Video Game Addiction

[Jaime]

[quote name='fides' Jack' timestamp='1342892173' post='2457586']
I received this link in my email:

[url="http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/restoring-our-culture/video-games-addiction-suicide.html"]http://www.tfpstuden...on-suicide.html[/url]

I really don't want to turn this one into a debate - so let's not even go there.

I just found it interesting to read about this side of gaming. I don't agree entirely with the article, but I agreed enough to read the whole thing. I agree with the author that people, and kids especially, spend way too much time gaming. I didn't know that it could lead to something as serious as suicide - I guess everything will affect everyone differently.

So - everything in moderation. But I think it's good to be reminded of the dangers that we often overlook.
[/quote]

When Everquest first came out, Someone actually auctioned off a one of a kind hammer. The person who bid the most would meet the guy somewhere in Everquest land and he would hand it off to the winner. The winning bid was $5000

For an ax that did not exist

[fides' Jack]

[quote name='To Jesus Through Mary' timestamp='1342894371' post='2457595']
But how the article was written, it would appear they are trying to draw a correlation between his death and gaming. It is a stretch. It was tragic, indeed. But you are right, far to little information given in a Q & A to really say other then with the information provided it would seem that his death and gaming had little or no connection.
[/quote]

Too true. God rest his soul.

[quote name='arfink' timestamp='1342899137' post='2457616']
My take, as an occasional gamer, is that games are a lot like alcohol- there are legitimate uses, and they can be a very good or very bad thing depending on the person's motives.

Funny how things that can be very good also seem to be the only ones that have the potential to be very bad. Like sex. Or death.

The problem is that games can help to fill some human needs, needs which for many people cannot be otherwise met. Just a quick list:

1- At the nursing home I worked at they would play Wii bowling because they couldn't really go out anywhere and have fun very often. The seniors loved it, and it really helped them.

2- Games can tell a story in perhaps the most pointed way imaginable. I played Spec Ops: The Line, and it cut me to the core. Think about reading books like "Heart of Darkness," but it's a video game. Vicarious experience has a real place in human life, and a video game can be an extremely powerful tool for story telling.

3- Games can help to build friendships. Anyone who has spent time thinking about this knows that wasting time with someone is one of the best ways to build a friendship. Some of my closest and most intimate friendships got their start playing videogames. It brought us together to compete in that way, and although the games are not necessary for our friendship (some of us hardly play them together anymore) they were still quite good.

Obviously games can be abused, but they can be used as a powerful agent of good. I have seen glimmers of this in the industry at large, but we don't have enough Catholics working in there, don't have enough influence. We need to get in there and get to work!
[/quote]

Some good points in here...

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1342924113' post='2457721']
I won't pass any judgements on what media others use for recreation, but for me, it seems like such a waste to spend time, energy, and brain power on video games when I could spend that time reading/learning or developing other (what I would call practical) skills - practicing, in my case. Though, I suppose we all have our guilty, mindless pleasures. I have watched the entire run of The Office at least 25 times.
[/quote]

Who hasn't?

[quote name='jaime' timestamp='1343023726' post='2458031']
When Everquest first came out, Someone actually auctioned off a one of a kind hammer. The person who bid the most would meet the guy somewhere in Everquest land and he would hand it off to the winner. The winning bid was $5000

For an ax that did not exist
[/quote]

Oooh! Owned!

[Hubertus]

[quote name='jaime' timestamp='1343023726' post='2458031']
When Everquest first came out, Someone actually auctioned off a one of a kind hammer. The person who bid the most would meet the guy somewhere in Everquest land and he would hand it off to the winner. The winning bid was $5000

For an ax that did not exist
[/quote] Given the amount of hours, subscription fees, server transfer fees, character faction change fees, etc. that I've seen people put into World of Warcraft, I'm not surprised.

[BG45]

Seems to be trying to draw a correlation, as previously said. However, that happens with any addiction and withdrawal, that people can end up doing terrible things. I do know one guy who is definitely addicted to Minecraft. I went on last night, "I got the Cathedral finished". He teleports me over to this massive church that hadn't existed the last time I was on the server.
"B. when did you make this?"
"Oh well I went to work, but otherwise I've spent the last 27 hours on it thanks to a lot of red bull lol. Gonna go to bed now."


[quote name='jaime' timestamp='1343023726' post='2458031']
When Everquest first came out, Someone actually auctioned off a one of a kind hammer. The person who bid the most would meet the guy somewhere in Everquest land and he would hand it off to the winner. The winning bid was $5000

For an ax that did not exist
[/quote]

I will see your axe and raise you what I was reading once about Eve Online. There's an entire virtual economy within the virtual economy of rare items produced by one company that has a no refunds policy where you have to buy them with real money. When you destroy a ship in the game, there's a 2% chance (or something) that you can get the cargo. One raid on the company's ships cost over ten thousand dollars in real USD in cargo.

[brianthephysicist]

So much of that article resonates with my experience. It truly is addicting if you're not careful. I crossed that line of being compelled to play and one of my close friends had the courage to tell me soon after and then help me 'detox'. It physically hurt me for about a month and a half, then it was just mental and emotional. I was certainly very lucky that I was helped before it was too late. Somebody up there was paying very close attention and protected me. I can now play games casually again, although there are certain games I will never touch again and I do keep an eye on how much I play.

[Slappo]

I <3 video games, but they definitely have to be in moderation and [b]in moderation according to your state in life. [/b]As a married person I still find time to play video games for half an hour to an hour most days. It's my way of relaxing by myself, and it's usually done when the baby is asleep, or with mommy shopping or running errands. Priorities first though. Wife and kids, prayer, career, school work etc... those all come way ahead of personal entertainment like video games.

I'm sure I could probably spend that hour better, like in prayer or helping out more around the house...

They are addicting though I will attest to that.

[Tally Marx]

People can get "addicted" to anything. I don't think it is an addiction so much as an obsession.
I don't see any reason why video games would induce obsession more than--or induce a more harmful obsession than--television, youtube, or online social networks like facebook.

I have known people to obsess over books and animals, at the cost of their social lives and grades...

[Hubertus]

Playing video games with others does seem a lot more harmless (excepting MMOs, which I've found to be pretty dangerous for me). However, I've completely quit playing them by myself. Perhaps it's just the genre, but I found that when playing some of my favorites, which are grand strategy games (like Risk, but single player video games), I tend to get a general... bad attitude. I keep wanting to conquer more and more, and feeling pride about the things I have conquered, and greed about what I haven't, so that it actually affects my attitude in real life and can lead me into sin, as if the game's sole effect has been to increase my love of self.

Perhaps I'm being scrupulous, but it really did affect me in a bad way. That much I know. Maybe it was just that I had lost the sense of my faculties, dulling my mind and basically, in a sense, causing my hands to be idle. More engaging games that actually lead you along through a story, like Mass Effect, and are basically like watching a movie, might still have an entirely different effect. I'm sure Harvest Moon is pretty harmless, too.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Hubertus

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1342924113' post='2457721']
I won't pass any judgements on what media others use for recreation, but for me, it seems like such a waste to spend time, energy, and brain power on video games when I could spend that time reading/learning or developing other (what I would call practical) skills - practicing, in my case.[b] Though, I suppose we all have our guilty, mindless pleasures. [/b]I have watched the entire run of The Office at least 25 times.
[/quote]

Ezzackly.

[quote name='fides' Jack' timestamp='1343051649' post='2458089']
Oooh! Owned!
[/quote]

Sir, I do believe you mean PWNED!!!!

[Lil Red]

i'm only addicted when new Ratchet & Clank games come out.

[Maggyie]

I know of marriages that have imploded over this very nastily! Interesting how it seems to be mostly men who get in too deep.

[arfink]

[quote name='Maggie' timestamp='1343091986' post='2458292']
I know of marriages that have imploded over this very nastily! Interesting how it seems to be mostly men who get in too deep.
[/quote]

That's clearly because we're more visual by nature, or something.

COMMENCE FLAME WAR

[fides' Jack]

[quote name='IcePrincessKRS' timestamp='1343091105' post='2458289']
Sir, I do believe you mean PWNED!!!!
[/quote]

I almost said "PWNED", but I absolutely HATE incomplete words floating around on the internet. The only exceptions I've ever made were for the following:[list]
[*]LOL
[*]CDPY
[*]IAABC
[*]FYI
[*]sp?
[/list]
"Owned" fitted the situation enough that I decided it was a good switch.

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='fides' Jack' timestamp='1343247188' post='2458807']
I almost said "PWNED", but I absolutely HATE incomplete words floating around on the internet. The only exceptions I've ever made were for the following:[list]
[*]LOL
[*]CDPY
[*]IAABC
[*]FYI
[*]sp?
[/list]
"Owned" fitted the situation enough that I decided it was a good switch.
[/quote]


Not when you're talking about gaming.

[Not The Philosopher]

I wasted a good amount of my youth with a controller in hand. These days, when I feel like returning to those 60+ hour JRPGs, my laziness gets the better of me and I say to myself, "I just don't have the time or energy for this" and proceed to diddle away my evening surfing the net while Aristotle's [i]Prior Analytics[/i] and other usual suspects collect dust on my shelf. The soundtracks are still great, though.

More seriously, I have known people who were addicted to games, though they had addictive personalities which manifested in actual drug problems as well, so, as usual [i]discern[/i] and know your weaknesses. I do agree that the cheap sense of accomplishment that one can get from a game should be viewed a bit suspiciously (though I think that's a problem with so much of pop culture in general).