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[Column] General: How to Tell You're Addicted to Games

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  • LobotomistLobotomist Member EpicPosts: 5,963

    11. You become depressed when there are no good games to play

    Honestly this is one of the worst symptoms I have noticed in myself. My mood swings related to quality and interest for a games i am playing. If i dont have nothing to play at given period I become depressed.



  • XasapisXasapis Member RarePosts: 6,337

    7 - Might have been an issue when I was new to mmorpgs and the whole social aspect. Not so much these days.

    6 - That would only happen if I was playing in US prime schedule (I'm EU based). Most mmorpgs are region segregated these days with very few exceptions (apart from EVE and TSW I can't think of any other atm).

    5 - Actually mmorpgs are money savers. My steam spending grows bigger when I'm in an mmorpg transition phase.

    4 - That's true for any competitive activity though, won't you say? I'm talking about feeling bad about the loss etc, I've never raged about a loss nor I know of anyone that did.

    3 - Haven't lost my job even on my heavy early Lineage 2 days with 1-3 hours sleep and 10 hours gaming along with 8-10 hours of work. Of course I couldn't keep that up for long, eventually I grew so tired that I switched to more relaxed games.

    2 - I've lost more friends after they got married (what's with all the married people disappear from the radar after the act?) than gaming. Maybe if one day I'll do it myself I'll understand, haha.

    1 - I don't understand this. Games can certainly become an escape, a haven, a place where we can be what we can't be IRL. To actually become reality though? Well, the first Matrix movie could apply, but in that case I wouldn't blame people picking either pill.

     

    Anyway ... why so serious? hehe

  • Sovren1Sovren1 Member Posts: 312
    I'm addicted.  There, I said it.  Whew, now back to my games man.
  • BetaguyBetaguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,627
    I called into work the last two days so I could stay home and play Skyrim V. Was a nice relaxing time...oh and I am deffienently addicted to video games.  I have lost jobs, spouses, money, everything to video games. Hey! I am happy though.
    "The King and the Pawn return to the same box at the end of the game"

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435

    Not too bad, only saw one of those in myself, and it didn't result in my wife leaving me so I guess I'm OK.

    I used to play a lot more back in my early MMO years, but not so much these days, mostly because I traded game playing for 12 hour work days. 

     

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • Zeus.CMZeus.CM Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,788
    I know I'm addicted when gaming becomes priority in life, when you try to adjust your life just so you can play as much as you can.
  • TwiPhoenixTwiPhoenix Aion CorrespondentMember Posts: 19

    and to not let it become our second life

     

    I see what you did there.

     
     
  • EndDreamEndDream Member Posts: 1,152
    I have another gaming problem. I can't get addicted like I used to. =(

    Remember Old School Ultima Online

  • TridianTridian Member UncommonPosts: 273
    Originally posted by Pokket
    Originally posted by LachyFTW
    Dyeing your hair blue could be another one.

    Anime? Maybe this would make sense. Video mames? No.

     

    Punk music. Yes.

    Misfits!!

  • BlessingsBlessings Member Posts: 66
    Originally posted by Betaguy
    I called into work the last two days so I could stay home and play Skyrim V. Was a nice relaxing time...oh and I am deffienently addicted to video games.  I have lost jobs, spouses, money, everything to video games. Hey! I am happy though.

     

    You know, there is varying levels of addiction as well.

     

    1) You can have a very strong attachment to something, not wanting to let it go at the cost of your social life. It can have impacts on varying degrees of your life, but ultimately you still maintain control.

     

    2) Then there are guys like this. You let it control your life, and you prioritize it above all aspects of your life, wherein it starts to affect not only your own, but those around you as well. Your day to day life starts deteriorating, and without some kind of help, you probably wouldn't be able to support yourself. (ie: living with parents)

     

    Number one is merely a lifestyle choice in my opinion. I've long since given up games, but I come here often to scan articles and things because gaming was a large part of my life. And it may one day be again. At least with nuber one you can still be a part of society, even if its a reclusive part.

     

    Number two on the other hand, you are a social outcast. You think only of yourself eventually, most of the time spending your days wallowing in self-pity, the little time you spend not gaming, wondering how you got where you are. You blindly immerse yourself in video games to escape reality, rather than trying to do something to fix it. These kind of people rationalize what they are doing, siting that they could be out doing drugs, or drinking, etc, rather than playing video games, which is "better". What they don't realize, is that their lives are getting destroyed just the same as if they were out doing something illegal. These are the people that need someone to step into their lives and jerk them back to reality.

     

    Why do I know so much? I was #2 for a year and a half until my g/f (who was also a heavy gamer) snapped me back to reality. I still played video games for years afterwards, and it was kind of a gradual downslope as I slowly played them less and less, but eventually I stopped playing completely because I realized something important.

     

    Games are great for entertainment. You can't let entertainment control your life, there is a lot more to life than that. Its fun every now and then, but shouldn't take up the majority of your waking hours.

     

     

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  • SephastusSephastus Member UncommonPosts: 455

    Reality: All activity that causes the release of Dopamine (the body's reward hormone), can become an addiction.

    Wether or not you become addicted depends largely on how reward driven you are. ie, how much dopamine activity is required for continual action.

    How this addiction affects you socially is very dependant on how much the other actions in your life reward you.

  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by halflife25
    Originally posted by Mors.Magne
    Technically, computer games are more of an escapism than an addiction (addiction normally requires a psychoactive drug). Nevertheless, serious consequences are very possible with computer games, so I'm not belittling this issue.

    People are also addicted to gambling. So nope one doesn't need to be on some ^sychoactive drug.

    Gaming addiction is serious issue. I have been through this when i was in college. Now i have much better control of my life and gaming hours.

    With gambling, shopping, etc there IS a psychoactive drug invovled, it is just made inside the body of the addicted individual.

     

    Gaming addicition is a problem if it gets in the way of doing RL work, etc.


  • scrittyscritty Member Posts: 89
    Great - TV is a much bigger addiction than gaming - and TV watching   - even in a crowded room of people - is entirely none interactive. I notice many of those that moan at gamers will watch 6 hours TV a night 7 days a week without blinking an eyelid.
  • SlukjanSlukjan Member UncommonPosts: 265
    Originally posted by dualheart87
    bleh who cares fi your addicted or not. i rather be addicted like i am and live in fantasy than dealing with the problems going around me at home. i just stay in my room all day everyday avoiding my family the fights none stop. and yes i admit im addicted to computer games. i take maybe 3-4 showers a week eat maybe 2-5 days a week play for about 13-39 hours straight. and when i sleep i think bout games i never turn off my computer. when i go to bed i trun on a bot to keep gridning and farming for me. but thats just me i really dont care what people think of me. i can tell you one thing that triggered this change in me. i started getting into games when i found out my fiance was cheating on me and i pretty much went into depression and i am now happily in my little 8x10 room with my 3 computers and my bed and no windows. feels great!!!

     This is the kind of open honesty I can appreciate.  I relate to this guy on several levels.  I got very depressed after I stupidly broke up with my girlfriend and now I shut out the real world almost completely...and it feels good doing it.  I have one friend and the only reason we hang out is because we live in the same house.  I don't go out and socialize, in fact I avoid it at all costs.  I barely call my family to keep in touch.  I have a full time job but I still manage to sleep 12 hours a night.  On the weekends I  have been known to sleep 16-18 hours a day...and that is my preference.  I get pissed when I am denied my hours of sleep...so yea, cheers for being a happy loser.

     Edit: Forgot to mention I live in the basement by choice...there are two empty bedrooms upstairs but I prefer living in a "cave" with no lights.  Am I unhealthy? yes....am I happy? YES so who cares?  All I want to do is play video games, watch tv, and read books.  That's it.
  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461
    Originally posted by Slukjan
    Originally posted by dualheart87
    bleh who cares fi your addicted or not. i rather be addicted like i am and live in fantasy than dealing with the problems going around me at home. i just stay in my room all day everyday avoiding my family the fights none stop. and yes i admit im addicted to computer games. i take maybe 3-4 showers a week eat maybe 2-5 days a week play for about 13-39 hours straight. and when i sleep i think bout games i never turn off my computer. when i go to bed i trun on a bot to keep gridning and farming for me. but thats just me i really dont care what people think of me. i can tell you one thing that triggered this change in me. i started getting into games when i found out my fiance was cheating on me and i pretty much went into depression and i am now happily in my little 8x10 room with my 3 computers and my bed and no windows. feels great!!!

    ...so yea, cheers for being a happy loser...

     

    And to be honest, why should anything else matter?

    If I died doing what made me happy, I would have no regrets.. And one shouldn't.. No matter how many "experts" or "mainstream analyst" tell you how wrong you are..

    If my mom was elderly and ended up getting terminally ill from her smoking habit but refused to stop smoking, who am I to tell her that she's wrong? I would let her be happy till her final day on this Earth and I think we owe that to ourselves as humans for putting up with so much bullsh.. from our fellow human beings our whole lives..

  • darkhalf357xdarkhalf357x Member UncommonPosts: 1,237

    Addicted? Hard to say. I've been gaming since 1977 when I was five years old, never put the controller down.  I pride myself of living through the evolution of gaming from the old school monochrome Telstar Ranger system to the HD console/PC juggernauts of today.  Still enjoying it.

    In college, definitely skipped class to play games but thats because it was easy.  I was able to have a life, travel and succeed at work.  Wasn't until I got married and had kids that I had to slow down somewhat.  Know your limits.

    Nice to know whatever was in me was passed to my son... Its just now he is more advanced than I was at his age.  Wonder where it will take him...

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  • darkhalf357xdarkhalf357x Member UncommonPosts: 1,237
    Originally posted by scritty
    Great - TV is a much bigger addiction than gaming - and TV watching   - even in a crowded room of people - is entirely none interactive. I notice many of those that moan at gamers will watch 6 hours TV a night 7 days a week without blinking an eyelid.
     

    I find TV so bland today.  I think I stopped watching when reality TV started taking over back in the early 2000s or so.  And commericals?  So last century.  Cant do it.   if Im watching TV today Im watching a movie streamed or otherwise.

    image
  • FreezzoFreezzo Member UncommonPosts: 235
    Originally posted by darkhalf357x
    Originally posted by scritty
    Great - TV is a much bigger addiction than gaming - and TV watching   - even in a crowded room of people - is entirely none interactive. I notice many of those that moan at gamers will watch 6 hours TV a night 7 days a week without blinking an eyelid.
     

    I find TV so bland today.  I think I stopped watching when reality TV started taking over back in the early 2000s or so.  And commericals?  So last century.  Cant do it.   if Im watching TV today Im watching a movie streamed or otherwise.

    I watch tons of series, but tbh none on the cable... Only discussions/talkshows (with good topics, not celebrity type stuff... yegh) and the news :)

    "We need men who can dream of things that never were." - John F. Kennedy
    And for MMORPGs ever so true...

  • LeviatanaLeviatana Member Posts: 1
    I don't think anyone is immediatly addicted to this. someone that spents his evening gaming or sitting an evening behind the tellie will make no different impacts. If someone is stuck in life and starts to pretend to be sick from work or not go to school or just generally stops doing anything else besides the basic needs yes it's an addiction or a escape mechanism. Some people will use gaming as a outlet a fantasy world where they can be anything they wanna be so to speak. From that point of view I would say you'll need to be very carefull to thread on this subject cause you might just say something about someone thats completely untrue.
  • AesowhreapAesowhreap Member Posts: 78
    Originally posted by Mors.Magne
    Technically, computer games are more of an escapism than an addiction (addiction normally requires a psychoactive drug). Nevertheless, serious consequences are very possible with computer games, so I'm not belittling this issue.

    Addiction being only to drugs is only when 'addiction' is used in health or mental health vocabulary given to it by the people who started counseling people for 'drug-addiction'. I'm addicted to downloading a game and testing it lately to pass time because I have nothing to do. When you have nothing to it becomes a bit similar to drug addiction because you are already insane from melancholy and foolish bored. If a game takes my friends away and they get the close-knit relationship from it without me idk is that is an addiction or if they are just not, to my side of a friendship. This seems to have happend to me with a few of my friends and WoW.

    Best Regards, ...

  • revslaverevslave Member UncommonPosts: 154

    Members of the Substance Abuse community try not to use the word addict because of the negative connotation.  Additionally within the DSM IV-TR there are effectively two tiers of “Drug Addiction” abuse and dependence.

     

    There are some significant changes in the 5th edition however one being the possible creation of Internet Use Disorder, and the inclusion of Gambling Disorder into the larger section of Substance Abuse and Addictive Disorders.     It would not be a stretch to fit particularly MMO gaming into the prosed criteria of Internet Use Disorder, or to a lesser degree pathological gambling.

     

    What is critical to understand when looking at any addictive behavior is the continued use despite the negative consequences.  

     

     Additionally when it comes to Gambling, winning is not what cause the largest release in neurotransmitters but waiting for the result to happen (ie watching the wheels slow down while playing slots) A simple example of this would be when do you get the greatest emotional response after you kill a raid boss, is it greater when he is dead, when you are waiting on your raid leader to open the chest or if you receive an item?

     

    Regardless if gaming addiction becomes a clinical term or is clinically diagnosable, the question you may want to ask yourself is, what I am giving up to play this game.

     

    Welcome Home 

    Rev

     

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  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,838
    Originally posted by Vyeth
    Originally posted by Slukjan
    Originally posted by dualheart87
    bleh who cares fi your addicted or not. i rather be addicted like i am and live in fantasy than dealing with the problems going around me at home. i just stay in my room all day everyday avoiding my family the fights none stop. and yes i admit im addicted to computer games. i take maybe 3-4 showers a week eat maybe 2-5 days a week play for about 13-39 hours straight. and when i sleep i think bout games i never turn off my computer. when i go to bed i trun on a bot to keep gridning and farming for me. but thats just me i really dont care what people think of me. i can tell you one thing that triggered this change in me. i started getting into games when i found out my fiance was cheating on me and i pretty much went into depression and i am now happily in my little 8x10 room with my 3 computers and my bed and no windows. feels great!!!

    ...so yea, cheers for being a happy loser...

     

    And to be honest, why should anything else matter?

    If I died doing what made me happy, I would have no regrets.. And one shouldn't.. No matter how many "experts" or "mainstream analyst" tell you how wrong you are..

    If my mom was elderly and ended up getting terminally ill from her smoking habit but refused to stop smoking, who am I to tell her that she's wrong? I would let her be happy till her final day on this Earth and I think we owe that to ourselves as humans for putting up with so much bullsh.. from our fellow human beings our whole lives..

    When your young these things make sense. As you get older, not necessarily in age, but in experiences it becomes harder and harder to justify, even though these things may be true in the grand scheme of things.

    "We see fundamentals and we ape in"
  • YellowbearddYellowbeardd Member UncommonPosts: 83
    You make money off of playing a game ? and making blogs about games? I guess if you are an addic might aswell try and make money off of it, it's like selling drugs, first you start using it then you start selling it.
  • faxnadufaxnadu Member UncommonPosts: 940

    playing game is a form o entertainment you chose to entertain yourself it can be books, movies, tv programs etc etc 

    and like in any addiction if you cant stop doing it even if you want to then its out of your control.

    but you dont read a book until you die sameway you sholdnt play a game until you die .

     

    you play aslong as you feel like it and it may somedays be whole frakking day but if you can manage doing that wihout any concequences and you ae having a blast by doing it whos to say you need to stop having your entertainment?

  • wordizwordiz Member Posts: 464
    A sign the industry is in a slump and they need us to take breaks while they figure their sh*t out: This article.
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