News.com reports that despite earlier rumblings that addiction to videogames could be classified a mental disorder similar to alcoholism, experts have stepped back from that analysis. The decision by the AMA is that psychiatrists should make further efforts to study the phenomenon, while addiction experts strongly opposed the idea at the organization's annual meeting. "Even before debate on the subject began, the committee that made the proposal backed away from its position, and instead recommended that the American Psychiatric Association consider the change when it revises its next diagnostic manual in 5 years. The psychiatrist group has said if the science warrants, it could be considered for inclusion in the next diagnostic manual, which will be published in 2012. While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating."
Catheters really fucking hurt!! Why they don't just seal a tube AROUND the penis, I'll never know.
I think somebody else already explained why the traditional catheter must be inserted into the bladder. However, what _you_ are looking for is called a "Texas Catheter" that fits somewhat like a condom. This would be a better solution for enabling video game addition.
Personally, I dont know what the hell they are talking about... of course I eat!! I have level 225 in cooking! What they think I am just going to *wait* for my HP to regen??
True, but then at a LAN party you're also in the presence of other people, so the stock-standard argument about addictive gaming being anti-social doesn't hold either.
I think that I have seen many people build relationships in clubs where you can't hear a god damn thing. Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done.
Actually, my wife is, interestingly enough, a psychologist. The main reason that they've taken to adding so many disorders to the DSM is not that they've found new ones per se but that they have found that within certain disorders, like the autistic spectrum of diseases, that there are many more subtypes. At one point, anyone with a pervasive development (autistic-like) disorder was slapped with the label of 'autism'. Now they have identified specific types of autism, everything from 'classic' autism to Asperger's to multiple-complex developmental disorder.
As for video game addiction, my wife happens to also be a specialist in addiction studies and she was actually one of the first people to write about video game addiction as a disorder back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was not widely-accepted at that point that video game playing could be addictive -- but now that it's becoming generally-accepted to be so, she's feeling vindicated.
Yeah, and I can spend days and weeks drinking booze and not feel the slightest twinge the next week when I have to be a responsible human being. That doesn't mean alcoholism doesn't exist.
I was thinking along the same line. What we used to call a hobby is now an addiction? So, I was addicted to surfing? I surfed almost every day from age 8 to 53, spent a lot of money on the sport over the years for the latest design in surfboards, wet-suits etc and hear I thought all the time I was being close to nature, staying fit, meeting and interacting with other people. What a wasted life, huh?
Kudos to the AMA though, god knows they need it.
Oh, been living in the central US for the last nine years and h
I am waiting for someone to claim they has an exercise addiction since it is proven that regular exercise releases various feel good chemicals, and that a lack of exercise and your body will start to fail. THAT would be genious...of coarse that means you have to exercise alot which would interfere with playing video games.
I know health nuts who claim they feel like crap if the don't get their exorcise in the routine they are use to having it. They don't skip eating or going to work in order to exorcise.
I got addicted (or call it whatever you want) to EQ... I was absolutely in a depressive state due to a variety of factors (I take care of my Dad and have spent my entire 20s basically stuck in/around the house with him, dated four girls over the course of that 10 year span(two of which went out of their way to mentally abuse me further), had to quit college to take care of my dad, was stuck in the same crappy job with no ability to get something else that was compatible with my situation, etc). To top it off, I have something called Avoidant Personality Disorder [wikipedia.org], which is a type of social anxiety disorder that basically manifests itself with me avoiding to do things, rather than do them and face "certain" rejection.
I started EQ just to play with my best friend here and there... after a couple months, I was approached about being an officer in my guild and shortly thereafter, became a raid leader. At that point, I had a dedication to the game and my guild... to top it off, I was completely accepted and thus didn't have to worry about facing the rejection of my peers. The game was a reality (though separate, I never confused the game and real life) for me that allowed me to relax and not be on guard all the time. Soon, I ended up as the guild leader and another officer and I split raid leadership duties. However, as guild leader and co-raid leader, I felt an even larger obligation to be on and helping out. That avoidant part inside me didn't want to let someone down or they might get mad at me (and thus, reject me). Factor in a regular series of personal accomplishments, group accomplishments, raid accomplishments and guild accomplishments and I was getting a regular high from the game.
I ended up playing between 8-14 hours a day and if I wasn't at work or sleeping, I was at least nearby in case something came up that needed my attention. Eventually, I started burning out and felt a need to leave the game because I knew it was taking a negative toll on my life. I couldn't quit, however, because my (then) gf and I had met in the game and we were living on separate coasts so the game was our way of spending time together every day in between flying back and forth. Not long after that, my co-raid leader realized he was in a similar situation to me and wanted to start a family so he quit. When he did, that increased my burden even more. I had to be on all the time, I had to schedule my life around a 3 night/week raid schedule (plus an "optional" 4th night for people wanting to work on their epics... I say optional because it was optional for everyone but me basically. The few times I didn't attend, I was begged and nagged, sometimes for up to a week prior to make sure I was there to help someone in particular out). Along the way, my gf and I broke up (she had a lot of mental problems herself... she left me for another one of our officers, switched servers and joined a hardcore raid guild where it was 6 nights a week mandatory and basically ignored her 4 year old daughter for the next year). With that, my main reason for staying was essentially gone but I still felt an obligation to everyone and was still enjoying the highs from my accomplishments. A few months later, my gf and I got back together and eventually she moved back to my server... at which point, her drama began all over again).
My officers hated my gf for what she had done to us, and especially me, over the course of the prior year... Our biggest problem as a guild was that the hardcore guilds would burn their people out and then proceed to bribe my guild members to leave so they (the hardcores) could sustain their pace rather than looking at self-sustainability. I had a fallout with the officers one night over yet another person leaving over a bribe after getting the last of what he wanted from us. They blamed me when in reality, he was just out to use us. After much fighting over it, I left the guild with my gf and we set out to start a new guild that wouldn't
It goes back further than the situation with my dad... even back in high school, I would avoid asking girls out and whatnot because of the fear of rejection. In college, I generally avoided parties and whatnot unless I knew people who were going to be there and then I'd pretty much strictly stick around the people that I knew. I often subconsciously test people to see if they're really trustworthy before I'll really consider attempting to have a friendship with them. I can trace the first manifestation all
If the uncontrollable desire to play games of chance (gambling) is classified as an addiction, how is an uncontrollable desire to play games of any other sort not? Can online gambling be considered an addiction?
The only meaningful difference is the money involved. And even then, between gold farming and monthly fees for WOW, is it really that different?
I don't think things like this are decided on the condition itself, it's probably got alot more to do with how the number of people that would be diagnosed would effect the economy.
People classified as addicts generally aren't able to fund their own treatment.
"it's probably got alot more to do with how the number of people that would be diagnosed would effect the economy."
Actually, you are right on track with this way of thinking. The DSM regularly accounts for items such as social and economic pressure...certain drugs that 'cured' certain 'illnesses' are pushed by big business, and thus if Big Pharm can get to enough psychologists to vote (and they aren't above paying people off), you get inclusion. It has happened more than once, and it will happen again.
This also works in the social aspects. The biggest example was that the DSM classified homosexuality as a deviance until the mid-70s (err...I think, I never paid much attention to the history aspects of abnormal psych). It was mostly the psychs from the US propped up by conservative Christians (err...one could argue in the 70s, even the liberal christians weren't too willing to go to bat for these people) along with rightwing politicians. Europe had long since stopped calling this a classifiable deviance. And even after it was stricken, there was a LOT of debate over physicians that refused to go by the revised edition because it didn't follow their moral ethics.
So yeah, economic, social and other pressures state what becomes diagnosable. Heck, and sometimes its right...its looking for deviance from the norm. If there are enough people away from the center, even though in another time, another place they'd have been perfectly 'normal' -- it occasionally merits inclusion, so this isn't a bad thing in and of itself. Most of psychology is trying to help folks fit in and understand themselves. Don't want to fit in, not causing any harm to others...then you are perfectly fine! I love my quirks and wouldn't do anything to change them (and all my studies in psychology have proven to me that I'm actually much more normal than most who think I'm some sort of deviant freak!)
If the uncontrollable desire to play games of chance (gambling) is classified as an addiction, how is an uncontrollable desire to play games of any other sort not? Can online gambling be considered an addiction?
The summary talks about comparison with alcoholism, not gambling. Games and Gambling may actually be similar but neither is the same as being addicted to alcohol, heroin or tobacco.
Yes, there is a difference. Fees for WoW cost $15/month at worst. And if you don't break the Terms of Use, you won't be buying gold. And trust me, the true Addicts have no need for bought gold. On-line gambling can completely drain anyone's bank account if they are sufficiently addicted. WoW costs $15 a month... on-line gambling costs rent/food/gas/everything else money. Big Difference.
Gaming isn't addictive by itself, not everyone who touches it get addicted. Not even a sizable percentage. Gaming gets a bad rap off of people who naturally have addictive tendancies, who also happen to play games. Every leisure activity has it's members who abuse them. The difference is that MMO's are finally getting a large enough following that people are starting to take notice of the abusers.
Alcohol isn't addictive by itself. Not everyone who touches it get addicted.
In fact, most 'addictive' drugs can have the same thing said about them. You have to abuse them before you get 'addicted'.
Gaming can also drain someone's bank account. You talk about 'gaming addiction' as if it only applies to World of Warcraft, and the only costs are the $15/month. You completely forget the entire gaming hardware race, and the cost of consoles and other games. And it's not as if you could just drain the account once and be done, no. There are new games released constantly. More than enough to keep someone broke, especially if they've already lost their job to the addiction.
I admit it. I'm addicted to gaming. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. When I can manage to do -nothing- else but play a game, preferably a new exciting one, I'll do it. This means not showering some days, eating quick unhealthy meals, and occasionally skipping work because I just -have- to play that new game.
Do I think I need help? No. I don't even -want- it classified as a disorder that the government will help with. Normal obsessive-compulsive disorder probably covers this well enough anyhow, for those that take it far enough to warrant help.
But don't dismiss this problem simply because you don't have it yourself. And don't make fun of it, either.
There are actual physical changes involved with alcohol addiction. In extreme cases sudden withdrawal can even lead to death. Still, some time in the past we went from requiring these physiological dependencies for a diagnosis of 'addiction' to mere abuse. Mental addictions, if you will.
This is how gambling became to be known as something you could become addicted to. Yes, they can spot changes in brain patterns when a person is gambling, but there's no neurochemicals being introduced or interfered with l
I admit it. I'm addicted to gaming. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. [...] Do I think I need help? No.
Woooohoooo! Denial, laugh at him! Laugh at the addict! Huhuhu...
Ok I'm sorry about this post but I just can't get the day pass by without insulting someone on the Internet. I don't know what's with that, it's like a little personal mania. Makes me feel better.
And the post number. I had 2300 posts. No: no that they're many posts, but the "23". Anyone ever noticed how everywhere we turn to there's always 23 chasing us? When you notice it, you need to disrupt it as quick as possible, you JUST HAVE TO. So I wanted to make them 2301 posts.
Sometimes I think about this so much I need to drink myself to sleep. Which reminds me, I'm out of smokes. I need to get some on the way back from the casino, but the problem is I never walk out of the casino before I've spent all my money and bet the wife, house and the dog.
Wait, where did I say that someone, or something, else is to blame? I merely stated that there is nothing I'd rather be doing. For some people, they'd rather be fishing, or racing, or whatever. I prefer to play video games, and I admit I spend more time and money on it than I really should. I -can- put it down any time I want, but I don't -want- to. When I don't have a good game to play, I'm not as happy, and I get 'bored.' (That's a word meaning I don't want to do anything, since there is -always- some
I Shouldn't post this under my Cigarettes, Wine, Marihuana, Cocaine, Women. Those are the things that I like the most. When I say I like them, i mean I _really_ like them. And yes, I use all of them daily, sometimes just a little, but I have really abused them, and I'm talking about 40 cigarettes a day, 5 750 ml bottles of wine, 20g of Pot, 10g of Cocaine, And all night, non-sleep, non-stop menage a trua. Just in a day.
To make things worst, my girlfriend likes exactly the same things I do, maybe even more.
Video game addiction is very different than gambling in my eyes. Video games are pursued by those addicted to it to fulfill a psychological. The players feel more powerful. They have a sense of impact on their world. They are the hero saving the world, doing something important. If you look at the games people are addicted to playing, they aren't likely to be Bejeweled. The players are more likely addicted to FPS or MMORPG.
People in general have a desire to feel effective within the confines of their world. Players addicted to video games aren't really addicted to video games. They're addicted to being successful. Video games just give them an avenue to feel successful while the rest of their life falls apart.
>>Video game addiction is very different than gambling in my eyes. False. Gambling is a set of variable ratio reward schedules with an extremely potent reinforcer, money (and later after the rush is established, seratonin etc.) These same reward schedules exist in video games, particularly MMOs, and while they don't have quite as potent a reinforcer as cold cash pouring out of a slot machine, leveling can feel pretty close. However there is more...
People in general have a desire to feel effective within the confines of their world. Players addicted to video games aren't really addicted to video games. They're addicted to being successful. Video games just give them an avenue to feel successful while the rest of their life falls apart.
I'd have to second this assessment. This behavior and its consequences seem to be exactly the same as what happens to people who put their career first. The person focuses so intensely on his or her job that all oth
My psychopathology is a bit rusty, but won't the DSM IV already diagnose gaming addiction under another classification? Probably a compulsive addiction I guess. Do we really need a special diagnosis for gaming addiction?
No, and we don't really need one for most "addictions", since in reality the problem is usually the person will get addicted to something, anything. Once again the Simpsons have covered it for us in the episode where Marge thinks she drove drunk, and says something to the effect of (about a rehab place): "I don't this place is working, the drinkers are smoking, the smokers are drinking, and the junkies (I think) are having sex with anything that moves".
It speaks more to general psychological need than a speci
to compulsively play videogames is a habituation, not an addiction
it would be misleading to the point of propaganda to lump videogames and heroin under the same umbrella "addiction". something like heroin actually manipulates the biochemical pathways of reward in the brain. videogames can be extremely pleasurable and habit forming. but to think about how videogames are habit forming with the same terminology as how heroin or cocaine or methamphetamine manipulates your brain chemistry directly is extremely misleading
likewise, i would say a number of other "addictions" are really just trendy bullshit terms in order to decrease the stigma attached to being weak in character. such as "sex addiction" or "gambling addiction"
no: something that manipulates biochemical pathways directly is addiction, something that works on reward pathways via psychological stimulus is habituation
if a psychology wonk begs to differ with my terminology, fine. i may have the exact meaning of the words wrong
but everyone from the casual layman to the hardcore professional needs to understand that something that acts on the brain directly via biochemical manipulation needs another word to describe what it does that a habit forming activity that sucks you in via simple sensory stimulus. there's a simple bifurcation of meaning here that needs to be addressed if indeed my terminology is wrong
there are certainly highs and lows with both habituation/ addiction, and there are plenty of similarities, but the terminology should be different, to address how these habits form
Supposedly, there was an experiment done a long time ago where they wired up a mouse's brain - specifically, an area heavily involved with sexual pleasure and orgasm - to a button. Once the mouse found the button and pressed it, it continued pressing the button repeatedly until it died of dehydration.
Can you imagine suddenly having to provide coverage/counseling for people who spend all their time on line? It would cost a fortune.
Besides, the last thing te government wants is to have all the people now addicted to gaming to suddenly wake up and start aying attention to what their doing? Imagine if they all started reading daily kos or something?
In the book Brave New World, Aldus Huxley described the population as being quieted by a drug called SOMA - WOW and SL are not really that different.
You must be joking. It's absolutely no coincidence that so many addictions and psychological disorders suddenly started getting diagnosed at the same time the pharmcos started churning out happy pills.
The affliction is called 'addiction' and can be caused by or fixated on any number of things. There is absolutely no reason for yet another flavor of addiction to be spelled out.
This does remind me of a funny thing I read years ago. It was an article about Internet addction written by a psych professor. The punch line was the link to the online support group. Online support group...for Internet addicts. Isn't that like having an AA meeting at a keg party?
While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating.
So can watching TV.
Or jacking off
Or mowing the lawn.
This definition is so broad it's useless. Anyone can be addicted to anything. Why the need for special categories?
Seriously, if gaming habituation becomes an addiction, and then a "disease", how long before the Americans with Disabilities Act protection kicks in so I can play my games at work without getting the ire of the bosses?
But, it's a disease!
What you think is silly, is only the logical extent this is carried toward...or perhaps the illogical extent...but the result is often the same; and it won't be long before someone tries what I just mentioned.
People are missing the forest for the trees here. The point is NOT the substance/act itself being inherently harmful, but rather an individual's USE of something that is harmful.
Food is a wonderful thing, yet there are those individuals who's attitudes and behaviors with respect to food are destructive. It's the destructive behavior that's the 'disorder' not the food itself.
Using stimulants like amphetamines to treat certain medical conditions is appropriate. Using them to get high at the cost of your family and career is inappropriate.
Take a look at the DSM IV - the classification book for mental disorders. In order to qualify as a disorder, something usually has to have a significant negative impact on someone's function.
I see no difference between compulsive gaming that affects one's life, and compulsive hair pulling that affects one's life.
Addiction experts know but won't come out and say it directly. There aren't 4,000 different types of addiction, there are basically two, Physical and Psychological. Although technically you are addicted to chemicals either way, with psychological addiction your own body is producing them.
With physical addiction a substance is introduced into the bloodstream that either makes a direct chemical conversion into a substance the brain forms a dependence on or is already a substance the brain becomes dependent upon. Heroin is a physically addictive substance. Alcohol is another.
With psychological addiction the substance, behavior, or activity is NOT the bad guy, the person is. ANYTHING you enjoy can cause a psychological addiction. When you enjoy an activity your brain rewards itself with addictive substances. It is those addictive substances you then become addicted to. Marijuana addiction, Gambling, Video Game addiction, girl chasing, and thrill-seeking are all examples of psychological addiction. Alcohol is another.
There may be a genetic predisposition to some forms or all forms of addiction.
What difference does it make? It makes a great deal of difference. Beyond the term adrenaline junkie there is no other recognition of the fact that psychological addiction is a broken function of the human brain. Everywhere people want to blame the substance or activities for psychological addictions but the substance or activity is irrelevant, lack of moderation is the reason for addiction. Why would we blame the substance or activity; simply because they were an enjoyable activity our brain failed to moderate? Every time lots of people start getting psychologically addicted to something it might be worth mentioning on the news but it certainly isn't anything new medically. In fact, there are probably millions of undiagnosed addicts who sink hours everyday doing things they enjoy. Maybe they paint miniatures, maybe they work on cars, maybe they Slashdot.
P.S. Yes, alcohol is on both lists. Some are born with a brain chemistry that converts alcohol directly into a highly addictive substance in the brain. Others simply enjoy being drunk and have psychologically addicted. Someone who drowns their sorrows would be psychologically addicted. Someone who picked up their first beer in high school and never put it down is probably physically addicted.
"The more time kids spend on video games, the less time they will have socializing, the less time they will have with their families, the less time they will have exercising," Kraus said. "They can make up academic deficits, but they can't make up the social ones."
Playing a MMORPG can be incredibly social. In fact, one of the reasons that I felt that WoW was so fun. Compared with SWG, WoW seemed to push players to group up to achieve high end content. So I guilded with one of the high-end raiding guilds on my server (not pvp) and learned to play (I didn't have much else to do IRL as I was on medical leave from work. I was well enough to sit at a desk for 3 hours a night and hated tv so a buddy suggested WoW.) At any rate, I made all kinds of game friends, acquaintences, non-fans, romantic interests, etc.
My guild eventually became very competative, kicking people out that didn't meet standards and not letting anyone in--not something I really cared so much for. I did care for playing and progress--not the rewards. I was sick of raiding Onyxia and MC over and over though--boring. We were the only guild of two on the server that could kill that dragon that turned mages into farm animals at the time. (sry, my memory sucks so i can't remember its name, it was long ago.) So I stayed with them to see more content as it opened up.
I was very careful to try to keep all RL details out of the game because of a minor incident in SWG with a pervert. Eventually, though in WoW I gave in and began using teamspeak, on the huge raids. I realized this would give away my gender for sure. I figured I could deal with that, and I did. Using TS made the raids so much easier. My guild main was a rogue with most of the best non-pvp gear you could get at that time. (If you flame me here, accusing me of bragging about having a well geared rogue on a non pvp server then get a life. any WoW person knows its not hard to do this.) The only way to make playing her less boring was to find strategies to out DPS other rogues involving talking to the team. My point is I wasn't thinking that logging into the guild's TS server probably gave away more RL information than I understand because I haven't kept up with network tech. I know these details seem mundane but be patient, I have a point coming soon.
So, I was playing WoW and being very social with these people ingame. I mentioned my main was a rogue. Well everyone had a rogue, so I had some free time in game. Therefore I just sometimes hung out with some friends and did silly things like naked gnome races, the ever popular griefing of the major Horde and Alliance cities by sneaking into them, and trying to find fashion in WoW--something SWG had that WoW didn't. I made alts that made friends with characters that couldn't stand my main trying to figure out why they didn't like her. A good friend IRL that played on the server and I organized a server wide skinny-dip of Alliance NE's in Horde waters. The point is my player and many others were very very social. Many people opened up to me about in private chat about RL stuff that I really think proves this.
WoW became for me a social community just like the sports bar I'd go to with the new hires for the first year every Friday for happy hour. It was similar to the anime club I joined in college where we'd hang out once a week to watch new films and make new friends. The diversity of the community, the guild I was in and the other guilds even reminded me a lot of college intermurals mixed with the after game hanging out socialization at 24-hour diners. (There were no Starbucks when/where I was in college yet, we had nasty coffee.)
My thought exactly. Since I stopped wasting time showering, not only I can play RTCW ET 20 minutes more each day, but I always have room on the bus too. And playing on my PSP is so much more comfortable while sitting.
My girlfriend's 12 year old son is an addict... Well, at least according to the story.
You are absolutely right though, you can't just let the addition tag get slapped on, and ignore him. He can play games in moderation. We've caught him sneaking games. Like, he'll go to bed, but not be asleep. When he's confident that we're asleep, he'll start playing his games again. We've found him at 4am or later playing... The "cure"? I took the video cable from his monitor. He doesn't have a spare. He can play in reasonable amounts.
Oddly enough, he does exhibit some traits of addiction that I've seen in drug addicts. His withdrawal (emotional, not physical, obviously) is very similar. I'm not an addiction expert, I've just dealt with more than enough druggies over the years.
I think by recognizing that it is an addiction, clueless parents will now know (hopefully) that "oh, he's quiet, he's playing his video games STILL" is not always a good thing, especially when STILL is 5 days of no sleep, no showering, and maybe (just maybe) stopping long enough to grab some microwave food and go back to the game.
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At least it doesn't interfere with bathroom breaks.
Well, it hasn't since I had the catheter put in.
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I think somebody else already explained why the traditional catheter must be inserted into the bladder. However, what _you_ are looking for is called a "Texas Catheter" that fits somewhat like a condom. This would be a better solution for enabling video game addition.
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The South Park WoW episode depicts this fact very well....
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Is the AMA turning neocon? (Score:2)
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As for video game addiction, my wife happens to also be a specialist in addiction studies and she was actually one of the first people to write about video game addiction as a disorder back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was not widely-accepted at that point that video game playing could be addictive -- but now that it's becoming generally-accepted to be so, she's feeling vindicated.
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So, I was addicted to surfing? I surfed almost every day from age 8 to 53, spent a lot of money on the sport over the years for the latest design in surfboards, wet-suits etc and hear I thought all the time I was being close to nature, staying fit, meeting and interacting with other people. What a wasted life, huh?
Kudos to the AMA though, god knows they need it.
Oh, been living in the central US for the last nine years and h
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I know health nuts who claim they feel like crap if the don't get their exorcise in the routine they are use to having it. They don't skip eating or going to work in order to exorcise.
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I started EQ just to play with my best friend here and there... after a couple months, I was approached about being an officer in my guild and shortly thereafter, became a raid leader. At that point, I had a dedication to the game and my guild... to top it off, I was completely accepted and thus didn't have to worry about facing the rejection of my peers. The game was a reality (though separate, I never confused the game and real life) for me that allowed me to relax and not be on guard all the time. Soon, I ended up as the guild leader and another officer and I split raid leadership duties. However, as guild leader and co-raid leader, I felt an even larger obligation to be on and helping out. That avoidant part inside me didn't want to let someone down or they might get mad at me (and thus, reject me). Factor in a regular series of personal accomplishments, group accomplishments, raid accomplishments and guild accomplishments and I was getting a regular high from the game.
I ended up playing between 8-14 hours a day and if I wasn't at work or sleeping, I was at least nearby in case something came up that needed my attention. Eventually, I started burning out and felt a need to leave the game because I knew it was taking a negative toll on my life. I couldn't quit, however, because my (then) gf and I had met in the game and we were living on separate coasts so the game was our way of spending time together every day in between flying back and forth. Not long after that, my co-raid leader realized he was in a similar situation to me and wanted to start a family so he quit. When he did, that increased my burden even more. I had to be on all the time, I had to schedule my life around a 3 night/week raid schedule (plus an "optional" 4th night for people wanting to work on their epics... I say optional because it was optional for everyone but me basically. The few times I didn't attend, I was begged and nagged, sometimes for up to a week prior to make sure I was there to help someone in particular out). Along the way, my gf and I broke up (she had a lot of mental problems herself... she left me for another one of our officers, switched servers and joined a hardcore raid guild where it was 6 nights a week mandatory and basically ignored her 4 year old daughter for the next year). With that, my main reason for staying was essentially gone but I still felt an obligation to everyone and was still enjoying the highs from my accomplishments. A few months later, my gf and I got back together and eventually she moved back to my server... at which point, her drama began all over again).
My officers hated my gf for what she had done to us, and especially me, over the course of the prior year... Our biggest problem as a guild was that the hardcore guilds would burn their people out and then proceed to bribe my guild members to leave so they (the hardcores) could sustain their pace rather than looking at self-sustainability. I had a fallout with the officers one night over yet another person leaving over a bribe after getting the last of what he wanted from us. They blamed me when in reality, he was just out to use us. After much fighting over it, I left the guild with my gf and we set out to start a new guild that wouldn't
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The only meaningful difference is the money involved. And even then, between gold farming and monthly fees for WOW, is it really that different?
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People classified as addicts generally aren't able to fund their own treatment.
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, you are right on track with this way of thinking. The DSM regularly accounts for items such as social and economic pressure...certain drugs that 'cured' certain 'illnesses' are pushed by big business, and thus if Big Pharm can get to enough psychologists to vote (and they aren't above paying people off), you get inclusion. It has happened more than once, and it will happen again.
This also works in the social aspects. The biggest example was that the DSM classified homosexuality as a deviance until the mid-70s (err...I think, I never paid much attention to the history aspects of abnormal psych). It was mostly the psychs from the US propped up by conservative Christians (err...one could argue in the 70s, even the liberal christians weren't too willing to go to bat for these people) along with rightwing politicians. Europe had long since stopped calling this a classifiable deviance. And even after it was stricken, there was a LOT of debate over physicians that refused to go by the revised edition because it didn't follow their moral ethics.
So yeah, economic, social and other pressures state what becomes diagnosable. Heck, and sometimes its right...its looking for deviance from the norm. If there are enough people away from the center, even though in another time, another place they'd have been perfectly 'normal' -- it occasionally merits inclusion, so this isn't a bad thing in and of itself. Most of psychology is trying to help folks fit in and understand themselves. Don't want to fit in, not causing any harm to others...then you are perfectly fine! I love my quirks and wouldn't do anything to change them (and all my studies in psychology have proven to me that I'm actually much more normal than most who think I'm some sort of deviant freak!)
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Re:Gambling? (Score:4, Interesting)
The summary talks about comparison with alcoholism, not gambling. Games and Gambling may actually be similar but neither is the same as being addicted to alcohol, heroin or tobacco.
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Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Interesting)
In fact, most 'addictive' drugs can have the same thing said about them. You have to abuse them before you get 'addicted'.
Gaming can also drain someone's bank account. You talk about 'gaming addiction' as if it only applies to World of Warcraft, and the only costs are the $15/month. You completely forget the entire gaming hardware race, and the cost of consoles and other games. And it's not as if you could just drain the account once and be done, no. There are new games released constantly. More than enough to keep someone broke, especially if they've already lost their job to the addiction.
I admit it. I'm addicted to gaming. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. When I can manage to do -nothing- else but play a game, preferably a new exciting one, I'll do it. This means not showering some days, eating quick unhealthy meals, and occasionally skipping work because I just -have- to play that new game.
Do I think I need help? No. I don't even -want- it classified as a disorder that the government will help with. Normal obsessive-compulsive disorder probably covers this well enough anyhow, for those that take it far enough to warrant help.
But don't dismiss this problem simply because you don't have it yourself. And don't make fun of it, either.
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Maybe we need a new 'mental addiction' category... (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, some time in the past we went from requiring these physiological dependencies for a diagnosis of 'addiction' to mere abuse. Mental addictions, if you will.
This is how gambling became to be known as something you could become addicted to. Yes, they can spot changes in brain patterns when a person is gambling, but there's no neurochemicals being introduced or interfered with l
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Funny)
Woooohoooo! Denial, laugh at him! Laugh at the addict! Huhuhu...
Ok I'm sorry about this post but I just can't get the day pass by without insulting someone on the Internet. I don't know what's with that, it's like a little personal mania. Makes me feel better.
And the post number. I had 2300 posts. No: no that they're many posts, but the "23". Anyone ever noticed how everywhere we turn to there's always 23 chasing us? When you notice it, you need to disrupt it as quick as possible, you JUST HAVE TO. So I wanted to make them 2301 posts.
Sometimes I think about this so much I need to drink myself to sleep. Which reminds me, I'm out of smokes. I need to get some on the way back from the casino, but the problem is I never walk out of the casino before I've spent all my money and bet the wife, house and the dog.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
For some people, they'd rather be fishing, or racing, or whatever. I prefer to play video games, and I admit I spend more time and money on it than I really should. I -can- put it down any time I want, but I don't -want- to. When I don't have a good game to play, I'm not as happy, and I get 'bored.' (That's a word meaning I don't want to do anything, since there is -always- some
Cigarettes, Wine, Marihuana, Cocaine, Women (Score:3, Funny)
Cigarettes, Wine, Marihuana, Cocaine, Women. Those are the things that I like the most. When I say I like them, i mean I _really_ like them. And yes, I use all of them daily, sometimes just a little, but I have really abused them, and I'm talking about 40 cigarettes a day, 5 750 ml bottles of wine, 20g of Pot, 10g of Cocaine, And all night, non-sleep, non-stop menage a trua. Just in a day.
To make things worst, my girlfriend likes exactly the same things I do, maybe even more.
An
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Insightful)
People in general have a desire to feel effective within the confines of their world. Players addicted to video games aren't really addicted to video games. They're addicted to being successful. Video games just give them an avenue to feel successful while the rest of their life falls apart.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
False. Gambling is a set of variable ratio reward schedules with an extremely potent reinforcer, money (and later after the rush is established, seratonin etc.) These same reward schedules exist in video games, particularly MMOs, and while they don't have quite as potent a reinforcer as cold cash pouring out of a slot machine, leveling can feel pretty close. However there is more
>>Players addicted to video games aren't really
Agreed (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd have to second this assessment. This behavior and its consequences seem to be exactly the same as what happens to people who put their career first. The person focuses so intensely on his or her job that all oth
Already covered? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Once again the Simpsons have covered it for us in the episode where Marge thinks she drove drunk, and says something to the effect of (about a rehab place):
"I don't this place is working, the drinkers are smoking, the smokers are drinking, and the junkies (I think) are having sex with anything that moves".
It speaks more to general psychological need than a speci
indeed (Score:5, Interesting)
it would be misleading to the point of propaganda to lump videogames and heroin under the same umbrella "addiction". something like heroin actually manipulates the biochemical pathways of reward in the brain. videogames can be extremely pleasurable and habit forming. but to think about how videogames are habit forming with the same terminology as how heroin or cocaine or methamphetamine manipulates your brain chemistry directly is extremely misleading
likewise, i would say a number of other "addictions" are really just trendy bullshit terms in order to decrease the stigma attached to being weak in character. such as "sex addiction" or "gambling addiction"
no: something that manipulates biochemical pathways directly is addiction, something that works on reward pathways via psychological stimulus is habituation
if a psychology wonk begs to differ with my terminology, fine. i may have the exact meaning of the words wrong
but everyone from the casual layman to the hardcore professional needs to understand that something that acts on the brain directly via biochemical manipulation needs another word to describe what it does that a habit forming activity that sucks you in via simple sensory stimulus. there's a simple bifurcation of meaning here that needs to be addressed if indeed my terminology is wrong
there are certainly highs and lows with both habituation/ addiction, and there are plenty of similarities, but the terminology should be different, to address how these habits form
Re: (Score:2)
I can stop whenever I want.
Re:indeed (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Gaming addiction = Gambling addiction (Score:5, Insightful)
If anyone thinks there's a difference between gambling and WoW they just don't understand either....
Re:Gaming addiction = Gambling addiction (Score:4, Funny)
As I recall, the experiment was called "Diablo"
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So if I am addicted to posting on Slashdot (Score:2, Funny)
Having a baby too... (Score:5, Funny)
The Health Care Industry / Gov't would fear this (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Redundant (Score:4, Interesting)
This does remind me of a funny thing I read years ago. It was an article about Internet addction written by a psych professor. The punch line was the link to the online support group. Online support group...for Internet addicts. Isn't that like having an AA meeting at a keg party?
Addicted to anything (Score:5, Insightful)
While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating.
So can watching TV.
Or jacking off
Or mowing the lawn.
This definition is so broad it's useless. Anyone can be addicted to anything. Why the need for special categories?
Virtual shrink... (Score:3, Funny)
If this happens...how long before ADA protection? (Score:3, Insightful)
But, it's a disease!
What you think is silly, is only the logical extent this is carried toward...or perhaps the illogical extent...but the result is often the same; and it won't be long before someone tries what I just mentioned.
It's the behaviour that's harmful, not the games (Score:3, Insightful)
Food is a wonderful thing, yet there are those individuals who's attitudes and behaviors with respect to food are destructive. It's the destructive behavior that's the 'disorder' not the food itself.
Using stimulants like amphetamines to treat certain medical conditions is appropriate. Using them to get high at the cost of your family and career is inappropriate.
Take a look at the DSM IV - the classification book for mental disorders. In order to qualify as a disorder, something usually has to have a significant negative impact on someone's function.
I see no difference between compulsive gaming that affects one's life, and compulsive hair pulling that affects one's life.
It's time to cut the crap already. (Score:3, Insightful)
With physical addiction a substance is introduced into the bloodstream that either makes a direct chemical conversion into a substance the brain forms a dependence on or is already a substance the brain becomes dependent upon. Heroin is a physically addictive substance. Alcohol is another.
With psychological addiction the substance, behavior, or activity is NOT the bad guy, the person is. ANYTHING you enjoy can cause a psychological addiction. When you enjoy an activity your brain rewards itself with addictive substances. It is those addictive substances you then become addicted to. Marijuana addiction, Gambling, Video Game addiction, girl chasing, and thrill-seeking are all examples of psychological addiction. Alcohol is another.
There may be a genetic predisposition to some forms or all forms of addiction.
What difference does it make? It makes a great deal of difference. Beyond the term adrenaline junkie there is no other recognition of the fact that psychological addiction is a broken function of the human brain. Everywhere people want to blame the substance or activities for psychological addictions but the substance or activity is irrelevant, lack of moderation is the reason for addiction. Why would we blame the substance or activity; simply because they were an enjoyable activity our brain failed to moderate? Every time lots of people start getting psychologically addicted to something it might be worth mentioning on the news but it certainly isn't anything new medically. In fact, there are probably millions of undiagnosed addicts who sink hours everyday doing things they enjoy. Maybe they paint miniatures, maybe they work on cars, maybe they Slashdot.
P.S. Yes, alcohol is on both lists. Some are born with a brain chemistry that converts alcohol directly into a highly addictive substance in the brain. Others simply enjoy being drunk and have psychologically addicted. Someone who drowns their sorrows would be psychologically addicted. Someone who picked up their first beer in high school and never put it down is probably physically addicted.
video game addiction and socializing--MMORPGS (Score:3, Interesting)
"The more time kids spend on video games, the less time they will have socializing, the less time they will have with their families, the less time they will have exercising," Kraus said. "They can make up academic deficits, but they can't make up the social ones."
Playing a MMORPG can be incredibly social. In fact, one of the reasons that I felt that WoW was so fun. Compared with SWG, WoW seemed to push players to group up to achieve high end content. So I guilded with one of the high-end raiding guilds on my server (not pvp) and learned to play (I didn't have much else to do IRL as I was on medical leave from work. I was well enough to sit at a desk for 3 hours a night and hated tv so a buddy suggested WoW.) At any rate, I made all kinds of game friends, acquaintences, non-fans, romantic interests, etc.
My guild eventually became very competative, kicking people out that didn't meet standards and not letting anyone in--not something I really cared so much for. I did care for playing and progress--not the rewards. I was sick of raiding Onyxia and MC over and over though--boring. We were the only guild of two on the server that could kill that dragon that turned mages into farm animals at the time. (sry, my memory sucks so i can't remember its name, it was long ago.) So I stayed with them to see more content as it opened up.
I was very careful to try to keep all RL details out of the game because of a minor incident in SWG with a pervert. Eventually, though in WoW I gave in and began using teamspeak, on the huge raids. I realized this would give away my gender for sure. I figured I could deal with that, and I did. Using TS made the raids so much easier. My guild main was a rogue with most of the best non-pvp gear you could get at that time. (If you flame me here, accusing me of bragging about having a well geared rogue on a non pvp server then get a life. any WoW person knows its not hard to do this.) The only way to make playing her less boring was to find strategies to out DPS other rogues involving talking to the team. My point is I wasn't thinking that logging into the guild's TS server probably gave away more RL information than I understand because I haven't kept up with network tech. I know these details seem mundane but be patient, I have a point coming soon.
So, I was playing WoW and being very social with these people ingame. I mentioned my main was a rogue. Well everyone had a rogue, so I had some free time in game. Therefore I just sometimes hung out with some friends and did silly things like naked gnome races, the ever popular griefing of the major Horde and Alliance cities by sneaking into them, and trying to find fashion in WoW--something SWG had that WoW didn't. I made alts that made friends with characters that couldn't stand my main trying to figure out why they didn't like her. A good friend IRL that played on the server and I organized a server wide skinny-dip of Alliance NE's in Horde waters. The point is my player and many others were very very social. Many people opened up to me about in private chat about RL stuff that I really think proves this.
WoW became for me a social community just like the sports bar I'd go to with the new hires for the first year every Friday for happy hour. It was similar to the anime club I joined in college where we'd hang out once a week to watch new films and make new friends. The diversity of the community, the guild I was in and the other guilds even reminded me a lot of college intermurals mixed with the after game hanging out socialization at 24-hour diners. (There were no Starbucks when/where I was in college yet, we had nasty coffee.)
Then my social community disappeared fo
Re:Bah! (Score:4, Funny)
Those scientists are nuts.
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Re:just an excuse for bad parenting. (Score:4, Interesting)
My girlfriend's 12 year old son is an addict... Well, at least according to the story.
You are absolutely right though, you can't just let the addition tag get slapped on, and ignore him. He can play games in moderation. We've caught him sneaking games. Like, he'll go to bed, but not be asleep. When he's confident that we're asleep, he'll start playing his games again. We've found him at 4am or later playing... The "cure"? I took the video cable from his monitor. He doesn't have a spare. He can play in reasonable amounts.
Oddly enough, he does exhibit some traits of addiction that I've seen in drug addicts. His withdrawal (emotional, not physical, obviously) is very similar. I'm not an addiction expert, I've just dealt with more than enough druggies over the years.
I think by recognizing that it is an addiction, clueless parents will now know (hopefully) that "oh, he's quiet, he's playing his video games STILL" is not always a good thing, especially when STILL is 5 days of no sleep, no showering, and maybe (just maybe) stopping long enough to grab some microwave food and go back to the game.
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