Addictive Gaming Conspiracy

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Following the release of our post on Joystiq [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/27]. It seems as if the addictive gaming topic is going to be a hot one. Almost as if it's some kind of conspiracy.

We all have the problem in some form or another; I know I do. I love to play. If I don't have a game to play I feel like something is missing. My question will remain, however, are you addicted to gaming or are you addicted to a game?

For the most part, I'd say I'm addicted to gaming. Though, last years huge lack of good games almost brought this to a halt. Where do you stand?

 

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Original Comment by: Randall Fitzgerald
http://www.ikimashou.net
Addiction should be considered a deficit of some sort. I'm not addicted to games because, although I play more than 20 hours of them a week, they do not detract from the life I would like for myself. There is a difference between constantly doing something which carries little, no, or spotty reward, but gaming doesn't fall into that category, so I feel like it doesn't really apply. And then if you consider MMORPGs, you're playing with other real humans, so long as you remember to eat and go to work, then there's not really an issue. Whitney, I know you spend more time at work than you should, so there's no way you could be addicted to games. It just goes to show that when adults with their own vices and agendas aim their sights on something, all of the sudden, loving it is an issue that requires a medical visit. I don't see them checking into rehab for TV addiction. It's not until your attraction to a thing becomes detrimental to the life you want FOR YOURSELF that the thing becomes an addiction, in my professional opinion.

 

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Original Comment by: BacksideNine
http://www.boardroom.com
hmmm.
I was, at one point, what i would consider an addict. But that was the nes-ps1 era and now im all growed up. I dont have the time to invest in a healthy gaming habit, not to mention the lack of monetary resources.. Randalls post hit on addiction a little, but addiction can encompass so much more. I feel that anything i am compulsed to do, something that I deem i require yet dont need, can fall under addiction. I am compusled to snowboard. If i dont snowboard tomorrow, i will feel cheated and as though i lost something or missed out on the day. It doesnt interfere with anything, but i feel as though i need it to feel complete. Same can go to soduku puzzles, video games, porn, television... anything. I am definately addicted to cigarettes, so i know i was addicted to video games. I skated through school with marginal to failing grades while maintaining consistent top percentile standardized test scores.
I just blew all my time playing video games. Screw homework.
Im kinda glad im beyond that. Now, more than ever, video gaming eats way too much time. It takes a good 20 hours to get into a good rpg/mmo nowadays. It takes at least 10-15 hours to get an FPS down to the point of landing a top three here or there in deathmatches.
I love my DS.

 

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Original Comment by: Wandering Taoist

I think that the problem is that addiction (or obsession, to give it a slightly better name) is perceived as negative when connected to gaming. For example, I am sort of addicted to reading - when sitting in the bus, when eating, waiting somewhere, I need to have a book with me. Otherwise I feel like wasting time. Yet I rarely trade an evening with a friend/girlfriend for an evening with a book.

Recently I bought a great small thing - a Nintendo DS. Travelling to work I have something like 15 minutes, which I can convert to a few turns in Advance Wars DS, a battle in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or a quick fix of Meteos. The thing is, people are actually quite surprised seeing me playing games in a bus and don't look like they approve of it (I am 28, by the way). The thing is, reading a book in the bus seems to them completely normal. To sum it up: I guess the negative connotation of "gaming addiction" is connected to the negative perception of gaming itself. Gaming is not yet recognized (well, not down here in Slovakia, anyway) as a "proper" passtime. Yet watching TV shows, no matter how stupid, seems completely normal and a valid point of heated discussions among friends/colleagues. Well, I am generalizing, of course, but it is still difficult to persuade people to give games the recognition of media that is "proper" to spend your time with. Not that I care about it, anyway, several times I have missed my stop just because of a heated battle on my double-screened wonder

 

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Original Comment by: Corvus
http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus
Some good commentary on gaming and addiction can be found at the November '05 Round Table. The first entry can be found at Only A Game [http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/11/an_appeal_for_c.html]

 

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Original Comment by: Doug Inman

Randall: I agree. My parents always used to refer to gaming as an 'addiction', which I imagine was something they picked up out of the paper, but is it really? I feel there's a serious distiction that needs to be made here between 'addiction' and' hobby', and amount of time playing is not neccesarily the defining factor.

Nice site by the way, clever name .

 

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Original Comment by: Cody K.

A major problem with the typical games today is the amount of time required to complete them. They are designed for people with enormous amounts of free time (and arguably for people with very little responsibility to anybody other than themselves ? which is another reason for the negative connotations). In addition, you typically can?t enjoy playing a game for just an hour at a time because the pacing and/or difficulty may require 2 or 3 hours of straight playtime to feel any amount of accomplishment or gratification.

Once quality casual (nearly instant gratification) games become more prominent, I think a lot of gamers will satisfy their addictions without having to disappear from the real world for insane amounts of time and thus? the idea of the ?responsible? gamer will be more widely accepted.

Then again, a new breed of ?casual game junkies? might emerge instead. Is that an oxymoron? ;-)

 

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Original Comment by: Jeremy
http://modleft.blogspot.com
Yeah, I'm consistently addicted to gaming. I've always got a game obsessing at me in the back of my mind - if it's not a computer game it's a CCG or Warhammer. I think it's a generalised obsession.