I, as a human being, am responsible for my own actions. If I choose to play a game, and unwillingly get addicted to it, it is purely my own fault. Obviously, the same goes for alcohol, drugs, etc.
On a sidenote: I find that blaming the developers / producers of a game for its addictivity to be a true and real American statement. No offense though.
I believe that it is a slight combination of both, however, believe it is more so the fault of the player. The producers of video games, especially MMOs, create it to be somewhat addicting. They do wish that you stay around and continue to pay money to them. This is how they manage to keep income flowing through their doors.
However, if the player has an addiction to a game it is their fault for playing the game. MMO's are known for being addicting, if you aren't ready to be able to fight it, then you have put yourself in that position. If you know you have an addiction and do nothing, that is also your fault. There is help out there.
I see video games and gambling, specially slot machines, all in the same way. The creator made them to be addictive to a degree so that people would keep spending money on it. But as for the player and their degree of addiction is solely their fault. Especially if you've had issues with addiction before.
But that's just my input. I've seen valid points coming from everyone
To say developers have no part in it is silly. All developers want to create a game that keeps people interested in playing. I wouldn't want a developer of an mmo (or at least not too many of these) to NOT try and make the game addictive, because likely that means it's not going to be a good game! Maybe a joke or casual mmo that just wants you to play for a few weeks or something, and has a business model that can support that. But developers are responsible for making games fun, and probably addictive as well. That's their JOB and they are rewarded for doing it well.
Now as to the negative consequences of an addiction, such as divorce, job loss, friend loss etc, those are actions on the part of the players. If someone cant keep their life together while enjoying a game, I feel bad for them, but they probably need to learn self control or just not go near games, the same way someone who can't watch their drinking habits shouldn't go near a glass; the same way someone with gambling problems should stay out of a casino.
I am on the side of gaming addiction being a real problem, people who die from playing for 2 days straight and not eating should be enough evidence. Both producers and players play some part in it, but players are the ones who need to be responsible for their own actions. Developers are just doing their job and most gamers want their games to keep them entertained - that's the point.
From reading most of the post here it seems the term "video game addiction" is only defined by people who play all day everyday while chugging Mountain Dew and gold farming. This kind of addiction is blamed on the player for sure.
But there is the casual addiction. Ill use my experience on WoW as an example.
Players fault
The standard addicted person will play WoW for about 3 - 6 hours everyday. Missing a day can make the player feel as though they have missed a lot of content. Sometimes they do and they regret taking that break. So they play more. If a player takes a week long break then returns, their friends will swear they were gone forever and that they were worried about the person.
When I played WoW I would get on a spree with one character. I'd get ton of missions done. Help a friend I promised. Play in the battlegrounds. Then a friend would come along and say, join me at this date or time for Arenas. Sure! Then another group of friends would say "Come sign up for this raid that happens twice a week." Sure. Now I MUST play the game at these specific times during the week. If I don't I let people down and it is hard as hell to attend these things at the spur of the moment.
Eventually things will die down for that character. I'll get in a rut and stop playing that character. But guess what? Now I get hooked to another character I made, and play that one for just as much time. Suddenly you have a cycle where you play everyday, doing something. You have a ton of friends all yanking you about to do activities each day and you never get that down time from the game.
This is the casual gaming addiction that about 50% of us on this site experience everyday.
Company fault
Corporations are at fault too. Blizzard made the raiding in WoW schedule intinsive. You cannot just hop in a pick up group and fight through most of a raid instance now. You MUST schedule. You must get 10 arena games in everyweek to get your ranking. You must spend mass amounts of time farming honor, rerunning instances, and farming for craft ingredients and gold just to get the stuff you want. This is all Blizzards fault.
Other examples of bad companies pulling players in:
-DAOC Trials of Atlantis forced experienced PvP players to farm items and spend ridiculous amoutns of time killing PvE enemies to pwoer it up and get an edge in battle. This was slowly fixed over time as people screamed in agony.
-WoW PvP ranking system. Starcraft and Diablo wasn't a hint that there are players out there who will utterly ruin the ranking curve for everyone else because they are completely insanely aggro on a game. So now everyone has to spend hours each day farming for honor just so they can get some good gear.
-Lineage 2 and any other Korean MMO. Kill 100 lizard men in this mission. After that farm 500 more. By then you should be about 50% the way through your level. That next level is really important so common and grind for it. (the lizard man task is an actual mission in the game)
These are all examples of companies playing with your emotions and your urge to accomplish something by making you spend ridiculous amounts of time to complete a task.
EDIT: BTW I quit WoW back in October when my only options were to raid and do arenas in order to progress. I got into tsigning up for raids and typically made myself a standby character. When my ability to just hop in and do something vanished, I vanished.
This report (pdf file in Swedish) from Sweden's official media advisory council (or something like that) concludes that there's not enough substantial data to claim that excessive playing of MMOGs (in this case WoW) is a matter of addiction.
Instead they point out the advanced societies and language MMOGs and games in general have developed, creating a gap between the gamers and others, especially their parents. They also conclude - but admit more research is needed, and encourage such research - that problematic / excessive gaming seems to rather be a symptom of other problems (pressure to perform at school, being harassed in "real life", etc) than the problem in itself. Naturally, problematic gaming will affect focus on other important parts of life, thus leading to even closer attachment to the game instead - however, that vicious circle seems to start with the outside problems, not the attraction to the game.
I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of studies both supporting and contradicting this. But each I've seen concluding that gaming addiction is the correct term and the problem to treat also happen to include an offer for treatment at the writer's clinic (for a substantial fee) or use such sensational language that I find it hard to take them serious. (I.e. if you really need to use big words to present your message, the substance of it is probably not all that.)
Always an interesting discussion though. A developer naturally wants the game he works on to be popular and played a lot by many people, just like a movie director wants to make a popular movie that everybody goes to see. But when the game developer succeeds he's faced with accusations of being Dr. Doom wishing to destroy people's lives, instead of the praise given to the excellent director. ;-)
Addiction to anything other than a drug that physically affects the body or mind is purely down to the user. You can blame addiction to narcotics on the drugs themselves because of how they affect you, but a game is something that doesn't physically affect you, you just enjoy doing it, like you enjoy sex or driving.
Get some will power, sort out your life priorities, whatever, but addiction to a game is a sad state of affairs.
Gambling addiction is a recognized disease by the AMA. After research and studies, they've found no evidence that gaming addiction is.
I don't find that surprising as 'gaming' is pretty general. Mmos is something else and use the same psychological hook as gambling. For people to say one exists(being a mental addiction) and the other one doesn't exist is plain ridiculous to me.
It is a sort of factor of both incidentally. Responsibility of players and producers. Same as a pub where they may not serve someone who has drunk too much.
Are now blaming one source for a problem that's far more complex and isn't from one single source. Game addiction comes from a combination different factors and isn't something you can blame the player or the producer for. If someone could be blamed or be seen as the one most responsible for it it's the player, as it is he and his environment that has forced him into such an addiction.
The developers do their job and if someone gets addicted you could hardly blame them, it's not in their will to get people addicted in that way. They sure want you to keep on playing, but not be addicted. Of course they aren't free from blame, but they could hardly be considered the real source of the problem.
Gambling addiction is a recognized disease by the AMA. After research and studies, they've found no evidence that gaming addiction is.
I don't find that surprising as 'gaming' is pretty general. Mmos is something else and use the same psychological hook as gambling. For people to say one exists(being a mental addiction) and the other one doesn't exist is plain ridiculous to me.
It is a sort of factor of both incidentally. Responsibility of players and producers. Same as a pub where they may not serve someone who has drunk too much.
However gambling deals with real life consequences.
I say it's the players fault! Self disipline is the key! It's like people that are over weight blaming fast food resturants for their wieght problems. I'm sorry but the owners to the place didn't force you to eat there. Same as people blaming tobacco companies for them getting cancer! They never made you start smoking! You can only blame yourself there or your "friends' from school for pressuring you to smoke. In essence what I'm saying is it starts with your choice to begin the behaviour and not acknowledging it and quitting or getting help to quit. MMOs are a buisness and being a buisness they are in the industry to make money or why bother putting out the product they make?
Gambling addiction is a recognized disease by the AMA. After research and studies, they've found no evidence that gaming addiction is.
I don't find that surprising as 'gaming' is pretty general. Mmos is something else and use the same psychological hook as gambling. For people to say one exists(being a mental addiction) and the other one doesn't exist is plain ridiculous to me.
It is a sort of factor of both incidentally. Responsibility of players and producers. Same as a pub where they may not serve someone who has drunk too much.
However gambling deals with real life consequences.
To Vincenz: Gaming addiction doen't have real life consequences? I've heard of people loosing thier jobs because they missed to much work because they were raiding for the epic loots and also loosing their marriages and families over vidoe game or both of the above. I'd say those are real life consequences.
Gaming addiction is a recognised problem in Asia and Europe, just because America doesn't think it is, doesn't mean it's not.
However how you can call addiction to a non-addictive substance/thing a disease is beyond me, it's not a disease it's the person has a lack of will power to stop themselves from doing it, and I wouldn't say a lack of will power constitutes a disease, it's not something that can be cured with medicine or surgery.
Seriously that's just Pyschiatrists trying to invent problems with the mind to sell more drugs, therapy sessions and keep them in business. Not everyone is the same and you shouldn't be trying to make everyone the same.
Gaming addiction is a recognised problem in Asia and Europe, just because America doesn't think it is, doesn't mean it's not. However how you can call addiction to a non-addictive substance/thing a disease is beyond me, it's not a disease it's the person has a lack of will power to stop themselves from doing it, and I wouldn't say a lack of will power constitutes a disease, it's not something that can be cured with medicine or surgery. Seriously that's just Pyschiatrists trying to invent problems with the mind to sell more drugs, therapy sessions and keep them in business. Not everyone is the same and you shouldn't be trying to make everyone the same.
Gaming addiction is a recognised problem in Asia and Europe, just because America doesn't think it is, doesn't mean it's not. However how you can call addiction to a non-addictive substance/thing a disease is beyond me, it's not a disease it's the person has a lack of will power to stop themselves from doing it, and I wouldn't say a lack of will power constitutes a disease, it's not something that can be cured with medicine or surgery. Seriously that's just Pyschiatrists trying to invent problems with the mind to sell more drugs, therapy sessions and keep them in business. Not everyone is the same and you shouldn't be trying to make everyone the same.
why dont the usa recognise it as an addiction...
Because ANYTHING can be an addiction...and we're getting sick of smearing bad mojo over everything on gods green earth because a handful of people were born without willpower.
Frankly, I'm sick of calling anything which does not have an actual physical addiction (biological thing, IE: Drugs and how they interact with the body to force the body to "need" them) and addiction at all. Just because you enjoy doing something does not mean you're allowed to get free meds and a support group just because you were too dense to stop doing it.
Gaming addiction is a recognised problem in Asia and Europe, just because America doesn't think it is, doesn't mean it's not. However how you can call addiction to a non-addictive substance/thing a disease is beyond me, it's not a disease it's the person has a lack of will power to stop themselves from doing it, and I wouldn't say a lack of will power constitutes a disease, it's not something that can be cured with medicine or surgery. Seriously that's just Pyschiatrists trying to invent problems with the mind to sell more drugs, therapy sessions and keep them in business. Not everyone is the same and you shouldn't be trying to make everyone the same.
why dont the usa recognise it as an addiction...
Because ANYTHING can be an addiction...and we're getting sick of smearing bad mojo over everything on gods green earth because a handful of people were born without willpower.
Frankly, I'm sick of calling anything which does not have an actual physical addiction (biological thing, IE: Drugs and how they interact with the body to force the body to "need" them) and addiction at all. Just because you enjoy doing something does not mean you're allowed to get free meds and a support group just because you were too dense to stop doing it.
emm thats just aragont...you wouldent know how it feel like to have an addection ..and if you do get an addecrion you will be greatful to get that free help.....and ya..anything that stimulates the brain can become an addection.........and its no entierly about will power...probably should stydy psychology before you insult people have a swerious problem
Its the players fault no doubt about it. Most addictions start with the lack of willpower to control or stop some activity ppl know they should stop but just cant. Its a personal problem and not anybody else's fault.
We can't blame it on the producer.. without them there will be no games to play and no game what is there do do for the player, nothing. All they can do is stare at the tv all day. Plus if the player can't control their addiction that mean they're doing it at their own free will.
you cant blame producers designers, marketers or anyone but the player for addiction its their problem and fault they cant keep their playing in check. they make content fun so you want to come back, not so you play 16h a day 7 days a week. they want you to play only a few hours a week the less you see the longer you play to see the rest, addiction is in their worse intrest
emm thats just aragont...you wouldent know how it feel like to have an addection ..and if you do get an addecrion you will be greatful to get that free help.....and ya..anything that stimulates the brain can become an addection.........and its no entierly about will power...probably should stydy psychology before you insult people have a swerious problem
I happen to have addictions. One in particular is chemical (nicotine, which....of all the things I did as a kid...is still the most powerful addiction I've faced. ).
Next up, nothing is free. On occasion you find a group which meets and doesn't charge. Unfortunately, if simply talking about your problem was enough to fix it for you...you wouldn't be in the situation to begin with. No, generally serious addictions (most of which a chemical) require chemical intervention, or serious psychiatric help. Neither of these two things are free...and are often way more expensive than the addiction. Unless your addiction is burning a few pounds of meth a day, I suppose. Then its probably far cheaper...and also far more needed.
My insult here is that we are no longer teaching people how to deal with things on their own. The parents of today are made to think that any personal issue MUST be fixed with psychs and drugs. I don't so much blame the "addict", I blame the parents who couldn't instill that self control back then the mind of the person was still so easily strengthened. Its WAY harder trying to instill this stuff in an adult...the adult mind is harder to "teach" habits too than a childs.
I hate the labeling of these things as diseases, because it removes the power from the hands of the parents and makes us think that we MUST use docs and drugs to solve them.
emm thats just aragont...you wouldent know how it feel like to have an addection ..and if you do get an addecrion you will be greatful to get that free help.....and ya..anything that stimulates the brain can become an addection.........and its no entierly about will power...probably should stydy psychology before you insult people have a swerious problem
I happen to have addictions. One in particular is chemical (nicotine, which....of all the things I did as a kid...is still the most powerful addiction I've faced. ).
Next up, nothing is free. On occasion you find a group which meets and doesn't charge. Unfortunately, if simply talking about your problem was enough to fix it for you...you wouldn't be in the situation to begin with. No, generally serious addictions (most of which a chemical) require chemical intervention, or serious psychiatric help. Neither of these two things are free...and are often way more expensive than the addiction. Unless your addiction is burning a few pounds of meth a day, I suppose. Then its probably far cheaper...and also far more needed.
My insult here is that we are no longer teaching people how to deal with things on their own. The parents of today are made to think that any personal issue MUST be fixed with psychs and drugs. I don't so much blame the "addict", I blame the parents who couldn't instill that self control back then the mind of the person was still so easily strengthened. Its WAY harder trying to instill this stuff in an adult...the adult mind is harder to "teach" habits too than a childs.
I hate the labeling of these things as diseases, because it removes the power from the hands of the parents and makes us think that we MUST use docs and drugs to solve them.
ya i agree...thst the parents fualt aswell...and i think most dc give anyone pills for an "addiction" is co it make there life easier...
If you're addicted to a videogame its YOUR fault. Its not like smoking crack or injecting heroin where the body chemically needs the substance. Videogames are only addicting for people with little self control. You don't get addicted to the entertainment. You CAN get addicted to the feeling it gives you though. The things is, that feeling can easily be replicated through other hobbies.
I really love videogames, movies and tennis. I've been playing or watching them since I could jiggle a joystick, turn a TV knob or swing a raquet. But I won't go through withdrawl, go into a rage and fall apart without them. If you do, you've got issues and should seek a therapist=)
If you're addicted to a videogame its YOUR fault. Its not like smoking crack or injecting heroin where the body chemically needs the substance. Videogames are only addicting for people with little self control. You don't get addicted to the entertainment. You CAN get addicted to the feeling it gives you though. The things is, that feeling can easily be replicated through other hobbies. I really love videogames, movies and tennis. I've been playing or watching them since I could jiggle a joystick, turn a TV knob or swing a raquet. But I won't go through withdrawl, go into a rage and fall apart without them. If you do, you've got issues and should seek a therapist=)
emm...videos game can be addected to...people play video games....it stimulates the brain...relesing chemicals into the brain.. and thats what you get addected to....
Anything can be addictive, but you have to remember that in America it's the psychiatric industry that decides whether something is a mental disorder addiction or not (like gambling), and as gaming is generally not taken seriously in America it's unlikely that the psychiatric industry is going to take addiction to it seriously either. They'll come around eventually though, but it's not really something you should be hoping for.
Then you'll not just get people wasting their lives away on WoW, you'll get them wasting half their lives away on WoW and the other half doped up mind-drugs like Prozac.
In Amsterdam there is a rehad clinic for gaming addiction, but I don't know what they do there, I think they best way to deal with it is to get the people out into the world. Adventure weekends, charity work, sports, team activities that basically force the person out of the house and away from the computer/console.
Like I said before, drugs won't solve a problem that has arisen from a lack of will power, and that is what they give to people who have a gambling addiction, therapy and drugs, it's not solving their gambling addiction, it's just giving them a new one to replace it with.
But the ball remains in the player's half of the court, whether they seek psychiatric help or something else, only they can ever resolve the problem, producers can't make games unaddictive.
The Gamer the one that is addicted but thats my opinon.
It could be that the devolpers want us to get addicted to the game so they know that when the next game comes out they will have alot of people buy it.
It could be both or not but in the end after reading all the post you guys put Im starting to think that its probobly the devolpers fault for putting the graphics so high that so we are now attracted to the game and play it not stop because of the way it looks.
We are all used to video games making a kid's mind addicted to that video game.
Video games are a past time to most americans but I say the devolpers fault for some of todays prolblems.
Comments
I, as a human being, am responsible for my own actions. If I choose to play a game, and unwillingly get addicted to it, it is purely my own fault. Obviously, the same goes for alcohol, drugs, etc.
On a sidenote: I find that blaming the developers / producers of a game for its addictivity to be a true and real American statement. No offense though.
I believe that it is a slight combination of both, however, believe it is more so the fault of the player. The producers of video games, especially MMOs, create it to be somewhat addicting. They do wish that you stay around and continue to pay money to them. This is how they manage to keep income flowing through their doors.
However, if the player has an addiction to a game it is their fault for playing the game. MMO's are known for being addicting, if you aren't ready to be able to fight it, then you have put yourself in that position. If you know you have an addiction and do nothing, that is also your fault. There is help out there.
I see video games and gambling, specially slot machines, all in the same way. The creator made them to be addictive to a degree so that people would keep spending money on it. But as for the player and their degree of addiction is solely their fault. Especially if you've had issues with addiction before.
But that's just my input. I've seen valid points coming from everyone
To say developers have no part in it is silly. All developers want to create a game that keeps people interested in playing. I wouldn't want a developer of an mmo (or at least not too many of these) to NOT try and make the game addictive, because likely that means it's not going to be a good game! Maybe a joke or casual mmo that just wants you to play for a few weeks or something, and has a business model that can support that. But developers are responsible for making games fun, and probably addictive as well. That's their JOB and they are rewarded for doing it well.
Now as to the negative consequences of an addiction, such as divorce, job loss, friend loss etc, those are actions on the part of the players. If someone cant keep their life together while enjoying a game, I feel bad for them, but they probably need to learn self control or just not go near games, the same way someone who can't watch their drinking habits shouldn't go near a glass; the same way someone with gambling problems should stay out of a casino.
I am on the side of gaming addiction being a real problem, people who die from playing for 2 days straight and not eating should be enough evidence. Both producers and players play some part in it, but players are the ones who need to be responsible for their own actions. Developers are just doing their job and most gamers want their games to keep them entertained - that's the point.
From reading most of the post here it seems the term "video game addiction" is only defined by people who play all day everyday while chugging Mountain Dew and gold farming. This kind of addiction is blamed on the player for sure.
But there is the casual addiction. Ill use my experience on WoW as an example.
Players fault
The standard addicted person will play WoW for about 3 - 6 hours everyday. Missing a day can make the player feel as though they have missed a lot of content. Sometimes they do and they regret taking that break. So they play more. If a player takes a week long break then returns, their friends will swear they were gone forever and that they were worried about the person.
When I played WoW I would get on a spree with one character. I'd get ton of missions done. Help a friend I promised. Play in the battlegrounds. Then a friend would come along and say, join me at this date or time for Arenas. Sure! Then another group of friends would say "Come sign up for this raid that happens twice a week." Sure. Now I MUST play the game at these specific times during the week. If I don't I let people down and it is hard as hell to attend these things at the spur of the moment.
Eventually things will die down for that character. I'll get in a rut and stop playing that character. But guess what? Now I get hooked to another character I made, and play that one for just as much time. Suddenly you have a cycle where you play everyday, doing something. You have a ton of friends all yanking you about to do activities each day and you never get that down time from the game.
This is the casual gaming addiction that about 50% of us on this site experience everyday.
Company fault
Corporations are at fault too. Blizzard made the raiding in WoW schedule intinsive. You cannot just hop in a pick up group and fight through most of a raid instance now. You MUST schedule. You must get 10 arena games in everyweek to get your ranking. You must spend mass amounts of time farming honor, rerunning instances, and farming for craft ingredients and gold just to get the stuff you want. This is all Blizzards fault.
Other examples of bad companies pulling players in:
-DAOC Trials of Atlantis forced experienced PvP players to farm items and spend ridiculous amoutns of time killing PvE enemies to pwoer it up and get an edge in battle. This was slowly fixed over time as people screamed in agony.
-WoW PvP ranking system. Starcraft and Diablo wasn't a hint that there are players out there who will utterly ruin the ranking curve for everyone else because they are completely insanely aggro on a game. So now everyone has to spend hours each day farming for honor just so they can get some good gear.
-Lineage 2 and any other Korean MMO. Kill 100 lizard men in this mission. After that farm 500 more. By then you should be about 50% the way through your level. That next level is really important so common and grind for it. (the lizard man task is an actual mission in the game)
These are all examples of companies playing with your emotions and your urge to accomplish something by making you spend ridiculous amounts of time to complete a task.
EDIT: BTW I quit WoW back in October when my only options were to raid and do arenas in order to progress. I got into tsigning up for raids and typically made myself a standby character. When my ability to just hop in and do something vanished, I vanished.
This report (pdf file in Swedish) from Sweden's official media advisory council (or something like that) concludes that there's not enough substantial data to claim that excessive playing of MMOGs (in this case WoW) is a matter of addiction.
Instead they point out the advanced societies and language MMOGs and games in general have developed, creating a gap between the gamers and others, especially their parents. They also conclude - but admit more research is needed, and encourage such research - that problematic / excessive gaming seems to rather be a symptom of other problems (pressure to perform at school, being harassed in "real life", etc) than the problem in itself. Naturally, problematic gaming will affect focus on other important parts of life, thus leading to even closer attachment to the game instead - however, that vicious circle seems to start with the outside problems, not the attraction to the game.
I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of studies both supporting and contradicting this. But each I've seen concluding that gaming addiction is the correct term and the problem to treat also happen to include an offer for treatment at the writer's clinic (for a substantial fee) or use such sensational language that I find it hard to take them serious. (I.e. if you really need to use big words to present your message, the substance of it is probably not all that.)
Always an interesting discussion though. A developer naturally wants the game he works on to be popular and played a lot by many people, just like a movie director wants to make a popular movie that everybody goes to see. But when the game developer succeeds he's faced with accusations of being Dr. Doom wishing to destroy people's lives, instead of the praise given to the excellent director. ;-)
Addiction to anything other than a drug that physically affects the body or mind is purely down to the user. You can blame addiction to narcotics on the drugs themselves because of how they affect you, but a game is something that doesn't physically affect you, you just enjoy doing it, like you enjoy sex or driving.
Get some will power, sort out your life priorities, whatever, but addiction to a game is a sad state of affairs.
I don't find that surprising as 'gaming' is pretty general. Mmos is something else and use the same psychological hook as gambling. For people to say one exists(being a mental addiction) and the other one doesn't exist is plain ridiculous to me.
It is a sort of factor of both incidentally. Responsibility of players and producers. Same as a pub where they may not serve someone who has drunk too much.
Are now blaming one source for a problem that's far more complex and isn't from one single source. Game addiction comes from a combination different factors and isn't something you can blame the player or the producer for. If someone could be blamed or be seen as the one most responsible for it it's the player, as it is he and his environment that has forced him into such an addiction.
The developers do their job and if someone gets addicted you could hardly blame them, it's not in their will to get people addicted in that way. They sure want you to keep on playing, but not be addicted. Of course they aren't free from blame, but they could hardly be considered the real source of the problem.
I don't find that surprising as 'gaming' is pretty general. Mmos is something else and use the same psychological hook as gambling. For people to say one exists(being a mental addiction) and the other one doesn't exist is plain ridiculous to me.
It is a sort of factor of both incidentally. Responsibility of players and producers. Same as a pub where they may not serve someone who has drunk too much.
However gambling deals with real life consequences.
I say it's the players fault! Self disipline is the key! It's like people that are over weight blaming fast food resturants for their wieght problems. I'm sorry but the owners to the place didn't force you to eat there. Same as people blaming tobacco companies for them getting cancer! They never made you start smoking! You can only blame yourself there or your "friends' from school for pressuring you to smoke. In essence what I'm saying is it starts with your choice to begin the behaviour and not acknowledging it and quitting or getting help to quit. MMOs are a buisness and being a buisness they are in the industry to make money or why bother putting out the product they make?
I don't find that surprising as 'gaming' is pretty general. Mmos is something else and use the same psychological hook as gambling. For people to say one exists(being a mental addiction) and the other one doesn't exist is plain ridiculous to me.
It is a sort of factor of both incidentally. Responsibility of players and producers. Same as a pub where they may not serve someone who has drunk too much.
However gambling deals with real life consequences.
To Vincenz: Gaming addiction doen't have real life consequences? I've heard of people loosing thier jobs because they missed to much work because they were raiding for the epic loots and also loosing their marriages and families over vidoe game or both of the above. I'd say those are real life consequences.
Gaming addiction is a recognised problem in Asia and Europe, just because America doesn't think it is, doesn't mean it's not.
However how you can call addiction to a non-addictive substance/thing a disease is beyond me, it's not a disease it's the person has a lack of will power to stop themselves from doing it, and I wouldn't say a lack of will power constitutes a disease, it's not something that can be cured with medicine or surgery.
Seriously that's just Pyschiatrists trying to invent problems with the mind to sell more drugs, therapy sessions and keep them in business. Not everyone is the same and you shouldn't be trying to make everyone the same.
why dont the usa recognise it as an addiction...
why dont the usa recognise it as an addiction...
Because ANYTHING can be an addiction...and we're getting sick of smearing bad mojo over everything on gods green earth because a handful of people were born without willpower.
Frankly, I'm sick of calling anything which does not have an actual physical addiction (biological thing, IE: Drugs and how they interact with the body to force the body to "need" them) and addiction at all. Just because you enjoy doing something does not mean you're allowed to get free meds and a support group just because you were too dense to stop doing it.
why dont the usa recognise it as an addiction...
Because ANYTHING can be an addiction...and we're getting sick of smearing bad mojo over everything on gods green earth because a handful of people were born without willpower.
Frankly, I'm sick of calling anything which does not have an actual physical addiction (biological thing, IE: Drugs and how they interact with the body to force the body to "need" them) and addiction at all. Just because you enjoy doing something does not mean you're allowed to get free meds and a support group just because you were too dense to stop doing it.
emm thats just aragont...you wouldent know how it feel like to have an addection ..and if you do get an addecrion you will be greatful to get that free help.....and ya..anything that stimulates the brain can become an addection.........and its no entierly about will power...probably should stydy psychology before you insult people have a swerious problemIts the players fault no doubt about it. Most addictions start with the lack of willpower to control or stop some activity ppl know they should stop but just cant. Its a personal problem and not anybody else's fault.
We can't blame it on the producer.. without them there will be no games to play and no game what is there do do for the player, nothing. All they can do is stare at the tv all day. Plus if the player can't control their addiction that mean they're doing it at their own free will.
you cant blame producers designers, marketers or anyone but the player for addiction its their problem and fault they cant keep their playing in check. they make content fun so you want to come back, not so you play 16h a day 7 days a week. they want you to play only a few hours a week the less you see the longer you play to see the rest, addiction is in their worse intrest
I happen to have addictions. One in particular is chemical (nicotine, which....of all the things I did as a kid...is still the most powerful addiction I've faced. ).
Next up, nothing is free. On occasion you find a group which meets and doesn't charge. Unfortunately, if simply talking about your problem was enough to fix it for you...you wouldn't be in the situation to begin with. No, generally serious addictions (most of which a chemical) require chemical intervention, or serious psychiatric help. Neither of these two things are free...and are often way more expensive than the addiction. Unless your addiction is burning a few pounds of meth a day, I suppose. Then its probably far cheaper...and also far more needed.
My insult here is that we are no longer teaching people how to deal with things on their own. The parents of today are made to think that any personal issue MUST be fixed with psychs and drugs. I don't so much blame the "addict", I blame the parents who couldn't instill that self control back then the mind of the person was still so easily strengthened. Its WAY harder trying to instill this stuff in an adult...the adult mind is harder to "teach" habits too than a childs.
I hate the labeling of these things as diseases, because it removes the power from the hands of the parents and makes us think that we MUST use docs and drugs to solve them.
I happen to have addictions. One in particular is chemical (nicotine, which....of all the things I did as a kid...is still the most powerful addiction I've faced. ).
Next up, nothing is free. On occasion you find a group which meets and doesn't charge. Unfortunately, if simply talking about your problem was enough to fix it for you...you wouldn't be in the situation to begin with. No, generally serious addictions (most of which a chemical) require chemical intervention, or serious psychiatric help. Neither of these two things are free...and are often way more expensive than the addiction. Unless your addiction is burning a few pounds of meth a day, I suppose. Then its probably far cheaper...and also far more needed.
My insult here is that we are no longer teaching people how to deal with things on their own. The parents of today are made to think that any personal issue MUST be fixed with psychs and drugs. I don't so much blame the "addict", I blame the parents who couldn't instill that self control back then the mind of the person was still so easily strengthened. Its WAY harder trying to instill this stuff in an adult...the adult mind is harder to "teach" habits too than a childs.
I hate the labeling of these things as diseases, because it removes the power from the hands of the parents and makes us think that we MUST use docs and drugs to solve them.
ya i agree...thst the parents fualt aswell...and i think most dc give anyone pills for an "addiction" is co it make there life easier...
If you're addicted to a videogame its YOUR fault. Its not like smoking crack or injecting heroin where the body chemically needs the substance. Videogames are only addicting for people with little self control. You don't get addicted to the entertainment. You CAN get addicted to the feeling it gives you though. The things is, that feeling can easily be replicated through other hobbies.
I really love videogames, movies and tennis. I've been playing or watching them since I could jiggle a joystick, turn a TV knob or swing a raquet. But I won't go through withdrawl, go into a rage and fall apart without them. If you do, you've got issues and should seek a therapist=)
emm...videos game can be addected to...people play video games....it stimulates the brain...relesing chemicals into the brain.. and thats what you get addected to....
Anything can be addictive, but you have to remember that in America it's the psychiatric industry that decides whether something is a mental disorder addiction or not (like gambling), and as gaming is generally not taken seriously in America it's unlikely that the psychiatric industry is going to take addiction to it seriously either. They'll come around eventually though, but it's not really something you should be hoping for.
Then you'll not just get people wasting their lives away on WoW, you'll get them wasting half their lives away on WoW and the other half doped up mind-drugs like Prozac.
In Amsterdam there is a rehad clinic for gaming addiction, but I don't know what they do there, I think they best way to deal with it is to get the people out into the world. Adventure weekends, charity work, sports, team activities that basically force the person out of the house and away from the computer/console.
Like I said before, drugs won't solve a problem that has arisen from a lack of will power, and that is what they give to people who have a gambling addiction, therapy and drugs, it's not solving their gambling addiction, it's just giving them a new one to replace it with.
But the ball remains in the player's half of the court, whether they seek psychiatric help or something else, only they can ever resolve the problem, producers can't make games unaddictive.
I say its the Gamers fault.
The Gamer the one that is addicted but thats my opinon.
It could be that the devolpers want us to get addicted to the game so they know that when the next game comes out they will have alot of people buy it.
It could be both or not but in the end after reading all the post you guys put Im starting to think that its probobly the devolpers fault for putting the graphics so high that so we are now attracted to the game and play it not stop because of the way it looks.
We are all used to video games making a kid's mind addicted to that video game.
Video games are a past time to most americans but I say the devolpers fault for some of todays prolblems.
Dante Devil May Cry 4
Players Fault.