So I was watching the News the other day, which is slightly unusual to me when a Report came up on Video Game Addictions. I thought this was sort of weird, because Video games don't contain nicotine, or an addictive substance, at least I hope, but further on the Report started to make more sense. It explained Video Games cause a psychological addiction ,and the addiction occurs because of the experience, and the good feeling you get from playing them. I am a gamer myself and never realized the addiction, so this Report sort of scarred me a bit. Now that I look back on it I do feel like ina way I was sort of addicted, and maybe still am :| Anyways, how do you guys feel about this issue, addiction or not?

Yeah I've seen those reports too on TV and on the net. I been seeing them more frequently too. I do beleive its an addiction because I am addicted to online RPGs too. I play games because its like almost an instant satisfaction, a way to escape my worries in this world. I used to play games from an ealry child hood because there wasnt much to do to keep you entertained. The games provided hours of fun and you never seem to get bored of it. Its addictive because like all other kinds of addiction the people using/doing it cant or dont have the will power to control their urges. People with these addictions need support from friends and family.

Theres boot camps setup to help people kick these addicitons or event doctors but some arnt lucky enough to have these facilites. If you know of friends and family who are addicted they are probably playing games because they are missing out in other parts of their life and need some guidance and support.

The "video" in "video game" traditionally refers to a raster display device. However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms are broad in range, from large computers such as mainframes, to handheld devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. These video games have suddenly seemed to cause addiction as you had said before. We gamers should limit our use and think about what will happen. I mean I know that I am addicted but I know when to stop. Its all a matter of how much you get attached to the game. World of Warcraft has entered millions of lives and people are going crazy. Its time that we should do something about this.

There will always be hard cored addictive gamers in the world, can't stop that entirely, but you can help people limit the time they spend on video games.
A simple way to break computer addictions without going to a boot camp (lol ) would be to have your friend or parent, take the power cable out from the tower and hide it. Addiction gone. No power, no video games. You could do that as well with probably any other video game console to break someone's video game addiction



Boot camps..lmao

This post has been edited by mojoman: Jul 3 2007, 01:03 AM

If playing video games is an addiction, and I believe it is, then watching too much television or sleeping too much are also addictions. The problem with game addictions is that people give up their lives and, mostly, neglect social responsibilities and tasks. When you rather play a video game than do what you used to love to do, you have a problem.

Here's why the games cause such an addiction. First of all, you look as good as you want to. You can take over places, run long distances, and reach high strength. You can kick someone's butt unlike in real life. (On World of Warcraft) You can have as many pets as you can carry in your backpack. (I have over 5 hard-to-get pets in the game because I can't have any where I live). There's also the easy-to-get sense of achievement. Think of how long it takes to win a trophy in a sports competition. Now think how long it takes to get honor points (WoW also). It takes a few minutes! You can beat the enemy with not much previous training.

Basically, they are an addiction because they are so easy to conquer. If you do deal with life, get a job, etc then playing the games the time you'd watch TV or a movie, then its not so bad. (For those who say playing the game 6 hours straight is bad, you should know thats probably how much the average person watches except that we can interact with others socially on a game and not with a TV.)

yeah I've seen such report on the tv before... also some articles on the internet were written about this issue. and I personally experienced this sort of addiction... I was literally addicted! I used to spend hours and hours playing a game... especially those first person player games. I used to finish a huge game in like 3 days. I used to wake up at 8 AM and keep on playing until it's 12 at night, and only take a break when I want to eat or go to the rest room. well whether you believe this is a sort of addiction or not, I strongly believe that it is! But thankfully I was able to get over this addiction like 2 years ago. I got busy with other stuff and from time to time I used to get addicted to web-design/development... but atleast this is an educational addiction anyway, I think someone should get too much attached to video games because he won't have a social life anymore and it's bad for his health too because he's not actually moving... so yeah I warn everybody from what video games could actually lead to...

Even though video games don't contain the same "materials" that a "addiction" would have, such as nicotine or another substance(as stated by someone else) they do provide entertainment to some. Maybe someone who doesn't want to "face the real world" or.. someone who just has nothing to do. Its almost as if playing video games 24/7 would help someone escape the reality of things. Or maybe it's just the game. I guess it depends on the type of person. All these games are being created for use of entertainment, but they do get quite addicting to some people, and less for others, but getting attached to a game literally means you give up almost everything else out there in the "real world" and set yourself to an environment you're more comfortable with. Meaning the environment of the game?

It's not so good to get addicted to the game, but sometimes you just can't help yourself once you find a game that's so interesting and fun you can't bear to tear yourself away from it. I'm not saying it's good, I'm just saying that sometimes people who are addictive gamers can't help but to want to play that game 24/7? ;P

I think it is possible to become addicted to video games. I have friends that always want to play video games, and never do anything else. Same thing with my cousin. All he ever does is play video games, go on the computer, or watch T.V. And it is hard to get him off of those things. But people just need to get out and find something better to do. Like, play some sports, hang out with friends, get a girlfriend/boyfriend. Just something to pass the time if they are that obsessed with video games. Nobody wants to hang out with a person, that only wants to play video games. To sum it up, "Get a Life."

The only game I have ever been addicted to was World of Warcraft.
I think the problem of MMORPGs is that you actually that because there's other people playing, you're not isolated and you're socializing. But now that I've dropped this gaming, I realize that I lost many hours there (just to get $200 on eBay for my account, lol). The actual thing is there's competition between people to see who levels up first or gets such or such thing done, and when you get that, you receive a burst of adrenalin that it makes you want to play even more. And because it costs you a great deal of time, and therefore, effort, you feel that you have accomplished something. Something important. But when you stop playing you realize all that stuff is worth nothing. And you have dropped so many things in the real world that you're even tempted to play again in that virtual world where you still can achieve something by just giving out your time.
So basically, the sooner you stop, the easier it is. And when you stop you should make sure to get rid of whatever you achieved. That way it will be easier to understand its lack of worth and also more difficult to go back because you have to start all over again.