Originally posted by dualheart87
bleh who cares fi your addicted or not. i rather be addicted like i am and live in fantasy than dealing with the problems going around me at home. i just stay in my room all day everyday avoiding my family the fights none stop. and yes i admit im addicted to computer games. i take maybe 3-4 showers a week eat maybe 2-5 days a week play for about 13-39 hours straight. and when i sleep i think bout games i never turn off my computer. when i go to bed i trun on a bot to keep gridning and farming for me. but thats just me i really dont care what people think of me. i can tell you one thing that triggered this change in me. i started getting into games when i found out my fiance was cheating on me and i pretty much went into depression and i am now happily in my little 8x10 room with my 3 computers and my bed and no windows. feels great!!!

 This is the kind of open honesty I can appreciate.  I relate to this guy on several levels.  I got very depressed after I stupidly broke up with my girlfriend and now I shut out the real world almost completely...and it feels good doing it.  I have one friend and the only reason we hang out is because we live in the same house.  I don't go out and socialize, in fact I avoid it at all costs.  I barely call my family to keep in touch.  I have a full time job but I still manage to sleep 12 hours a night.  On the weekends I  have been known to sleep 16-18 hours a day...and that is my preference.  I get pissed when I am denied my hours of sleep...so yea, cheers for being a happy loser.

Originally posted by Slukjan

Originally posted by dualheart87
bleh who cares fi your addicted or not. i rather be addicted like i am and live in fantasy than dealing with the problems going around me at home. i just stay in my room all day everyday avoiding my family the fights none stop. and yes i admit im addicted to computer games. i take maybe 3-4 showers a week eat maybe 2-5 days a week play for about 13-39 hours straight. and when i sleep i think bout games i never turn off my computer. when i go to bed i trun on a bot to keep gridning and farming for me. but thats just me i really dont care what people think of me. i can tell you one thing that triggered this change in me. i started getting into games when i found out my fiance was cheating on me and i pretty much went into depression and i am now happily in my little 8x10 room with my 3 computers and my bed and no windows. feels great!!!

...so yea, cheers for being a happy loser...

 

And to be honest, why should anything else matter?

If I died doing what made me happy, I would have no regrets.. And one shouldn't.. No matter how many "experts" or "mainstream analyst" tell you how wrong you are..

If my mom was elderly and ended up getting terminally ill from her smoking habit but refused to stop smoking, who am I to tell her that she's wrong? I would let her be happy till her final day on this Earth and I think we owe that to ourselves as humans for putting up with so much bullsh.. from our fellow human beings our whole lives..

Addicted? Hard to say. I've been gaming since 1977 when I was five years old, never put the controller down.  I pride myself of living through the evolution of gaming from the old school monochrome Telstar Ranger system to the HD console/PC juggernauts of today.  Still enjoying it.

In college, definitely skipped class to play games but thats because it was easy.  I was able to have a life, travel and succeed at work.  Wasn't until I got married and had kids that I had to slow down somewhat.  Know your limits.

Nice to know whatever was in me was passed to my son... Its just now he is more advanced than I was at his age.  Wonder where it will take him...

Originally posted by scritty
Great - TV is a much bigger addiction than gaming - and TV watching   - even in a crowded room of people - is entirely none interactive. I notice many of those that moan at gamers will watch 6 hours TV a night 7 days a week without blinking an eyelid.

 

I find TV so bland today.  I think I stopped watching when reality TV started taking over back in the early 2000s or so.  And commericals?  So last century.  Cant do it.   if Im watching TV today Im watching a movie streamed or otherwise.

Originally posted by darkhalf357x

Originally posted by scritty
Great - TV is a much bigger addiction than gaming - and TV watching   - even in a crowded room of people - is entirely none interactive. I notice many of those that moan at gamers will watch 6 hours TV a night 7 days a week without blinking an eyelid.

 

I find TV so bland today.  I think I stopped watching when reality TV started taking over back in the early 2000s or so.  And commericals?  So last century.  Cant do it.   if Im watching TV today Im watching a movie streamed or otherwise.

I watch tons of series, but tbh none on the cable... Only discussions/talkshows (with good topics, not celebrity type stuff... yegh) and the news :)

Originally posted by Mors.Magne
Technically, computer games are more of an escapism than an addiction (addiction normally requires a psychoactive drug). Nevertheless, serious consequences are very possible with computer games, so I'm not belittling this issue.

Addiction being only to drugs is only when 'addiction' is used in health or mental health vocabulary given to it by the people who started counseling people for 'drug-addiction'. I'm addicted to downloading a game and testing it lately to pass time because I have nothing to do. When you have nothing to it becomes a bit similar to drug addiction because you are already insane from melancholy and foolish bored. If a game takes my friends away and they get the close-knit relationship from it without me idk is that is an addiction or if they are just not, to my side of a friendship. This seems to have happend to me with a few of my friends and WoW.

Members of the Substance Abuse community try not to use the word addict because of the negative connotation.  Additionally within the DSM IV-TR there are effectively two tiers of “Drug Addiction” abuse and dependence.

There are some significant changes in the 5^th edition however one being the possible creation of Internet Use Disorder, and the inclusion of Gambling Disorder into the larger section of Substance Abuse and Addictive Disorders.     It would not be a stretch to fit particularly MMO gaming into the prosed criteria of Internet Use Disorder, or to a lesser degree pathological gambling.

What is critical to understand when looking at any addictive behavior is the continued use despite the negative consequences.  

 Additionally when it comes to Gambling, winning is not what cause the largest release in neurotransmitters but waiting for the result to happen (ie watching the wheels slow down while playing slots) A simple example of this would be when do you get the greatest emotional response after you kill a raid boss, is it greater when he is dead, when you are waiting on your raid leader to open the chest or if you receive an item?

Regardless if gaming addiction becomes a clinical term or is clinically diagnosable, the question you may want to ask yourself is, what I am giving up to play this game.

Welcome Home 

Rev

Originally posted by Vyeth

Originally posted by Slukjan

Originally posted by dualheart87
bleh who cares fi your addicted or not. i rather be addicted like i am and live in fantasy than dealing with the problems going around me at home. i just stay in my room all day everyday avoiding my family the fights none stop. and yes i admit im addicted to computer games. i take maybe 3-4 showers a week eat maybe 2-5 days a week play for about 13-39 hours straight. and when i sleep i think bout games i never turn off my computer. when i go to bed i trun on a bot to keep gridning and farming for me. but thats just me i really dont care what people think of me. i can tell you one thing that triggered this change in me. i started getting into games when i found out my fiance was cheating on me and i pretty much went into depression and i am now happily in my little 8x10 room with my 3 computers and my bed and no windows. feels great!!!

...so yea, cheers for being a happy loser...

 

And to be honest, why should anything else matter?

If I died doing what made me happy, I would have no regrets.. And one shouldn't.. No matter how many "experts" or "mainstream analyst" tell you how wrong you are..

If my mom was elderly and ended up getting terminally ill from her smoking habit but refused to stop smoking, who am I to tell her that she's wrong? I would let her be happy till her final day on this Earth and I think we owe that to ourselves as humans for putting up with so much bullsh.. from our fellow human beings our whole lives..

When your young these things make sense. As you get older, not necessarily in age, but in experiences it becomes harder and harder to justify, even though these things may be true in the grand scheme of things.

playing game is a form o entertainment you chose to entertain yourself it can be books, movies, tv programs etc etc 

and like in any addiction if you cant stop doing it even if you want to then its out of your control.

but you dont read a book until you die sameway you sholdnt play a game until you die .

you play aslong as you feel like it and it may somedays be whole frakking day but if you can manage doing that wihout any concequences and you ae having a blast by doing it whos to say you need to stop having your entertainment?

Originally posted by Kyleran

Not too bad, only saw one of those in myself, and it didn't result in my wife leaving me so I guess I'm OK.

I used to play a lot more back in my early MMO years, but not so much these days, mostly because I traded game playing for 12 hour work days. 

 

Now that is a serious problem. :)

Good article, Pokket.  However, I think I have to disagree with the idea that the examples people have cited here could be construed as a true addiction.  Mainly because they are back to doing what it was they were "addicted" to.  The nature of an addiction means that generally speaking, you can't go back to the behaviors of that addiction again.  A drug addict can never do drugs again.  A gambling addict can never place a bet again.  To be able to go back to the "addiction" and keep it under control pretty much proves it's not an addiction.

That's not to say though that people don't let their love of gaming become a serious problem in their lives.  I hope those that do have that issue are able to get control of it and make their lives better.

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by halflife25

Originally posted by Mors.Magne
Technically, computer games are more of an escapism than an addiction (addiction normally requires a psychoactive drug). Nevertheless, serious consequences are very possible with computer games, so I'm not belittling this issue.

People are also addicted to gambling. So nope one doesn't need to be on some ^sychoactive drug.

Gaming addiction is serious issue. I have been through this when i was in college. Now i have much better control of my life and gaming hours.

With gambling, shopping, etc there IS a psychoactive drug invovled, it is just made inside the body of the addicted individual.

 

Gaming addicition is a problem if it gets in the way of doing RL work, etc.

I can't give an exact figure but i'm sure most drugs, like gambling, sex and gaming just stimulate the release of the bodies natural chemicals although in much larger doses than the body usualy allows, that's where you get that feeling of intense happiness or surge of energy, to people that have never used drugs these minor fluctuations could be just as addictive as smoking a crack pipe.

Serotonin

Endorphins

Adrenaline

These are the culprits, there maybe be more that I can not think of atm but I'm enjoying a few beers so my mind is a little fuzzy ;)

I can remember being addicted to games. My very first game was FFXI and I would have never had admitted it then but I certainly can now say I was addicted. I would be extremely engulfed and logged on every day faithfuly and would take everything in-game very seriously. One day an online friend cost me the kraken club and I completly lost it on him/her, it was pathetic to say the least.

I have never found a game that has caught my attention like FFXI and I can say THANK GOD. It's a good thing for me that I don't play that game anymore, I had to tear away from that foolishness. I have played WoW (Almost got addicted) and I've played many others and now playing GW2. I hardly ever log into GW2, it's hardly ever on my mind unless I'm home one day bored or relaxing after a long productive day.

Game addiction is more serious than people think, I use to leave work early simply to catch a certain respawn time for a particular mob I was camping, absolutely stupid on my part but hey, you live and you learn. Thank God I never got fired lol.

Originally posted by Xasapis

Looks like if you're passionate about something these days, you're "addicted" to it.

 Too bad, and I thought facebook gaming made gaming in general a more acceptable form of entertainment.

There's a difference between passion and addiction. Big difference.

@Vyeth - Was a typo, sorry.

Number 7 is a yes for me. Number 6 happens at times as well, if a holiday event kicks in a certain time or if a game or expansion goes live a certain time but then I try to sleep but then I try to get a few hours in the evning instead.

The worst thing that have happened to me is being tired at work for playing, but I indeed know people who lost everything to EQ and Wow  including marriages broken up by them.

I however enjoy analog stuff like drinking beer with friends and playing P&P RPGs far too much to become this addicted.

Originally posted by Pokket

Originally posted by Xasapis

Looks like if you're passionate about something these days, you're "addicted" to it.

 Too bad, and I thought facebook gaming made gaming in general a more acceptable form of entertainment.

There's a difference between passion and addiction. Big difference.

@Vyeth - Was a typo, sorry.

I have to agree with that, just like there is a difference to hit the pub with some friends and losing your job because you are 24/7 drunk there is a difference between enjoying gaming and being addicted to it.

Gaming fun, only game and nothing else, not fun.