie - if playing for a full day counts as addiction.
although i've spent full days, say, watching movies or at uni and i wouldnt say i'm addicted to either.
if MMORPGs are addictive then it really makes me wonder why WAR online and age of conan are collapsing so speedy. people have no probs giving them up
I put it to you, good sir, that while videogames are capable of being addictive, they have no more or less potential to be addictive than any other time consuming hobby , I've seen people get addicted to MSN, but to shift the stigma away from computers, there are people who can get addicted to, say, jigsaw puzzles, they'll do nothing but jigsaw puzzles all day, every day, of course, that sort of thing doesn't make the news, except maybe as a comedy piece.JediMB said:
The problem I have is that videogame addiction is being massively overhyped, to the point that, as I noted with the person I quoted above, the very term "addiction" is being grossly misused. People will glaldy confess to being addicted to a videogame, but when you look at what they've just said it really boils down to "I just really like this game, and sometimes spend a little too much time on it"
Addiction and compulsion are so very different. The latter is easy to break free of with even the tiniest amount of willpower, which everyone on this thread, probably this entire forum, has.
Anytime anyone tries to paint games as evil, I point out that historically every new entertainment medium is labelled as such. Movies, music, television. They're all corroding our precious souls and destroying our lives. Only a few years ago playing Dungeons & Dragons was tantamount to opening a doorway to hell.
Obsessive people will obsess over something. I know a girl in her 20's who probably still believes she will marry Vegeta from Dragonball Z one day. People who think romance is like an episode of Love Hina. People in their 30s who believe in Pokemon! Who have never dated because real women don't look like Kasumi from Dead or Alive.
The point is, Dr. Phil is not only ignorant, but he has to think about ratings. Video games are incredibly easy and popular to bash right now.
In a few years someone will write a series of books that will be embraced worldwide, and spark a whole new passion for reading and literacy, only to be labelled as evil because of a few crackpots think they promote devil worship. OH WAIT.
Obsessive people will obsess over something. I know a girl in her 20's who probably still believes she will marry Vegeta from Dragonball Z one day. People who think romance is like an episode of Love Hina. People in their 30s who believe in Pokemon! Who have never dated because real women don't look like Kasumi from Dead or Alive.
The point is, Dr. Phil is not only ignorant, but he has to think about ratings. Video games are incredibly easy and popular to bash right now.
In a few years someone will write a series of books that will be embraced worldwide, and spark a whole new passion for reading and literacy, only to be labelled as evil because of a few crackpots think they promote devil worship. OH WAIT.
If you were addicted, as opposed to merely obsessed (which is a totally different thing] surely cutting your supply would cause actual withdrawal symptoms like in real drugs?Haydyn said:
It sounds to me like you're just an obsessive type, mate. I bet you can, if you so choose, put down any videogame and walk away. Sure sure, you can very easily get sucked in and sink hours and hours in, but if it was a full on holy shit barbeque proper addiction, you'd be a wreck, taking your games away would cause you to pretty much lose the ability to function properly, because that's what addiction is.
I admit, I was "addicted" to WoW for a little while. addicted as in I played it constantly and constantly wanted to play it, no matter what else I was doing. I then noticed that I was scheduling my time around raids and put a stop to it. that was that.
sure, you can call it an "addiction" but there's nothing pulling you back. if you don't want to be addicted, just don't. gaming isn't a drug and it makes no claims on you (you know, like ACTUALLY addictive things do). you can't be addicted any more than you can be addicted to gardening.
sure, you can call it an "addiction" but there's nothing pulling you back. if you don't want to be addicted, just don't. gaming isn't a drug and it makes no claims on you (you know, like ACTUALLY addictive things do). you can't be addicted any more than you can be addicted to gardening.
Yeah, I remember seeing that in a presentation. I believe it was called "Addicted to [EPIX]" and held by Totalbiscuit of WoW Radio.Ushario said:
If I remember correctly, that thing was even so obviously faked it wasn't even funny. Supposedly that mouse pad he had thrown had made a hole the size of two fists. Not to mention, he was playing a Holy Paladin in tier 0, and whilst he was doing Arathi Basin he said into his mic "I'll kill you all", like the Horde could hear him. I don't know what they were trying to gain with that film, but anyone that has ever played WoW, which is 12 million people across the globe, will dismiss that film for the hatespeech that it is.
These films do nothing but further increase the ignorance of those already ignorant. Admitted, they contain some truth, but they blow it so out of proportion that they ironically become the bigger joke. It's a fucking shame that they have to resort to faking content to get their "message" across. So much for trusting the media. Jesus.
