Gaming Addiction

[Freya Robertson]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions on gaming addiction. Do you think some games are more addictive than others?

I've played lots of games from PC to PS3 to MMOs, and I think there are many good things to be gained from gaming - it's certainly not all bad news. However I think some are more addictive than others, especially some of the MMOs like Rift and WoW. Interestingly, I don't get the same feeling from GW2 - I love playing it and consider it a superior game to the others in many ways in things like quality of graphics and gameplay, but I don't get the same urge to always be on it, or think about it all the time the way I have done in the past with WoW.

But do you think it's something in the game that prompts a player to keep going, or do you think it's more to do with the player's personality? I have two teenage boys at home who enjoying gaming, and would be interested in other's opinions.

 

[nubins]

Gaming can be addictive, im pretty sure im addicted to gaming in general. When I dont have a game to play at home I kinda feel a little lost. But I dont watch tv so.. i dont view this as that unhealthy because gaming is more involved, i play online with friends and its proven that gaming does actually exercise the mind .. so im not just vegging.

And it's that last part that makes gaming so addictive. Our brains love learning. Most games are a packaged learning experience.. you get to know the game, you get good at it and enjoy it, then as you slowly stop feeling challenged or that you are learning anything, you start to get bored and want to move on to the next learning experience.

Games like WoW prolong this by adding content as quickly as possible and also adding the reward factor of loot to try and keep interest, but even that only goes so far for most people.

I actually feel that as i was introduced to gaming from an early age, that it has impacted my personality quite a bit. I get bored quickly and get enthusiastic about new projects but as they get underwayand i stop learning new stuff with them.. my interest fades. My brain is addicted to learning i think and has little patience for things that dont challenge or teach me new skills (no matter how useless those skills may be). On the plus side, I learn new skills very quickly and find im something of a jack of all trades because of it. I seem to retain knowledge quickly (i needed little revision to obtain decent.. but not great... exam results). I've also got pretty good analytical skills. I attribute most of this to my time spent gaming as I grew up. I think I would have been better off had i done less and started at a later age, but cant change that now.

I would say if your kids arent watching tv but are playing games.. then thats a good thing as neither is healthy from a physical perspective, but at least the games keep their minds active. But if they are playing those games for far more hours than they would ever have watched tv and not going otu socialising or doing activities, then it might be a too much and some controls may keep their learning addiction healthy

 

[Warren_Paul]

We had a good discussion about this in another post just a few down. Both me and Hope mentioned stories where gaming addiction has affected our lives in a bad way.

Here it is here: http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/539277-father-hires-virtual-hitmen-to-kill-off-his.html

 

[Cayal]

I've never understood the gaming addiction concept, not that I don't believe it is true, I just can't wrap my head around it, especially with games like WoW.

For me, after awhile, I simply get bored of games and move onto something else. I don't understand how someone can sit day in-day out, doing pretty much the same thing.

 

[Freya Robertson]

Oh, my apologies - I had a quick scan of the threads and didn't connect the other one with this topic. It was exactly what I was asking though, and the replies were very informative as well as interesting.

I love gaming, and for a while I think I was partly addicted to WoW because I played it for 3-4 hours every night, and I wasn't writing then, just didn't have the time. My husband and my son played it too, and we had great fun together, but I knew at the time the problem was that I wasn't writing, and in a way the fact that I didn't feel the need to was the most worrying thing.

We stopped playing for a few years and now my son's friend who lives with us wants to start again. It was a big and difficiult decision for me. We ended up agreeing, but the condition was that we set the parental controls so he can only play for an hour a night, and my son (who got heavily into Rift and doesn't want to get that involved again) isn't going to play. We'll have to see how it goes - so far it seems to be working. It's difficult to set parental controls for yourself though

I've heard rumours that some games insert subliminal messages to encourage players to keep playing. I'm sure that's rubbish, but it wouldn't surprise me! Some definitely seem worse than others. I think those with raids are worse because the raids by their very nature can take 4-5 hours or longer to complete and you don't want to let your guild members down by saying you've had enough. Online relationships can feel very real, and lots of guild members are very loyal to their "friends".

As someone mentioned on the other thread, anything can become addictive, even reading. In the end Hope was right - it is about escapism, because the real world can be harsh, and it's nice to read/watch/play a story where we're heroes and good always wins! Ultimately I believe gaming in moderation is a fun, good thing. We just have to hope someone we love is there to help if they think it's becoming too much.

Thank you all for sharing--it's always good to know you're not alone

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions on gaming addiction. Do you think some games are more addictive than others?

I've played lots of games from PC to PS3 to MMOs, and I think there are many good things to be gained from gaming - it's certainly not all bad news. However I think some are more addictive than others, especially some of the MMOs like Rift and WoW. Interestingly, I don't get the same feeling from GW2 - I love playing it and consider it a superior game to the others in many ways in things like quality of graphics and gameplay, but I don't get the same urge to always be on it, or think about it all the time the way I have done in the past with WoW.

But do you think it's something in the game that prompts a player to keep going, or do you think it's more to do with the player's personality? I have two teenage boys at home who enjoying gaming, and would be interested in other's opinions.

It's a mixture, actually. I'm a gamer myself, albeit more casual of one, and it's games with a deep, rich storyline I like. RPGs mostly, of course, and I steer clear of things like the stupid military simulators and MMOs that are flooding the markets.

But that said, online gaming can actually be a good, physically safe way to have social experiences, and that's also a reason certain games are so popular as well. Especially, I feel, with oral chat, rather than typing, for numerous reasons. (Language, pronunciation, dialect, that sort of thing.) There's also escapism, which is one reason I enjoy games so much, and the kind I do. People get bored with their lives and reality and want to dive into worlds different than what they're used to and get to interact with solid, developed characters, and that, I think, is the biggest reason people like me play single-player games and RPGs. Not to mention that, I think, the non-gaming generation will cease to exist as media gets more advanced and intrusive.

 

[Freya Robertson]

the non-gaming generation will cease to exist as media gets more advanced and intrusive.

That's a story in itself!

 

[BetaWolf]

I think I've put it down for good. I was into strategy games mostly, but it took way too much of my time. I think that certain kinds of games like strategy and RPGs let us tell stories and solve puzzles, and that was the really addictive part for me. I was never much into the multiplayer function, though I recognize the draw there, too.

I've funneled that creative energy into writing, which I find is a much better use for it, now drafting about five to ten pages a day.

 

[TheTomG]

It's a pastime, and we choose how long to devote to it. People who watch a sport, and follow a team, may spend as long watching, decorating, finding team related stuff, playing fantasy league versions, discussing games, visiting forums, posting on FB, planning trips to see games, etc. But we'd never call them "addicted".

Same with those who like to go hunting or fishing or golfing.

Of course, a lot of the time involved in the above would be secondary time, shopping for a new fishing rod, picking out your ultimate set of clubs, etc, thus is often missed as being part of the same "obsession".

But also gaming just has a bad rap. Society doesn't approve of it, despite how long it has been a legitimate pastime, thus any significant time given to it gets the label "addiction".

If you spent your evenings going out on walks and taking pictures, when you should be writing, nobody would say you were addicted to walks or photography. No stigma attached to those. You'd just have made a choice to do one thing rather than another, even if the other is something you "ought" to do. Gaming, though, would have some folks saying "tsk tsk, addicted!"

Those that see no appeal in golf don't feel motivated to berate those that really enjoy it. But those that don't see the appeal in gaming do feel the need to belittle those that like it. Again, society, more than anything.

Perhaps its the relative newness of the tech that causes it - it used to be you heard a lot about "TV addiction" but I've not heard anyone talk about that since gaming came along.

Whether or not it is a problem, though I still don't think I'd label it an addiction, depends on whether it degrades or improves your quality of life. But that is the same for any pastime, if you do it in place of things that absolutely must be done (showering, eating, paying bills and ensuring you have enough money to pay the bills, and other vital things), then it's a problem. Probably not an addiction though, probably some other condition that you are throwing yourself into your pastime to escape.

If you do it in place of things that really don't matter (and frankly, most of the elements of lives we have constructed in today's society really don't matter) then it isn't really a problem, just a choice, even if it would be viewed as odd by others.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I've played games for a long time, but I've never been addicted. However, I suspect part of such behaviour might be related to multiplayer online games, where (as well as enjoying the game) a sense of obligation and a desire not to let down others (whether an individual, a team of co-players or an organisation such as a guild) grows.

 

[Foxbat]

I think gaming can be an addiction just like many other things. If it's an activity that you pursue to the detriment of all other parts of your life (work, marriage, personal hygene etc) and if it is something that you cannot stop then, to me, it is an addiction.

The trouble with addiction is recognising whether you won't stop simply because you don't want to or because you can't.