Video Game Addiction

[DM Cross]

That is exactly my point

 

[Pineapple]

I absolutely hate people calling it an addiction. >.<

Just because someone much prefers video games over alternatives... so what? There are people who like to play sports, go biking, reading. But no one calls that an addiction.

Hell, if the kid doesn't want to go to school, skips it, ignores his dads funeral, or anything else to play video games is not addicted. Just likes it a lot.

Now, if the person is playing Superman 64 or E.T. and says this game is horrible, but has to play something they may be addicted.

 

[MasterOfABCs]

Simply stating that group X does Y action frequently with out addiction so group A doing B action frequently is not addicting is not sufficient reasoning.

Two variables are in your statement and they are NOT interchangeable.

You have, normally, a group and an action.

The addicting quality of something is then dependent on both group and action.

For example, while video gaming may be addicting to a Japanese lower-income male, it may not be addicting to a Canadian upper-class woman.

Overall, the question of whether or not video games are addicting rests equally on the demograph and the action

 

[Pineapple]

Addiction
–noun
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.

Find me one example of someone who stopped playing video games go into withdrawal.

 

[ElderKingpin]

withdrawal can be anything.

 

[ReVolver]

withdrawal can be anything.

http://www.addictionsandrecovery.org/withdrawal.htm

...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal

 

[ElderKingpin]

"Withdrawal can refer to any sort of separation,"

 

[Pineapple]

"Withdrawal can refer to any sort of separation,"

So right now I have withdrawal from school?

 

[ElderKingpin]

depends. do you enjoy school?

---

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1719 research paper on addiction (gaming)

 

[DrStyles]

Videogame addiction in my opinion is just takin' it too seriously too often. A few hardcore WC 1v1s is fun sometimes, but so intense. It's not an addiction if you don't care about the game, or if you don't do it a lot. So addicted to videogames is whenever you think it's goin' overboard and effecting the rest of your life too much.
Each person gotta just know for themselves and admit if they are.

 

[ElderKingpin]

are you saying addiction is only an addiction when you admit it? and when you think its going to far?

 

[DrStyles]

It doesn't matter if you admit it. What I mean to say is that there isn't a set time (like ---- hours a week or w/e) that defines an addiction. Its more like playing too much then is good for you, and not being able to stop yourself.

 

[Tru_Power22]

depends. do you enjoy school?

---

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1719 research paper on addiction (gaming)

I think his point was it's not any kind of separation as you stated. Because he is not at school he is separated, that doesn't mean he is having withdrawls.

 

[Varine]

I don't really think it should be considered an addiction.

"A primary, chronic disease, characterized by impaired control over the use of a psychoactive substance and/or behavior. Clinically, the manifestations occur along biological, psychological, sociological and spiritual dimensions" is the definition and if you are experience withdrawals from video games, you shouldn't be considered an addict so much as just some really weird person with psychological issues involving what is probably more of a hatred for reality or a depression with their lives, and I think that if they're shaky it's not because of an actual withdrawal it's because of a discomfort with where they are (ever go to somewhere you don't feel like you should be? You can get shaky). Which yes, addicts of other drugs have, but because those actually change the biological and chemical reaction and composition within your body. I don't think a video game does that since last I checked you're not inhaling or injecting yourself with altering chemicals, it stimulates your brain to an extent but I would hit someone that said that video games are like heroin. Because it's not.

I mean, if you've ever done hard drugs, you know what an actual addiction is. You can get sick, your body is filled with chemicals and terrible terrible shit that it's trying to rid itself of, trouble breathing, you have no appetite even if you haven't eaten for a couple of days at a time, and an internal bipolar, multiple personality thing issue where YOU don't want to do drugs, but somewhere in you (which, at least in me, wasn't MY active mind because all I ever thought was I don't want to) something does want it. Video game's do not and cannot alter the chemical or biological condition of your body in such a way where it doesn't just WANT something, it essentially needs it (at least for a while), to continue functioning properly. Video game's aren't a damn addiction, it's a lifestyle choice and social mentality disorder.

 

[T.s.e]

Video game's aren't a damn addiction, it's a lifestyle choice and social mentality disorder.

Bullshit. It is as much an addiction as anything else, just because it isn't caused by a physical substance doesn't make it any less real.

 

[Varine]

Bullshit. It is as much an addiction as anything else, just because it isn't caused by a physical substance doesn't make it any less real.

Yes it does. How does a video game change the chemistry of someone forcing them into a state where it's not just that they want to play them but HAVE to play them without being stricken by an inability to cope without that change? It doesn't. If video games can be classified as an addiction then I'm addicted to... umm... yellow.

 

[nabbig2]

Yes it does. How does a video game change the chemistry of someone forcing them into a state where it's not just that they want to play them but HAVE to play them without being stricken by an inability to cope without that change? It doesn't. If video games can be classified as an addiction then I'm addicted to... umm... yellow.

No, it doesn't. Something doesn't need to change a person's chemistry in order to be considered an addicting. Some people become genuinely addicted to video games, spending all of their free time playing them, and use it to avoid problems in real life.

See: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2005/08/09/video-games050809.html

I don't see how you can not consider that addiction.

 

[Varine]

Because it's not. That is a social disorder, there is a difference. People that don't like to be around other people and crowds and get shaky and uncomfortable, are they addicted to being alone? No, they have a social disorder. People that don't go out into sunlight and freak out. Are they addicted to the dark? No, it is probably a phobia or some form of extreme mental disorder, and very few people will try and pass it off as addiction and those that do are going to be shunned away because the idea of it is idiotic. How is this different?

 

[nabbig2]

Because it's not. That is a social disorder, there is a difference. People that don't like to be around other people and crowds and get shaky and uncomfortable, are they addicted to being alone? No, they have a social disorder. People that don't go out into sunlight and freak out. Are they addicted to the dark? No, it is probably a phobia or some form of extreme mental disorder, and very few people will try and pass it off as addiction and those that do are going to be shunned away because the idea of it is idiotic. How is this different?

The social disorder is not the primary cause, it is the addiction to video games. It's not a phobia, and it's not a mental disorder. How did you arrive at that conclusion? It's an addiction. That person was addicted to video games, and that is what ended up causing his problems. Why do you fail see that?

 

[uberfoop]

People that don't like to be around other people and crowds and get shaky and uncomfortable, are they addicted to being alone? No, they have a social disorder. People that don't go out into sunlight and freak out. Are they addicted to the dark? No, it is probably a phobia or some form of extreme mental disorder, and very few people will try and pass it off as addiction and those that do are going to be shunned away because the idea of it is idiotic. How is this different?

It's different because phobias are a fear of something whereas an addictive disorder is involved with being attached to something. If people avoid sunlight, it's not an addiction to the dark so much as a revulsion to sunlight. If people avoid crowds, it's not an addiction to aloneness so much as an avoidance of crowds. You're swapping the cause and effect to pretend that phobias and addictions are the same thing. The same thing could be switched around by claiming that addictions are phobias by suggesting that an opiate addiction is the same as a fear of clear-headedness, or that a work addiction is the same as a fear of relaxation. In many cases, particularily where black and white one-or-the-other lines can be drawn, there could potentially be an overlap between the two as a result of logic requiring it, but not always. It should be clear that addictions are defined by compulsive need to do something whereas phobias are defined by an unreasonable fear of something; that addictions are the attachment to a single thing whereas phobias are the fear of a single thing. The distinction is not difficult to make.

Finally, Varine, you have constantly argued that what others are calling an 'addiction' springs up from some sort of mental disorder. Well, yes, it does. You are correct about that. In the medical field, such a disorder, characterized by compulsive action harmful to an individual, is usually referred to as an 'addiction'. Why you refuse to acknowledge that this disorder you keep referring to is an addiction is just plain baffling.