194: The Escapist On: Gaming Addiction
- Thread starter Team Hollywood
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You can earn a living playing poker, but you need good bankroll management, you need to keep a cool head, and you need to know when you are playing in a beatable game and when you need to go to a different game.
Professional poker is something which only works for a few people. You have to become a machine to do it. Perfect control of emotions is a must.
Professional poker is something which only works for a few people. You have to become a machine to do it. Perfect control of emotions is a must.
I really loved that game.Score +1 for Atomic.Atomicmoo said:
I used to be addicted to WoW. I played a lot, but balanced it out with frequent trips to the gym. Now my addiction to WoW has faded, but my addiction the gym is still going strong.
University is also a wicked way to curb an addiction to gaming. If it's something you WANT to be there doing, then it works out for your benefit. Alternatively just take engineering. If you're like me and you're determined to pass, no matter how much you hate it you'll just invest more time.
Well, I've been addicted to games before like with Mabinogi about 5 or 6 months ago. I used to play it nonstop and then I quit for a while. I still play now but maybe an hour or so every few days. I think what a lot of it is (or at least what it was for me)is that even though it is an addiction, after a while it will lose it's interest. Sometimes you lust need to get it out of your system but playing it too much makes it get old fast.
That was a good video, very enjoyable and insightful I guess. I still can't fathom how someone can play a game that much though. The longest period I can play for is four hours and only Cod4 and Gears of War (multiplayer) have been able to keep me playing for that long and that's usually because I play with friends and by the third hour I have to start doing something else, like listening to music or checking up on the Escapist or something similar. Games like TF2, which none of my friends play, keeps me entertained for two hours at the most before I have to do something else. I've never really gotten into MMOs though.
I think interaction with real people in online video games videogames is one of the things that can make it so addictive. I think that when you play a game with your friends you think of it more as socializing than gaming and doing things with your friends can actually stop you from realising that you're playing a game, "I'm not playing a game, I'm grinding boars with a couple of my friends". It's easy to chuck a lot of hours into a game when you have friends by your side the entire time. For me, gaming gets very boring very quickly if I don't have anyone to talk to or interact with. I suppose this is why games like Morrowind, Oblivion and Baldurs Gate (hell, any RPG) can be addictive, they are based on interaction. I think this might also be why a lot of people prefer Half-Life 2 over other FPS, through out Half-Life 2 you are interacting with Alyx, Barney etc (they are interacting with you I should say) while in Halo and Call of Duty you don't do much talking and not many people talk to you.
I think that the social interaction or the illusion of interaction is what compels some people to keep on playing and is responsible for getting people addicted to games. Of course there are other factors to get addicted to such as the fat loots but a lot of those are connected to the social experience, like collecting good gear so you can raid with your guild.
Did anyone else find it strange that the music over the credits was oddly cheerful while the rest of the video had a rather depressing overtone. It just seemed out of place to have the interviewees joking about their addictions moments after they where telling us how bad it was.
I thought that Russ Pitts (or whoever was asking the questions) sounded a bit like Agent Smith from The Matrix.
"Humanity is a Virus"
"Ohhh that sounds like an interesting game, whats it on?"
I think interaction with real people in online video games videogames is one of the things that can make it so addictive. I think that when you play a game with your friends you think of it more as socializing than gaming and doing things with your friends can actually stop you from realising that you're playing a game, "I'm not playing a game, I'm grinding boars with a couple of my friends". It's easy to chuck a lot of hours into a game when you have friends by your side the entire time. For me, gaming gets very boring very quickly if I don't have anyone to talk to or interact with. I suppose this is why games like Morrowind, Oblivion and Baldurs Gate (hell, any RPG) can be addictive, they are based on interaction. I think this might also be why a lot of people prefer Half-Life 2 over other FPS, through out Half-Life 2 you are interacting with Alyx, Barney etc (they are interacting with you I should say) while in Halo and Call of Duty you don't do much talking and not many people talk to you.
I think that the social interaction or the illusion of interaction is what compels some people to keep on playing and is responsible for getting people addicted to games. Of course there are other factors to get addicted to such as the fat loots but a lot of those are connected to the social experience, like collecting good gear so you can raid with your guild.
Did anyone else find it strange that the music over the credits was oddly cheerful while the rest of the video had a rather depressing overtone. It just seemed out of place to have the interviewees joking about their addictions moments after they where telling us how bad it was.
I thought that Russ Pitts (or whoever was asking the questions) sounded a bit like Agent Smith from The Matrix.
"Humanity is a Virus"
"Ohhh that sounds like an interesting game, whats it on?"
With every major trend in entertainment that enters culture we find a sub group of overuse that gets proposed as being an "addiction". In the 50's it was rock and roll, in the 70's it was color television addiction.
We also spend less time and money on teaching younger generations about managing responsibility and the time they allocate to complete those responsabilities. There is a difference between overusing something and being addicted to it.
I have overused video games as people in the video. I don't think any of them or I have ever suffered an addiction from them.
I was an addicted smoker for 12 years and have been clean for 2. I know what addition feels like and withdrawl. When you terminate an addiction you feel miserable and almost would prefer death to continue existing without it. You also trick youself to going back and play tricks on your own mind to convince yourself that you need the substance.
When I quit smoking I walked 3 miles after screaming at a friend about dish soap.
When I took a break from games I cleaned my house, walked my dog more and smiled every day.
I think that throughout history, when a large group of people find something that is easy to overuse they start creating a false sense of addiction about it. Really it's just something that people like at the time and people enjoy it so much they may put off other tasks that seem more important or they just simply loose track of time because they are having so much joy.
It's important that we stipulate a difference between addiction and overuse.
All thing is moderation is the key in most every consumable circumstance.
We also spend less time and money on teaching younger generations about managing responsibility and the time they allocate to complete those responsabilities. There is a difference between overusing something and being addicted to it.
I have overused video games as people in the video. I don't think any of them or I have ever suffered an addiction from them.
I was an addicted smoker for 12 years and have been clean for 2. I know what addition feels like and withdrawl. When you terminate an addiction you feel miserable and almost would prefer death to continue existing without it. You also trick youself to going back and play tricks on your own mind to convince yourself that you need the substance.
When I quit smoking I walked 3 miles after screaming at a friend about dish soap.
When I took a break from games I cleaned my house, walked my dog more and smiled every day.
I think that throughout history, when a large group of people find something that is easy to overuse they start creating a false sense of addiction about it. Really it's just something that people like at the time and people enjoy it so much they may put off other tasks that seem more important or they just simply loose track of time because they are having so much joy.
It's important that we stipulate a difference between addiction and overuse.
All thing is moderation is the key in most every consumable circumstance.
As was explained to me by a psychologist, the key characteristic of addiction is a loss of control. It doesn't really matter the circumstances that lead to the addiction to determine whether there is an addiction, though dealing with those circumstances may help in the process to overcome and recover from the addiction. Using this key characteristic, one must then distinguish between enthusiasm and addiction. Even obsession is not necessarily addiction. It's only when control becomes an issue that there is a high likelihood of addiction.
One must also be careful to examine behavior because one can repeatedly fall into excessive gaming due to other subconscious motivations, not necessarily addiction. This is not to say that addiction to gaming does not occur, but that the diagnosis has to be made carefully.
One must also be careful to examine behavior because one can repeatedly fall into excessive gaming due to other subconscious motivations, not necessarily addiction. This is not to say that addiction to gaming does not occur, but that the diagnosis has to be made carefully.
Every gamer has become so engrossed in a video game that the real world took a back seat. However, when the game is finished, we typically allow ourselves to return to reality again until the next big thing comes along. It's the games that have no real conclusion that create the biggest problems because we continually strive to progress within the game; almost trying to achieve some sense of finality where there is none. Ambitious sandbox titles and multi-player online games create this kind of scenario. Trust me, video games are about as addictive as anything else that's enjoyable, but without a definite conclusion, they prolong the initial enjoyment to the point where it becomes habit.
Agreed, I class myself as sombody who has an addictive personality. I have had a dependence on drugs (not that I'm proud of it) as well as the usual coffee and smoking thing. I can see the arguement about MMORPG being classed as addictive, not in the physical sense but definatley psychologically. If somebody has a dreary existence but finds a new home in something like WOW or Second life there is a good chance over time and under the right circunstances that they will start to spend more time associating with that than the real world. I have seen it with friends that were borderline aggrophobic that have now become complete reclusives and are obsessed...or is that addicted? When you can't stimulate conversation without it being about a particular game then you need to get out more.L.B. Jeffries said:
Personally I used to find it very hard to switch of from a game. When i was younger it was FFVII and then ElderScrolls Morrowind. But as I have grown older and matured I found that 4/5hr bursts are all I need to feed my desire as well as leading a healthy life. If you have a partner then it certainly helps, that and a close bunch of friends you can socialise with regulary. if you have that, then you can see games for what they really are games, and can treat them as such. I prefer to make my life revolve around life, and not a game.
I suppose i fall under the category of not addicted but would rather be playing games than dealing with reality. And yes i prefer 1 player games more than multi-player online games there all just stupid to me, well some i like but that's another story. I like older 1 player RPGS strategy and adventure games i.e legacy of Kain, Diablo 2 almost all the real time strategy's like age of empires and civilization all those are fun. So pretty much i like to stick to one game for quite some time then move on.
I agree 100%. I remember bakc in junior high, i spent one summer completely immersed in Renegade: Command and Conquer. I just could not stop playing that game which is why i have sworn off online games forever, its just too tempting. Although, for a game you spend hours playing and not getting bored; Fallout 3 has no equal in my book. I must've spent and entire month playing that game. The scenery and hidden stories in the game just never get old.Eric the Orange said:
I don't think I would say that I'm addicted, but I am enthusiastic about gaming and whats happening in the gaming world. I used to play WoW for a bit because a few of my friends were and I wanted to see what it was about. I played for about 2 months, and haven't touched it since. I think the game I was most addicted to was Pokémon Silver, I sunk about 800 hours into that game, leveling the perfect teams etc. But then I grew out of the Pokémon phase and moved onto yo-yo's and scooters. Hooray for being a fickle child.