Addiction?

[HK17]

Hi everyone i have a question for everyone, i am doing a extended project for A-Level and the question is "Do video games have addictive features" and i wondered if anyone on here would mind ansering whether they have been addicted to a game before, what the name of the game is, how they overcome being addicted and what it felt like being addicted?

No ones name will be used just your quotes for my project and any answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

HK

[fs86]

This is quite interesting... A friend of mine did this for his honour's project at uni last year, using various combinations of tetris and pong (I recommend giving Tong a try :P)

Yeah games are addictive, if done well enough. I'd recommend you look up the definition of "Flow" by Csikszentmihalyi - basically he says that after entering a flow state you come out with a stronger sense of self, don't react to your surroundings, have a warped sense of time, and so on.

This can be related to games by adopting an easy/difficult model. If a game is too hard for a particular player, they will be frustrated, and not enter a flow state. On the other hand, a game which is too easy will bore the player and they will, again, miss out on flow.

I myself have found that I enter a flow state quite a lot, and also with the release of endorphines and whatnot being a good feeling, I try to go back for it, so yeah, addictive. A few games I've experienced it on are Tetris, MW2, Counterstrike, Uncharted, Final Fantasy, but the list goes on.

But yeah, give that a look up, and if you need them, I know of tons more authors that can help (and also gamers, if you just need quotes and I'm waaaaaaaaaaaay off).

Hope this helps

[nak1]

MW2 nuff said

[GeneralDamian]

final fantasy. I would sit in my room for hours on end until i had done everything all characters had to be levelled to the maximum on ff7 i spent hours fighting to get all materia to master level 3 times so all my party could have master magic, master summon and master command.
more recently ish oblivion had to do every side mission and get every rare weapon even though most went in a box and never used. If i was home i was playing oblivion if i was at work i was on forums talking about it or just reading threads
Just read the post to myself how sad do i sound

[IshTing]

Final fantasy games addict me pretty well, wanting perfect characters on them (especially VII).

But MMORPG's used to be my thing, I would play them endless amounts of time into early hours of the morning, around 5, then have to wake for work at 7. This may be funny to many but I got addicted to a game called maplestory a few years back. On it all day, even spending money on the stupid game. Getting higher and higher, better and better. Well I got to 5th most powerful hermit on MapleEurope and then GM's banned me for swearing, I was off-ranked, being ranked is like trophies, alot of people wont play the games without them, I didnt wanna play if I wasnt ranked, so I sent an email to the company and they deleted my account. At the time I went mad but Im glad they did it, I wasted a good 2-3 years of my life on that game and a fair bit of money. Now I go out with friends, drink, and play my ps3 :)

[Nagisa24]

World of warcraft got me badly at one point I used to play for like 10 hours a day for about 2 months. my friend probably played even longer. thank god I don't play anymore.
Football manager can also be a bad one. you think you're gonna play for 30 minutes and BAM 5 hours later and you're still on. and as said previously final fantasy games and in fact most rpg's in general are very addictive.

[mcbeaky]

It's the human mind's collective and gatherer primal instinct. There was a programme on tv about different addicitons the other day (forget the name, sorry). Basically, human's contain something in their brain that makes them have a natural urge to complete something, whether it be gathering food, nests, or in most our modern cases: trophies or accomplishments of videogames.

[pearce1966]

some qotes from wiki

Video game addiction, or more broadly video game overuse, is excessive or compulsive use of computer and video games that interferes with daily life. Instances have been reported in which users play compulsively, isolating themselves from, or from other forms of, social contact and focusing almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than broader life events.[1][2][3] There is no diagnosis of video game addiction, although it has been proposed for inclusion in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).[4][5][6]


Excessive use of video games may have some or all the symptoms of drug addiction or other proposed psychological addictions. Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives. Players may play "many" hours per day, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends and/or lie about play time. Relationships with family and friends, and performance at work or school, may suffer.


Globally, there have been deaths caused directly by exhaustion from playing games for excessive periods of time.[56] [57] There have also been deaths of gamers and/or others related to playing of video games

[fs86]

some qotes from wiki

Referencing from wiki is VERY bad form in a report. Even if it is true :P

If you want to talk about deaths related to playing/play time, try searching for cases in South Korea/China when playing WoW, or even as far back as Everquest. Plenty of stories, if you're going down that route.

[Paddy]

I was going to write a bit but I went to play WoW :P (yes, that's true)

The word "Addictions" can be used in many ways, game addits aren't dangeroes, even if people thinks they are, all those who go to school with guns indeed some of them played games but it's not the cause of it, people needed to blame it on something/someone and they choosed games as we always blame on something we don't know anything about, it's natural. We (people who plays them) even if we played for 24 hours manhunt 2 or something we won't go to school and kill people with a pencil! We know that it's only a game, but people who are out of mind would try it as they might find it funny etc.. The case is it's bad for your health, sitting in closed room with no fresh air will cause you to breath faster and during exercise you will need to stop as you won't be able to catch a breath... Also people who play 24 hours in a row don't eat or eat somefast food which are full of fat, another reason why they are unhealth!

[Ryan2501]

Simple - YES.

Selling my PS3 was the best thing I ever did, you start doing more productive stuff, gaming is a distraction maybe when Im a millionaire youll see me pushin call of duty again but not any time soon...

[Residentzombie]

Video games are just like any other form of entertainment: television, movies, sports, music, theatre, reading, etc. Noone asks if television is addictive because everyone watches it. Something only becomes addictive when it negatively effects your life. For example if you have say $150 to pay your utilities with but instead buy a few new games then gaming is negatively effecting your life or if you continually stay up late and are constantly late for work/school. If after all your chores are done and you have free time, if 100% of your leisure time is spent playing video games you are fine. Just like people who watch TV for hours, gaming should be considered no different.

Personally for me I don't have cable TV so I have money to spend each month on game rentals and/or an occasional game I can purchase and own. If you live on your own, it comes down to one's budget and free time that is available in your schedule.

[DirtyMouse]

When I was 11'ish i got my first playstation, started off on tomb raider and stayed glued to that untill i completed everything. I had social workers turn up at my house because i skipped school and eventually i got taken out of school because gaming was better then getting bullied and i refused to go back and went totally insaine at the tought of not being able to "get out of the real world" so basically, i hid from reality. Also stayed up 4 nights in a row playing computer games and lost my job back in 2003. All because gaming was and still is better then life, how very sad! Got top class gcse's in the end, lol. Still gluded to my ps3 from the moment i get out of bed.

[IshTing]

I wouldnt say gaming is better than life :S

[extrasafeivy]

I would say that trophies are addictive and are like a game in themselves. I am currently level 15 and everytime you go up a level there is a sense of achievement but also a push to go for the next level.