A quick search on the internet for “video game addiction” brings up many results for clinics and organisations claiming treatment for the problem. The website for On-Line Gamers Anonymous even has its own 12-steps and (somewhat dubious) list of addictive games.
Video game addiction is not listed as an official condition by the American Medical Association, however, intense debate is underway about whether it should be included. Why should you care about this? Can video game addiction possibly be as bad as alcohol, gambling, or drug addictions?
According to video-game-addiction.org: “anyone who has experienced it knows all too well – video game addiction is real.” For quite some time, a council of the USA’s leading doctors has been lobbying for it to be added to the mental illness manual, created and published by the American Psychiatric Association. The next manual is due to be published in 2012.
A 2007 article on msnbc.com said: “overuse most often occurs with online role-playing games involving multiple players.” The statement is still true that MMORPGs are the most likely to cause addiction. The persistent gameworld entices the player to continue playing for as long as possible; obviously, the more someone plays, the more they are paying their monthly subscription.
“They never end. You can never truly win or lose the game as a whole,” says the addictive games page at On-line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA). Which is true, yet somewhat naive. I never finish most games that I own, but some I have played through multiple times just for the sheer enjoyment of it all. However, I have never felt that I was playing through something as if I were “dependent” on it – something that is key to an addiction.
“Playing the game casually will leave you trailing behind others who put in more time, possibly making you feel as if you aren’t as good or are falling behind,” OLGA continues. One look at the XBL leaderboard for Pacman Championship Edition does this to me regularly. It seems that every game of recent times has a way to compare yourself to others, sometimes giving motivation to do better, other times giving despair. This isn’t something exclusive to MMORPGs, although their way of showing another player’s superiority is more apparent.
“Some have been known to find romantic companionship with other people playing the game and value this companionship equal to real life.” This one I feel is a little bit ridiculous; you could adapt this to a warning about online chatrooms and it wouldn’t look out of place. People find romance in every part of life, especially when sharing a common interest, and a lot of it is false love. I doubt walking around World of Warcraft grinding levels makes this companionship any more intense.
“For certain types of people, any type of game can be addictive. Those with addictive personalities may find themselves interrupted by desires to play a quick game of Pinball or Tetris on the computer.” This is the clincher for me, addictive personalities find addiction. Unlike heroin, trying Modern Warfare 2 more than once will not result in a 90% chance of addiction. This should be at the top of the page; if you have an “addictive personality” it is because you are addicted to something, not because the game made you that way.
There are those who are addicted to playing a game – I am completely convinced of that – but I don’t think that it is the games themselves that are doing this. MMORPGs do need to look at themselves and realise that, by making someone spend hundreds of hours in their game world to achieve its richest prizes, they are merely encouraging this kind of behaviour. A line must be drawn somewhere between social conscience and a drive for subscription profits. If not, then the whole industry leaves itself open to pot-shots from the next wannabe Jack Thompson.
In cases of child addiction, the role of the parents has to be called into question. A child that is allowed to go on a 12-hour gaming binge on a regular basis is one that is being neglected by their parents. When I was a child, I loved playing football and joined the local football team. My father came to every game, no matter the conditions, to support me and encourage my development.
When it came to games, he played too, so it was much the same. We sat and completed Resident Evil 2 together and many other titles as well. He also drove me to badminton practice every Friday; he didn’t like badminton but he still took me. See the connection?
He was being a good parent and making the effort to get in on my hobbies and be there for me, whether he fully enjoyed them or not. My mum doesn’t care for games all that much, but she still had a shot of Sonic the Hedgehog when I first got a Mega Drive. She even got in on some four-player Mario Party with my dad, brother, and myself last Christmas.
Good parenting is priceless in a child’s development. Those who are dumped in front of the TV to be babysat will then depend on it, much the same as the child who sits playing Call of Duty all day and night.
In the OLGA forums there is a post by “absalom” who tells how addicted she was to World of Warcraft: “it was such a waste of a year! Did the whole raiding thing and then my husband told me he suspected I had a problem when i actually cried cuz [sic] some blood elf got to a titanium vein before I did.” She then told how she managed to break the habit: “I’m trying a tactic of replacing everything I liked doing in that game with an IRL [in real life] equivalent.”
If you think you may have a problem with compulsive gaming, I sincerely urge you to seek advice from a professional. Video game addiction as a label can be debated til the end of days, but the most important point is that support is out there for people who need it. So please, use it.