Poll: How many playing hours per week would you consider gaming addiction?

[Saucycarpdog]

A little question that a friend of mine brought up and I got curious. I mean, does anyone have an official number that they know? I've seen a few thrown around but then I hear some gamers cry foul saying that they play that amount and don't have an addiction. So I know I pose the question to you escapists.

How many playing hours per week do you think a gamer would have go through to be considered to have an addiction?

 

[Mezahmay]

While I'm sure that on average it's a high number, I'm pretty sure a gaming addiction is qualified more by repeating the act of gaming to the exclusion of all else due to an internal chemical addiction in the addict's brain. If someone, let's say, wins the lottery and has 60 hours a week to burn on gaming without it negatively impacting their life without also feeling a dependence on the act of gaming, then are they still an addict? Is someone who works full-time during the week but constantly thinks about games during work and does nothing else but game when work is over an addict? For the sake of argument, let's say this worker is forced by circumstance to a maximum of 30-35 play hours per week. I'd argue the second person is more than the first person.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I don't think it's the hours that count.
I could spend over 55 hours (If I wasn't employed) and not be addicted.

The point of a hobby is to enjoy it, and if you do, you want to spend more time doing it.
Unless you neglect yourself and your family/friends, I don't see a problem.

 

[Auron225]

Well damn, it's hard to say. I just caught myself trying to work out what I'd usually play, and name a bracket or two higher than that as addiction... "cause I'm not addicted! I can stop whenever I want! So there!"

I don't think I'd ever spend as much as 30 hours in a week gaming. I mean, damn - that's a lot. It's difficult to label addiction by number of hours spent anyway though. If most your time spent outside the house involves thinking about games and wishing you could play them, then I think that's a sign.

 

[krazykidd]

It's not the hours. If you can't go without gaming, and feel like crap / and bored out of your mind every moment you aren't gaming, you have an addiction. I think i have an addiction because i get an overwhelming sense of boredom if i'm not always playing some sort of game.

 

[krebons12]

A little question that a friend of mine brought up and I got curious. I mean, does anyone have an official number that they know? I've seen a few thrown around but then I hear some gamers cry foul saying that they play that amount and don't have an addiction. So I know I pose the question to you escapists.

How many playing hours per week do you think a gamer would have go through to be considered to have an addiction?

Assuming you are just a normal gamer, yeah id have to go with the 30 or 50

 

[Jamieson 90]

Even the lowest option of 25-30 hours seems like a long time. I mean get up for work, come home around 5-ish, have dinner, play for 4 hours. Stop around 10 then go bed around 11 to be up for work the next day. Do that 5 days a week and you've totted up 20 hours with barely any time to do anything else on the work days. You'd have to play another 5 hours a day on the weekend to make up the 30 hours.

I couldn't do that, I probably play a maximum of 5 hours a week, weekends included; if you've a job and other hobbies/pursuits then it's just not feasible to play games for an extensive period of time.

 

[Spanglish Guy]

I am not sure that I would call it an addiction in most cases. Some people just have more time to kill and spend it playing games. I would only say someone was addicted to it if they felt that they had to be gaming all the time and that they could not cope without it.

 

[Lilani]

I don't really think it's a number of hours, I think it depends on how much it disrupts the rest of your life. If you have a lot of free time or have a job that gives you a few weeks on and a few weeks off then 30-50 may be normal for you in a week. But, if you only play 10-20 per week but it's making you neglect chores or you job or other aspects of your personal life, then yeah, that's a problem.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I wouldn't call it an addiction until the gamer is playing games when they should be working or sleeping. If someone is calling out of work consistently or, has lost their job because of their gaming habits than it's an addiction. If someone sleeps less than a couple of hours per night, if at all, than it's an addiction. If people skip meals it's unhealthy and possibly an addiction.

 

[Vault101]

as people have said its not so much the hours but how it interfered with your life, I mean you might barley play an hour a week for most of the time but as soon as "that game comes along" (say XCOM or Dragon age inquisition) then you might be pulling 20 hours a week for a few weeks

that said if all your doing is work/gaming/sleep with little room for anything else I'd question your priorities

 

[BoogieManFL]

Depends on how much free time you have and if you put off chores, work, or social time with others to game.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

To me it's not an addiction unless it's causing serious issues for your social and professional life. If you find yourself continuously falling behind in work (or school) and there's no other reason than you are playing games too much and you can't stop, then you're addicted.

Likewise, if you're forsaking friends, family, and relationships for the sake of playing games and you can't stop, then you're addicted.

That's pretty much it to me, so it's difficult to attach an hourly number to it.