Gaming Addiction Issues

[Jiggle Counter]

When I was a toddler back in 1989, I played on my brother's NES, playing titles like Section Z, Zelda, Mega Man, Excitebike, etc. I found it more interesting and entertaining than anything else. I was behind everyone else at childcare activities which included counting and reading, but put a NES in front of me and I could breeze through games better than my 13 year old brother.

My dad was a computer technician, and I showed NO interest in computers up until he taught me how to use QBasic so I could write my own games.

I'm 28 now, I've wasted soo much of my adolescent time on gaming, but I'm at that stage in life where I've got my education, my career, everything I should have had LONG ago if I bothered to drag myself away from video games and study.


Anyway, I'm wondering how many people out there are in the same vote... It is DAMN hard to drag myself from gaming. I wake up first thing in the morning and game, often skipping entire meals. I'll take my 3DS to the bathroom. The only topic in my circle of friends is games. I'm actually pretty sure that most of my relationship with my girlfriend is based around gaming (She's an addict too)

 

[SmugFrog]

I fall into this.

Unlike your experience though, games were an escape for me. Playing NES in my room. I wish I'd had a parent that wanted to show me computer stuff when I was younger; I've always had an interest and natural talent with them. My step-father was abusive, so I sought refuge in games. My grandmother fueled the habit and I was really good at beating them. The satisfaction of finding and completing everything in the original Zelda... I don't think I would have the patience for a game like that today.

Now I'm in a job that I hate, with a few more years before I can leave it. Many years ago I started playing with QBasic as a way to pass time, and I loved it. I made me realize I really want to get into game design, but I don't really know how/where to start. I'm enrolled in college courses now, trying to get my degree - but I really want to be learning programming. It's hard to find time now between work and 5 kids. My wife doesn't have an interest in games - she's played through a few or watched me play through a few to see the story, but we're opposites when it comes that. My closest friends (few people) are ones that we share gaming references and jokes with. I think game discussion is just something we (gamers) use to find common interests, and then you go from there, you know? It's no different than when someone tries to strike up discussions with me about sports (which I have no interest in), then the conversation dies because they don't have anything else to talk about.

 

[Wasted]

As of the DSM 5, gaming addiction doesn't exist. Gambling addiction is the only behavioral currently accepted in the mental health field. Internet addiction (and to an extension, gaming addiction) is mentioned but they require future study before being formally introduced to the DSM.

You seem pretty well off if you managed to go to school, hold a job, and maintain a relationship while you consider yourself a video game addict. Funny story with me, I used to play a ton as a child, literally from the crack of dawn to the end of night. It was to the point where aunts and uncles used to talk crap about me about how much of a loser I was compared to their children. Fast forward now I am a therapist with a masters in psychology (the only person in the family with any sort of post-high school education) and will soon have my doctoral in psychology to eventually become a neuropsychologist. The family members that talked the most crap? Their son essential turned into a hermit and hasn't left his house in years.

Dat Karma.

 

[Mezahmay]

I wouldn't say I was addicted to games, but I did play compulsively. Like pretty much from age 6 all the way through high school. I started on an N64, had every major Gameboy version through the DS Lite, a Gamecube, a PS2, an Xbox 360, etc. I played them all religiously and to the exception of almost everything else except trading card games. It would have been everything else if not for Boy Scouts and my parents forcing me to do a physical activity or sport like baseball and martial arts. I specifically remember a day in summer camp when I was 13 or 14 where I did not have my DS for one day and I started feeling really anxious that I wasn't playing the Pokemon game I was on at the time. I think it was Diamond or Pearl, but it may have been Emerald. Hard to tell since the DS could play both GBA and DS titles.

However, college forced me to leave my consoles at home since the campus internet sucks here and does not (easily) allow consoles to connect to it. That and course work slowly beat the compulsive gaming out of me in freshman year. Then, I started changing my habits myself after seeing one of my roommates drop out half way through sophomore year because he could not bring himself to stop playing Feed the Beast, other forms of heavily modded Minecraft, and Starcraft II. I think he was just getting into Planetside 2 when he announced he was leaving. I helped him move his stuff out, met his mom, and something he said really bothered me. She said that he may return they get his gaming habit back in check, then he immediately chimed in, "No mom, I'm depressed!" As someone who's struggled with motivation and positive thinking most of his life thanks to a personality disorder as well as dealing with depression in other family members, I know what someone actually dealing with depression looks like. This was not the case. He was just rationalizing an excuse to justify his addiction like a lot of other addicts.

At the time I was still heavily invested in WoW and a vanilla Minecraft server I played on, but that guy was a wake-up call like The Ghost of College Gaming Yet to Come. However, I had a few other roommates that year who played video games: a senior who played WoW quite a bit as well and a junior who played LoL in all of his free time. I noticed that their gaming did not interfere with their studying much if at all. I asked how they pulled it off and they pretty much told me it's all about getting enough work done every day to keep playing games every night. From then on I did a lot of my assignments in the morning and afternoon, leaving plenty of time to game guilt-free at night (or do the last of my work if it was a group project/tough assignment.) Since then I've just had an easier time prioritizing other things before playing video games (except for Friday night) since I feel good not following the same path as my roommate who dropped out.

 

[Mezahmay]

As of the DSM 5, gaming addiction doesn't exist. Gambling addiction is the only behavioral currently accepted in the mental health field. Internet addiction (and to an extension, gaming addiction) is mentioned but they require future study before being formally introduced to the DSM.

That's fascinating. If I may ask your opinion, do you think based on your experience there's an actual difference between gambling addiction and internet/video gaming addiction, or has gambling addiction just been around longer, has more cultural visibility, and has more immediate tangible downsides like financial ruin?

 

[Wasted]

As of the DSM 5, gaming addiction doesn't exist. Gambling addiction is the only behavioral currently accepted in the mental health field. Internet addiction (and to an extension, gaming addiction) is mentioned but they require future study before being formally introduced to the DSM.

That's fascinating. If I may ask your opinion, do you think based on your experience there's an actual difference between gambling addiction and internet/video gaming addiction, or has gambling addiction just been around longer, has more cultural visibility, and has more immediate tangible downsides like financial ruin?

You hit the major points. Gambling addiction has a ton of research dating back decades while video games are relatively new in regards to the studies. From my understanding, the evidence for internet addiction is strong enough that it will most likely be added to the next iteration of the DSM since it already in the index of the book, the final stop pending diagnoses have before formal introduction to the literature.

In order to have a mild diagnosis of gambling addiction, a person needs to demonstrate 4 (an individual with severe gambling addiction would demonstrate all 9) of the following criteria within a 12 month period:
1.Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement.
2.Is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling.
3.Has made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling.
4.Is often preoccupied with gambling (e.g., having persistent thoughts of reliving past gambling experiences, handicapping or planning the next venture, thinking of ways to get money with which to gamble).
5.Often gambles when feeling distressed (e.g., helpless, guilty, anxious, depressed).
6.After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even (?chasing? one?s losses).
7.Lies to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling.
8.Has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of gambling.
9.Relies on others to provide money to relieve desperate financial situations caused by gambling.

As you can see, many of the criteria used for gambling can easily apply to gaming. The only thing that doesn't really apply at the moment is losing money (although mobile app purchases have made this a grey area). I'm sure that some version of gaming disorder will be introduced to the DSM within the next few years.

 

[Sidewalker]

I think one of the hardest things to do in this life is to live it the way you want to. I'm 32, have a Masters degree in Teaching, a well-paying career in an exceptionally great company (with great owners), a beautiful fiancee, and I've kept my faith through the process. But when I was 23 and living in my parent's basement trying to finish grad school, I gamed all the freaking time. It could have been WoW, FFX or XII, Xenosaga (oldie but a goodie!), or my psp away from home. My family didn't understand it. Hell, I run a mature gamer dating site and my entire family still doesn't understand gaming.

If you want to game all the time, do it. I mean, not at the expense of being human and helping others around you and taking care of your own home, but if you arrange your time to maximize your gaming time, that's your call. It's your life.

Gamers carry a specific stigma, but I fly that flag high. In fact, when I'm out in public, and I watch my peers or other 20's or 30's somethings surprised that I play a lot of games still at 32, I zero in on them and ask all sorts of questions to make them feel uncomfortable. "Oh, I noticed your facial movement when you learned I game. Do you not approve?" or "Yes I run a gamer dating site. Do you run an investment-backed company?" or "Yes I game. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? You sure?" My fiancee has gotten used to it and she has even winced when she's around someone who brings it up. She's great.

Like I wrote earlier - take care of those around you and keep your house in order. After that - it's your time! Do whatever you want with it. Celebrate it!

 

[Starbird]

When I was a toddler back in 1989, I played on my brother's NES, playing titles like Section Z, Zelda, Mega Man, Excitebike, etc. I found it more interesting and entertaining than anything else. I was behind everyone else at childcare activities which included counting and reading, but put a NES in front of me and I could breeze through games better than my 13 year old brother.

My dad was a computer technician, and I showed NO interest in computers up until he taught me how to use QBasic so I could write my own games.

I'm 28 now, I've wasted soo much of my adolescent time on gaming, but I'm at that stage in life where I've got my education, my career, everything I should have had LONG ago if I bothered to drag myself away from video games and study.


Anyway, I'm wondering how many people out there are in the same vote... It is DAMN hard to drag myself from gaming. I wake up first thing in the morning and game, often skipping entire meals. I'll take my 3DS to the bathroom. The only topic in my circle of friends is games. I'm actually pretty sure that most of my relationship with my girlfriend is based around gaming (She's an addict too)

Amen to this. I know exactly how you feel. Gaming is my hobby and one I am passionate about. I do however have massive self control issues when it comes to games and in the past have called in sick for work, avoided assignments and eventually lost out on an amazing job chance because I could not pull myself away from the screen.

I don't blame games though. I blame myself. I just wish I knew how to fix it :|.

 

[SweetShark]

I am somehow a Videogame Manoac myself, but I defeat this "problem" with my other passion:
I am a Organize Freak.
So how I fix this: I simple list the game I want to play, Maybe I will play and games I will never play.
I do the same also with comics,books,movies,etc.

-I see something I like.
-Put it in my List.
-I move on.

In the old days I had Word files to keep up with the things I wanted to do.
Now I mostly use Pinterest. GODLIKE SITE!!!!!
Here are my account to see what I mean.

http://www.pinterest.com/sweetsharkboss/

I have it under control man!!!!

 

[johnnybleu]

While I wouldn't go so far as to call it an addiction, I definitely have a gaming obsession. I fell in love with games when I played my friend's Coleco Vision some 26ish years ago, and I'm still head-over-heels to this day.

That said, while I was a social outcast throughout most of my school years (gotta play dem games!), I never neglected my school work or shrugged off any responsibility. Games were always a hobby, and they never spilled over into other areas of my life (granted, I spent and still spend a LOT of time and money on said hobby). I have an education, a career, a wife, and I'd never let games eat away at the more important aspects of my life. Of course, I'll still occasionally skip some household chores and just crash on the couch to game.

I also hang out with mostly gamers, so I find it hard when people try to have "grown up" conversations that don't involve games.

That said, I have a former friend who I would say IS addicted to games.... He never graduated highschool, got his GED, has two useless college diplomas (mostly to cash in on those government student loans), and is now unemployed. Throughout his life, his sole reason to be was to play games, to the detriment of everything else. He lives with his girlfriend (who has a job), and plays games. That's it.

 

[Rayce Archer]

I'm 32. I performed consistently above average in school, and it still took me until now to pull down decent income and own a home. You aren't behind the curve at all, so cheer up! Your gaming addiction isn't really dangerous until you die at an Internet Cafe, Korea style.

 

[Jiggle Counter]

It's great to read stories from everyone.

You seem pretty well off if you managed to go to school, hold a job, and maintain a relationship while you consider yourself a video game addict.

When I was a teen, I quit school. Sat around doing nothing but gaming, lived off livid parents. After my parents split, I got a job at McDonalds. It was that or be thrown out onto the street.

Two years later I managed to get a job at a computer store called Umart Online. It was the best job interview on the planet. The manager took me downstairs to every area in the store and asked me a bunch of questions.

"If you were to build many pc for a small school, what parts would you use?"

And then

"Show me, put one together"

I'll remember that moment most of all, I was allowed to go around the store, pick off products, open them out of the box, and assemble it in the tech builder room. It was weird, unexpected, and took almost half an hour.

In the end, I got the job, and the computer I built just to prove my abilities was put up for sale on the store's website. Mind you I had NO professional computer building experience, apart from building gaming rigs for myself at home. I had no certificates, no diplomas. The manager didn't even ask if I had one.

The money I gained allowed me to go on a spending spree at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo. I met a girl there who took my photo, added me to facebook. She then asked me to go to her birthday party, which is where I met my current girlfriend. She was very pretty but basically dressed like a hobo. Didn't take long to find out she was a gamer.

I never knew how expensive female gamers were... When we moved into our own place, I discovered that she absolutely loathed lag. It was the first time I spent my money on a top of the line GPU and SSD. In the end her gaming rigs rips mine apart.

Regardless, living with the person you wanna be with for the rest of your life, it really opens your eyes up to HOW you want to live. I certainly wanted to go higher than working in a computer store. So I went to TAFE (Which is like community college, but in Australia) and got my certificates and diplomas.

I don't know if I can classify it as an addiction, as I haven't sold my car to feed my gaming habits. But I can tell you now that I can't go 2 minutes without gaming.

 

[Starbird]

I did very well in school and was able to go to probably one of the best Universities in South Africa. However due to no longer having anyone monitoring me, I tended to play more and more, which caused my grades to suffer which in turn caused me to play more and more to escape it. This habit has unfortunately continued well into my mid 30s.

While I am lucky in that I found a good job teaching English in Japan (pay sort of sucks, but enjoy the work immensely and it's very stable) I still look back and wish that I hadn't ever bought a gaming PC at Uni. I love games, but my obsessive playing of them (especially World of Warcraft) has resulted in me being 4-5 years behind where I should be career wise.

 

[johnnybleu]

I did very well in school and was able to go to probably one of the best Universities in South Africa. However due to no longer having anyone monitoring me, I tended to play more and more, which caused my grades to suffer which in turn caused me to play more and more to escape it. This habit has unfortunately continued well into my mid 30s.

While I am lucky in that I found a good job teaching English in Japan (pay sort of sucks, but enjoy the work immensely and it's very stable) I still look back and wish that I hadn't ever bought a gaming PC at Uni. I love games, but my obsessive playing of them (especially World of Warcraft) has resulted in me being 4-5 years behind where I should be career wise.

While I can certainly understand how tuning out real world problems and escaping to the world of games might be seen as a bad thing, I think if you're happy with your job and where you are in life, it's all that should matter.

Sure, maybe I COULD be a successful businessman, or own my own company, or be much farther than I am in my career if I never had games in my life, but it's how I choose to spend my short time on this earth, and I have no regret.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Obligatory:


I stand with EC in saying that there is no such thing as gaming addiction. People who are 'treated' for spending too much time with video games do not need to undergo a detox procedure.

Gaming 'addiction' is compulsion. You play the game because it provides you something your real life cannot, in the same way that people immerse themselves in film, TV and books. It's very easy to get involved in a vicious cycle where you dedicate too much time to gaming to the detriment of your other responsibilities, and because you begin losing control(or think that you do) over your life, you retreat back to games to re-gain that control.

I'm an advocate for breaking out of things with willpower. If you cannot control yourself, then ask other people for help. As the video says, real life will always welcome you back, and the time spent gaming should never be seen as wasted.

I've been accused of being 'addicted to games' many times in my life by my family, and I will agree that I have spent too much time in the virtual world to the detriment of other things that needed attention.

I've learnt to balance things out, and I am currently on track to getting my predicted grades in my respective subjects at Sixth Form, with a good chance to get into the University I want to go to. I have drawn immense usefulness out of the time I had spent gaming and in gaming culture, and I have succeeded many times because I play games, not in spite of.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Oh god, that isn't the Extra Credits where the dude rambles on about the time he was addicted to an MMO because he skipped a movie with friends one night is it? I couldn't take them seriously after that.

Anyway, I'm wondering how many people out there are in the same vote... It is DAMN hard to drag myself from gaming. I wake up first thing in the morning and game, often skipping entire meals. I'll take my 3DS to the bathroom. The only topic in my circle of friends is games. I'm actually pretty sure that most of my relationship with my girlfriend is based around gaming (She's an addict too)

You're not addicted to games because games are not addictive. There were some gambling elements that appeared in skinner box MMOs (predominantly Everquest) that might have triggered behaviors in compulsive gamblers, but games themselves are just "fun". You like dopamine, stop the presses.

If you've got a problem, it sounds like you have issues prioritizing, and you tend towards hedonistic behavior. You don't need a twelve step program to address that, you just need a willingness to course correct.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

You're not addicted to games because games are not addictive. There were some gambling elements that appeared in skinner box MMOs (predominantly Everquest) that might have triggered behaviors in compulsive gamblers, but games themselves are just "fun". You like dopamine, stop the presses.

The real similarity between MMOs and gambling has to do with them both operating on a variable ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement, which is the most powerful schedule for establishing any type of addictive behavior. For example, a slot machine pays out after a certain number of pulls, but not a fixed number - it's an average. If there's a 10% chance of hitting a jackpot, that doesn't mean 1 out of 10 pulls results in a win, but that it might spit out one win in 10 pulls, the next at 1,000, next at 100, etc., but the average number of pulls comes out to 10 (total lifetime pulls divided by total lifetime jackpots). This would be labeled a VR10 schedule.

Likewise, a VR10 schedule in an MMO means that killing a certain mob gives a 10% chance (on average) of dropping a piece of loot that they're known to drop. Doesn't mean it'll drop once every 10 kills, but that it might drop two kills in a row, another at 20, another at 5, etc., coming to an average of 10%.

Both examples result in a behavior pattern in which people KNOW that they'll get what they want if they keep trying, they just don't know how many tries it'll take to receive the reward. So you keep pushing coins into the slot machine or you keep running the same dungeon night after night hoping to see your class-specific item.

And if you knew that already, then forgive me for insulting your intelligence. I'm just a psych geek.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The real similarity between MMOs and gambling has to do with them both operating on a variable ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement, which is the most powerful schedule for establishing any type of addictive behavior. For example, a slot machine pays out after a certain number of pulls, but not a fixed number - it's an average. If there's a 10% chance of hitting a jackpot, that doesn't mean 1 out of 10 pulls results in a win, but that it might spit out one win in 10 pulls, the next at 1,000, next at 100, etc., but the average number of pulls comes out to 10 (total lifetime pulls divided by total lifetime jackpots). This would be labeled a VR10 schedule.

Likewise, a VR10 schedule in an MMO means that killing a certain mob gives a 10% chance (on average) of dropping a piece of loot that they're known to drop. Doesn't mean it'll drop once every 10 kills, but that it might drop two kills in a row, another at 20, another at 5, etc., coming to an average of 10%.

Both examples result in a behavior pattern in which people KNOW that they'll get what they want if they keep trying, they just don't know how many tries it'll take to receive the reward. So you keep pushing coins into the slot machine or you keep running the same dungeon night after night hoping to see your class-specific item.

And if you knew that already, then forgive me for insulting your intelligence. I'm just a psych geek.

I did! Modern MMO design has actually been slowly moving away from "gambling" for loot, with more dependence on "token" currencies or guaranteed rewards for X hours of effort. Thanks to data mining it's also very easy to break down the A-B process for the acquisition of player desired rewards. In this, they more resemble other games, where X effort is required for Y reward and it can generally be assumed you'll accomplish your goals over a particular time frame, given slight variation for skill and time investment.

Everquest was probably the most insidious, at least among the offerings I actually played, because so much was obfuscated, and even things as simple as player skill ups were on a random schedule at not at determined intervals. Due to the lack of BoP, a single drop off a rare mob could make your entire year in EQ, let alone a good session. So I could definitely see someone with a propensity towards gambling addiction getting "hooked" on EQ.

 

[Jiggle Counter]

it sounds like you have issues prioritizing, and you tend towards hedonistic behavior

Makes sense, also that's the first time I've ever came across that word, I had to look it up.

I've never put gaming before money, so there isn't a HE-NEEDS-AN-INTERVENTION issue.

There is a problem with prioritizing, so you're correct there, games make me pretty damn happy in my own little world.

I wonder how I can stop my future kids from making the same mistakes.


Another thing I was thinking about is gaming is everywhere!

I mean for example, let's say I'm about as crazy about football like I am with video games.

I can go outside and play football. I could go outside with my 3DS as well.

However I can't play football in the bathroom. I can't play football in bed. I can't play football with meals. I can't play football on public transport.

It's probably why my mother says I can't go 2 minutes without playing a game. It's just soo damn easy to relocate and deploy.

 

[Artina89]

While gaming is definitely a major part of my life (like many here I have owned many of the consoles and play a lot of PC titles) but I have never really let it get in the way of my education, went to one of the best universities in Britain, to study a subject I adore and I left with a good degree, however, I have found that in recent years I have invested a lot more into gaming as while I am in a job that I enjoy, I detest the people I work with, and would much rather play my 3DS at lunchtimes as opposed to talking to them. I am trying to break myself out of that habit though, thanks to my friends and family inviting me to places on weekends that I am not working so that I don't completely disappear down the rabbit hole so to speak.