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Video Game Addiction
Quothera
Member Posts: 9
Hello!
I was affected by video game addiction for 6 years! I played World of Warcraft for 2 of those years without leaving my house. In the recent years I have over come my addictions and I'm now back at college. I have decided as part of my college course that I will base my report on this subject as it is something I feel needs to be addressed!
It is essential to me that I find 100 people that could take this short two minute survey I created, it consists of only 10 questions. Your response to the questions and your personal identity will be kept confidential. The information collected will not be shared and will be used for my college academic report only. Please complete all questions listed.
I would also appreciate if you could please forward this message to as many of your gamer friends as possible!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5DM8PBY
Your response to this survey is very valuable.
Thank you
Quothera
Comments
Thanks so much guys!
It really does help i have a week to pull this report together
lol. Please note that there is two pages so dont forget to press next ! x thank you
Done.
I would like to add that although now I don't play too much, one could argue that I was addicted before.
Even you, OP, say you have your gaming under control. What seperates games and other addictive substances is the physical addiction. Making it easier to walk away, or grow up and move on if you will, as opposed to having to go to detox.
World of Warcraft is the original creation of God. Real Life is in fact a WoW clone.
I haven't smoked for 6 days today, I feel like killing someone...
If someone took my computer for 6 days or more, I might be slightly annoyed, but I'd just find something else to do.
Congratulations for quitting smoking. I quit 15 years ago. It was 4 days of a living nightmare and then I was no longer physically addicted. However, I kept automatically reaching for cigarettes in my shirt pocket that were no longer there. That lasted for 6 months, as did the smoking dreams.
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
Thanks.
I have the same thing!... It's not as bad as the fist couple of days, I'd reach for them every 10 min... now it's like 5 times per day.
The dreams I haven't had, not that I can remember anyway.
Done. Hope this helps
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
i ve a strange addiction too. i am addicted to find a new great game which draws me in like my first mmos did.
i am more around in forums than playing games now. doesnt make any sense, but i am still looking for that game again. thats some kind of addiction i guess :-)
OP, let me start by saying congrats on your recovery and your start in the field of psychology/mental health. I'm currently a fully licensed mental health practitioner so I thought I would share a few points with you. Sorry if I come across as too critical, but hopefully you're receptive to the feedback.
There is no such thing as video game addiction. Addiction and dependence are defined in both mental and physical health in the ICD 10 and the DSM IV TR (soon DSM V). There's simply no mention of anything like that. Gambling, the closest thing to "video game addiction" that's found in these manuals, is also not considered an addiction. It's an impulse control disorder. A person that has difficulty regulating their behaviors may share some similarities to an addict but they are not the same by any means.
Gambling, video games, eating, etc. these are behavioral problems that are explained through behavioral concepts (Classical and Operant conditioning). Video games provide some form of reinforcement (be it positive or negative) to an individual and therefore he/she wants to play more. If the reinforcement they get from gaming is greater than that from other sources then most likely this will become their predominant activity. Attempting to relate them to addicts actually does more harm than good.
Alternatively, those that suffer from other forms of mental illness, like depression and anxiety for example, may isolate themselves socially, become shut ins, and play video games all day long. No offense intended but based on the description in your OP this sounds like it may have been the case with you.
Both the behavioral explanation and correlation with underlying mental health issues suggests that video game addiction is simply a red herring and a waste of time for investigation. The reality is you need to either deal with it like any other behavioral problem (which we have known how to do for 60-70+ years already) or you need to deal with the underlying mental health issues (therapy and/or medication).
Steam: Neph
Yes, I am not unfamiliar with this... I recently gave a presentation on video games and conditioning. Your post is exactly what I'm arguing against. Whether people like to agree or not or whether you want to call it compulsion or addiction. Help still needs to given to people that are suffering at the cause of gaming, it must be recognised. But anyway...that is not my job, I just need data for my report.
Thank you to all the people that have completed my short survey! Keep them coming guys! I highly value your participation thank you so much
Quothera
x
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
I think you're wrong though. You're basically saying the target of treatment should be the videogame playing behavior when I'm really saying that is more likely a symptom of the illness rather than the illness itself. For example, if you treated the "videogame addicts" major depressive disorder you would cure the "videogame addiction" at the same time. Otherwise you will waste all your time trying to stop them from playing videogames when they're only engaging in that behavior because they're depressed, anxious, agorophobic, etc. I'm telling you this based on a lot of experience, but I won't list all my credentials to be a smartass.
The behavioral model is a possible explanation but really isn't sufficient to explain the pattern you're witnessing.
*Sorry for the assumption that you're studying psych. Regardless of your field best of luck to you now and into the future!
Steam: Neph
I hope the means for your procrastination do not involve swords and elves.
This, pretty much. Video game addiction is a symptom and not disease per se. If you treat the symptom without treating the underlying condition then you'll be simply replacing video games with some other dopamine-releasing mechanism of escape.
Seeking pleasure is human nature. Now why some seek it to the point of neglecting everything else and adversely affecting their life comes down to physiological and social factors. Video games are not cocaine, you can force a bunch of people to play video games for any lenght of time and I gurantee you many of them will not be "addicted" anymore than they would be to sex after being forced to have sex for any lenght of time.
The truth is that playing video games is an enjoyable activity such as is sex or any other activity that triggers dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. The reason why some people respond differently to this reward pathway (i.e. why some become addicted or neglectful) comes down to specific biological and social factors.
Unless of course, you want to prove that dopamine can be addicting. In which case, yes it is and is working as intended. Pinning it on video games is the proverbial case of shooting the messenger.
Remember, correlation =/= causation. Just because 2 million people choose to neglect their life by playing WoW doesn't mean WoW it's the cause. If you want a more thorough analysis, your survey needs to look at other factors that these people might share which could lead to this behavior. I gurantee you'll find a lot more commonalities between them than just obessively playing video games.
Your next step will then be to show that it is the video games and not these other factors that are causing the dependancy.
Damn good point man.
How did this thread show up as current activity but it is from March 5 and last psot was Mar 5th ?
I lol@myself for doing it considering it is no longer relevant,he needed it done by 12th of March.
This thread should be locked.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
5/3/2013 in US means May 3rd, 2013.
Get your European ass out of here
Unless of course, you're trolling. In which case, you got me sir.
I'm also a fully licenced mental professional with a background of working in both substance addictions and behavioural disorders such as gambling, eating disorders etc, and to me the statement that "there is no such thing as video game addiction" seems disingenuous at best. As you probably know, there's a great deal of ongoing debate and controversy as to whether or not it deserves to be a distinct disorder in its own right, and there is the intention to add "Internet Use Disorder" (admittedly a broader condition) as a condition requiring further study to the DSM-V. So yes, there is no explicit DSM diagnosis called "video game addiction" but it's widely acknowledged by some mental health professionals and in large bodies of research as being potentially a distinct disorder - albeit perhaps more akin to an impulse control disorder than substance addictions, but then there is also quite a bit of research demonstrating similar neurological changes and responses to stimuli in video game "addicts" and substance addicts.
Having worked with both substance addicts and those with behavioural compulsions in the past, my own experience suggests that there is significant parallels between the two - both could be seen as symptomatic of other underlying disorders (how often do you come across substance addicts without other mental health problems? At least in our country, not often), and in both cases, underlying mental health problems appear to be exacerbated by the use of substances or compulsive behaviours. I'm well aware that my experience as a health practitioner will differ from other people's experiences, so it seems important to me to acknowledge that the mental health profession as a whole has not been able to reach a consensus on this issue.
Further, the DSM is notoriously conservative and each new edition ends up being the best that those involved in creating it could agree upon at the time - which means that for any given diagnosis contained therein, there were probably a number of reputable and thoughtful professionals involved in creating it who did not agree with those particular terms - rarely does anything in the DSM represent a total consensus of professional opinion, but is rather an agreed upon standard to aid communication of diagnoses between professionals. Accordingly, the DSM is always (and appropriately) behind the latest advances in mental health research, and so should be treated as such when it comes to emerging mental health concerns - at least in my opinion.
It is Miss not Sir
haha but thank you. I soon have 100 respondents! Thanks a lot! I hope you wouldn't mind if I decide to quote some of your post feedback I would be grateful.
Quothera