South Korea Discovers StarCraft Addiction Drug

[Loonerinoes]

I am sure it can reduce brain activity around videogames.

But I fear that, like most drugs currently available, it reduces brain activity overall as well. Maybe you can't feel as good about videogames anymore. But what good is this solution if the drug also reduces the way you feel about your job...your spouse? That's the question I wonder about these statistics really. How much overkill is there involved. I seriously doubt that the drug manages to wholly affect the dopamine levels somehow and has zero side-effects, that would not inhibit the user in their daily lives otherwise.

 

[Tzekelkan]

The hive cluster is under attack!

I'm not a huge fan of finding excuses to put more pills in your body. I mean sure, the game can be addictive, but it's not literally cocaine. Drugs affect the synaptic connections in your brain and that causes physical addiction. I believe gaming cannot do that; the symptoms are psychological rather than physical and therefore should be treated as such.

Guys, if your kids aren't doing drugs, don't drug them. If you really have to, take them to a shrink.

 

[tlozoot]

Hmm, I call bullshit.

You can't run a trial of a mere eleven people and draw conclusive results. Added on to that, if you have an outside party clocking up your hours under the pretence of a clinical trial, of course that's going to affect the results, conciously or not.

 

[Keava]

That's interesting, I wonder what Bupropion [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion#Adverse_effects] does.

Oh, catalyses and increases (sometimes severe) hypertension, increases the chance of seizure. Of the 540,000 people tested in the UK only 60 had fatal results. Three cases of liver toxicity, and one case of clitoral priapism.

Not including basic adverse reactions like dry mouth, nausea, insomnia, tremor, excessive sweating and tinnitus.

And reports of unusual behavior changes, agitation and hostility, are just reports. As is the rare cases of Mania. As is Psychosis, delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and confusion.

But you can always stop it, although cold turkey does occasionally lead to dystonia, irritability, anxiety, mania, headache, aches and pains.

But at least you're not addicted to Warcraft. Better living through chemicals!

You do realize it's pretty much same with all pills that you get to take whenever you have even mild mental issues? Soft anti-depressants have similar listings of effects. Pointing such things out is silly, there is reason why such drugs are only available with a prescription, preferably from a doctor that specializes in psychiatry.

And you are not living through chemicals. Such meds are usually very limited in the doses you can take and usually the treatment lasts only few weeks, 2 months top, then you have a break before you go for another round if your mental state didn't improve.
Dry mouth, nausea confusion, etc are pretty much common with all drugs affecting your mental state, even sleeping pills have that, and if you would check some common meds for simple somatic diseases you most likely took over the course of your life the effects are not much different.

 

[Sevre]

Yeah I guess it wouldn't do me harm to get away from the vespene gas.

 

[samsonguy920]

This is all well and good, but what about side effects and how it will affect other productivity? These days more people are dependent on a computer in some form or fashion for their work. It is like in my case if I am taking an order from someone, the drug kicks in and suddenly I could care less what they want to order.
I am getting so sick and tired of this mentality that there is a drug for everything.
Need a lucky night? Take a viagra! But wait! Drugs are bad for you!
And then there is the situation where you do take drugs to help a mental disorder. You take the drug and you feel better. Once you feel better, you stop taking the drug. What's the point?
Frankly this is a sign that Korea is getting way over their heads in technology and gaming. What really should be done is starting emphasis on distractions, finding something different to do for a couple hours a day.
Otherwise someday North Korea is going to walk right in and take over, and nobody would have noticed until Kim Jong-il pulls the plug. Doh!

 

[geldonyetich]

I don't like this much on the grounds that this is probably a pill that kills the pleasure center that awards mental effort. Yay, a drug to make people stupid, but hey, at least they don't like Starcraft as much.

 

[zombie711]

Is the drug an artificial copy of yahtzee's blood?

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

It's called a girlfriend.

 

[jpoon]

Geez, now we need pills because of video games. For fuck sake, somebody take out these fucking drug cartels. They're a much bigger problem than video games will ever be!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

You do realize it's pretty much same with all pills that you get to take whenever you have even mild mental issues? Soft anti-depressants have similar listings of effects. Pointing such things out is silly, there is reason why such drugs are only available with a prescription, preferably from a doctor that specializes in psychiatry.

Hell's teeth, I'm gonna start putting sarcasm stickers on my posts from now on.

Yeah, I'm epiletic. I know about mind chemicals.

And you are not living through chemicals. Such meds are usually very limited in the doses you can take and usually the treatment lasts only few weeks, 2 months top, then you have a break before you go for another round if your mental state didn't improve.

The problem is that they're treating a non-existant condition. I wouldn't want Tegretol if I was shivering from the cold.

My point was that the effects of Bupropion are far worse than the "condition" it treats.

 

[Lma0nade]

I've said before, video game addiction is just as legitimate and serious as any other addiction. People can be addicted to gambling, sex, various alcohol and drugs, coffee, adrenaline rushes, TV, your iPhone, etc...and video games are no exception and why would they be an exception? Video games can be just as addictive and life-consuming as anything else and it should be treated like any other serious addiction. It's all about responsibility and balance.

Wrong. People can get obsessed over video games. I dont think people can get addicted to video games because with an actual addiction like drugs, it physically alters your brain so you need more of it. Video games dont do that.

 

[Keava]

Hell's teeth, I'm gonna start putting sarcasm stickers on my posts from now on.

Yeah, I'm epiletic. I know about mind chemicals.

It was proved to help on the internet when sarcasm and plain ignorance are often hard to distinguish in just plain text.

The problem is that they're treating a non-existant condition. I wouldn't want Tegretol if I was shivering from the cold.

My point was that the effects of Bupropion are far worse than the "condition" it treats.

Is it? I don't know. Keep in mind you see it from western culture perspective, while Asia had several cases of people doing really stupid things tied to both videogame culture and anime culture. Parents that forgot to feed their young child for days, teens ending up in hospitals due to lack of sleep because they were playing for way too long. When it starts to be a threat to health it starts to also be a mental condition.
The fact it doesn't affect you or your friends, or people you heard about doesn't change the fact that someone, somewhere may actually be addicted.

Wrong. People can get obsessed over video games. I dont think people can get addicted to video games because with an actual addiction like drugs, it physically alters your brain so you need more of it. Video games dont do that.

Wrong. While playing games or doing any other activity that brings you enjoyment your brain produces more of certain hormones. Since your body has it's own limits of how much of given hormone it tolerates, over extensive periods of time it may get a little out of control and your body will get used to the higher than average levels, leading to depressive mood swings when you do not perform said activity on regular basis. And that is sign of addiction.

 

[Jumplion]

I've said before, video game addiction is just as legitimate and serious as any other addiction. People can be addicted to gambling, sex, various alcohol and drugs, coffee, adrenaline rushes, TV, your iPhone, etc...and video games are no exception and why would they be an exception? Video games can be just as addictive and life-consuming as anything else and it should be treated like any other serious addiction. It's all about responsibility and balance.

Wrong. People can get obsessed over video games. I dont think people can get addicted to video games because with an actual addiction like drugs, it physically alters your brain so you need more of it. Video games dont do that.

...I'm sorry, personally, I thinks that's completely and utterly false. No no no no no no no. Just no. I'm really sorry if I'm coming off as a jerk, but just no no.

Video Games, and many electronics, as well as gambling, do that all the time, you know that feeling when a boss destroyed you over and over again and then after hours of training and leveling up your character you finally defeat him? Yeah, we gamers thrive on that feeling. The high of beating that boss and we continue playing in hopes of another high.

Now put that feeling until you're dependent on it. Your real life sucks, you want to escape, and so you find a way to escape through video games. Problem is you let it consume you too easily and you don't try healthy doses. That's the case for a lot of addicts, they just get into it because they want to escape.

And what's the difference between "obsessed" and "addicted"? Seriously, that's not a big enough difference for me to really differentiate between the two.

Typical addiction syndromes include;
Skipping work for the addiction.
Skipping school.
Dependency.
Lack of social skills.
etc...

Now just replace "addiction syndromes" with "Halo 3 launch" and you get the idea.

 

[antipunt]

This doesn't at all surprise me. Video games can sometimes be used as a coping mechanism to hide other underlying issues. That's why some individuals respond well to psychiatric medication, imo.

Anything can be misused, no matter what it is. For some people, it's games.

Blaming the addiction on gaming itself, however, is ignorant. It's the individual that needs correction, not the gaming industry

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Is it? I don't know. Keep in mind you see it from western culture perspective, while Asia had several cases of people doing really stupid things tied to both videogame culture and anime culture. Parents that forgot to feed their young child for days, teens ending up in hospitals due to lack of sleep because they were playing for way too long. When it starts to be a threat to health it starts to also be a mental condition.

That's a dangerous assumption to take. I know quite a bit about Korea and given certain ("Ronery, I'm so ronery") rulers, I'd be very careful about what we "hear" from over there. Alcohol, Tobacco, Sugar and general Depression (Big D) can cause problems like you're talking about and we don't start giving out anti-depressants willy-nilly for those. Especially if it's only an "observed" addiction.

The fact it doesn't affect you or your friends, or people you heard about doesn't change the fact that someone, somewhere may actually be addicted.

And the fact that people are being labelled as "addicts" without evidence is far more harmful to real addicts than leaving them alone.

See the following reports
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93639-Chinese-Teen-Beaten-to-Death-at-Internet-Addiction-Camp
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.200559-Internet-Addicted-Chinese-Youth-Break-Out-of-Boot-Camp
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.181951-Korean-Government-Wages-War-On-Gaming-Addiction

According to sources, 3/10 adults are addicted in Korea...I don't think they're THAT different to us.

 

[Weaver]

4 hours of games a day means your addicted? Uh oh....

 

[Upbeat Zombie]

Starcraft is a fun game. But I didn't know its the new crack in South Korea...

 

[Prophetic Heresy]

Damn it! I'm late for the "Can Videogames Be Addictive?" debate! I'll never get a seat now! Technically speaking, yes they can, but you guys are alerady going at it so I'll just let you guys go ahead and explain why.

An interesting side note: WHAT THE HELL!? I'M ON BUPROPION!!! I have to make sure it's not making me want to game less. To Team Fortress 2 and Dawn of War!!