Do you believe that video game/computer game addiction is real?

[Guy]

Do you believe that video game/computer game addiction is real?

 

[Phoenix4987]

Anything can become an addiction

 

[EspiKvlt]

Anything can become an addiction

This.

 

[CoffeeKnight]

Absolutely. Back in my WoW days I would start a quest line while I was waiting for dinner or something and the next thing I knew it was morning. Anything that dings the little reward center bell can become addicting if you aren't careful

 

[AmberCutie]

Anything can be an addiction yes. I answered maybe.

I was really involved in WoW for many years to the point I know it was a big habit. Not sure if addiction but I didn’t want to do much else. It helped me lose a few pounds! Lol.

 

[corsican1]

For me it's more like binge playing. 7 or 8 hours, then not play again for a few days or a week.

 

[Dan Epstein]

Most, if not all of us, are probably addicted to our smartphones more than to anything else right now.

 

[AwesomeKate]

 

[Dan Epstein]

Looks like she caught him replying on ACF (in my case)...

 

[Goblin]

I can only answer from my own experience

I don't play games generally they make me feel motion sick but I stumbled on a game called agar.io which is a 2D browser game, I ended up playing it for 5+ hours a day sometimes

I would say "oh I will only play 30 mins" then I would get stuck playing because I was chasing revenge on other players; I didn't even enjoy playing 75% of the time lol was just pissed off

I would say it was more so a bad habit than addiction, if I had more interesting things to do I was happier doing them, it was just when I had free time to kill I would play it.. then as said above, get stuck playing it

I haven't played for a few months now; I let my logical side of my brain win and say it's a waste of time playing if I don't enjoy it

It wasn't an addiction in a sense where I felt compelled to play and my day didn't feel complete without it

I'm much more addicted to a morning coffee lol.

 

[Lucid1]

I sometimes think there is a slight confusion between addiction and immersion. If a game is good, the artwork makes sense, the lore is supportive of the gameworld and the interface isn't distracting, then a game can be very immersive. I've played some great games in my time, and the ones that I started playing at 4pm, only to look up at my clock and realizing that it's almost midnight -when it felt like I had only been playing for a couple of hours....I didn't become addicted in those 8 hours...I was immersed as one could become. I am of the opinion that the word "addiction"(as it applies to video games) should only be used when the activity intrudes into and starts affecting schedules, responsibilities and other important life matters. Much like drugs, gambling...etc.

 

[sexyvanessa4u]

Yes, definitely. I've heard of many people quitting their jobs and giving up sleep, relationships, and their social lives to play WoW, Everquest, and other games 8-12 hours a day. It consumes their whole lives and they do nothing else.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Yep,

I sometimes think there is a slight confusion between addiction and immersion. If a game is good, the artwork makes sense, the lore is supportive of the gameworld and the interface isn't distracting, then a game can be very immersive. I've played some great games in my time, and the ones that I started playing at 4pm, only to look up at my clock and realizing that it's almost midnight -when it felt like I had only been playing for a couple of hours....I didn't become addicted in those 8 hours...I was immersed as one could become. I am of the opinion that the word "addiction"(as it applies to video games) should only be used when the activity intrudes into and starts affecting schedules, responsibilities and other important life matters. Much like drugs, gambling...etc.

Yes, there is a difference between getting immersed in a game, and addiction. I had someone in my life get extremely addicted to games, as I predicted they would and tried to avoid it from occurring. When I tried to help, and guide them into being more responsible, it got ugly. As an addict usually does, they shunned those wanting to help, and move towards the enabler.

 

[Violet Dawn]

Yes. Video game addiction has actually killed people, my brother was almost one of them.

I think people mistake a heavy hobby for an addiction, and sometimes don't recognize when someone is actually addicted.

In my case, my addiction was just recognized as a hobby, same as my brother. Because "that's just how we are, we're gamers."

But people who see people with hobbies assume they're addictions maybe because they see those people as more outgoing and they actually have consistent relationships with them, so they see them spend a lot of time on something that they have a stereotype set in their head and think "Wow, they can't be this type of person, they must be addicted." Whereas when someone actually is addicted, they tend to spend less time with other people and doing other things that people can just see it as "their personality."

I'm a really quiet person generally, so it's really easy for me to get into the addiction because I'm a gamer and people think that because I'm quiet that I'm a heavy die-hard gamer and addiction is just part of my personality.

My boyfriend is really outgoing so when he plays "too much" people will be like "Yo where are you? Are you okay? Dude you should put the game down a little bit."

 

[Deleted member 37064]

My boyfriend is really outgoing so when he plays "too much" people will be like "Yo where are you? Are you okay? Dude you should put the game down a little bit."

I get the "Hey, we're just checking to see if you're still alive" texts and calls. Not because I'm a gamer. Rather I'm so busy doing things, and occupational hazards, that I'm rarely seen by people outside of work and well, work.

 

[Ambers Troll]

Yes.. as real an addiction to slot machines.

This is AVGM (Abusive Video Game Manipulation) creator (Edmund McMillen - 'Binding of Issac' fame).

 

[Guy]

 

[boundstrawberry]

Yes. Case in point, my boyfriend's brother only plays video games 24/7. He doesn't have a job, doesn't leave the house, has no irl friends, isn't dating, just video games. My boyfriend and I are huge gamers but we do know how to balance our time. We only play after we know everything that needed to be done is completed.

 

[Guy]

Yes. Case in point, my boyfriend's brother only plays video games 24/7. He doesn't have a job, doesn't leave the house, has no irl friends, isn't dating, just video games. My boyfriend and I are huge gamers but we do know how to balance our time. We only play after we know everything that needed to be done is completed.

Does he eat?

 

[weirdbr]

Anything can become an addiction

Not really - addiction has a very clear definition (and physical symptoms such as high activity in reward centres in the brain); people can be obsessed with something which isn't addictive (for example, porn*).
But for gaming, yes, it can be addictive - it has all the required symptoms of other types of addictions but it's often over diagnosed, mostly due to stigma and what other people believe is expected social behaviour.

* - I use porn here as an example because it's one of the things some people in the fringes of medicine claim is an addiction, but actual research has shown it's not: porn obsession/over-use is usually indicative of other underlying psychological issues.

 

[Phoenix4987]

I would say for discussion sake and use your loose definition of addiction of "physical symptoms such as high activity in the reward areas of the brain" and say that this activity can literally be anything.

Shopping, seeing a character level up, hearing a noise everytime you earn money (ie getting money), seeing a pair of heels.

Everyone's brain is wired different, so what may NOT trigger an addiction in your brain, could quite certainly trigger it in someone else's.

 

[DJ_Pioneer]

hearing a noise everytime you earn money (ie getting money)

You mean like the MFC tip sound.

 

[boundstrawberry]

Does he eat?

His diet consists of 5-6 cans of Coke a day, Domino's pizza (delivered every day), frozen pizza and breaded chicken. No water, no vegetables.

 

[Rumi_Bloom]

I believe you can get addicted to anything, but I also believe a lot of people use gaming as relaxation. It's not really addiction until you can't make do without it and it interferes with your daily life and goals.

In other words, I think the media makes a lot of addictions seem worse and more far spread than they really are for sensationalism, but I'm sure some people do have the issue.

 

[Arturia]

I believe it can be an outlet for people with addictive personalities. The same way that for other people a certain TV show is a must watch. Gaming gets more attention due its capacity to immerse yourself in its content for significant amounts of time.

 

[A Little Batty]

Gaming addiction is real.
I come from a gamer family.
I'm a gamer, my brother is a gamer, and my mother is a gamer.
My mother has always been a gamer, using me as an excuse to buy consoles even when I was a baby lol

A few years ago my mother had a bit of an addiction to a mmo. I'm not sure which one it was, but she would play for HOURS. It's all she did, all she thought and talked about. She didn't get anything done.

She wouldn't listen when you spoke to her about it, but she realized it on her own eventually and stopped playing entirely.

For the last year or so she's started playing again, but only plays for a little bit each day. She still gets things done. But what I'm most happy about is that she doesn't spend money on the games anymore @.@ She used to spend soooo much.