Game Addiction is real??? I say BS

[Tirak]

Dr. Mark had an article on this here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/ask-dr-mark/8482-Ask-Dr-Mark-14-Addicted-to-Gaming

Personally, I don't think you can become addicted to gaming. I think people use addiction too often as a scapegoat for their own lack of self control. As long as the rest of your life is in order, you're doing the right things, functioning in society and enjoy a night out every once in a while, you're not addicted, or even engaged in unhealthy behavior. The fact that you're getting out to meet family is another sign, after all, if games were so important you needed them on the level addiction implies, you'd be a hermit.

 

[CharrHearted]

I know I'm not, Now if you don't mind, I need to go blow up Mister X on RE2

stop it! DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!

 

[Dr.Fantastic]

I shall call BULLSHIT on this one. Im now gonna be told that game addiction is the same as my dads heroin problem(dont flip the shit,he has been clean for 6 years. If I didnt say anything people would be like HOLY SHIT CAKE ON RYE BREAD)!My parents used to say I was addicted to video games until I went two weeks without them. Didnt complain once about it. Just dont listen to your aunt since she now falls into the "Im always right about everything"crowd.

 

[Hap2]

The moment it starts interfering with one's normal life, then it has become an addiction. I'm addicted to gaming, and have been trying to cut down since it interferes with university work, and my own personal work.

 

[badgersprite]

Gaming addiction does exist, but it's rarer than people think. It basically leads to the same compulsive behaviour as people who can't stop gambling. And yes, I have been addicted to gaming. This is why I don't play MMOs or social games -I have been in places with these games where I can't stop, I stay up all night doing nothing but that game, and often ended up spending money on in game currency. That was bad, and it frequently led to things like bad performance at school and being unable to complete assessments on time.

But that's me. I know I have an addictive personality, and that I have to watch myself around anything addictive or anything you can binge on. The fact that an addiction occurs in me and a proportion of other people who are predisposed to compulsive behaviour doesn't mean that games are addictive in and of themselves the way that say, nicotine is. It's people who play games who have the problem, and it can be overcome; its not the substance that's doing it, the way that an addictive drug is.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

According to News, Doctors, And even websites, Video games are as addictive as drugs.... What?


I'm not joking, this is insane.... My aunt hit it with me today at a so called family meal. I play games to much. was what she said I responded with "Yea but I'm not like your drug addicted daughter." well i didn't say that I said "I play them to get away from boredom after I get my homework done, Its not like I need them." the message was clear, I am not addicted. But my "Denying" the fact I have a problem led her into beliving I do. Soon the entire family went into full blown intervention mode..... I nearly walked out of the room twice.

So my question to you is, Have you heard of this Bull crap? If so are you addicted?

I know I'm not, Now if you don't mind, I need to go blow up Mister X on RE2

people have neglected their children to death thanks to non stop wow sessions, people have played starcraft ii until they were dead

tell me, if addiction isn't real, how do these kinds of things happen?

 

[kikon9]

Technically, you can be addicted to anything, so long as it elicits a response in you that you eventually come to rely on. That's why some teenagers get addicted to cutting their wrists.

Video games are not as addictive as most other things though, most people could definitely stop gaming if they wanted to.

 

[Merkavar]

i cant see how anyone can be addicted to games. i play games alot but i can stop for other things. i dont feel any over whelming desire or need to play. if i cant play that day its not going to matter.

 

[gphjr14]

Strong habit forming but no where near an addiction.

 

[SlasherX]

To paraphrase Yahtzee
Short answer No
Long Answer NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Addiction isn't the problem. For example, smoking. Being addicted is bad for you right? Yes it is, but the actual addiction isn't what's doing you harm, it's the chemicals that cause health problems which is the issue. If you're addicted to something that doesn't harm you, what's the problem?

 

[mindlesspuppet]

Anyone who doesn't believe gaming addiction is real never player an MMO, anyone who has surely knows a couple of people who lives fell to shit because of the game.

Addiction isn't the problem. For example, smoking. Being addicted is bad for you right? Yes it is, but the actual addiction isn't what's doing you harm, it's the chemicals that cause health problems which is the issue. If you're addicted to something that doesn't harm you, what's the problem?

Thing is it can harm you, the signs just aren't as easily visible as with other things.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Yes you can become addicted to gaming, the same way you can become addicted to gambling and have it ruin your life. However I believe it is better to categorise it in the realm of behavioural disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dismorphic disorder, rather than physical addiction.

There are differences between a person who spends a lot of time gaming as a hobby, and an addict. Addicts will neglect their personal wellbeing (eating, sleeping, showering) as well as other commitments (taking care of children, work, social events) in order to get their 'fix' from gaming. For the addict, gaming becomes a compulsive need, an obsession that must be satisfied, otherwise it causes real physical anxiety for them.

Also, the addict often feels guilt and shame as a result of their addiction, and tries to hide it from others. They will often be aware that their behaviour is ruining their life, but lack the tools and/or willpower to risk changing their behaviour.

Many of us here are heavy gamers, but not addicts. We could live without video games for weeks, even months, and find other things to do with our time. But for the addicts, this isn't an option. You have to understand, that like someone with OCD who washes their hands thirty times a day until their skin is raw, an addict's brain has a different relationship to the activity that we take for granted.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Comparing it to drugs is more than a bit of a stretch, but I would say they can be addictive, yeah. I would say World of Warcrack is evidence enough of that, but even disregarding MMOs, that gaming can be addiction forming. It's no different than gambling, and it's been proven that people get addicted to gambling and loose large sums of money doing it. I would even go so far as to admit that I'm probably addicted to it.

 

[TrevorGruen]

This is not worth really reading into, it's those same morons who think there is a serious connection between video games and becoming murderers. The morons who need something to blame for the country's issues, so they choose video games as an easy target, since they let people pretend to get headshots. While, yes there are some people who have video game issues (the same people who shoot themselves if they cant play WoW anymore and yes it has happened) but they are a small minority of the community of gaming. Video games are no more of an addiction then books or movies, they just apear to be because they are more time consuming then movies and more popular then books (with a certain market of people). You would never see someone yelling at a kid for reading a book for the equivalent hours of the day that most people would play video games. The simple fact of the matter is that it is BS that doesn't deserve the attention that it gets. If anyone is actually "addicted" to gaming, then it is more likely a pschological issue then an actual addiction.

 

[Marsell]

I don't need video games anymore than people need TV.

 

[VaderMan92]

I'm not addicted to gaming! I can stop whenever I want! I just don't want to stop just yet...

damn beat me to it

 

[DktrAgonizer]

Gaming/Internet addiction is actually a growing problem, even if many people deny that it really exists. It's a big problem in South Korea and in China, since those nations are uber wired. There are stories about people playing online games like Starcraft of WoW until they drop dead of exhaustion. There's even been a couple who let their own baby starve while raising a virtual one online [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/05/couple-let-baby-starve-to_n_487287.html] for hours on end. Then of course there are the dozens of teenagers who quit school and quit eating so that they get more time online to play their flash games. China and SK actually have 'boot camps' set up to curb these problems.
That's not to say that some of these people may not have had some other psychological disorder in the first place but, you know. Like others before me have said, you can get addicted to pretty much anything.