Question of the Day, May 26, 2010

[GonzoGamer]

You should have a "Not Usually/Sometimes" selection too.
My wife and I will sometimes get addicted to a game for a little while but it passes after a bit. The exception are games like wow which never really end.
For what it's worth, I find a really engrossing book more addictive than any game, but like most any game, I'm eventually done with it.

 

[Croaker42]

Wait, aside from all the other obvious bits of stupidity that countless other people will mention, since when has feeling high been a bad thing? Sure, chemically induced highs come with all sorts of dangers and blah blah blah, but if you can feel awesome from doing something perfectly safe, why the hell wouldn't you?

Yes addiction or not we can stay inside and feel great about something.[Sarcasm]I know that is a danger to society and our way of life. [/Sarcasm]

I do believe that gaming can be addictive, but you have to laugh all the same. It is going to be another addiction that will fall into the category of problems you have that you can get yelled at for. Though honestly, I don't see how a little tough love and a severe beating can?t fix this.

 

[ANImaniac89]

yes in some cases it can be
my 14 year old little brother is most likely going to fail this year of school because of his addiction to gaming

 

[Your once and future Fanboy]

If games have the same effects as doing coke, the WHY THE FUCK ARE PEOPLE STILL BUYING AND O.D-ING ON COKE WHEN GAMES ARE A CHEAPER AND SAFER "HIGH"!
Those "researchers" need to stop shooting up with drugs before making statements!

 

[Uncreative]

In my opinion, video game addiction is a Can't see the forest for the trees kinda deal.
People will get themselves addicted to anything that makes them feel good. Eating, Exercise, Shopping, freaking stamp collecting if you let them. It's just how people work.
makes you happy, so keep setting down track in your brain that tells you =Happy, until it's so firmly rooted that it's hard to connect happy with anything but
It becomes a compulsion that's very difficult to resist.

We need to worry less about the things people are getting addicted to, and more about the people who are easily addicted.

EDIT:
Also, escapism. You can be strong in a game, you can beat a game, Real life is a bit more of a head ache.
But it all relates back to the above. Just replace 'Happy' with 'Feeling of accomplishment'
(Just doesn't have the same ring..)

 

[Fodogz]

Sniffing videogames... gonna get some bits of plastic up in there.

 

[John_Dillinger]

I think there may be a bias in favour of videogames on this site, so why bother?

 

[lewiswhitling]

I would've thought that the term "addiction" here is less a biological or chemical one.. instead meaning anything which is done to the point of actively disrupting or negatively changing one's lifestyle. You could view the severity of the addiction on the level of sacrifice that a person makes to fuel it. And therefore i'd say that yes any addiction is bad, and people who sacrifice jobs / families / health / relationships etc over some game would probably be classed as addicts.

 

[Sephiroth_deus]

I definitely believe that there is gaming addiction. Further I believe that the gaming lifestyle supports and enables gaming addiction. Now that isn't to say that everyone who plays video games(or any game at all really) is addicted, or that the gaming lifestyle is inherently bad for you. All I'm saying is that we need to recognize within ourselves and our fellow gamers when we've lost control and do something to fix it. Right now that is obviously not the case.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

About as serious as an addiction to pot...

 

[Johnmw]

Well, if you're talking about psychological dependency, then yes.

Because any psychological dependency is a serious condition.

This really, people can get addicted to anything not matter how odd it seems to non addicts.

 

[Zealous]

I do agree that it's addicting (a day without some form of a video game for me is absolute hell at this point) but I don't think necessarily bad all the time. It obviously can be, just not in all circumstances.

 

[unacomn]

I wouldn't call videogames an addiction, but they're an excellent treatment for depression.

 

[Mechsoap]

i hate those guys who keep saying games are evil

 

[Canadamus Prime]

"spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces."

While I don't agree with that statement and I resent the drug addiction analogy, I have to admit that video games can be addiction forming and yes it probably is quite a serious condition.

 

[Kibbles 'n Bits]

While I disagree with Dr. Pope saying that "2 hours of video games is equal to a line of cocaine" I do agree that Video games are a serious problem. I'd hate to say that video games can cause addiction but, I've been a victim of it and I've seen plenty who still are addicted. It does take self control but, when I'm doing a dungeon raid with my guild in WoW, I hate having to get off after a raid, but I know that I need to shut it off. That being said, when I've had a long day, nothing helps me get over it then playing some Left 4 Dead. So maybe video games are a drug, it helps people escape from their lives and people don't want to go back to the stress.

In Short:

Video games can help you deal with the stresses in life, but watch it doesn't become an addiction.

 

[Trako]

MMOs are tailor-made with addictive habits. World of Warcraft is a pretty good example. It has a lot of "carrot on a stick" moments. Just one more bear tongue! Just ONE MORE mountain lion blood!! It relies heavily on 900-number tactics, where you are kept online as long as possible doing mundane tasks you don't realize it's been 6 months since you started.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

]Guys, no offense, but you need to do your homework on this. They have done studies using MRIs and CAT scans of people playing video games and found that it produces the same effects on your brain as doing drugs.

snip.

I have this on pretty good authority, considering that my mother actually worked in one of those studies. They found increased levels of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin after a player completed a particularly hard challenge.

And I agree and thank your mother for doing this research. The bit I disagree with is that it produces the same effects on your brain as doing drugs.

Drugs themselves have a myriad of effects and even the well known ones - Nicotine, Caffeine, LSD, Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana - are of different types. Depressants, Hallucinogens and Narcotics don't produce those effects - the only one that comes close are Stimulants like Nicotine and Caffeine.

The analogy would have been a lot better if you'd used an example like driving in heavy traffic, which stimulates to fear/fight mechanism you're describing, while keeping the body stationary. This can lead to cardiac spasms, DVT and other such "burnout" problems - but this isn't a case for drugs, which chemically alter your body to move past it's acceptable tolerance limit. Games simply can't do that.

Now, this is after a hard challenge, which the aforementioned Barbie game would be lacking, but a game like Peggle or Half-life wouldn't.

This is where the drug problem fails badly. If you had a drug that could sharpen concentration, suppress sleep/hunger/pain responses and provide increases in dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, then it would be a positive boon to hospitals treating effects like Cancer, third degree burns or other such damaging conditions.

That sort of drug would be a GOOD one - as is mentioned here -
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/waypoints/2827-Childs-Play-Live-from-Legacy-Emanuel-Childrens-Hospital and here http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88051-Snow-World-Helps-Soothe-Soldiers-Pain

What games do have is an exciting fantasy world, which can addict people with a predilection for addiction. That doesn't make it a game addiction, it makes it an addiction that is sated by playing games. There's quite a difference. That's the part that can lead to health loss, anti-social behaviour, mental instability and other problems; and is a serious psycoogical problem that your mother's work may help to treat.

Against drugs like caffeine, though: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88666-Too-Much-Caffeine-Can-Make-You-Hallucinate : games don't really figure in.

 

[Levitas1234]

snip

Source please?
Where is the proof they did these tests and found this bollocks to be true?


As an ex wow addict, I have to say don't do video games kids. After my first eight raids that were in a spherical pattern, I knew I needed more. then every time someone brought out a new raid I just couldn't say no. when I needed more, I ended up joining a guild...
...This guild got me what I needed but i had to do some bad stuff man, they always needed me and i could never get time for my family, my friends, my dog. Man my dog died because I did wow.

lol

also, I voted yes. Everybody reacts differently to substances and some people get addicted, I suppose this truth could be held to video games to. /shrug

 

[Tolerant Fanboy]

I voted yes, but what I really meant was "it can be." Without self-discipline, one can lose one's self in video games, the Internet, television, or damn near anything else that produces an endorphin response. The human brain likes things that make it happy, often to its detriment.