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Ethelwulf

I stumbled across this fairly interesting video, which talks about several topics we have to see on a daily basis.

YouTube Video

Behavioral psychology wasn't so off when they started to experiment with animals in order to explain human behavior. We act on the same principle as them, with rewards being the engine that encourages us to do certain things.

The truth behind WoW's success? Nothing but manipulating this concept, if you ask me.

As gamers, I'd like to hear your opinion about it.

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TreyTrey12

When I was heavily addicted to WoW. I quit cold turkey, and I had VERY VERY bad withdrawals. I couldn't eat, or sleep correctly, became easily aggrivated and was a walking time bomb.

I guess gaming triggers the same chemical reactions in the brain just like other drugs, and your body grows dependent on that

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olaph

I have personally never been addicted to video games or anything else for that matter. But in saying that I don't have an addictive personality.

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Cingal

I've thought about this quite a bit.

Recently had a series of University lectures on the topic, which was interesting.

As for myself, I don't think I'm "Addicted", not to say I don't like games, nor to say I don't like computer-life, but, I do tend to sometimes place games over more important tasks.

Perhaps I'm just more prone to procrastination than anything.

I can't get into games wherein boring grind is the main focus, the only MMO I've been able to play for a long period of time was FFXI, and in that I found the combat and group play to be more engaging. Unlike a game such as L2 or WoW, you're fighting enemies that have a very real chance of killing you if you're not playing to the best of your party isn't playing to the best of their abilities, so it definitely feels more engaging.

Never been one for social games. Don't see the point. There's no fun to be had, it's just a treadmill.

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marcipaans

Am I addicted? Yes, most likely. Haven't ever thought about it much but now that I look at it, it seems that I am.
I use gaming to escape from reality. I am having enough problems and stress in real world so I use gaming as a stress relief and entertainment.
Sadly where I live drinking isn't considered as relaxing. If you drink then you drink till you pass out. Nobody here knows how to enjoy alcohol without getting extremely drunk.

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kain222

Right.

First off, Gaming isn't addictive, it's compulsive.

There's an enormous difference: Things which are addictive actually prompt your body to become addicted to them through chemical / psychological addictions. Games aren't a substance, they're an activity, therefore they're compulsive.

Secondly, watch these:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/game-addiction-pt.1

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/game-addiction-pt.2

Thirdly:

People tend to use gaming as an escape because, unfortunately, we live in a society where we aren't rewarded for our talents. People become disillusioned and often veer down a completely different path that is so far away from what they actually enjoy it becomes mundane. You can't sell your labour unless it's a specific type, or unless you get lucky.

Games, on the other hand, offer an alternative to that which rewards the player on moment to moment basis. Which is why it's so easy for people to come addicted to them when the 'real world' seems to cripple them at every turn.

However, even though it's basic reward psychology, it's not the game's fault. More often than not the person in question isn't strong enough to man the **** up and face reality for what it is: There's no physical addiction keeping them there, there's only their own apathy. Even though I 'suffer' from game compulsion myself to an extent, I have no sympathy what so ever to them.

It's not to do with the game twisting the individual (although that often becomes a part of it), it's the individual's apathy, depression and sloth which get in the way of their life.

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marcipaans

There I fixed it

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Oisterboy

I don't feel an addiction to gaming at all...I can safely say that I game completely out of leisure and can stop playing anything at any point.

I do have friends who didn't graduate because of WoW. And I'm dead serious when I say that. They blew off so much school in their senior years to play a video game, they didn't graduate.

Thats an addiction if I ever heard one. When you are doing something so much that its ****ing up your life and you can't make yourself stop, thats an addiction.

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Ethelwulf

Well, kain, the defensive nature of your post certainly says a lot about you.

While the term 'video game addiction' is not recognized by the APA, it was named as such in order to simplify things; much like people addresses to gambling addiction, which technically speaking isn't one per se. It's a fair point, nevertheless.

Your videos were interesting for the most part, but they're not technically addressing the main point of this topic. We've all heard about the media ranting about how this impulse control disorder can be compared to drugs and whatnot (and as we know, that is not the case). What I was addressing was the different kind of tricks developers tend to use in order to keep their users playing the game as much as possible; a technique that can be compared to the principles of John B. Watson of Behavioral Psychology.

Games by their very nature are neither good nor bad. It depends on how people use them; some have less self control than others, but that doesn't mean the game itself is an evil thing.
Again, I believe you misunderstood the point of this topic. I like games as much as anyone else, so I'm not here to bash them at all. I'm just showing a different point of view regarding on how they're built.

It is gaming companies that abuse this system the one we should oppose. They are essentially exploiting one of the most basic principles of pleasure every living being has. What's stronger? Our desire for pleasure, which we've had since the beginning of times; or the capacity to self control our actions?

Some people are more susceptible to fall into these kind of things than others. I'm afraid it's not as easy as you make it sound, since our genes and unconsciousness can certainly be stronger than our will. Who are we to blame, then? The gamers or the developers?

Leaving objectivity aside, it is games like WoW I strongly disagree with. Blizzard is possibly the most obvious example on how they keep using meaningless rewards to make players pay their game for as long as possible. It could even be considered brainwashing to a certain degree, as people are not really conscious about it. Tell me, has anyone played a game for hours without feeling having fun at all? If so, that's because we can do tedious things, like grind, if there is a reward afterwards. Like the video I posted said, every time you level up, a pillar of golden colors are given as a reward to the user; much like Pavlov's Dog. How many people do actually see this? A big number of the gaming industry are small kids, which due to the neuroplasticity, they are even more susceptible to this. In the end, they are conditioning kids into liking certain things.

No, this isn't a silly conspiracy theory, it's a basic psychological process. Yet what do people do about it? Absolutely nothing. That's either because of apathy, or because they don't know about it. Many people think they enjoy something, but they actually don't. It is the very act of getting rewarded somehow that makes them play more and more, without having fun at all.

I'm not saying people should shut down the gaming industry, that's just silly. I'm basically saying big companies, like Blizzard, shouldn't exploit this in order to benefit economically. Because let's face it, they charge for the most ridiculous things, and the worst part is that people actually fall for it.

"It's their choice to do so". Is it?

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Arri

A compulsion is an action that a person feels they need to do.

What makes people feel a compulsion to do something? an addiction. While addiction's definition talks about substances, it also applies to any activity a person does regardless of the consequences. Trying to play around with a definition of a word in an attempt to form an argument does not work.

They alter the chemistry of the brain. Yes, substances do that, but substances aren't the only thing that alter brain chemistry. Any activity you do changes the levels of the chemicals in your brain, INCLUDING video games.

Do you want me to get technical? Serotonin effects mood, appetite, and sleep regulation. When you play video games, what happens? Your mood changes, you may become less effected by hunger, and you might lose sleep as you play later into the night (JUST ONE MORE GAME!).

Let's go back to the definition of addiction, because that seems to be what this is all about: Physical or psychological dependance blah blah blah substance which alters the chemical makeup of the brain

So, yes, video games can cause an addiction. Sorry that when you watched that video something clicked in your head telling you that you were, in fact, addicted. However lashing out and trying to play with definitions to try and make it not true won't change it. I'm positive that everyone on OnRPG that play video games or do anything else are addicted in one way or another, and anyone saying they aren't are fooling themselves.


Unless of course you can stop doing any single activity at all that I can think of that you do on a regular basis without you exhibiting any changes in your mood (doh ho ho, brain chemistry) or personality. If you feel even the slightest bit angrier than before, less motivated than before, more depressed than before because you stopped doing an activity then yes, you are addicted, and therefore dependent on said activity in order to make you feel 100%.

That's enough ranting from me.

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