Dr Phil slates gaming... gaming addiction question

[MiracleOfSound]

Just watching an episode of Dr Phil with the missus and he is interviewing families who have video game addicts.

As usual the entire collective is basically saying that games are evil and pretty much worse than crack.

I'm sure everyone can guess which game was the most mentioned game... Dr Phil sneering and laughing at a dude because he is an 'elemental shaman' and basically acting like a complete ass without seeming to offer any kind of solution or alternative.

Personally I've gotten a bit worried once or twice while on super long Fallout 3 marathons (I have almost 300 hours on that game) that I might possibly be overdoing it a bit. I've never played WOW and given my addictive personality I don't ever plan to start.

Has anyone here ever gotten to the point where they thought they might be addicted? Do you think WOW really is evil and ruins lives?

 

[Altorin]

People who let WoW, or any other game for that matter, ruin their lives would have their lives ruined by something else.

 

[NotAPie]

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 I 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.

 

[number2301]

I actually have to avoid certain types of games, mmos, football manager, civilisation etc. Basically games which don't really have an ending, due to getting absolutely obsessed with certain games from time to time.

So yeah they can be seriously addictive, but addictions are a problem with the person, not the addictive substances. You have to have the sense to control yourself.

 

[Dale Cooper]

The man's a joke.

However, the time some people spend on WoW is a bit much.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Every time I see a title like this, my first thought is "And why should I care."

Really, a...talk-show host? Male Oprah? Whatever.

Some jackass "slates" (British slang?) something he doesn't know anything about.
This is the world. Ignorance is law.

actually I'm irish... just to clarify

Slate means to intensely criticise something in an aggresive manner, for example...

many PS3 fans like to slate halo

Funny, I didn't know that the word wasn't used over the water!

 

[Major_Sam]

I was addicted to WoW for about 3 weeks. Played it for about 3 hours on school nights and 7 hours + on weekends. Then I suddenly stopped. I got bored. Its not a fun game. So. Much. WALKING.

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

I can and have been addicted to a game, but nothing like crack or doing drugs. The most I would do would play it for 4 hours and think about it all day. I'm not even sure you'd call that an addiction.

 

[VoltySquirrel]

I saw that episode when it was on the air (like 6 months or so) and I was loling the entire time. Hell, I found out about it because my WoW friend told me about it when I was playing WoW.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Oh no, not Dr.Phil, how shall we ever survive against baseless accusations from a man of such calibre?!

Anyway, you can become addicted to almost anything.
Technically speaking if it's not a chemical addiction, it's not "true" addiction, though, just a mental dependency, really.

I never get why people always blame the means of escape (from life, from whatever) and not what caused someone to seek an escape.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Talk shows are terrible.

But really Gaming addiction, although obviously not healthy it isnt ultra serious.

What would you rather be addicted to? Drugs, Alcohol, Gambling or Games?

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Dr. Phil is awful at his job, he doesn't help people he just makes fools out of them and makes their problem worse.


The below link is a prime example of his shoddy work: Dr. Phil was supposed to interview this fellow but instead he cut his words off at every chance and told him to GTFO to make himself look like a hero. Real professional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNPvdsJS-qE

Wow... That is just... What...

I have now concluded that Dr. Phil is a moron who panders to the masses. I mean, come on! He airs footage that he KNOWS is controversial, then grandstands in front of his audience and panders to their knee-jerk emotional response to the material without taking time to dissect the other guy's opinion on an intellectual level?!? And then blows off a guest that he probably invited onto his show? AND gets into a childish yes/no argument with him and has security haul his invited guest off even though Dr. Moron was in no clear danger? Way to avoid answering difficult questions, Dr. Loser.

I don't see how this guy can even call himself a psychologist.

Yeah, sorry about that, I just had to get that out of my system. As for the subject of video games and addiction, ANYTHING that you or I find highly enjoyable releases seratonin in our brains and effectively gets us a little bit high. With that in mind, anything enjoyable can become an addiction. Maybe Dr. Worthless' time would be better spent railing against the evils of eating, sleeping, sex and enjoying the outdoors? Because all of these things can probably become addictive given the right circumstances.

You can't argue effectively against something just on the basis of it being an addictive activity. There has to be a legitimate negative side effect that affects everyone who gets addicted to said activity.

 

[Jandau]

Dr. Phil is an untalented excuse for a psychologist who's only famous due to his pandering to Oprah-spawned soccer mom mentality. He has shown time and time again that he is only capable of parroting a few "theories" and "solutions" while being incapable of actually understanding any issue beyond a lonely housewife and her desire to have sex with the mailman...

As for Gaming, when it is involved in psychological disorders it's usually a symptom, not the cause. Severe gamimg addicts would have ruined their lives in some other way if it wasn't for games.

Personally, I game a lot, but then again I'm just lazy. If you took my games away, I'd probably read or watch TV all day

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Yes, because a minority of people develop an actual addiction to games, they must be evil. Just like coffee is evil because some people become addicted to that. Or sugar. Or sex. People need to stop making mountains out of molehills. Especially dickheads who make regular TV appearances.

 

[DM.]

Dr Phil is a troll, Stop feeding him.

 

[New Troll]

Addiction is an enjoyment than the abuser doesn't think he can get elsewhere. WoW, as an MMO makes a good subject because it's ever changing, with it's own society and various 'goals'. People can in turn, do what they want, be what they want, escape reality.

The only real problem with this is every second of WoW is a new experience that if played could influence the rest of your gaming life. Makes it hard to want to log off. And that is why you will see half the server, bored, just standing around in a populated place, not really doing anything. They have nothing to do, but are too afraid to log of for fear they might miss something.

WoW is very addicting, if you take the game seriously. Unfortunately, most players do. All I can beg is no one lets it interfere with thier family/love/work/school because WoW will eventually die but those things impact the rest of your life.

 

[blekx]

I'm a wow nerd-ette, but i think it's a concious choice to let it eat up spare hours of my life, not an addiction. I play with my bf, a couple of kids from uni and one or two from my old highschool. I'm not unhealthy, and seeing as i live in country australia and have no drivers licence i've not really got much else to do.

I'll definately accept that there are people out there who are addicted to wow, but then there are people out there addicted to eating, excercise, beating up animals, throwing money into slot machines... lots of stuff that's slightly less usefull and thoroughly more stupid than social gaming.

(course if i was addicted i would say that anyway, ey? maybe it is denial )