General Discussion

Just wondering what are some of the major impacts of online gaming on teens these days? Is online gaming addiction getting worst for teens?

I wager its about the same. One thing is that its not just MMORPGs that are addicting to a Teen (Or any age for that matter), its the online community, of which MMORPGs are just one aspect. If they didnt have MMORPGs, then they have Myspace, if not myspace, then YouTube, etc,etc

I wager, as most players are getting burnt out on WoW...Teens are spending more time in other interests, but I bet they are still ONLINE a lot,.

Torrential

I have read a few studies about teens and young adults and their times spent in games.  The gamers are actually a tiny fraction population and a small amount of the time spent on the internet.  And more time is spent watching TV than on the net by a huge factor.

Two things have happened in conjunction.  One - toys have become more sedentary and Two - parents have become crippled by fear.

Humans are humans.  We have not changed our behavoir choices in thousands of years,  (Although there is some eveidence that some critical reasoning faculties may have developed as resently as the last few hundred years, but I digress)  Kids are going to do what is 'fun'.  And parents are going to do what they think is bets for their children.  When the nexus of those two combine in to keeping children from going outside, the most fun that can be had indoors is through TV and the Internet.

Parents are suffering from delusional "Stranger Danger" and kids have become lazy by being forced indoors.  A few FMRI studies have shown higher serotonin release from playing computer game football than actually playing it on a field.

Fun is serotonin.  Period.

I don't know any easy way to type this but I've been addicted before..
I used to play final fantasy 11 for ~16 hours a day- no exaggeration, like i didn't know how to limit myself
I'd wake up and go to school for 2 hours come home and pretty much play it until i fell asleep
I'd have alternating sleep cycles like I'd go to sleep hours later in the day than i did the night before
sometimes i'd wake up at midnight or 3 am or 6 pm or 9 pm
I dropped out as a junior in high school
(i went back later and got my GED since then)
i've given up my personal life before
but this only lasted about 6 months and i've played the game for 3 years
sometimes I'd give up sleep to find a group
sometimes my online friends were my only friends..
and caffeine
everquest was the same way
and World of Warcraft
I haven't found any other games worth being addicted to.
but sometimes I felt like maybe if I was out on the streets doing drugs instead of playing FFO
I'd be a little worse off..
but I'd still have friends..
and i realized when i met my ex- girlfriend that I wanted to do something with my life..
and i gave up playing MMOs for about a year.. and my life got nothing but better

I really can't explain this better- I have issues with my memory
all I can remember is i was messed up emotionally
completely antisocial, completely dependant
like i wasn't enjoying myself if i wasn't playing it
and part if this was my fault..

but you can't always blame teens for what they do
if they're out shoplifting or doing drugs and you hear about it.. and don't do anything to stop it it's not any different than if they give up their social life and glue themselves to a computer screen for 8+ hours a day and you let them....
it's not really any better

Originally posted by WiccanCircle

I have read a few studies about teens and young adults and their times spent in games.  The gamers are actually a tiny fraction population and a small amount of the time spent on the internet.  And more time is spent watching TV than on the net by a huge factor.

Two things have happened in conjunction.  One - toys have become more sedentary and Two - parents have become crippled by fear.

Humans are humans.  We have not changed our behavoir choices in thousands of years,  (Although there is some eveidence that some critical reasoning faculties may have developed as resently as the last few hundred years, but I digress)  Kids are going to do what is 'fun'.  And parents are going to do what they think is bets for their children.  When the nexus of those two combine in to keeping children from going outside, the most fun that can be had indoors is through TV and the Internet.

Parents are suffering from delusional "Stranger Danger" and kids have become lazy by being forced indoors.  A few FMRI studies have shown higher serotonin release from playing computer game football than actually playing it on a field.

Fun is serotonin.  Period.

People fear the worst will happen to thier kids due to news outlets and over zealous parenting groups who make the world seem like anything outside will pretty much beatup your kids and give them cancer. They see constant news reports on kidnappings, murders etc and are afraid to let thier kids leave thier site. I can understand to a certain extent in say a major city, but even in rural areas it happens.

My daughter is going to be 3 this June. I took her to Chuck E Cheeses for her cousins birthday party. While there, I watched one lady with her (looked to be) 10 yearold. She followed the poor kid from machine to machine with antibiotic wipes, washing down each one before he could touch them. Same for each Skeeball the kid went to grab.

Take my daughter to the local park and I discovered the Parental Security and Saftey Patrol, a group of parents who monitor the playground like it was a prison camp. One little girl fell near me, so I helped her up (she was about 4, maybe 5) and I was almost pepper sprayed, and then questioned why I was there. Told them my kid wanted to go to the park, so I took her. I was then told about the whole 'list' I should have signed up for, and then had a disscussion about 'play dates'. I'm sorry, but I am not going to schedual a date and time for my kid to be able to play at a park that I have been going to for 29 years of my life.

But thats they way parents are.

But as for teens and online gaming, or gaming period, it's pretty much all they have other than TV. Many kids are not really allowed to do the things I did when I was thier age (about 15 years ago) because most parents live in and have instilled fear in the kids of the outside world. Arcades are where the drugs are, Malls have perverts, Movies Theaters get you STDs, etc.

Friends of mine who have teens use the internet and online gaming as a reward for doing things like keeping up grades and doing homework. But then again they also let thier kids have a life outside the house too, which is where they spend most of thier time.

Sure you might get that one lil kid now and then on vent yelling at his parents for 1 more hour of playtime and being a brat, but most teens do thier best to be outside, somewhere away from parents and maybe spend 1-3 hours online a night (which would be this generations version of being on the phone for hours on end, seeing as they can do that whenever they want now) playing games or IM'ing friends.

Back in the day when I was a teen I was limited to how much I could watch TV.  I was pretty much an adult when the Internet came to be...in college.    I dabbled in online games back just before AOL and stuff, but again I just dabbled.  Then came UO.   I could play a couple of hour a night before my eyes would start hurting.  Those old CRT's were murder on your eyes back then.   Then I stopped playing them all together.   Become addicted to worse things then MMORPG's - almost died a couple of times because of it.   Then started playing MMORPG's again and it helped me kick a couple of bad habits.   So in a sense MMO's kinda kept me off the streets for a bit and allowed me to reconcentrate on school and my job.   I haven't stopped playing since then.   I'd rather be a gamer then a cadaver any day.  ^_^

Originally posted by Rajai

I don't know any easy way to type this but I've been addicted before..
I used to play final fantasy 11 for ~16 hours a day- no exaggeration, like i didn't know how to limit myself
I'd wake up and go to school for 2 hours come home and pretty much play it until i fell asleep
I'd have alternating sleep cycles like I'd go to sleep hours later in the day than i did the night before
sometimes i'd wake up at midnight or 3 am or 6 pm or 9 pm
I dropped out as a junior in high school
(i went back later and got my GED since then)
i've given up my personal life before
but this only lasted about 6 months and i've played the game for 3 years
sometimes I'd give up sleep to find a group
sometimes my online friends were my only friends..
and caffeine
everquest was the same way
and World of Warcraft
I haven't found any other games worth being addicted to.
but sometimes I felt like maybe if I was out on the streets doing drugs instead of playing FFO
I'd be a little worse off..
but I'd still have friends..
and i realized when i met my ex- girlfriend that I wanted to do something with my life..
and i gave up playing MMOs for about a year.. and my life got nothing but better

I really can't explain this better- I have issues with my memory
all I can remember is i was messed up emotionally
completely antisocial, completely dependant
like i wasn't enjoying myself if i wasn't playing it
and part if this was my fault..

but you can't always blame teens for what they do
if they're out shoplifting or doing drugs and you hear about it.. and don't do anything to stop it it's not any different than if they give up their social life and glue themselves to a computer screen for 8+ hours a day and you let them....
it's not really any better

That sucks, and I totally see where your coming from.

Had that happen to a friend of mine back in the days of EQ. Went from being a total outdoor sports freak to a darkend room reclusive EQ'er. He gained about 60lbs and wouldn;t even bother answering the phone. His parents wouldn't even try to lure him out of his dungeon, they just let him be. This lasted about 5 months.

We got tired of him being locked in his room playing EQ when we were supposed to be writing/drawing a comic series. So four of us went to his house, entered his room and removed the PC. It was sort of an intervention. We made him agree to hang out with us for a month before we returned the PC, which after screaming and fighting was done, he accepted the terms. When that month was up, he got the PC back, logged into EQ and played for about 3 hours.

Then he called one of our friends and asked if we wanted to do anything because he was bored and wanted to play pool.

To this day he still plays MMOs and games, but more casually. He even enrolled in college for his Comp Sci degree.

So yeah, If your a parent and just letting your kids vegitate all day infront of games/internet/tv without stopping them, don't blame the companies/movies/shows. Get involved and do something with them.