Gaming Addiction Created 15 years ago2009-04-17 08:24:41 UTC by satchmo

What do you think of this article?

I think it's an over-simplification when an addiction is defined primarily by the number of hours devoted to an activity.

Addiction is a problem, and it should be defined as such only if an activity starts to cause problems in other areas of one's life.

When I interview kids (my patients) for the amount of time they play games, I also ask about their school, social life, and other activities.

I have some patients who spend 10-12 hours a day playing games, and that's excessive by most people's standard.

But that article claims that three hours a day is excessive?

Wow that article is quite a read. I don't think 3 hours a day is excessive. I know I've sat down and played Counter-Strike, or Star-craft hell, even RuneScape for runs of 6+ hours. That was before college though. And i noticed one thing that "X" mentioned in the article was. "When you're playing the game, you're happy. You're not thinking about playing because you already are. But when you're away from the game, all you do is think about the game. It lingers in the back of your mind nagging at you. And after a while it wears off but the initial thoughts are really strong and hard to ignore."
I used to play DDR every day after school with my friend 'Duo' (Who actually game me the name 'Tetsuo') We'd catch the bus to my house, grab some water, walk 2 miles to his house, play ddr for 4 or so hours until his parents got home, then we'd just chill for the rest of the day before i'd either walk back to my house, or catch a ride.
I did that every day for about 3 months and i lost 20 pounds and noticed a huge difference in my running stamina. On the down-side, i became increasingly addicted to Techno and electronica and when i closed my eyes to sleep at night i saw arrows streaming down the inside of my eye-lids. Impossibly fast combinations that would not let my mind relax at all.

Life hit me in the face when i went to college. I ended up failing out of my second semester of College because i didn't know how to study. High-school was too easy for me. The only work i did was for research papers and projects. I did my homework in my daily study-hall, or i'd show up to school and hang in the cafe' 30 minutes early and get all my work done. The rest of my day was devoted to playing DDR and this really sweet PS1 game called 'Battle Hunter' I got into college assuming it'd be more work, but i didn't know exactly how much work it would be. I ended up becoming overwhelmed, i didn't know how to study effectively and after staring at a page for an hour or so i'd just want to take a break. Well that break turned into a marathon of different games and i never got any real work done.
/end life story

But i do think video game addiction exists. I know when i was playing runescape all i wanted to do was get to the next smithing level so i can make this piece of armor so i can sell it and make lots of money and then buy this certain piece of armor which costs a terrible amount of gold. And i was also afraid to play world of warcraft because i knew i was going to like it. A lot. So i payed $20 for it one day and had every intention of installing it. And never installed it because i was literally afraid to see the consequences of doing so. I still have the box. Unopened sitting in my drawer.

IMO 3 hours a day is borderline excessive. And it's only excessive if it interferes with your 'real-life'

Gaming for hours on end is better than sitting in front of a TV for hours on end. It actually somewhat stimulates the mind, unlike TV which usually just deadens it. Yet, sitting in front of a TV all day is considered "acceptable". Funny that..

Hehe ^

I don't think I can add to that. That's actually pretty damn funny.