Gaming Addiction

[Nuru]

I think if most of us were so addicted to it, we wouldn't be posting on forums. :P

[Dargoth_Draconia]

Aye, I understand the post just the same as when FFXIV used to post it on their beta about remember you have a RL and all that stuff. But being informative is one thing but he was kind of being derogative and maybe not even intentionally meaning to do so.

[Kiroh]

To be honest Leo, the logic behind this thread fell flat on it's face before people even started debating anything. Addiction (in all it's myriad forms) is nothing but the effect of deeper emotional and psychological issues, and those issues are not going to be solved by going hiking or swimming this summer. The people who are truly addicts will never even listen, and everyone else isn't really addicted in the first place.

[Lobo]

Do you want an apology?? If you do, go drink some bleach and then I'll apolgize.

But if I drink my bleach, what will I use to make my Meth?! D:

[Len]

I will squander my youth as I see fit, thank you very much.

(Here's what my intervention will look like.)

[Leowilde]

To be honest Leo, the logic behind this thread fell flat on it's face before people even started debating anything. Addiction (in all it's myriad forms) is nothing but the effect of deeper emotional and psychological issues, and those issues are not going to be solved by going hiking or swimming this summer. The people who are truly addicts will never even listen, and everyone else isn't really addicted in the first place.

Yes I know, and I agree. While I don't believe the post will do much change, it was in itself not such a bad thought to post it. But I stand on no ones side in this thread, it just annoys me when neither side manages to keep at least a certain level of respect for the other.

[KaiKatzchen]

Anything can become an addiction to anyone; it’s the overall impact that that addiction has over all that is more so taken seriously.

Your site says that 10-15% of all gamers can be considered an addict. So if roughly 69 % of the world plays video games, and there are 6.7 billion people on the world, which means if we took the high road: 1 billion people are addicted to gaming? It seems a bit high considering the amount of people addicted to other things.

Gambling addiction is very closely related to Gaming since they are basically games, yet only roughly 15 million people are considered addicts of Gambling? So the 1 billion gaming addicts seems unbalanced…

About 13 million people in the word are considered Alcoholics, but they also go out driving and get people killed by drunk driving.

If each alcoholic affects the lives of four or five others " spouse, children, employer, employee, innocent victim of accident, or other " then our 12.1 million alcoholics have an impact on 40 to 50 million others for a total of about 60 million citizens. The president of a state association of judges stated that "90 to 95 percent of all the cases that come before my bench " civil, criminal and family " involve alcohol." Alcohol may not be the sole cause, but is a part-cause in much juvenile delinquency, illegitimate pregnancy, truancy, and fights. Numerous reports indicate that about 73 percent of felonies are alcohol-related. A survey of the literature shows that in about 67 percent of child-beating cases, 41 percent of forcible rape cases, 80 percent of wife-battering, 72 percent of stabbings, and 83 percent of homicides, either the attacker or the victim or both had been drinking. Automobile crashes in the United States kill nearly as many people each year as the total of 46,483 American soldiers killed in the entire dozen years of the Vietnam War.

Seems to have a bigger impact seeing all of the death involved…

What about the 1.4 Billion people in the world who are smokers?

Around 6 million people may die each year worldwide staring in 2010 because of smoking and tobacco related disease, according to the World Health Organization – including over 438,000 Americans, 650,000 Europeans and 1.2 million people in China.
Tobacco use will kill 1 billion people worldwide in the 21st century if current smoking trends continue.
One billion men and about 250 million women use tobacco every day around the world.

What about the drug users? If you want to see scary numbers go look at this site, it was way too much depressing figures to quote here:

http://www.usnodrugs.com/drug-addiction-statistics.htm

So yes Video Gaming can be an addiction and while there have been some violent acts tied to games, and yes it’s a shame that people let games control their lives in such a way... until I see more solid statistics like the above involved with video game usage I have more important things to worry about.

On the flip side this could help someone also but in the end you can't really be mad at people’s reactions to such a post because also remember the number one response of an addict is denial.

Over all yeah the site was an interesting read, but not one of my top concerns in the world.

[TheVedis]

How come I must know
Where obsession leads me to go

[Tebhi]

Apologies in advance for skipping a few pages of comments.

Gaming, specifically MMO addiction, is real. I first experienced this with FFXI. At one point, I was (sadly) averaging 8 hours a day, over the period of a year. The endorphin rush that you experience can be comparable to 'drugs.' Thankfully, I was able years ago to control this addiction (for now). I personally had to quit MMOs for a while. I still play MMOs and enjoy the exhilaration and reward that they bring, but I've got other things in my life now to balance things out.

I'm currently addicted to exercise (I like to call it my hobby..), I usually hit the gym 10+ hours a week. I can live with this addiction since it's benefited my health and it's nice having a 'beach body.' Still, it can be difficult to keep things under control. I think a lot of this has to do with my personality.

Anyhow, I'm not saying that just because people play MMOs a lot that they're addicted; it has a lot to do with who you are and your life circumstances. If you do play a lot, you might want to consider that you may have an addiction; being aware that there's a problem is a good first step and it may end up changing your life for the better.

[Nuru]

Human psychology entails that this thread has different effects on different people. :P You may have encouraged it more than you were trying to prevent it. Its just how the human mind works. >.>