As someone who is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital and works with addicts daily no, it is not nit-picking, it's called clinical expertise.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
Gaming can very much be considered an addiction. Its something called process addiction, and it relates to several things including video games. Look it up sometime, or read the below for just a small glimpse into the world of process addiction:
"Process addiction is an addiction to an activity or process, such as eating, spending money, or gambling. These addictive behaviors can be as debilitating as those associated with substance addictions, and they require psychological treatment. People sometimes have difficulty understanding process addictions, because they believe that people should just be able to stop negative behavior, but people with process addictions face the same problems that people with substance addictions do.
In many discussions of addiction, the term “process addiction” is used to create a rough category of addictions which is differentiated from substance addictions. You can think of a process addiction as compulsive behavior which is related to a process, while substance addiction requires the ingestion of a particular substance. Substance addictions have been recognized for centuries; process addiction was less widely accepted until the 20th century."
What most of you are claiming as "addiction" is actually incorrect, you are referring to a specific TYPE of addiction, because it is the most commonly accepted use of the word but is technically called Substance Addiction. There are quite a few forms of addiction out there aside from these things, including sexual addiction. Just like with substance addictions, there are treatment centers, therapies, etc for things like process addiction and sexual addiction.
Just look at the harm people have caused to themselves and their families through gambling addictions (also considered process addiction). Do they need to be taking some sort of drug to be addicted to it? NO. They are addicted to performing that certain action, taking that risk, the chance at hitting the jackpot, or whatever their reasons and it can in extreme cases result in the loss of everything they possess, stealing from their loved ones, comitting crimes, and in some cases even suicides. Does that sound much different than the result of being addicted to substances?
As someone who is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital and works with addicts daily no, it is not nit-picking, it's called clinical expertise.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
It is still not an addiction. Accept your ignorance of the subject and move on, it's not such a big deal to be wrong.
Doctors who actually studied people "addicted" to online games found not a single case were the game itself was the cause for the "addiction".
Its always reallife issues. Your life sucks, you have trouble finding friends, family is hell, you are in school stress ... the game itself is only your escape, but in itself it has zero addiction potential.
You simply cant get addicted to an online game, just like you cannot get addicted to, for example, chess, or football.
Euh?!
This most be the most ignorant post in history.
The doctors you are talking about ... where did they get their phd ... in SpringField?
He is correct, you do not know the clinical term for addiction. There is no evidence, period, you can be addicted to a video game.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
As someone who is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital and works with addicts daily no, it is not nit-picking, it's called clinical expertise.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
It is still not an addiction. Accept your ignorance of the subject and move on, it's not such a big deal to be wrong.
If it's not addiction, what is it then? Why are people playing for 3 days straight.
Of course it's addiction, how can you possibly be this blind.
As someone who is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital and works with addicts daily no, it is not nit-picking, it's called clinical expertise.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
Thank go you're not working there.
Gee, where were these parents for 2 days, hmmm? And again, why is it the PC game did it? Because he happened to be at the PC when he passed out? Sure he didn't have neurological problems? Maybe he was anemic? Maybe he had a stroke? Maybe he was taking a little toke of some bad shit?
I'm sure this would have been front page news, where's the link so we can see the doctor's prognosis?
Doctors who actually studied people "addicted" to online games found not a single case were the game itself was the cause for the "addiction".
Its always reallife issues. Your life sucks, you have trouble finding friends, family is hell, you are in school stress ... the game itself is only your escape, but in itself it has zero addiction potential.
You simply cant get addicted to an online game, just like you cannot get addicted to, for example, chess, or football.
Euh?!
This most be the most ignorant post in history.
The doctors you are talking about ... where did they get their phd ... in SpringField?
He is correct, you do not know the clinical term for addiction. There is no evidence, period, you can be addicted to a video game.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
Again, you're speaking of a different type of addiction, video games are not addictive. You can not be clinicaly addicted to an action. You can have underlying issues, yes, you can train yourself to become addicted to doing something, but that does not make video games addictive. Speaking on purely technical terms he is correct and you are wrong. Behavioral addiction is trained, it is not induced by the video game it was there prior to the video game and it may be expressed through the video game but that does not make a video game addictive. You should know that, or it may be out of your pay grade.
As someone who is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital and works with addicts daily no, it is not nit-picking, it's called clinical expertise.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
Thank go you're not working there.
As I attempted to tell you earlier, it's addiction that's the issue, not specifically a game or gaming. Read the above post on process addiction and realize it applies to a whole range of activities, not just video games. One of the most common process addictions is sex. That's right, getting laid is potentially a negative and self-destructive behavior for some people. A biological process meant to be pleasurable, is physically normally extremely healthy (unless a partner has a disease), and is meant to propogate the species can become an addiction that ruins an individuals life. You want to blame games instead of addiction. This is a logical fallacy. And as for working in Europe, the door is wide open for me to go there whenever I want for a job. Europe did not invent social work as a practice, the United States did. Clinical social work was created here and any social worker you have in your country was most likely trained by someone else who trained here. If you don't believe me, look it up in a history text. I have lost count of the number of people suffering from addiction that I have helped to complete detox and cope with co-morbid behavioral health issues such as suicidal ideation. How many have you helped?
I'm sure this would have been front page news, where's the link so we can see the doctor's prognosis?
It was on the news, the parents were on TV too. Doctors here don't give public prognosis unless parent consent, I thought you would know this as a "expert", which you obviously aren't.
Now I know you're full of it. If it happened, then you can find it with google or whatever search engine you use in waffle land. Especially if it was blamed on gaming.
Also, please show me your credentials, since obviously you ARE an expert in these matters.
As someone who is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital and works with addicts daily no, it is not nit-picking, it's called clinical expertise.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
It is still not an addiction. Accept your ignorance of the subject and move on, it's not such a big deal to be wrong.
If it's not addiction, what is it then? Why are people playing for 3 days straight.
Of course it's addiction, how can you possibly be this blind.
As I said a few times before, you want it to be, but it's not. You keep applying these anecdotes to enforce your point but it just seems more of the same. None of your stories establish any sort of clinical proof a video game is inherently addictive. I've seen people die from withdrawal from beer, never have I seen any physical issue from withdrawal from Pac-Man.
I'm sure this would have been front page news, where's the link so we can see the doctor's prognosis?
It was on the news, the parents were on TV too. Doctors here don't give public prognosis unless parent consent, I thought you would know this as a "expert", which you obviously aren't.
Now I know you're full of it. If it happened, then you can find it with google or whatever search engine you use in waffle land. Especially if it was blamed on gaming.
Also, please show me your credentials, since obviously you ARE an expert in these matters.
It did happen, I was there in the hospital myself. Here is the link: http://www.uzleuven.be/
I am not an expert or doctor, I was there because I have crohn's disease and I saw it happen because the crohn's disease section is in the beginning of the hospital.
Enough info yet? That is all I will give you.
Go ask them. Because I do not have a link does not mean it didn't happen. Last reply to you because you are trolling.
Doctors who actually studied people "addicted" to online games found not a single case were the game itself was the cause for the "addiction".
Its always reallife issues. Your life sucks, you have trouble finding friends, family is hell, you are in school stress ... the game itself is only your escape, but in itself it has zero addiction potential.
You simply cant get addicted to an online game, just like you cannot get addicted to, for example, chess, or football.
Euh?!
This most be the most ignorant post in history.
The doctors you are talking about ... where did they get their phd ... in SpringField?
He is correct, you do not know the clinical term for addiction. There is no evidence, period, you can be addicted to a video game.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
Again, you're speaking of a different type of addiction, video games are not addictive. You can not be clinicaly addicted to an action. You can have underlying issues, yes, you can train yourself to become addicted to doing something, but that does not make video games addictive. Speaking on purely technical terms he is correct and you are wrong. Behavioral addiction is trained, it is not induced by the video game it was there prior to the video game and it may be expressed through the video game but that does not make a video game addictive. You should know that, or it may be out of your pay grade.
And you honestly believe that a behavorial addiction can be completely seperated from whatever behavior it is that the person becomes addicted to and every behavior is identical in its ability to draw in and get those addicts hooked? Please, thats like saying every drug in existence is just as addictive as every other drug, which we all know isnt true. The nature of games, especially MMORPGs with their extensive time sinks, are addictive. They start you off with a "light" drug by getting you in the game and making things fairly easy and quickly progressing at the start, and then by the time you get to the endgame (aka the "hard" drugs) youre hooked on the habit. The degrees of addiction vary from person to person, just like substance addictions. Hell ive tried several forms of drugs, several of those are known as being extremely addictive to nearly everyone who does them however i wa slucky enough to not be addicted, though i have friends who became complete fiends.
BTW, addiciton:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
MMORPGs are designed to be psychologically habit forming.
Originally posted by bastionixThe evidence is in a cascet in China right now.
This is not the first time this has happened. This is like the 10th time.
Out of how many of hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide? Your statistic is laughable and would be something like .00000000000000001% of all gamers die. Yeah, let's bust out the funding and stop this scourge against humanity now.
So how come all those "random deaths" are people playing MMO each and every time?
This doesn't happen with your average game. These deaths started with MMO.
We didn't have people playing tetris for 3 days straight.
There have been several deaths of people playing regular games too long.
Interestingly, I've noticed, while MMO's have more people die of exhaustion and suicide, Single Player games have more people murder others, I actually can't think of an example of an MMO player killing another player.
However, deaths due to video games is still extremely rare.
I'm sure this would have been front page news, where's the link so we can see the doctor's prognosis?
It was on the news, the parents were on TV too. Doctors here don't give public prognosis unless parent consent, I thought you would know this as a "expert", which you obviously aren't.
Now I know you're full of it. If it happened, then you can find it with google or whatever search engine you use in waffle land. Especially if it was blamed on gaming.
Also, please show me your credentials, since obviously you ARE an expert in these matters.
It did happen, I was there in the hospital myself. Here is the link: http://www.uzleuven.be/
I am not an expert or doctor, I was there because I have crohn's disease and I saw it happen because the crohn's disease section is in the beginning of the hospital.
Enough info yet? That is all I will give you.
Go ask them. Because I do not have a link does not mean it didn't happen. Last reply to you because you are trolling.
Again, nothing in that link showing conclusively that gaming was the cause of his malady.
And your best argument is "you're not an expert", and you are calling me the troll? LOL
Whatever, bro. I'll try not to feel to left out while you ignore me.
Oh, but I will say you have my condolences and sympathies in regards to your Crohn's disease. I know that shit's painful, and I hope you're able to manage it well.
Doctors who actually studied people "addicted" to online games found not a single case were the game itself was the cause for the "addiction".
Its always reallife issues. Your life sucks, you have trouble finding friends, family is hell, you are in school stress ... the game itself is only your escape, but in itself it has zero addiction potential.
You simply cant get addicted to an online game, just like you cannot get addicted to, for example, chess, or football.
Euh?!
This most be the most ignorant post in history.
The doctors you are talking about ... where did they get their phd ... in SpringField?
He is correct, you do not know the clinical term for addiction. There is no evidence, period, you can be addicted to a video game.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
Again, you're speaking of a different type of addiction, video games are not addictive. You can not be clinicaly addicted to an action. You can have underlying issues, yes, you can train yourself to become addicted to doing something, but that does not make video games addictive. Speaking on purely technical terms he is correct and you are wrong. Behavioral addiction is trained, it is not induced by the video game it was there prior to the video game and it may be expressed through the video game but that does not make a video game addictive. You should know that, or it may be out of your pay grade.
And you honestly believe that a behavorial addiction can be completely seperated from whatever behavior it is that the person becomes addicted to and every behavior is identical in its ability to draw in and get those addicts hooked? Please, thats like saying every drug in existence is just as addictive as every other drug, which we all know isnt true. The nature of games, especially MMORPGs with their extensive time sinks, are addictive. They start you off with a "light" drug by getting you in the game and making things fairly easy and quickly progressing at the start, and then by the time you get to the endgame (aka the "hard" drugs) youre hooked on the habit. The degrees of addiction vary from person to person, just like substance addictions. Hell ive tried several forms of drugs, several of those are known as being extremely addictive to nearly everyone who does them however i wa slucky enough to not be addicted, though i have friends who became complete fiends.
BTW, addiciton:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
MMORPGs are designed to be psychologically habit forming.
None of that made a video game addictive, you have zero proof there is addictive qualities in video games. Again, in order to be "right" you are skipping logic and attempting to apply a gut feeling to a thing. I know a guy who used to stick paper clips in his arm, under the skin, fairly deep. He did it because of a behavioral addiction, not because some people are addicted to paper clips.
I'm sure this would have been front page news, where's the link so we can see the doctor's prognosis?
It was on the news, the parents were on TV too. Doctors here don't give public prognosis unless parent consent, I thought you would know this as a "expert", which you obviously aren't.
Now I know you're full of it. If it happened, then you can find it with google or whatever search engine you use in waffle land. Especially if it was blamed on gaming.
Also, please show me your credentials, since obviously you ARE an expert in these matters.
It did happen, I was there in the hospital myself. Here is the link: http://www.uzleuven.be/
I am not an expert or doctor, I was there because I have crohn's disease and I saw it happen because the crohn's disease section is in the beginning of the hospital.
Enough info yet? That is all I will give you.
Go ask them. Because I do not have a link does not mean it didn't happen. Last reply to you because you are trolling.
Again, nothing in that link showing conclusively that gaming was the cause of his malady.
And your best argument is "you're not an expert", and you are calling me the troll? LOL
Whatever, bro. I'll try not to feel to left out while you ignore me.
Oh, but I will say you have my condolences and sympathies in regards to your Crohn's disease. I know that shit's painful, and I hope you're able to manage it well.
Actually, even in drug induced deaths, you will rarely see them actually refer to the cause of death as "taking too much of X drug". It is what the drugs to to the body that cause death, such as heart problems resulting in cardiac arrest, strokes, etc. It is the effects of that drug that caused the death, not the drug itself. Just like the effects of being addicted to a game (or anything else) result in death, obviously not the actual game doing the killing. When addicted people will stop feeding themselves, sleeping, keeping up personal hygene, etc and over time those things can result in various causes of death.
Someone gets a hit by a car and dies, we consider them to have been killed by the car, when technically they were killed by organ failure due to them being crushed/traumatized. Those things were a result of being hit by a car, but the car itself was not the actual cause of death.
Actually, even in drug induced deaths, you will rarely see them actually refer to the cause of death as "taking too much of X drug". It is what the drugs to to the body that cause death, such as heart problems resulting in cardiac arrest, strokes, etc. It is the effects of that drug that caused the death, not the drug itself. Just like the effects of being addicted to a game (or anything else) result in death, obviously not the actual game doing the killing. When addicted people will stop feeding themselves, sleeping, keeping up personal hygene, etc and over time those things can result in various causes of death.
Someone gets a hit by a car and dies, we consider them to have been killed by the car, when technically they were killed by organ failure due to them being crushed/traumatized. Those things were a result of being hit by a car, but the car itself was not the actual cause of death.
Doctors who actually studied people "addicted" to online games found not a single case were the game itself was the cause for the "addiction".
Its always reallife issues. Your life sucks, you have trouble finding friends, family is hell, you are in school stress ... the game itself is only your escape, but in itself it has zero addiction potential.
You simply cant get addicted to an online game, just like you cannot get addicted to, for example, chess, or football.
Euh?!
This most be the most ignorant post in history.
The doctors you are talking about ... where did they get their phd ... in SpringField?
He is correct, you do not know the clinical term for addiction. There is no evidence, period, you can be addicted to a video game.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
Again, you're speaking of a different type of addiction, video games are not addictive. You can not be clinicaly addicted to an action. You can have underlying issues, yes, you can train yourself to become addicted to doing something, but that does not make video games addictive. Speaking on purely technical terms he is correct and you are wrong. Behavioral addiction is trained, it is not induced by the video game it was there prior to the video game and it may be expressed through the video game but that does not make a video game addictive. You should know that, or it may be out of your pay grade.
And you honestly believe that a behavorial addiction can be completely seperated from whatever behavior it is that the person becomes addicted to and every behavior is identical in its ability to draw in and get those addicts hooked? Please, thats like saying every drug in existence is just as addictive as every other drug, which we all know isnt true. The nature of games, especially MMORPGs with their extensive time sinks, are addictive. They start you off with a "light" drug by getting you in the game and making things fairly easy and quickly progressing at the start, and then by the time you get to the endgame (aka the "hard" drugs) youre hooked on the habit. The degrees of addiction vary from person to person, just like substance addictions. Hell ive tried several forms of drugs, several of those are known as being extremely addictive to nearly everyone who does them however i wa slucky enough to not be addicted, though i have friends who became complete fiends.
BTW, addiciton:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
MMORPGs are designed to be psychologically habit forming.
None of that made a video game addictive, you have zero proof there is addictive qualities in video games. Again, in order to be "right" you are skipping logic and attempting to apply a gut feeling to a thing. I know a guy who used to stick paper clips in his arm, under the skin, fairly deep. He did it because of a behavioral addiction, not because some people are addicted to paper clips.
You just dont get much of anything about addiction do you. What do you think causes drug addictions? It is our body/mind reacting in a specific way to specific stimuli. The reactions vary from person to person and drug to drug, but it is still the way our body/mind interacts with that stimuli (such as certain feelings, or chemical changes to the barin & other organs) that causes the addictions. Our mind goes through quite a bit of chemical changes in reaction to outside stimuli from all of our senses, and gaming plays on several of those senses. Think about the feeling you get from crushing an enemy guild in an MMORPG. That "feeling" is the release of chemicals in your brain. The body is very very capable of becoming addicted to that release and seeks it out, and just like with drugs we become used to it and seek more and more of it.
Saying games are not addictive is like saying alcohol isnt addictive because a person might be predisposed to addictions because of genetics. Yes that addictive tendency/behavior may already be a part of that person, but the alcohol is the catalyst that triggers those addictions.
15-year old Belgian boy from La Louvière crashed into a day long coma following a World of Warcraft binge. Apparently he got through the 2 weeks on a diet consisting out of coffee and energy drinks.
"I'm addicted", said the unfortunate teen in an interview with the Belgian La Capitale newspaper. He claims that he usually plays till five or six AM and then crashes into bed. He also says that on several occasions he kept playing thought the morning without sleeping, thanks to drinks loads of coffee and energy drinks.
Doctors who actually studied people "addicted" to online games found not a single case were the game itself was the cause for the "addiction".
Its always reallife issues. Your life sucks, you have trouble finding friends, family is hell, you are in school stress ... the game itself is only your escape, but in itself it has zero addiction potential.
You simply cant get addicted to an online game, just like you cannot get addicted to, for example, chess, or football.
Euh?!
This most be the most ignorant post in history.
The doctors you are talking about ... where did they get their phd ... in SpringField?
He is correct, you do not know the clinical term for addiction. There is no evidence, period, you can be addicted to a video game.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
Again, you're speaking of a different type of addiction, video games are not addictive. You can not be clinicaly addicted to an action. You can have underlying issues, yes, you can train yourself to become addicted to doing something, but that does not make video games addictive. Speaking on purely technical terms he is correct and you are wrong. Behavioral addiction is trained, it is not induced by the video game it was there prior to the video game and it may be expressed through the video game but that does not make a video game addictive. You should know that, or it may be out of your pay grade.
And you honestly believe that a behavorial addiction can be completely seperated from whatever behavior it is that the person becomes addicted to and every behavior is identical in its ability to draw in and get those addicts hooked? Please, thats like saying every drug in existence is just as addictive as every other drug, which we all know isnt true. The nature of games, especially MMORPGs with their extensive time sinks, are addictive. They start you off with a "light" drug by getting you in the game and making things fairly easy and quickly progressing at the start, and then by the time you get to the endgame (aka the "hard" drugs) youre hooked on the habit. The degrees of addiction vary from person to person, just like substance addictions. Hell ive tried several forms of drugs, several of those are known as being extremely addictive to nearly everyone who does them however i wa slucky enough to not be addicted, though i have friends who became complete fiends.
BTW, addiciton:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
MMORPGs are designed to be psychologically habit forming.
None of that made a video game addictive, you have zero proof there is addictive qualities in video games. Again, in order to be "right" you are skipping logic and attempting to apply a gut feeling to a thing. I know a guy who used to stick paper clips in his arm, under the skin, fairly deep. He did it because of a behavioral addiction, not because some people are addicted to paper clips.
You just dont get much of anything about addiction do you. What do you think causes drug addictions? It is our body/mind reacting in a specific way to specific stimuli. The reactions vary from person to person and drug to drug, but it is still the way our body/mind interacts with that stimuli (such as certain feelings, or chemical changes to the barin & other organs) that causes the addictions. Our mind goes through quite a bit of chemical changes in reaction to outside stimuli from all of our senses, and gaming plays on several of those senses. Think about the feeling you get from crushing an enemy guild in an MMORPG. That "feeling" is the release of chemicals in your brain. The body is very very capable of becoming addicted to that release and seeks it out, and just like with drugs we become used to it and seek more and more of it.
Saying games are not addictive is like saying alcohol isnt addictive because a person might be predisposed to addictions because of genetics. Yes that addictive tendency/behavior may already be a part of that person, but the alcohol is the catalyst that triggers those addictions.
I can prove an addiction to a substance, for there are physical qualities and factors involved. You do not require a predisposistion to become addicted to crack, it only helps. Go ahead and post your last word on the subject, because honestly you think this is a matter of opinion so it's fruitless. The whole gut feeling should apply has you in it's sway so I will state it one last time and leave it at that; video games are not addictive in a clinical sense of the word. Period. There is no evidence supporting video games are addictive in and of themselves.
Most addicts know that "obsession" is the core of "addiction." Getting obsessed with the ritual, the lifestyle, the people, the money, women, emotions and danger. People can obsess over anything. There are so many variables that can make or break an obsession that it's impossible to list.
Is it possible to become obsessed with video games? Absolutely. I used to play FFXI for days at a time while strung out on oxies. I only speak for myself. But I learned quite a few things from other addicts over the years.
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Saw this at http://hubpages.com/hub/survivelong
So how long can one go without sleep?
1. With 1-2 days of staying awake one would be very tired.
2. With 4-5 days of staying awake most would have hallucinations and be very paranoid.
3. With 5-6 days of staying awake one's body would try to automatically shut down the body into sleep mode.
4. With 10-11 days of staying awake some would die.
Sleep is important for the following reasons and more:
1. Not enough sleep could result in weight gain. This is because not enough sleep allows you're hormones for appetite.
2. Not enough sleep could result in stress.
3. Sleep is needed as a rest period to heal the body.
4. Sleep is important to allow for your growth.
5. Sleep is proven to improve one's mood.
6. Sleep helps one's concentration level.
7. Sleep gives one creativity to new ideas.
8. Sleep restores brain chemicals.
You may be sleep deprived if:
1. You need an alarm clock to wake yourself up.
2. Have a hard time getting out of bed.
3. Are tired during the day.
4. Need a nap throughout the day.
5. Fall asleep in 10 minutes once in bed.
yeah it is insane to spend all of your time playing and not finding time to sleep.
The clinic close to here in Belgium had a child of 15 carried in, totally unconsious and he went into ER to save him. Reason: was behind his PC playing MMO for 2 days straight until his parents found him on the floor.
Where does your "expertise" come into this? You going to tell the parents that their unconsious son is fine and has no issues while he's laying dead on the floor?
Thank go you're not working there.
Gee, and he died only after 3 days? Guess he was a really talented genetic reject.
@ the addiction naysayers:
Gaming can very much be considered an addiction. Its something called process addiction, and it relates to several things including video games. Look it up sometime, or read the below for just a small glimpse into the world of process addiction:
"Process addiction is an addiction to an activity or process, such as eating, spending money, or gambling. These addictive behaviors can be as debilitating as those associated with substance addictions, and they require psychological treatment. People sometimes have difficulty understanding process addictions, because they believe that people should just be able to stop negative behavior, but people with process addictions face the same problems that people with substance addictions do.
In many discussions of addiction, the term “process addiction” is used to create a rough category of addictions which is differentiated from substance addictions. You can think of a process addiction as compulsive behavior which is related to a process, while substance addiction requires the ingestion of a particular substance. Substance addictions have been recognized for centuries; process addiction was less widely accepted until the 20th century."
What most of you are claiming as "addiction" is actually incorrect, you are referring to a specific TYPE of addiction, because it is the most commonly accepted use of the word but is technically called Substance Addiction. There are quite a few forms of addiction out there aside from these things, including sexual addiction. Just like with substance addictions, there are treatment centers, therapies, etc for things like process addiction and sexual addiction.
Just look at the harm people have caused to themselves and their families through gambling addictions (also considered process addiction). Do they need to be taking some sort of drug to be addicted to it? NO. They are addicted to performing that certain action, taking that risk, the chance at hitting the jackpot, or whatever their reasons and it can in extreme cases result in the loss of everything they possess, stealing from their loved ones, comitting crimes, and in some cases even suicides. Does that sound much different than the result of being addicted to substances?
It is still not an addiction. Accept your ignorance of the subject and move on, it's not such a big deal to be wrong.
I know the clinical definition for addiction, it's referred to as dependence in DSM IV T-R, and he's dead wrong. You can become addicted to video games, it's a documented psychiatric diagnosis. Someone who is suffering from an addiction reach for that addiction whenever they encounter life stressors. That's why addiction treatment programs emphasize teaching coping skills, so the person can overcome the influence to reach for a drink or drug, call a prostitute, or yes play a video game and instead do something constructive. The essense of addiction is that different people can find different things addictive. While it is unlikely that someone will become addicted to video games vs. standard chemical dependency, it does happen. And before you ask, my clinical expertisse is spelled LCSW, as in licensed clinical social worker.
If it's not addiction, what is it then? Why are people playing for 3 days straight.
Of course it's addiction, how can you possibly be this blind.
Gee, where were these parents for 2 days, hmmm? And again, why is it the PC game did it? Because he happened to be at the PC when he passed out? Sure he didn't have neurological problems? Maybe he was anemic? Maybe he had a stroke? Maybe he was taking a little toke of some bad shit?
I'm sure this would have been front page news, where's the link so we can see the doctor's prognosis?
It was on the news, the parents were on TV too. Doctors here don't give public prognosis unless parent consen.
Again, you're speaking of a different type of addiction, video games are not addictive. You can not be clinicaly addicted to an action. You can have underlying issues, yes, you can train yourself to become addicted to doing something, but that does not make video games addictive. Speaking on purely technical terms he is correct and you are wrong. Behavioral addiction is trained, it is not induced by the video game it was there prior to the video game and it may be expressed through the video game but that does not make a video game addictive. You should know that, or it may be out of your pay grade.
As I attempted to tell you earlier, it's addiction that's the issue, not specifically a game or gaming. Read the above post on process addiction and realize it applies to a whole range of activities, not just video games. One of the most common process addictions is sex. That's right, getting laid is potentially a negative and self-destructive behavior for some people. A biological process meant to be pleasurable, is physically normally extremely healthy (unless a partner has a disease), and is meant to propogate the species can become an addiction that ruins an individuals life. You want to blame games instead of addiction. This is a logical fallacy. And as for working in Europe, the door is wide open for me to go there whenever I want for a job. Europe did not invent social work as a practice, the United States did. Clinical social work was created here and any social worker you have in your country was most likely trained by someone else who trained here. If you don't believe me, look it up in a history text. I have lost count of the number of people suffering from addiction that I have helped to complete detox and cope with co-morbid behavioral health issues such as suicidal ideation. How many have you helped?
Now I know you're full of it. If it happened, then you can find it with google or whatever search engine you use in waffle land. Especially if it was blamed on gaming.
Also, please show me your credentials, since obviously you ARE an expert in these matters.
As I said a few times before, you want it to be, but it's not. You keep applying these anecdotes to enforce your point but it just seems more of the same. None of your stories establish any sort of clinical proof a video game is inherently addictive. I've seen people die from withdrawal from beer, never have I seen any physical issue from withdrawal from Pac-Man.
It did happen, I was there in the hospital myself. Here is the link: http://www.uzleuven.be/
I am not an expert or doctor, I was there because I have crohn's disease and I saw it happen because the crohn's disease section is in the beginning of the hospital.
Enough info yet? That is all I will give you.
Go ask them. Because I do not have a link does not mean it didn't happen. Last reply to you because you are trolling.
And you honestly believe that a behavorial addiction can be completely seperated from whatever behavior it is that the person becomes addicted to and every behavior is identical in its ability to draw in and get those addicts hooked? Please, thats like saying every drug in existence is just as addictive as every other drug, which we all know isnt true. The nature of games, especially MMORPGs with their extensive time sinks, are addictive. They start you off with a "light" drug by getting you in the game and making things fairly easy and quickly progressing at the start, and then by the time you get to the endgame (aka the "hard" drugs) youre hooked on the habit. The degrees of addiction vary from person to person, just like substance addictions. Hell ive tried several forms of drugs, several of those are known as being extremely addictive to nearly everyone who does them however i wa slucky enough to not be addicted, though i have friends who became complete fiends.
BTW, addiciton:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
MMORPGs are designed to be psychologically habit forming.
There have been several deaths of people playing regular games too long.
Interestingly, I've noticed, while MMO's have more people die of exhaustion and suicide, Single Player games have more people murder others, I actually can't think of an example of an MMO player killing another player.
However, deaths due to video games is still extremely rare.
-I want a Platformer MMO
Again, nothing in that link showing conclusively that gaming was the cause of his malady.
And your best argument is "you're not an expert", and you are calling me the troll? LOL
Whatever, bro. I'll try not to feel to left out while you ignore me.
Oh, but I will say you have my condolences and sympathies in regards to your Crohn's disease. I know that shit's painful, and I hope you're able to manage it well.
None of that made a video game addictive, you have zero proof there is addictive qualities in video games. Again, in order to be "right" you are skipping logic and attempting to apply a gut feeling to a thing. I know a guy who used to stick paper clips in his arm, under the skin, fairly deep. He did it because of a behavioral addiction, not because some people are addicted to paper clips.
Actually, even in drug induced deaths, you will rarely see them actually refer to the cause of death as "taking too much of X drug". It is what the drugs to to the body that cause death, such as heart problems resulting in cardiac arrest, strokes, etc. It is the effects of that drug that caused the death, not the drug itself. Just like the effects of being addicted to a game (or anything else) result in death, obviously not the actual game doing the killing. When addicted people will stop feeding themselves, sleeping, keeping up personal hygene, etc and over time those things can result in various causes of death.
Someone gets a hit by a car and dies, we consider them to have been killed by the car, when technically they were killed by organ failure due to them being crushed/traumatized. Those things were a result of being hit by a car, but the car itself was not the actual cause of death.
Everyone dies of shock.
Didn't mean to call you that Anony, sorry.
You just dont get much of anything about addiction do you. What do you think causes drug addictions? It is our body/mind reacting in a specific way to specific stimuli. The reactions vary from person to person and drug to drug, but it is still the way our body/mind interacts with that stimuli (such as certain feelings, or chemical changes to the barin & other organs) that causes the addictions. Our mind goes through quite a bit of chemical changes in reaction to outside stimuli from all of our senses, and gaming plays on several of those senses. Think about the feeling you get from crushing an enemy guild in an MMORPG. That "feeling" is the release of chemicals in your brain. The body is very very capable of becoming addicted to that release and seeks it out, and just like with drugs we become used to it and seek more and more of it.
Saying games are not addictive is like saying alcohol isnt addictive because a person might be predisposed to addictions because of genetics. Yes that addictive tendency/behavior may already be a part of that person, but the alcohol is the catalyst that triggers those addictions.
Here is link. http://mgsforums.com/topic/290229/1/
15-year old Belgian boy from La Louvière crashed into a day long coma following a World of Warcraft binge. Apparently he got through the 2 weeks on a diet consisting out of coffee and energy drinks.
"I'm addicted", said the unfortunate teen in an interview with the Belgian La Capitale newspaper. He claims that he usually plays till five or six AM and then crashes into bed. He also says that on several occasions he kept playing thought the morning without sleeping, thanks to drinks loads of coffee and energy drinks.
I can prove an addiction to a substance, for there are physical qualities and factors involved. You do not require a predisposistion to become addicted to crack, it only helps. Go ahead and post your last word on the subject, because honestly you think this is a matter of opinion so it's fruitless. The whole gut feeling should apply has you in it's sway so I will state it one last time and leave it at that; video games are not addictive in a clinical sense of the word. Period. There is no evidence supporting video games are addictive in and of themselves.
edit: Carriage return is my friend!
Most addicts know that "obsession" is the core of "addiction." Getting obsessed with the ritual, the lifestyle, the people, the money, women, emotions and danger. People can obsess over anything. There are so many variables that can make or break an obsession that it's impossible to list.
Is it possible to become obsessed with video games? Absolutely. I used to play FFXI for days at a time while strung out on oxies. I only speak for myself. But I learned quite a few things from other addicts over the years.
My sympathy goes out to the gamer. RIP man.