Thread: Game addiction

Yes because most gamers will and want to play a certain am mount of time a day, game a certain way, etc. They learn and adapt to the game because they like it. Pay for certain services (WoW, Live, more games).

No it doesn't rank to drugs but its up there, multibillions.

aaah, this discussion. Video games lend themselves to the idea of being addictive really because of one thing: dopamine.
Dopamine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Studies have shown that video games release this little chemical in our minds when we play them, and it is natural for the human psyche to want continue to do something that makes them feel happy, especially if it's not very difficult. Because of this, Video games are mislabeled as addictive, which from a very informal standpoint isn't a big deal, but when you start treating it with the same concern as a real addiction, I find it quite ridiculous.

I am a gamer, have had my own consoles since I was about 7, and still play them a lot today. However, I'm able to balance work and play pretty well, and while I'll may say I was "hooked" o a game because it was so fun, to say that I was clinically addicted to games is a bit melodramatic. As one of the newsman in your video pointed out, video game addiction has no physical withdrawals; sure the 'addict' will whine because they still want to play and have fun, but they aren't about to freak out with the severity of an alcoholic or cokehead when they haven't had their fix.

All that said, I can agree that some people do play them a bit too much and that it very much effects them physically and socially. I've got a couple friends that were like that, but if you just grow up a little and find other shit to do, you realize pretty quick you don't need video games to have fun. They just become another fun activity to do with your friends or when you're bored.

Being a gamer and a recovering alcoholic/addict, I can say it's safe to call gaming an addiction. I've been dealing with "cross-addiction", which is basically replacing one addiction with the other. Gaming being the new substitute--especially since I've been trying to quit smoking cigarettes recently. I don't have gaming withdraws if I don't play a game all day. But I know that once I play, I can't stop for quite some time. I think that gaming could be the one "addiction" that is easy as hell to drop from your life and doesn't need a support group to help people quit gaming. If that ever happens, I'll be the first to chair a Gamers Anonymous meeting. LOL.

Gaming addiction isnt really a addiction..i think... maybe it is for gamers .like music is addicting for music lovers .But I don't think they'll die out of craving if they dont get games =P

"Video games lend themselves to the idea of being addictive really because of one thing: dopamine."
but it also true that chocolate releases dopamine =P and you don't see alot of people addictided to chocolate do you? (oh wait I shouldn't talk)

now jokes aside...

video game addiction is a problem if, it starts to controle thier lives. For example the one guy from that one place (>.<) who died because of WOW (he didn't go out, and lost his job, etc...) it can become bad if you let it become bad. And that is in a sence where it devides from drugs.

Honestly I would say that the gaming addictions has it's pros and cons so like the pros for the gaming addiction would be like you are playing a game for a certain amount of time and stopping the cons would of course be that when playing too much you would overreact and lose yourself in the virtual world.I think that this does actually rank up to the other addictions due to the fact that so many people have actually experienced this kind of situation and are going to throw away there life for video games.

I think you intentionally misinterpret my statement for your awful joke, basilisk. XD well played. but I digress...

I would say that video games are addictive in the same way marijuana is addictive; sure you can try to make the argument, but in the end it just really isn't there, and you're just perpetuating a myth.

To me (and the rest of the medical community), an addiction dominates you not only mentally but physically as well. You're literally in pain if you do not do it. Video games like I said are only a 'drug' for your mind, and while if can negatively effect a person's social skills, I would still steer away from calling it medically addictive. Even in atomik's case, using video games as an alternative to drinking, he admits he uses it as an alternative, but in the end, he can walk away from it. Just because it feels addictive, doesn't mean it is. Actually in a case like atomik's, it's probably a good thing that he thinks of his habit of video games as an 'addiction', because it helps keep him away from a true addiction, alcohol.

Video games are inherently an escape mechanism; like nearly all forms of entertainment really. Video games take you away from your life and any woes you may be experiencing in it, and try their best to immerse you in a world where all your troubles are conquerable, and thus extremely gratifying. I'm sure we could get into a much bigger argument about how video games and other entertainment media aim to put a shroud over our eyes so we can foolishly ignore the true world and all its problems, but I leave that for another thread and firmly stand against the notion that games are truly addictive.