I never understood this, my first MMO was DAoC. And I had no problem keeping up with school or anything and my parent never bugged my with it either. Then WoW hit and everyone was completely fucked up, they were explaining how awsome this feature and that feature was, and I was like "uh yeah", all MMO's before had all that.
WoW is probably the one MMO that never really managed to get me addicted to it, not even for a week.
I have noticed however, that if you play actively with a bunch of friends, the addiction kicks in. You sort of move your social life to the gaming instead.
I wish I was doing those studies. But sadly no, studies by MIT, UBC, SFU, Dalhousie, Stanford.
Studies on neural plasticity, neural repair, evolutionaary responses, neurudegneneration, neuroregeneration, cognitive and developmental disorders and on and on and on. This is a huge field with millions of dollars of research being done right now. I'm just lucky enough to work in this field and have access to all of this.
Venge
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
People are too much stumbling over the definition of addiction here.
Addiction can be both physical (i.e. drugs) and behavioral, like in compulsive disorders or gambling. There might be no evidence whatsoever of games being physically addictive but they sure can be 'addictive' in a behavioral sense. This kind of addiction only becomes problematic (and gets branded "addiction", if your real life obligations, bankroll or relations suffer because of it. There ARE in fact, thousands of people checking in for therapy each year because of "game addiction" and there are more each year.
I can say that I have been addicted in a behavioral sense to gaming, mmorpgs in particular. Haven't played a mmorpg for over a year though (out of my own motivation). Now, after months of just very casual gaming and doing more real life stuff as a means of relaxation, I find that I lost that yearning for getting out of it all by escaping into an immersive gameworld and that's pretty ok really. My life feels a lot more "rich" now. And if you take a step back, you can easily see the treadmill aspect of a lot of mmorpgs and how compulsive consumption is very much encouraged.
Not wanting to start a blame game here though: everyone should do with their own free time whatever he/she damn well pleases, and gaming is still a lot more interactive, intelligent and social than for instance, watching TV all night long. But if you think your real life suffers because of it, or when your life feels shallow because of you spending every single minute of your free time on gaming, it might be time for you to give it a break (picking up another activity might help you with that).
I used to smoke a lot of pot and play alot of UO at some point. In 2002 i joined the army for 3 years of service. While there i didn't touch either MMOs or drugs. (The penalties for drug use in the army are much more severe. You can end up for years in jail for smoking one joint, while as a civilian around here you wouldn't even be charged for that).
8 years later i still haven't touched drugs ever since, but i'm back playing MMO's :P
On the other hand, i noticed that in the periods i quit MMO's i started drinking much more and geting a lot more exposure to UV radiation (oh hey there possible skin cancer). So i guess it's healthier if i keep playing
Disclaimer: This post is just for fun. I consider "MMO addiction" as a medical term about as valid as "Oxygen addiction".
Disclaimer: This post is just for fun. I consider "MMO addiction" as a medical term about as valid as "Oxygen addiction".
Yeah but problem is you need oxygen to survive but same is not true for MMOS. I am pretty sure you won't die if you don't play a MMO for few minutes but without oxygen you surely will.
Disclaimer: This post is just for fun. I consider "MMO addiction" as a medical term about as valid as "Oxygen addiction".
Yeah but problem is you need oxygen to survive but same is not true for MMOS. I am pretty sure you won't die if you don't play a MMO for few minutes but without oxygen you surely will.
Well duh. They are still both invalid as actual medical terms.
Disclaimer: This post is just for fun. I consider "MMO addiction" as a medical term about as valid as "Oxygen addiction".
Yeah but problem is you need oxygen to survive but same is not true for MMOS. I am pretty sure you won't die if you don't play a MMO for few minutes but without oxygen you surely will.
Well duh. They are still both invalid as actual medical terms.
But the thing is that i never heard of medical term 'oxygen addiction' but i can see some reasoning and merit behind 'mmo addiction'.
i myself was so heavily addicted to play eq1 back in 2002 that i only slept 3-4 hours a day so i could play 16 hours and still work some to pay for internet and sub.
some people have literally become so addicted to a game that they have played until they died of exhaustion related issues or dehydration.
some people (and it makes the news when they do) have sat and played games like wow, eq, and facebook farm until their child has died of neglect (both older kids getting in trouble with things they shouldnt get into and parent didnt notice, and babies starving in their crib).
so can people become addicted to a game? you bet your ass they can
The problem with MMO "addictions" is that the term implies a complete absence of responsibility in the "victim." Isn't it time we stopped blaming games and other media for our own inability to prioritize and laziness?
ofc there is such a thing as mmo addiction, I can provide myself as 1 example. Played 20-40 hours a week for years. Classic addictive behaviours below, which I am sure many hardcore players will recognise.
Irrational irratability if i was likely to be late for a raid.
I would be thinking about it constantly uncalled for.
Regarding raiding as an important part of my life that I 'needed'
A sense of comfort when I entered wow after not playing for a couple days.
A sense of relief once I had left the game for good.
And most importantly, denial that any of the above was happening or was an issue.
I eventually broke the habit - I replaced WOW with another game temporarily (Rift aka methadone eh) to break the habit.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
hobbies are fun, addiction is dangerous to you and those around you (this doesnt include stupid hobbies like russian roulette or jumping off of or out of things to fall and hope something saves your dumb ass)
i dont thnink danger is a factor, although addictions can obviously be dangerous. To steal a dictionary definition as shown below, Enslaved is a good word - being compulsed rather than choosing to do something.
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
I have an idea! Pick the most incendiary topic possible, post 29 words about it, and step aside...
The question of whether or not addiction exists is foolish, those who claim it doesn't have either a) never been addicted or b) are currently addicted and in denial. Worse yet, once you cross that line in to becoming an addict you can never go back. Where that line is varies per person.
To me it's about choices. In other words, what am I willing to give up? (economics, hey). If I begin giving up things that are in my best interest, that raises a big red flag. There's an interesting website called the Daedalus Project that takes a look at MMOs and how the creators sometimes use tactics that are purposefully designed to get you addicted. It's worth checking out, and it's not all one sided either, it approaches things from a psychological perspective.
Personally, I don't care what's in the DSM-V as I don't depend on a psychologist to run my life. Bipolar used to be called manic-depressive, big deal. Addiction is addiction, it has always existed and probably will for a long time to come.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Authored 139 missions in VendettaOnline and 6 tracks in Distance
Actually, I have an addictive personality. Whatever I'm into at any given time is an addiction for the time I'm into it, no exception. At the moment, I'm into MMOs, so I'm additcted to them. When I was doing 3d graphics, I did nothing but 3d graphics. When I'm writing sometihng, I do nothing but write it. Just the way I'm wired.
Does that fit in with an MMO addiction, or maybe just some people have addictive personalities and so they end up overdoing everything.
If I were interested in gear grind, I'd have become a watchmaker
LOTRO cost me my job, my girlfriend and my family.
No, you cost yourself your job, your girlfriend and your family... Don't blame a game you play for the consequences you receive in your life from the choices you make...
I have an idea! Pick the most incendiary topic possible, post 29 words about it, and step aside...
The question of whether or not addiction exists is foolish, those who claim it doesn't have either a) never been addicted or b) are currently addicted and in denial. Worse yet, once you cross that line in to becoming an addict you can never go back. Where that line is varies per person.
To me it's about choices. In other words, what am I willing to give up? (economics, hey). If I begin giving up things that are in my best interest, that raises a big red flag. There's an interesting website called the Daedalus Project that takes a look at MMOs and how the creators sometimes use tactics that are purposefully designed to get you addicted. It's worth checking out, and it's not all one sided either, it approaches things from a psychological perspective.
Personally, I don't care what's in the DSM-V as I don't depend on a psychologist to run my life. Bipolar used to be called manic-depressive, big deal. Addiction is addiction, it has always existed and probably will for a long time to come.
The issue is not that addictions don't exist, they do. You are absolutely right they exist, always have and always will. The issue is that labelling something as an addiction no longer tells us exactly what is going on, or how to treat it.
Do we do chemical therapy, a 12 step program, de-tox, abstinance, harm reduction, some combination of all of them. As we learn more no doubt there will be even more therapies.
The treatment depends on the diagnosis, therefore the diagnosis has to be more precise than to just say - your addicted. Now we at least have abuse and dependence reflecting two different causes, two different locus of control and to some extent two seperate treatments.
Interesting enough is that 12-steps seem to work on both and is quite effective at re-regulating or repairing if you will the active receptors.
And the names will change again - when we learn more and our understanding changes.
Just saying addiction does not really mean anything anymore.
With bipolar there are now two different classifications of it. 1 or 2 - the name had to change to reflect our new understanding. In bipolar 2 they never reach full on mania so the term manic depressive disorder no longer really works.
Venge
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
LOTRO cost me my job, my girlfriend and my family.
No, you cost yourself your job, your girlfriend and your family... Don't blame a game you play for the consequences you receive in your life from the choices you make...
BRAVO! It always amazes me how people can "blame" everything and anything but their own failures on themselves. The first rule of any "addiction" is to realise that YOU are the source of the problem and not the booze, drugs or the MMO in this case. Addiction has nothing to do with the "item" in question but the inability of individuals to walk away and/or moderate their own behavior.
LOTRO cost me my job, my girlfriend and my family.
No, you cost yourself your job, your girlfriend and your family... Don't blame a game you play for the consequences you receive in your life from the choices you make...
BRAVO! It always amazes me how people can "blame" everything and anything but their own failures on themselves. The first rule of any "addiction" is to realise that YOU are the source of the problem and not the booze, drugs or the MMO in this case. Addiction has nothing to do with the "item" in question but the inability of individuals to walk away and/or moderate their own behavior.
To be fair, not everyone is born with great genetics like myself. I would argue that things that come easy to me, may be beyond any of you because of the lower grade genetic pool you may of had the misfortune of being created from.
Some people have more developed frontal lobes then others for example, and they may struggle with addictions, decision making, control. Knowing this is how i make money, and i wouldn't blame developers preying on the weak minded either.
How far should policy protect the genetically inferior? Somewhere between Bernard Madoff and a Caffinated beverage?
"I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." - John Galt
Look at all the people who complain about WoW being utterly boring, yet they still log in every single day. Tell me that isn't some sort of habitual addiction.
Look at all the people who complain about WoW being utterly boring, yet they still log in every single day. Tell me that isn't some sort of habitual addiction.
But are they addicted to the game, or the social aspect.. Humans are social animals, but we're living in a society that often propels us into lives of lonliness.
Is the addiction to the game, or having someone to talk to?
If I were interested in gear grind, I'd have become a watchmaker
Heh, that sounds an awful lot like the difference between "casual" and "hardcore" from another recent thread:p
on average any mmo'er that is actually hardcore on a game, is certainly an addict, they feel pain of withdrawl when they arent playing and getting the feel good chemical releases in their brains.
Comments
I never understood this, my first MMO was DAoC. And I had no problem keeping up with school or anything and my parent never bugged my with it either. Then WoW hit and everyone was completely fucked up, they were explaining how awsome this feature and that feature was, and I was like "uh yeah", all MMO's before had all that.
WoW is probably the one MMO that never really managed to get me addicted to it, not even for a week.
I have noticed however, that if you play actively with a bunch of friends, the addiction kicks in. You sort of move your social life to the gaming instead.
I wish I was doing those studies. But sadly no, studies by MIT, UBC, SFU, Dalhousie, Stanford.
Studies on neural plasticity, neural repair, evolutionaary responses, neurudegneneration, neuroregeneration, cognitive and developmental disorders and on and on and on. This is a huge field with millions of dollars of research being done right now. I'm just lucky enough to work in this field and have access to all of this.
Venge
People are too much stumbling over the definition of addiction here.
Addiction can be both physical (i.e. drugs) and behavioral, like in compulsive disorders or gambling. There might be no evidence whatsoever of games being physically addictive but they sure can be 'addictive' in a behavioral sense. This kind of addiction only becomes problematic (and gets branded "addiction", if your real life obligations, bankroll or relations suffer because of it. There ARE in fact, thousands of people checking in for therapy each year because of "game addiction" and there are more each year.
I can say that I have been addicted in a behavioral sense to gaming, mmorpgs in particular. Haven't played a mmorpg for over a year though (out of my own motivation). Now, after months of just very casual gaming and doing more real life stuff as a means of relaxation, I find that I lost that yearning for getting out of it all by escaping into an immersive gameworld and that's pretty ok really. My life feels a lot more "rich" now. And if you take a step back, you can easily see the treadmill aspect of a lot of mmorpgs and how compulsive consumption is very much encouraged.
Not wanting to start a blame game here though: everyone should do with their own free time whatever he/she damn well pleases, and gaming is still a lot more interactive, intelligent and social than for instance, watching TV all night long. But if you think your real life suffers because of it, or when your life feels shallow because of you spending every single minute of your free time on gaming, it might be time for you to give it a break (picking up another activity might help you with that).
My brand new bloggity blog.
I used to smoke a lot of pot and play alot of UO at some point. In 2002 i joined the army for 3 years of service. While there i didn't touch either MMOs or drugs. (The penalties for drug use in the army are much more severe. You can end up for years in jail for smoking one joint, while as a civilian around here you wouldn't even be charged for that).
8 years later i still haven't touched drugs ever since, but i'm back playing MMO's :P
On the other hand, i noticed that in the periods i quit MMO's i started drinking much more and geting a lot more exposure to UV radiation (oh hey there possible skin cancer). So i guess it's healthier if i keep playing
Disclaimer: This post is just for fun. I consider "MMO addiction" as a medical term about as valid as "Oxygen addiction".
Hobby = You are controlling the game
Addiction = The game is controlling you
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
Yeah but problem is you need oxygen to survive but same is not true for MMOS. I am pretty sure you won't die if you don't play a MMO for few minutes but without oxygen you surely will.
Well duh. They are still both invalid as actual medical terms.
But the thing is that i never heard of medical term 'oxygen addiction' but i can see some reasoning and merit behind 'mmo addiction'.
Haven't played an mmo for about 2-3 months. No addiction here
Pretty easy with the games that are on the market thou :P
scribble scribble scribble
i myself was so heavily addicted to play eq1 back in 2002 that i only slept 3-4 hours a day so i could play 16 hours and still work some to pay for internet and sub.
some people have literally become so addicted to a game that they have played until they died of exhaustion related issues or dehydration.
some people (and it makes the news when they do) have sat and played games like wow, eq, and facebook farm until their child has died of neglect (both older kids getting in trouble with things they shouldnt get into and parent didnt notice, and babies starving in their crib).
so can people become addicted to a game? you bet your ass they can
The problem with MMO "addictions" is that the term implies a complete absence of responsibility in the "victim." Isn't it time we stopped blaming games and other media for our own inability to prioritize and laziness?
ofc there is such a thing as mmo addiction, I can provide myself as 1 example. Played 20-40 hours a week for years. Classic addictive behaviours below, which I am sure many hardcore players will recognise.
Irrational irratability if i was likely to be late for a raid.
I would be thinking about it constantly uncalled for.
Regarding raiding as an important part of my life that I 'needed'
A sense of comfort when I entered wow after not playing for a couple days.
A sense of relief once I had left the game for good.
And most importantly, denial that any of the above was happening or was an issue.
I eventually broke the habit - I replaced WOW with another game temporarily (Rift aka methadone eh) to break the habit.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
hobbies are fun, addiction is dangerous to you and those around you (this doesnt include stupid hobbies like russian roulette or jumping off of or out of things to fall and hope something saves your dumb ass)
i dont thnink danger is a factor, although addictions can obviously be dangerous. To steal a dictionary definition as shown below, Enslaved is a good word - being compulsed rather than choosing to do something.
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Heh, that sounds an awful lot like the difference between "casual" and "hardcore" from another recent thread:p
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
I have an idea! Pick the most incendiary topic possible, post 29 words about it, and step aside...
The question of whether or not addiction exists is foolish, those who claim it doesn't have either a) never been addicted or b) are currently addicted and in denial. Worse yet, once you cross that line in to becoming an addict you can never go back. Where that line is varies per person.
To me it's about choices. In other words, what am I willing to give up? (economics, hey). If I begin giving up things that are in my best interest, that raises a big red flag. There's an interesting website called the Daedalus Project that takes a look at MMOs and how the creators sometimes use tactics that are purposefully designed to get you addicted. It's worth checking out, and it's not all one sided either, it approaches things from a psychological perspective.
Personally, I don't care what's in the DSM-V as I don't depend on a psychologist to run my life. Bipolar used to be called manic-depressive, big deal. Addiction is addiction, it has always existed and probably will for a long time to come.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
Actually, I have an addictive personality. Whatever I'm into at any given time is an addiction for the time I'm into it, no exception. At the moment, I'm into MMOs, so I'm additcted to them. When I was doing 3d graphics, I did nothing but 3d graphics. When I'm writing sometihng, I do nothing but write it. Just the way I'm wired.
Does that fit in with an MMO addiction, or maybe just some people have addictive personalities and so they end up overdoing everything.
If I were interested in gear grind, I'd have become a watchmaker
No, you cost yourself your job, your girlfriend and your family... Don't blame a game you play for the consequences you receive in your life from the choices you make...
The issue is not that addictions don't exist, they do. You are absolutely right they exist, always have and always will. The issue is that labelling something as an addiction no longer tells us exactly what is going on, or how to treat it.
Do we do chemical therapy, a 12 step program, de-tox, abstinance, harm reduction, some combination of all of them. As we learn more no doubt there will be even more therapies.
The treatment depends on the diagnosis, therefore the diagnosis has to be more precise than to just say - your addicted. Now we at least have abuse and dependence reflecting two different causes, two different locus of control and to some extent two seperate treatments.
Interesting enough is that 12-steps seem to work on both and is quite effective at re-regulating or repairing if you will the active receptors.
And the names will change again - when we learn more and our understanding changes.
Just saying addiction does not really mean anything anymore.
With bipolar there are now two different classifications of it. 1 or 2 - the name had to change to reflect our new understanding. In bipolar 2 they never reach full on mania so the term manic depressive disorder no longer really works.
Venge
BRAVO! It always amazes me how people can "blame" everything and anything but their own failures on themselves. The first rule of any "addiction" is to realise that YOU are the source of the problem and not the booze, drugs or the MMO in this case. Addiction has nothing to do with the "item" in question but the inability of individuals to walk away and/or moderate their own behavior.
Let's party like it is 1863!
To be fair, not everyone is born with great genetics like myself. I would argue that things that come easy to me, may be beyond any of you because of the lower grade genetic pool you may of had the misfortune of being created from.
Some people have more developed frontal lobes then others for example, and they may struggle with addictions, decision making, control. Knowing this is how i make money, and i wouldn't blame developers preying on the weak minded either.
How far should policy protect the genetically inferior? Somewhere between Bernard Madoff and a Caffinated beverage?
"I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
- John Galt
Look at all the people who complain about WoW being utterly boring, yet they still log in every single day. Tell me that isn't some sort of habitual addiction.
But are they addicted to the game, or the social aspect.. Humans are social animals, but we're living in a society that often propels us into lives of lonliness.
Is the addiction to the game, or having someone to talk to?
If I were interested in gear grind, I'd have become a watchmaker
on average any mmo'er that is actually hardcore on a game, is certainly an addict, they feel pain of withdrawl when they arent playing and getting the feel good chemical releases in their brains.
Addiction is a part of every humans life. It varies based on the person. Whether it be food, money, companion, or an MMO