The Escapist On: Gaming Addiction
The staff of The Escapist discusses their own experiences with gaming addiction.
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The staff of The Escapist discusses their own experiences with gaming addiction.
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194: The Escapist On: Gaming Addiction
- Thread starter Team Hollywood
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Bah, addicted and happy! But really, only people with addictive personalities get addicted to things. Some people just really like these games, and having others say they are addicted to it like a drug or gambling only makes life harder for those people who enjoy the game but aren't addicted. There was a post on this site a few days ago saying that some politicians in Germany where trying to label WoW as 'adult only' for it's addictive properties. Is that what it may come to, regulating video games like we would booze or cigarettes? Like I said maybe some people really do get addicted to games, but in my opinion most people take this too far. First
There have been games over time that have really grabbed me and pulled me in. They would become my whole life. Not that I'd stop going to work/school, but while I was there all i'd think about is playing this game. The kind of games that you could play for 12 hours and not get bored. So yes, at times with certian games I have been addicted.
For me it seems as though games where you can really build up all your stuff are the ones that draw me in. I remember losing many hours of sleep over games like Civ 2 or MOO. Always gotta do one more turn, make this building, move these troops. It gives a sence of achivement when you look and see what you've done.
Though this isin't limited to stratagy games, any game that you build up somthing over time, like RPG for example(levels and equipment), give me a sence of satisfation. I was addicted to Diablo 2 for some time for this reason. Always had to push to the next level, get the next peice of loot.
I build up empires in games, so all my effort is encapsulated within my datas. If a data gets erased, I feel a crushing sence of loss, like I was building a house and it collapsed, so I have to start over.
I guess I can thank god that I hate playing games with people i've never met online or I would no doubt be addicted to WoW as well.
For me it seems as though games where you can really build up all your stuff are the ones that draw me in. I remember losing many hours of sleep over games like Civ 2 or MOO. Always gotta do one more turn, make this building, move these troops. It gives a sence of achivement when you look and see what you've done.
Though this isin't limited to stratagy games, any game that you build up somthing over time, like RPG for example(levels and equipment), give me a sence of satisfation. I was addicted to Diablo 2 for some time for this reason. Always had to push to the next level, get the next peice of loot.
I build up empires in games, so all my effort is encapsulated within my datas. If a data gets erased, I feel a crushing sence of loss, like I was building a house and it collapsed, so I have to start over.
I guess I can thank god that I hate playing games with people i've never met online or I would no doubt be addicted to WoW as well.
Good listen. I share the skinny guy's viewpoint on 'achievements' (xbl/psn), i.e.: YAWN/FART. I think you must be either very young or very underachieved in real life to care much about them. well... or addicted to them i guess
Still, I'm a dying breed, I play all games for the singleplayer part and don't waste time with multiplayer. The social aspect of gaming is lost on me. Gaming has always been an 'escape' from reality to me. I can't achieve that if I have to have asshats from RL in there
Still, I'm a dying breed, I play all games for the singleplayer part and don't waste time with multiplayer. The social aspect of gaming is lost on me. Gaming has always been an 'escape' from reality to me. I can't achieve that if I have to have asshats from RL in there
While game addiction is a serious problem for some and deserves to be discussed, I can't say this video was much more than a few people sharing their experience. I don't feel like it added anything really, still I prefer it a hundred times to some bloke who has never played a game in his life talking about it on the news.
Interesting. This is definitely why I don't do online games unless it's split-screen or something. It just does not ever end.
I think this was good overall, but misses out a key type of addiction - basically, if in real life you don't have a girlfriend, don't have a lot of good friends, and don't really have a hobby, gaming becomes the only alternative. Which only makes things worse as you don't make any more friends, or girlfriends, or what-not.
I wrote a post on another thread (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.101950) which is relevant here, so I'm just going to post it here. It's somewhat of an outline of the symptoms you all described in your video.
My "Top 5" signs of gaming addiction:
1. The person stops caring about the real world around them, and chooses to live vicariously through a virtual one. (The next 4 fall into this general category, but I think this sums up the beginning of the addiction)
2. The game(s) take precedence over the person's real needs, such as eating, exercising and general hygiene. This is why South Park depicts a fat, unkempt loser eating cheetos.
3. The game(s) become more important than the person's job, family and friends.
4. The person develops reasons or excuses as to why he/she can spend so much time playing the game(s). They say "Oh I just gotta finish this one level" or "I just gotta get this achievement", and the task takes them hours, if not days to complete.
5. When the person becomes immersed in the game(s) while not playing it.
These might sound like a drug addicts habits, but that's because addictions always trend toward the same ends. These are very real issues, one's I've had to deal with personally to some extent, and with others around me. Regardless of the circumstances the point remains the same, when you become enveloped in a specific substance/world/state of mind, it will become all that matters.
My "Top 5" signs of gaming addiction:
1. The person stops caring about the real world around them, and chooses to live vicariously through a virtual one. (The next 4 fall into this general category, but I think this sums up the beginning of the addiction)
2. The game(s) take precedence over the person's real needs, such as eating, exercising and general hygiene. This is why South Park depicts a fat, unkempt loser eating cheetos.
3. The game(s) become more important than the person's job, family and friends.
4. The person develops reasons or excuses as to why he/she can spend so much time playing the game(s). They say "Oh I just gotta finish this one level" or "I just gotta get this achievement", and the task takes them hours, if not days to complete.
5. When the person becomes immersed in the game(s) while not playing it.
These might sound like a drug addicts habits, but that's because addictions always trend toward the same ends. These are very real issues, one's I've had to deal with personally to some extent, and with others around me. Regardless of the circumstances the point remains the same, when you become enveloped in a specific substance/world/state of mind, it will become all that matters.
they have a point. at times in my life i have spent massive amounts of time on games, mostly after i just left school or college because i didnt have many friends and those that i did have were all working or lived quite far away.
gaming is fine if you have somthing to counter balance it. if you dont have anything but gaming though, you have a bit of a problem
gaming is fine if you have somthing to counter balance it. if you dont have anything but gaming though, you have a bit of a problem
I think it's important to realize context for games. I guess when I look at a game, I think...Play is an elementary method of learning genetically programmed into us all. And I think our love of games comes from that, innate curiosity. And a kind of subconscious desire to be better equipped to deal with things. When I play a game, I think "What, if anything, am I learning?". I think keeping gaming in context matters a lot. If you look at games, many of them are much more "repetitio est mater studiorum" (repetition is the mother of learning) than large concepts being communicated. Which I almost think of as a problem, that games don't really pursue this side of gaming. But in order to become versatile with a "concept" you have learned, you have to rehearse.
All fine and good, except what are you learning and what are you really rehearsing? If you were playing Left 4 Dead (I use that because I've been playing that a lot lately), you could argue that you're learning teamwork, and how to implement that while under pressure. And I think that's true...up to a point. Assessing the actual value extracted from the game and keeping it in the larger context of real life is important. The tactics and posture adopted for the actual dealing-with of a zombie horde aren't actually important for real world issues, or at least the possibility is minimal that you will get a lot from it. There is a kind of tipping point, after which you're not really getting much out of it anymore. Where you've rehearsed it to such a point, that you're turning it into art. How valuable, really is getting through left dead on expert without using a medpack? The medpacks are there for a reason, irl, if you were faced with a zombie apocalypse, and things were vaguely reminiscent of what was going on in left 4 dead, it would serve some value, but get this...there isn't going to be a zombie apocalypse. Not to mention, rehearsing on the computer, is going to leave a huge gap between what happened in the real world, and what happened on your computer screen.
You're asking, what does this have to do with gaming addiction? I'm getting there...
Gaming, and computers, serve a function in real life, they keep us in contact with one another now a days, they offer us an outlet when we're alone and have nothing more pressing to do (In the case of gaming). They offer us tools for dealing with things.
I think that some subconscious part of us thinks we're getting tools to deal with things out of it. It most definitely can be social, another good thing it can provide. But an honest assessment is important, looking at what it really yields us is crucial.
My family has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse, on both sides. When you get down to it, we are a family of addicts. Numerous problems have arisen in people's lives because of this (unsurprisingly). I was a pretty serious drug user in undergraduate college, I managed to deal with that, and have some perspective on addiction that I think is useful.
One of the big things about addiction, in fact, the main reason for it being described as a disorder, is that it impairs your ability to function in the real world. You spend to much time with it, in the case of gaming hygiene and diet may suffer. There is also an issue of what kinds of social interaction you're getting. These things don't seem too important compared with the ability to claim being 1337, (a social status in today's world that is "great", a really useful tool is to be at the top of your field, whether it's physics or football or even gaming) the rudimentary tactics you are learning, the rudimentary ability to mod you've acquired...But you're wrong. hygiene is important to your health, so too is diet (For some younger people reading this post, it may take a while for this to hit home).
Those things seem simplistic, but really When work is suffering, you're friends are getting neglected whatever it is, you're impairing you're ability to deal with things.
I think the most useful thing I ever learned about addiction, was that keeping things in context is important. Our beings want real world value out of what we invest our time in, and keeping things in context, really looking closely and examining what purpose they serve can help prevent addiction, and extract you from an addicted state (It did for me).
There is much more I could have added, and some parts of this are not fully explained, but I don't want to write an article on this, I really just want to comment, and I could go on for a long time. The crucial part of what I wanted to say is in the first couple and last couple paragraphs.
All fine and good, except what are you learning and what are you really rehearsing? If you were playing Left 4 Dead (I use that because I've been playing that a lot lately), you could argue that you're learning teamwork, and how to implement that while under pressure. And I think that's true...up to a point. Assessing the actual value extracted from the game and keeping it in the larger context of real life is important. The tactics and posture adopted for the actual dealing-with of a zombie horde aren't actually important for real world issues, or at least the possibility is minimal that you will get a lot from it. There is a kind of tipping point, after which you're not really getting much out of it anymore. Where you've rehearsed it to such a point, that you're turning it into art. How valuable, really is getting through left dead on expert without using a medpack? The medpacks are there for a reason, irl, if you were faced with a zombie apocalypse, and things were vaguely reminiscent of what was going on in left 4 dead, it would serve some value, but get this...there isn't going to be a zombie apocalypse. Not to mention, rehearsing on the computer, is going to leave a huge gap between what happened in the real world, and what happened on your computer screen.
You're asking, what does this have to do with gaming addiction? I'm getting there...
Gaming, and computers, serve a function in real life, they keep us in contact with one another now a days, they offer us an outlet when we're alone and have nothing more pressing to do (In the case of gaming). They offer us tools for dealing with things.
I think that some subconscious part of us thinks we're getting tools to deal with things out of it. It most definitely can be social, another good thing it can provide. But an honest assessment is important, looking at what it really yields us is crucial.
My family has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse, on both sides. When you get down to it, we are a family of addicts. Numerous problems have arisen in people's lives because of this (unsurprisingly). I was a pretty serious drug user in undergraduate college, I managed to deal with that, and have some perspective on addiction that I think is useful.
One of the big things about addiction, in fact, the main reason for it being described as a disorder, is that it impairs your ability to function in the real world. You spend to much time with it, in the case of gaming hygiene and diet may suffer. There is also an issue of what kinds of social interaction you're getting. These things don't seem too important compared with the ability to claim being 1337, (a social status in today's world that is "great", a really useful tool is to be at the top of your field, whether it's physics or football or even gaming) the rudimentary tactics you are learning, the rudimentary ability to mod you've acquired...But you're wrong. hygiene is important to your health, so too is diet (For some younger people reading this post, it may take a while for this to hit home).
Those things seem simplistic, but really When work is suffering, you're friends are getting neglected whatever it is, you're impairing you're ability to deal with things.
I think the most useful thing I ever learned about addiction, was that keeping things in context is important. Our beings want real world value out of what we invest our time in, and keeping things in context, really looking closely and examining what purpose they serve can help prevent addiction, and extract you from an addicted state (It did for me).
There is much more I could have added, and some parts of this are not fully explained, but I don't want to write an article on this, I really just want to comment, and I could go on for a long time. The crucial part of what I wanted to say is in the first couple and last couple paragraphs.
I've had three, three-month bouts of WoW where there were times I sat motionless for so long my ass-crack bled, my eyes dried out from strain, and all manner of smells emanated from various regions of my body.
Thankfully, whatever neurons were once responsible for enjoyment gained by grinding wilderness creatures are now pretty much fried and--except for missing fantasy-themed pvp battlegrounds--the repetitiveness of any MMO I find gets very old, very fast now.
Damn I miss those days. Computer games have never been the same.
Thankfully, whatever neurons were once responsible for enjoyment gained by grinding wilderness creatures are now pretty much fried and--except for missing fantasy-themed pvp battlegrounds--the repetitiveness of any MMO I find gets very old, very fast now.
Damn I miss those days. Computer games have never been the same.
I remember in high school (thank god this was during the summer vacation) starting to play Red Alert 2 around Noon, and at some point, I would feel hunger, look at the clock and think
"It's already 8pm???" but my more recent gaming hasn't taken me down that road again (even so, I stop playing during the semester, because it was pulling my grades down)
"It's already 8pm???" but my more recent gaming hasn't taken me down that road again (even so, I stop playing during the semester, because it was pulling my grades down)
Dunno, I have dreams about all kinds of things I did recently so when I dream about a game I played it's pretty much normal, just like anything else I did.
If anything I'm addicted to information. It's a pretty good counter against gaming addictions though since games quickly run out of information to provide and it becomes undesirable to keep playing then. Sure, I react to the pavlovian part of an MMO like anybody else, hell I played Magic back in the day, it was a kick to open a pack and find a good card but to me it was also a kick just to find a card I hadn't seen before. The difference is that once I stop playing the game (I mean the session, not overall) I feel a resistance towards starting it again. When I stop a session of a game, no matter how addictive, I develop an automatic resistance towards continuing the game later. As a result very little of my time is actually spent gaming, most of it is spend idling in front of the PC, absorbing information from any source I can find on the internet.
For instant gratification I just make a mod. It's more of an archievement than winning in a game, you have to plan stuff out, implement it, etc. That's often a few days even for very simple things. However you get the gratification of actually getting the thing you were imagining (or at least something that shows you why the thing you were imagining can't exist) and when you give it to other people they might like you for it. Add to that that it's a creative work and something you could be remembered for even if you die... Well, I sometimes feel bad for wasting my free time when I could spend it working on something that might outlast me but then I remember that my primary life (school/uni/work) is probably more important and my free time doesn't matter much for that so even wasted time doesn't mean stagnation. Besides, didn't everybody who picked up a game and played for a while at some point think "hey, I'd like to make a game, it'd be about X"? That's what the user generated content games are trying to pander to but in practice I guess those who really have the ability to develop something already figured out a more regular way of getting their things done.
Besides, games these days hardly feel like an archievement when you win. It's hardly skill based anymore, just an inevitable trot towards the final cutscene and credits. The few that try to actually challenge the player always dial it up to insane levels where almost nobody can finish the game even with a lot of practice. And when the game is not easy enough yet add an RPG system so the player will always grow stronger even if his skill development stagnates, just grind enough and even you can beat the final boss. The only recent game where I felt any sense of accomplishment for winning was Onslaught, when I hear about players getting stuck on mission 5 or 8 on normal I can say to them "That's why you're still a kid!" because I beat the game on Normal, I beat it on Hard, I got my level 3 grenades and am currently procrastinating on going for the lv2 rocketlauncher before going on to expert difficulty. And I can barely get past the first level in Contra 4...
If anything I'm addicted to information. It's a pretty good counter against gaming addictions though since games quickly run out of information to provide and it becomes undesirable to keep playing then. Sure, I react to the pavlovian part of an MMO like anybody else, hell I played Magic back in the day, it was a kick to open a pack and find a good card but to me it was also a kick just to find a card I hadn't seen before. The difference is that once I stop playing the game (I mean the session, not overall) I feel a resistance towards starting it again. When I stop a session of a game, no matter how addictive, I develop an automatic resistance towards continuing the game later. As a result very little of my time is actually spent gaming, most of it is spend idling in front of the PC, absorbing information from any source I can find on the internet.
For instant gratification I just make a mod. It's more of an archievement than winning in a game, you have to plan stuff out, implement it, etc. That's often a few days even for very simple things. However you get the gratification of actually getting the thing you were imagining (or at least something that shows you why the thing you were imagining can't exist) and when you give it to other people they might like you for it. Add to that that it's a creative work and something you could be remembered for even if you die... Well, I sometimes feel bad for wasting my free time when I could spend it working on something that might outlast me but then I remember that my primary life (school/uni/work) is probably more important and my free time doesn't matter much for that so even wasted time doesn't mean stagnation. Besides, didn't everybody who picked up a game and played for a while at some point think "hey, I'd like to make a game, it'd be about X"? That's what the user generated content games are trying to pander to but in practice I guess those who really have the ability to develop something already figured out a more regular way of getting their things done.
Besides, games these days hardly feel like an archievement when you win. It's hardly skill based anymore, just an inevitable trot towards the final cutscene and credits. The few that try to actually challenge the player always dial it up to insane levels where almost nobody can finish the game even with a lot of practice. And when the game is not easy enough yet add an RPG system so the player will always grow stronger even if his skill development stagnates, just grind enough and even you can beat the final boss. The only recent game where I felt any sense of accomplishment for winning was Onslaught, when I hear about players getting stuck on mission 5 or 8 on normal I can say to them "That's why you're still a kid!" because I beat the game on Normal, I beat it on Hard, I got my level 3 grenades and am currently procrastinating on going for the lv2 rocketlauncher before going on to expert difficulty. And I can barely get past the first level in Contra 4...
Dying breed? Well, then we die together then. We are on the same train here, with singleplayer mentality. I don't like multiplayer, especially online multiplayer, with all thos juvenile jerks running around cursing at me using every key on the keyboard except the ones with actual letters on them... it's just not my world.araczynski said:Good listen. I share the skinny guy's viewpoint on 'achievements' (xbl/psn), i.e.: YAWN/FART. I think you must be either very young or very underachieved in real life to care much about them. well... or addicted to them i guess
Still, I'm a dying breed, I play all games for the singleplayer part and don't waste time with multiplayer. The social aspect of gaming is lost on me. Gaming has always been an 'escape' from reality to me. I can't achieve that if I have to have asshats from RL in there
BTW, the video was good, but you got to work on the audio part, it was horrible. Get a complimiter or something, and balance the volume, because sometimes it's inaudible, sometimes it's too loud. Good job on the rest
i have been Addicted to games, but i enjoy Reading and roller blading and walking, now
i make sure i dont spend too much time doing games to a access, id like to say
i make sure i dont spend too much time doing games to a access, id like to say