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WoW is a great game if you can balance your time spent on it. As with anything in life...
As for games being potentially addictive, I dont think there's anything to argue there. Some people are more vulnerable, same as some people are more prone to alcoolism. There's no need for an external chemical source, the brain builds itself a reward system. Maybe the fault lies in the person rather than the product, but then all those companies doing market research usually try to target these vulnerabilities.
Naysayers needs to read about neuroscience a bit more, should be common knowledge by now.
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I'm rather torn on this subject. I was a hardcore WoW player in high school and, while I still play on occasion, college took over my life pretty much within the first month of attending. Not social partying life, but just doing my work and getting good grades. Part of me wishes I could play tons of games and get good grades, but I know that's just not possible, and so I made my choice. (I -just- got out of philosophy class, so if this sounds very much like Sartre, then that's why). And the reality is, those people made their choice. I don't really mind that they chose to do that, maybe 21 hours a day is a bit much, I'd like to think of them as the people who prefer to game over advancing in a career. And I don't think there's really anything wrong with that.
If they ARE playing 21 hours a day then they have bigger problems. But it's not video games fault. There is a possibility that they could have become engrossed by something else, like gambling. Instead, they're on video games. These people need help, and not "stop playing video games forever" help. They need time management help, and help finding a lifestyle that satisfies them. Video games can be a part of that, but I think everyone can agree that there needs to be something else in a person's life. Focusing on JUST one thing I think is a problem. I'd say the same thing to a CEO who works 21 hours a day as I would to a person who plays video games 21 hours a day. What that is? I dunno, but the point is fixation on just one thing for most of, or all of your time is a problem.
Going through high school, WoW was pretty much the only thing that made me feel good about myself. Top DPS with my gnome rogue, having people be friendly to me, and feeling overall useful. Nowadays, I replaced WoW with getting good grades and feeling good about knowing a lot of chemistry and physics. But the feeling hasn't changed, I get that feeling "Man, I'm awesome" when I get a good grade, or get top DPS on a boss, or win a close Starcraft match. I think the people who are "addicted" to video games just need to find another activity, along with video games, that give them that feeling.
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Almost everything can be an addiction. Usually its enjoyable things, like drugs, gambling, buying things, sex etc. I don't really think there is anything interesting about this. Parent your children and live a balanced life. /thread
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On December 03 2010 08:03 clementdudu wrote:
Play sc/wow 20h/day
Find a gf/sports team
Stop video games
Do heroin for 3 years
Find a gf/hobby
Sell her/it for more heroin.
pretty hilarious. However I'd never sell my videogame following for some sport... bleh. E-sports > MMA > everything else.
I believe videogames can be addictive just like almost everything fucking else at some point it takes personal responsibility/parenting. I do not believe further regulation of videogames is necessary.
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Kids cannot drop out of school in the United States without parental consent, so that kid was doomed from the start for having terrible parents.
Dunno what England does about this sort of thing :/
Addiction to video games isn't as bad as say heroin though.
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yes. video games are addicting. it can really eff up a person's life. big time. i remember cases of kids dying from playing too much wow in pc cafes because they forgot to eat or whatever. gaming is so easy to get addicted to because we don't need to put much effort into playing games. you literally sit down, put your right hand on your mouse, left on the keyboard or both on a controller and bam! you can go at it for hours and would think only 5 minutes passed. I used to play FPS games like 6 hours a day after school in middle school but stopped once i started playing football. I played like 6 hours a day when sc2 beta came out but had to stop because i got part time job. You set your entire mind on what you're playing and thats why its addicting. You get your pleasure from playing and people are addicted to that pleasure of playing games. Recently, I've found myself addicted to making hip hop beats and just the other day, i literally sat at my computer and midi controller for 13 hours working on 5 different beats.
A lot of older people think gaming is bad is because they don't see the results. When we play games for hours, we say how we ranked up from D+ to C- or from platinum to diamond or whatever. People who don't play look at what we're doing and are like "Oh, they're just wasting their time, not doing anything productive". Playing games doesn't really make you better off at anything other than being good at that game. People just don't see playing games as a productive activity. They would rather see this generation study or go outside or play some sport. People don't generally hate on those who are addicted to studying because they know thats a productive activity. They don't hate when a guy/girl is playing basketball all day because that kid might end up becoming the next Lisa Leslie or Michael Jordan. They look at games and theres nothing at the end of the horizon (except in korea where you can make six figures playing sc). They don't see the viability of games as a stable future. Even when you play basketball and might not be good, people are like, well, he's getting exercise and thats productive. Gaming is still not widely accepted as productive. People will stop saying gaming isn't addictive when we see sc2 on TV on a daily basis. That might be when this generation has their kids and we might even encourage our kids to play sc2 or sc3 whatever the game will be.
oh crap this was long post...
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Video games is an escape from reality or just the very nature of your life. You could do that in various other "recreational" activities that are deemed OKAY by society. Sure limit the amount a child plays thats called teaching them restraint, otherwise play as much as you want. If you let it overwhelm you don't play the game blame yourself as this would have happened with any hobby you did in your spare time. I've seen people throw there life away because of a gym addiction, sure it may seem like it's better but if you forsake everything and everyone else in your life for it same shit different pile.
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I have a co-worker who's marriage went from relatively happy to the brink of divorce very quickly because of World of Warcraft.
I don't think everyone is prone to it, but some games do try to trick your mind into thinking you've actually accomplished something, making it very important to you, when you are supposed to be just having fun.
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People need to stop throwing the goddam 'A' word around like it's that simple. Can video games if obsessed over damage your life and prospect? Obviously, the same way most leasuirely activities can.
However, anyone who's ever known anyone with a proper addiction should really find the comparison insulting. Being stupid and throwing your life away to play WoW is just that, stupid. Starcraft 2 doesn't give you the DTs the way alcohol does (it gives them in a different way  ) WoW does not leave people shaking in a pool of their own vomit when they quit, or hallucinating and wanting to off themselves the way hard drugs do.
Psychological addiction is not physical addiction, and somehow psychological addiction seems to have achieved the same social boogie man status that physical addiction has, which is absolutely a load of bollocks. Psychological addiction is simply a personality flaw.
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Nothing is "addictive". There are only weak personalities that add value to trivial things.
For instance if you are fat you are surely addicted to food. Is "food" in itself addicted? No. Does your organism produce endorphins (the enzyme that makes you feel "elevated") while you are eating? Yes.
So anyone with decent logic will conclude that this whole paranoia of "addictive" things. is implying that everything that makes us feel "good" is addictive (drugs, food, games). That is so wrong.
I once had 120kg and was addicted to food (now i am around ~65kg). Do i blame the food for being addictive? Hell no, i was nerdy boy that beating his friends at RTS and passing all subjects in high school with A's were my only goals. Food was a short-cut to get the endorphins going.
Then my latest addiction was cigarettes. I smoked one pack a day, for like 2 years. Now i can't stand the smell of cigarettes. Are cigarettes addictive? Hell no, i can't stand them now. My first aversion toward cigarettes and the smoke, has returned.
Will power guys... practice it.
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Video games are not physically addictive like cocaine, they could be psychologically addictive but anything can be. You could be addicted to stacking chairs or watching movies in the same sense. You can be "addicted" to anything you like. I think people who have habits of binge gaming do it because they have other problems not because they have a gaming problem. Its pretty much what scap was saying, people have problems so they habitually do something they like to forget about their problems or because it makes them feel good. They just need help finding whats wrong with their lives, and they need to learn self control. "just stop gaming" is not a good solution either. not doing what you like is not self control, doing what you like in moderation is. Unless you like cocaine, then you probably should stop
You can really see this in anyone, whenever i am frustrated i tend to log on to WoW for longer periods of time and spend lots of time on each of my characters. Whenever i am having a great week i tend to play on only one character that week and just do other stuff instead of playing on my alts.
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On December 03 2010 07:53 muse5187 wrote:Show nested quote +On December 03 2010 07:49 unoriginalname wrote:Not sure where to put this since I guess this is only watchable by the UK people, but there is a Panorama program regarding addiction to gaming. I also used search and found a lot of blog posts and closed threads, so perhaps the closed part answers the consensus of Team Liquid on the matter. For people outside the UK, the BBC program Panorama is usually a very accurate portrayal of what ever they decide to investigate (be it corruption or Scientology and so on), this is because they have no reason to add bias, so when I read the quote below, it seems they've already reached a consensus that gaming is an addiction. There is the quote regarding it: As pester power kicks in and the computer games' industry launches its latest products on to the Christmas market, Panorama hears from youngsters who've dropped out of school and university to play games for anything up to 21 hours a day. They describe their obsessive gaming as an addiction. Reporter Raphael Rowe, meets leading experts calling for more independent research into this controversial subject, and reveals the hidden psychological devices in games that are designed to keep us coming back for more. So does Team Liquid think games are addictive and should there be preventatives in place to stop children getting so addicted they drop out of school? Yes I think games are addictive. I also think preventatives are called parents.
It won't help when the next generation will be "parents" that are addicted to gaming as well, I think you need well informed guardians to prevent gaming turning into an addiction.
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I'm interested in gaming and playing them is my way of pursuing that interest. I guess in a way I am addicted to pursuing my interests. It definitely interferes with my life. If I wasn't so addicted to pursuing what I was interested in, I might be writing articles dissuading people from enjoying and being passionate about one of the largest industries in the world.
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Ive got problems discussing any subject these days, im not trying to steal the thread, I just have to explain the bases upon why I think they way i do. Help me out here, if our purpose here is to perpetuate life, which is pretty much the only real morally right thing to do, then all decisions should directly or indirectly follow this rule. If our current way of life works against the continuation of life, then its path should be changed or destroyed.
Should there be preventatives in place to stop children getting so addicted they drop out of school?
IMO the Answser: Yes. Why? Because more stupid rules facilitate change. The more unecessary tightning of the noose, the more it enforces change or rebellion.
Knowing if advocating against addictive mmo`s and gaming in our society is the right thing to do, should be decided based upon 2 underlaying things
1. Does our Society perpetuate life?
2. Does gaming perpetuate society?
Imo, the answer:
1. No. if u think our society perpetuate life, then Id either call u a economist or a moron. Our way of life is not sustainable, and its just a mather of time before we are forced to change. Our cities are cancer infected upon mother earth smelly head, our economy tailored for the few psychotic. From a coward perspective we have come so far, but we endanger our future for a moment of lesuire and safety. We as a species are meth heads whos started losing teeth without accepting the problem. And im not better then anyone else.
2. Yes. Gaming in general pacifies people making them more managable, who would wanna start a rebelion when ur 5 rep from getting a +5 childmolestingdragonsteel epicsword of awsomeness?!
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Games are much more addictive these days. There are always lures to keep players involved longer than they would be otherwise. The worst are achievements. Another dumb one is prestiging in modern warfare, I genuinely do not understand what the purpose of it is other than to consume your time.
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On December 03 2010 14:31 gravethrasher wrote:
Ive got problems discussing any subject these days, im not trying to steal the thread, I just have to explain the bases upon why I think they way i do. Help me out here, if our purpose here is to perpetuate life, which is pretty much the only real morally right thing to do, then all decisions should directly or indirectly follow this rule. If our current way of life works against the continuation of life, then its path should be changed or destroyed.
Should there be preventatives in place to stop children getting so addicted they drop out of school?
IMO the Answser: Yes. Why? Because more stupid rules facilitate change. The more unecessary tightning of the noose, the more it enforces change or rebellion.
Knowing if advocating against addictive mmo`s and gaming in our society is the right thing to do, should be decided based upon 2 underlaying things
1. Does our Society perpetuate life?
2. Does gaming perpetuate society?
Imo, the answer:
1. No. if u think our society perpetuate life, then Id either call u a economist or a moron. Our way of life is not sustainable, and its just a mather of time before we are forced to change. Our cities are cancer infected upon mother earth smelly head, our economy tailored for the few psychotic. From a coward perspective we have come so far, but we endanger our future for a moment of lesuire and safety. We as a species are meth heads whos started losing teeth without accepting the problem. And im not better then anyone else.
2. Yes. Gaming in general pacifies people making them more managable, who would wanna start a rebelion when ur 5 rep from getting a +5 childmolestingdragonsteel epicsword of awsomeness?!
Gaming for pacification give me a break. If someone wants to rebel how would WoW stop them?
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On December 03 2010 07:53 muse5187 wrote:
Yes I think games are addictive. I also think preventatives are called parents.
I'd have to say hole in one.
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On December 03 2010 11:16 Usurper wrote:
Nothing is "addictive". There are only weak personalities that add value to trivial things.
For instance if you are fat you are surely addicted to food. Is "food" in itself addicted? No. Does your organism produce endorphins (the enzyme that makes you feel "elevated") while you are eating? Yes.
So anyone with decent logic will conclude that this whole paranoia of "addictive" things. is implying that everything that makes us feel "good" is addictive (drugs, food, games). That is so wrong.
I once had 120kg and was addicted to food (now i am around ~65kg). Do i blame the food for being addictive? Hell no, i was nerdy boy that beating his friends at RTS and passing all subjects in high school with A's were my only goals. Food was a short-cut to get the endorphins going.
Then my latest addiction was cigarettes. I smoked one pack a day, for like 2 years. Now i can't stand the smell of cigarettes. Are cigarettes addictive? Hell no, i can't stand them now. My first aversion toward cigarettes and the smoke, has returned.
Will power guys... practice it.
only half true.
addiction to stuff like food is made by the human. a person does X as a replacement of Y or cause of feeling bad or whatever.
addiction to stuff like cigs,cocain or whatever are induced by the substance. and some substances have quite harsh physical withdrawal syntomes which again has zero to do with the person or "willpower" or whatever.
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Anything can be addictive...including eating cheese...
If you don't think games have designed qualities to keep you coming back for more then you are naive...
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EPT
