When Video Games Become An Addiction

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It looks as though CNN has put out another "video games are addicting" article. To avoid becoming addicted, we recommend destroying your entire video game collection, starting with the good games...since we all know those are the most addicting. :rolleyes:

Douglas Gentile, a psychologist at Iowa State University, has been studying the subject for decades. "The first study I began in 1999, to basically try to show video game addiction isn't a real thing, and it turns out I was wrong!" he told CNN. According to his research, roughly 8.5% percent of children who play video games in the United States are addicted. He found similar numbers across the world.
 
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Need proper FMRI peer reviewed studies showing brain activity as well as studies of dopamine markers to confirm if there is addiction.

It's a pretty standard, objective, way of determining any addiction.
 
Yet more proof that CNN doesn't know what an addiction is.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
Everything that can stimulate the right chemical releases can be addictive.
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I really don't get why people on [H] argue against what is obviously true. Of course games can be addicting. MMOs are designed to be addictive. If they weren't, you'd play it for a month or 2 and quit, which is a good way to lose money.

People seem to think, "well I'm not addicted" and decide it can't be addictive, but people get addicted to Alcohol and various other drugs, even though the vast majority of people will not become addicted to them.

Hell, I can remember playing ultima, regularly, until 3 or 4 in the morning. Same goes for Wizardry, Wing Commander, EQ, LOTRO and various other games (online and single player).

But this is [H] and anything negative about their interest seems to be taken as a personal attack.
 
nilepez said:
Hell, I can remember playing ultima, regularly, until 3 or 4 in the morning. Same goes for Wizardry, Wing Commander, EQ, LOTRO and various other games (online and single player).
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I don't know about you, but when I used to game like that I had the time, as in I was a child with little to no responsibilities outside of school and social life.

Now that I am an adult, I'm lucky if I get to game an hour in a day, between work, continuing education, social commitments and a family, just don't have the time.

I'm not arguing that people can't become addicted to games, the very idea someone had to study this was kinda dumb, when developers purposefully design each successive game to be as addicting as possible.

8% is hardly worrying, that's 8% of what? Total population? Gamers only? The article says children that play video games, so total population .08%?

I'd say thats normal, hell my father used to push us all to 'find our passion' it looks to me like they found it. We just decide that X is good and Y is bad, and the only basis for that is how much $$$ you contribute to society with your work, spending and habits. The less you contribute the worse kind of person you are.

Kind of a f'd up metric if you ask me, if someone is happy and content doing what they are doing, then whatever. Its only a problem if they harm others trying to get Y.
 
In terms of alcohol consumption:

Just think of it this way... There's not much to be said about a drink after work. In some cases, even a drink before or during work might not be entirely out of the norm. After all, I've seen some folks in Germany enjoying a stein of beer with their lunches at various restaurants, and this isn't a problem. I've even seen ordinary folks from the UK, routinely having a low alcohol content stout beer during breakfast.

When it becomes a drink instead of work, though...
 
Aireoth said:
I don't know about you, but when I used to game like that I had the time, as in I was a child with little to no responsibilities outside of school and social life.

Now that I am an adult, I'm lucky if I get to game an hour in a day, between work, continuing education, social commitments and a family, just don't have the time.

I'm not arguing that people can't become addicted to games, the very idea someone had to study this was kinda dumb, when developers purposefully design each successive game to be as addicting as possible.

8% is hardly worrying, that's 8% of what? Total population? Gamers only? The article says children that play video games, so total population .08%?
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Sounds like that was the group he studied. 8% is high. For reference, only 7.4% of adults are alcoholics.
 
Define addictive. If it means liking a game and playing it non-stop - yes. If it means your brain needs it to survive and you have a huge downer if you quit, then yes. I don't see that last part.
 
nilepez said:
Hell, I can remember playing ultima, regularly, until 3 or 4 in the morning. Same goes for Wizardry, Wing Commander, EQ, LOTRO and various other games (online and single player).
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Many of these cases are really no more addictive than reading a book is addictive, you want the story to unfold and your curiosity keeps you going. I'm not sure that these in itself would be classified as an addiction. Or some sort of obsessive compulsion to play games...

That said, I absolutely believe that games can be addictive, it really is no surprise though, you have something that you find exciting that gives you a thrill versus things that you don't find exciting. Now in the same way that not everyone who drinks a beer will turn into an alcoholic, and not everyone who takes pain killers will become a drug addicted freak, not everyone will be addicted to games even if they want to play them.
 
Games, books, movies, drugs, alcohol, sex, TV, internet, etc... can all be addicitive. Everyone is addicted to something, the question shouldn't be if something is addictive, the question should be is a person so addicted that it will cause themselves or others harm. If someone is so addicted to something that they will go out and try harm themselves or others to get back to it, then I say that person has a problem. I find people are way more addicted to texting than anything else. Something is seriously wrong with people who can't stop from reading/sending even when driving a car that has the potential to kill not only themselves but other people. We should focus on that first cause the number of addicted gamers who would go out an harm themselves or others when not being able to play games is significantly lower than the number of people who daily go out texting while driving.
 
It's not the video games its the parents allowing it.

When I used to stay glued to video games you can bet my parents got me to shut the thing off to do house/yard work.

It's no wonder the kids mentioned have depression and anxiety. They have no social skills because the parents let the kids raise themselves on video games.
 
 
My brother's buddy almost missed his wedding because he was in a WoW raid. He also routinely would miss work (night job) so that he could play WoW. It was an addiction. He almost screwed up his marriage due to gaming. He ended up in counseling.

I'm addicted to 2 things. The f***ing forum and tortilla chips. :D
 
There are also genetic dispositions to addictiveness.
 
wra18th said:
My brother's buddy almost missed his wedding because he was in a WoW raid. He also routinely would miss work (night job) so that he could play WoW. It was an addiction. He almost screwed up his marriage due to gaming. He ended up in counseling.
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Did he meet his wife in WoW? :D
 
I heard on the radio that people go to the hospital due to internet addiction their spine is so curved that their spine is pinching or something. The doctor said the person of the radio show was using her cellphone too much and her chin was slouched forward because of it.

Yours truly is getting shorter each day taking up painting while standing up.
 
Sonicks said:
It's not the video games its the parents allowing it.

When I used to stay glued to video games you can bet my parents got me to shut the thing off to do house/yard work.

It's no wonder the kids mentioned have depression and anxiety. They have no social skills because the parents let the kids raise themselves on video games.
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I have seen some cases of this before, where parents were either too relaxed about their kid's computer usage or the parents weren't around enough to monitor their children, and they ended up spending pretty much all day playing videogames, neglecting schoolwork or social activity. Good thing my parents restricted my computer usage when I was younger.
 
In the same way that anything can become an addiction right?
 
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