Gaming Addiction

[Shirewood]

I was just reading this article someone sent me. I figured I'd post it and another link just for information and all.




http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1773956.shtml

http://www.news.com/2100-1040-881673.html

[Alacor Vashnore]

lol i remeber seeing this on tv while i was playing. i ended up turning it off because it was distracting me and taking away from my play time.

i think i agree with them.....

[Justa Mirage]

TV?

What's that?

*goes back to harvesting*

[Shirewood]

ROFL.. too funny

Between my mother.. and my older sister that's a registered nurse.. practitioner.. they are always sending out health emails and stuff. It's all good though.. I send them back dirty jokes.




I actually have a tv down in my office so I can watch tv while farming motherlodes and stuff. TV and hunting doesn't mix well I have found though.

[Velea]

Hello, my name is Velea and I'm a game addict. (Yes, use of online name was on purpose. )

Though, wait, if I only have a few of the "signs", does that mean I really can't call myself an addict yet? Do I need to work harder? Let's see...

Playing for increasing amounts of time ... oops, I'm playing less lately.

Thinking about gaming during other activities ... Ok, check, I've got that one.

Gaming to escape from real-life problems, anxiety, or depression ... wait, are you telling me there's some OTHER reason for gaming? I thought the point was to escape reality.

Lying to friends and family to conceal gaming ... this would require friends to lie to, and my family games with me, so I guess I fail on that one too.

Feeling irritable when trying to cut down on gaming ... It's called grumpy. If you dont like it, here's a bridge. It's name is "Yourself". Now get over Yourself.

Ok, being serious a moment.

I'm sure that gaming addiction is very real to some people. It's been proven time and again that some people really do have addictive personalities. It's how they are built. What I don't like is that in all these articles, the reporter is saying that someone who plays 3-4 hours a day (more on weekends) is addicted. If that's the case, then I know a LOT of people who are addicted to work. Or addicted to watching TV. Or addicted to reading. The list goes on and on. Insert "working" or "TV watching" or "reading" into those five items above. I bet you could name at least a few people who are then addicted to that activity too, yet no one is sending them for "detox", are they? And I could name a whole list of activities people do that are far more "unhealthy" than those three.

Just because I'm a gamer and I take my leisure time to play games (both online and off) as my primary form of entertainment does not make me some sort of addict. Obviously it irritates me that reporters only present a fraction of the story. I'll step down off my soapbox now. *grins*

[Fratricide]

Wow... I would have to say that I'm not a game 'o' holic... but I am quite addicted to the computer in general... I work on computers/networks for work... I play with them when I'm at home... I help other people work on/fix theirs... so yea... All my acquaintances know that if they want me to be even remotely social, invite me over to discuss/play with/work on computers...

Anyway... Velea almost has to put this thread in the rants section after that last paragraph... good thing she kept it as toned down as she did..

[Shirewood]

I agree Velea. It really irks me when these people and their degrees set these guidelines for life and anyone who falls out of these categories has "issues". Like if you are over weight... play too much online.. you drink more than 1 cup of wine at dinner.. etc. I hate how they have set their standards for life.. when in reality.. the folks that live the "real life" fall out of all of the categories and we ARE the norm. You have these people and their degrees.. and because they have a degree doesn't give them the right to make standards oh how we live our life. If we all lived our lives by a book.. and the way the say we should.. then we would all lose our identities and be carbon copies of each other.

No thanks!

I like being me.. take it or leave it.

[Peaches]

Each person that plays the game has their own reason to do so. To be judged as being addicted to games, well, I would say these folks are addicted, in looking for addictions. Another lame arsed excuse if you ask me. Oh pity me, I am addicted to games! *NOT*!

[Shirewood]

LOL

I'm sitting here at work and had the thought about Cialis.. that Sex drug for men that gives you up to like 36 hours to enjoy it's "benefits".


my thought..

They need to make one for us gamers.. so that we have up to like.. 36 hours to have an "intense" gaming experience

LOL

oh well.. back to work



and of course.. any intense gaming experiences lasting more than 4 hours should seek medical attention.

ROFL!

[LOVWYRM]

*Lying to friends and family to conceal gaming ...*

you should take that seriously!! (^^)

You should see us us log out in panic, when the doorbell rings, and our son comes to visit us

He told us all (his^^) live long about the danger of gaming addiction-
and see what happened- he does not like mmorpg`s, does not play at all
So exessive gamin`of the parents keeps children away from the keyboard


(just kidding-we did not play, when he was a child,
*cough*a little bit at night,every now and then)

[LaughingOtter]

An addict is anyone who plays more than you do....

[Peaches]

An addict is anyone who plays more than you do....

Hahaha, that is too funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shian]

Each person that plays the game has their own reason to do so. To be judged as being addicted to games, well, I would say these folks are addicted, in looking for addictions. Another lame arsed excuse if you ask me. Oh pity me, I am addicted to games! *NOT*!

Heh.

I think everyone has thier own addiction. I'm just sad that the media constantly attacks games and gamers for it because of the few "bad seeds" extremeists that die in coffee houses etc. because they forget to eat or feed thier kids.

Seems like a witch hunt to me:

OMG! This person had a problem! It's all evil now! I condem all of it and everyone involved! Watch your children and neigbors because they might stop eating too!

[Justa Mirage]

OMG blame it on video games!!! they r teh tru ebil

[CallakDW]

TV?

What's that?

*goes back to harvesting*

My PC replaced my TV. I don't even own one. Made a couple attempts at getting TV devices for my computer, but for various reasons none of them worked out. My news comes from the internet, and my entertainment comes from PC games. I may not be hardcore addicted, but I'm definatly unhealthily addicted.

[CallakDW]

OMG blame it on video games!!! they r teh tru ebil

I hate it when they do this.

[Lunarya]

I've been playing online games for a long time, but I would not call myself an addict, If my friends were more social and threw parties, I wouldn't game as much... :P

[CallakDW]

I've been playing online games for a long time, but I would not call myself an addict, If my friends were more social and threw parties, I wouldn't game as much... :P

I do make a point that if someone invites me for somthing, I go. I'm just not actively seeking "nights out" etc.

[Tcei]

I'll admit I used to be a gaming addict and fit most/all off the "guidelines", at the time I was just out of highschool, had no job and no social life to speak of, (still dont have much of a social life...*cough*), I had nothing better todo. But for me it was an easy addiction to break, I just got a job

Any more I really dont get a chance to sit down and play an mmo more than 2 days a week, and even then total time spent can be anywhere from4-24ish hrs over those 2 days.
Tho I do typicaly spend another 2-3 hrs a day on the computer. For me its about money. I can spend as much time on my computer as I want for basically nothing. Or I can go out, costing me gas, food, entrance fees (depending on what I do of course), plus other cost like seeing something I really want to buy.

I do agree alot with what Velea describes. Those same criteria can be applied to just about anything in life. To me this just smacks of giving more food to those idiots who say that just because an infinitely small fraction of a percentage of the millions of gamers in this world are mentaly unstable enough to belive that a game "told" them to kill theirselves or someone else, that all us gamers must beilve that games are telling us that.

[Shirewood]

This game sends us the message.. build and craft omg those are such evil things LOL

Then again I don't stand there painting the house in my shorts with one eye open... half asleep chanting... just one more side...

lol.. I need to construct more houses for storage


ok.. need sleep..