Well they are, but not about addiction, more about too much violence and sex. Though this is probably why people are so addicted, because they can get away with whatever. Oh...and it's also about being the best....a human desire. That's how MMORPGs are anyway. You go there, you level up for 1000+ hours just to max out your stats. And what is it? Just a bunch of useless numbers in a database.

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Original post by lightblade "In a study of approximately 4,000 EverQuest (EQ) players, over half (62 percent) said they would consider themselves addicted to EQ (Yee, 2001)."

Ask how many chocolate eaters say they would consider themselves "addicted to chocolate". Context is important.

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"They found that more of the neurotransmitter dopamine was produced while they were playing." (depamine is a neurotransmitter related to addiction) http://www.hammersmithresearch.com/specialty/article.asp?Specialty=Brain&art_id=101

You might want to look up what dopamine is. Dopamine production increases in a lot more situations than just "doing addictive stuff".

It's not a question of whether game addiction "exists". Of course it does. People have formed psychological addictions to much more trivial things, after all. The question is whether imposed regulation of video games is the most appropriate way to combat game addiction. And given the lack of any reasonable evidence suggesting that game addiction is at all common, I'd say that's a pretty clear "no" now.

I think that Nick Yee at The Daedalus Project has the right view. (here)
From the report:

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If someone dies while watching TV, that is not newsworthy. If someone dies on a golf course, you can bet that you won’t see it on the 7 o’clock news. But every time someone dies when they’re playing online games, it will be all over the news. We treat the Internet and online gaming as if no other media forms or leisure activities exist. On average, people watch 25-30 hours of TV a week, yet we seldom question whether people watch too much TV these days. But is that because TV has become a socially acceptable “addiction” that everyone is guilty of?

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Original post by Servant of the Lord Quote: Original post by lightblade Here is something to reinforce my statement "In a study of approximately 4,000 EverQuest (EQ) players, over half (62 percent) said they would consider themselves addicted to EQ (Yee, 2001)." Quoted from this page http://www.mediafamily.org/research/report_vgrc_2002-2.shtml 62% is not a small number, and I'm sure this percentage is higher for WoW Depends on who took the survey. There could be five thousand players on a certain game and if you post a survey and only thousand answer, but they all answer they're addicted that doesn't mean 100% of the players are addicted. But, granted, online games are addicting. Espesicaily in china, it seeems.

Did you ever took statistics? It's a study and not a survey, it's different.

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Original post by lightblade Did you ever took statistics? It's a study and not a survey, it's different.

It's not a study if you ask them if they're addicted. A study would involve actual rigorous and credible procedures.

[Edited by - Promit on February 22, 2006 11:12:57 PM]

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Original post by lightblade Did you ever took statistics? It's a study and not a survey, it's different.

Actually, it might benefit you to read the study yourself. The study employed snowball sampling, and does not (in my opinion) meet the necessary burden of proof that no sampling bias exists.

[Edited by - Sneftel on February 22, 2006 11:13:02 PM]

Especially since the study seems to be on the behalf of Media and the Family...

Let's look at it this way: there are some psychiatists who will prescribe Wellbutrin for a "shopping addiction."

Sure, you can get addicted to games as you can get addicted to shopping. The thing that pisses me off is that an "addiction" voids all question of responsibility.

Shopping, games, and winning a bowling game all trigger dopamine flows (as much as I hate to use thier terminology, but yeah).

But I've yet to see a study that says people are psyically addicted to games or shopping or bowling, although they might be in the broadest neurochemical sense.

But is isn't heroin or tobacco.

The government won't regulate it, or else they'd be forced to regulate all reward-mechanism addictions. And you know with our current SC justices that isn't happening. (Thank God!)

Relax. You, and they, still have RESPONSIBILITY.

[Edited by - abstractimmersion on February 23, 2006 2:32:37 AM]

While gaming MAY be addictive, it is definitely nowhere as harmful as heroin or cocaine.

A person I know smoked heroine (yes, you can do that) just once, and was unable to think of *anything* else she'd like for more than two weeks. It was hell, a totally different kind of desire than a World of Warcraft "junkie"'s desire to play ASAP when they get home from school.

Addiction to a drug means you consume a poisonous substance (we germans call drugs 'Rauschgift', which means 'inebriation toxin') because you will feel absolutely horrible without it, for prolonged periods of time. you will be in pain when suffering from withdrawal. The worst withdrawal effects with regard to gaming (role play in my case) I've noticed were slight nausea and claustrophobia. Ebbed off after less than a day.

Games are not toxic. You are more likely to die of bacon (cardiovascular diseases and all) than to die of computer gaming.


The dopamine arguments are bulshit, as serotonin, noradrenalin and dopamin are three of the prime neurotransmitters in our brain. They're always there, and each has a plethora of important roles. One of dopamin's roles is related to fun and enjoyment. This is why cocaine, a strong dopamin reuptake inhibitor, justs as the infamous Ritalin (also dopamin reuptake inhibitors) raise the levels of dopamin in (there is no "flow") present in your synaptic gaps by causing it to get reabsorbed more slowly. This means, in the case of cocaine, that your impressions and emotions related to "energy" are increased hundredfold. Ritalin's effects, on the other hand, are slightly sedating (probably because the nerve system doesn't need 'action' to keep itself busy).

All reactionary BS. Games will not be banned because they're addictive. Some should be banned because of content, or even bad (as in: patch required) quality for ridiculous prices, but not because they're addictive.

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Original post by Thygrrr While gaming MAY be addictive, it is definitely nowhere as harmful as heroin or cocaine. A person I know smoked heroine (yes, you can do that) just once, and was unable to think of *anything* else she'd like for more than two weeks. It was hell, a totally different kind of desire than a World of Warcraft "junkie"'s desire to play ASAP when they get home from school. Addiction to a drug means you consume a poisonous substance ...

It reminds me of when I first played Tetris on school computer. "just once, and was unable to think of *anything* else she'd like for more than two weeks. It was hell, a totally different kind of desire"

I also remember on that year, I used playing machines, and blasted out school. (I bought computer, because it was cheaper, and I was able to write books.)

And if I remember on my actions in last few days... (What week is today? Well I payed all rent and phone bills and send proof I payed bills from January in January, so it doesn't mater.) I'm lucky I'm a game developer.

Then again these rules would apply also on computer game addiction.
1. people need to work hard on theirs addiction to become addicted.
2. person should choose narcoticum they could live long / forever with.
3. people should choose narcoticums only as much expensive they could pay the rent.

(And of course one additional rule. "If I will not take it for long time (more than 2-3 months) it will taste nearly as beautifully as when I took it first time.") You doesn't need to use it for computer games, because withdrawal syndroms are rather mild. Two weeks without computer/TV and you are ... ... bored to oblivion, and starting to HATE all homework and animals in 0.5 km radius.
^_^

I very doubt, if hardware will not change, computer game addiction would be before alcoholism in amount of serious cases.

In fact greater problems could be hand damage, eye strain, and few types of psychical/psychiatrical problems. When I think about it, the same problems (at least physical) could happen in a normal job more easily and severally.

--

He knows girl that smoked dimorfine. Dopamine. Are you studying on a medical school? I listened about medical students, they have so much to learn, so they are forced to dope themseves up to ears just to be able to sucessfully finish the university. They knows what to use, and they have easier access to these devices. (Of course there are problems like surprise withdrawal just in the middle of a test...) ~_^