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Game Addiction
SEANMCAD
Member EpicPosts: 16,775
So I watched this fairly bad documentry about MMO gamers called Second Life.
There is a scene where a couple had the power off execpt for one cord from the generator. He takes the cord out of the bathroom to go play his video game for a few hours.
He then makes a great point. He asks 'whats the difference between watching a video game and watching TV?".
It started me thinking.
1. How many people do we know would have taken that same single power cord in the house to plug in the TV and everyone would have considered that normal?
2. The average amount of time americans spend watching TV is currently at 4 hours per day. How can anyone seriously have a conversation about the problems of video games without at least answering the question of time spent watching TV.
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TV watching as an accepted societal norm for adults and children while video games are still viewed by the general public as something that children do. Anecdotelly it seems that gaming is becoming the norm and when it does it will be accepted with out thought the way tv is. At least that's how it seems to me.
It's actually something of a joke in Television now to beat on MMORPGs. Fans of NCIS will notice there are numerous mentions to World of Warcraft in the series. And there have been numerous other shows that feature MMORPGs as a main plot (NCIS actually had several).
I wouldn't be surprised if we see MMORPGs become socially acceptable like TV one of these days.
My wife would rather me watch tv.
When she wants to go out or wants me to do something around the house I can simply use the start over or Dvr feature and continue watch tv later.
With a mmo i'm commited to my pvp fight or some pve situation.
She hates that there's no pause function in mmos.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
The main reason there's been a spotlight put on "internet and/or addiction": Money. There's a big push to make Internet Addiction a "disorder" so it can be covered by insurance and doctors can prescribe meds.
I have a friend of mine who Fly fishes and when he's not fishing ties flies..all the time. I don't see any Fly Fishing addiction treatment centers. There are just so many people online now the opportunity to diagnose people with a "disorder" means big big money for the medical field.
Most people online do not fall into a category of "Internet addiction" but they're always the rare few who play for days straight without eating or sleeping...and those people have an addiction problem period and something mentally wrong with them. But...don't lump everyone else in with the few with severe problems...and that is what's happening.
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
The question was asked in the movie 'if we are losing this many people to the synthetic world it really says something about us not them'.
I agree with that statement HOWEVER, given tthat the average TV time in the US is 4 hours per day I think we have already lost people to the synthetic world before video games came along.
Thing is almost everything on TV is about as real as elves and dwarves the main difference is that not everyone knows that.
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The longest I've ever watched TV was when I watched the entire Tenth Kingdom. And that movie was 7 hours long.. And I watched it twice >.>.
I agree here. I would also assume that as time on games increase time on TV is going to decrease so the media has a vested intrest in your watching TV worried about your game addiction.
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I agree here. I would also assume that as time on games increase time on TV is going to decrease so the media has a vested intrest in your watching TV worried about your game addiction.
Bingo..right on the money. TV viewing is plunging...mostly because it sucks but alot of people I know don't watch tv anymore and spend most of their time online whether it's watching youtube...reading news, personal and political sites or gaming.
TV ad revenues are plunging as well. The newspapers and traditional media that have had a monopoly for so many years lost that monopoly when the internet became more popular.
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
Actually the documentary is called "Second Skin" its a documentary for 2008. I thought it was an ok documentary it talked about alot of sides of mmorpgs from one mans addictions to games. To dating and meeting people through them etc. Would have been cool if they showed more than just world of warcraft or EQ2.
The thing about the movie is that it could have had much more informational content.I would love to see a movie about MMO that is filled with a lot more information than this movie was. It was like most human intrest stories, not very intresting
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I am addicted to really well crafted encounters with men who know how to cook an egg....omlets...unreal...
It's better to lurk in forums and be thought a fool...than to endlessly "Quote" and remove all doubts.
lol, game addiction. try coming off opiates and you will laugh at the notion of being addicted to a video game. now, you may enjoy the video game a lot. you might like it more then anything else there is to do. but to be addicted? impossible. unless of course you already have some underlying mental problem which would explain a lot in this world.
I know two guys that lost their jobs, wives, kids, one lost an apartment and another his house.
All due to being addicted to mmorpg.
It becomes life to these people. Life no longer matters outside that glowing box.
It's real dude. Both of those guys had nothing wrong with them before playing MMOs for the first time.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
I believe some people have an addictive personality and others do not, and that there are varying degrees therein.
If a person allows other aspects of his/her life to suffer, because he/she is focusing that time/money/energy on gaming, then I believe the fault lies with the person, and not the product/activity (gaming).
I work 40+ hours each week in a career I thoroughly enjoy and spend much of my off time gaming with friends online (FPS or MMO). I don't consider it a problem for me or others and maybe one day I will lose my interest, like I did for playing with action figures, etc so many years ago as a child.
I say do what makes you happy.
The attack on internet and MMo's could also be attributed to the loss of revenue that the TV channels and industry are getting. Viewership on Tv could be way down and they arent telling us. There are far too many channels and the advertisement money is spread thin amoung all these channels. If you arent watching Tv they arent getting any money so they bash anything that is or could be affecting it and find a cause of blame like video game addiction. Its just my opinion. I dont watch much TV myself except sports and Sci-fi shows.
(BBBBBBBBBWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH raises plunger in salute to Medalist winners at the Winter games!)
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
the average time spent watching TV 4 hours, but what ages constitute that?
Incidentally mmorpgs are about escapism- the problem is too much escapism for some people as the games can be time-intensive, and it can be tempting to play longer and longer because of community bonds made in the game.