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There is a debate raging in the gaming community right now. Everywhere you look, gamers and those who do not play are arguing over whether or not there is such a thing as gaming addiction.
The studies are inconclusive; every time you hear about a study backing the existence of video game addiction, you find numerous stories debunking it. Even gamers seem to be split on the issue; while many want to argue it does not exist, others say they have experienced symptoms similar to that of other addictions.
So in the middle of all of the turmoil, the question remains: can someone get addicted to video games?
The Basics of Addiction
So what do we mean when we use the phrase “addiction?” I mean, we all have our own ideas of what an addiction is, but if we are going to get the the bottom of this, we need to have an agreed upon definition of the term itself. Dictionary.com defines addiction as:
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
The state of being enslaved to a habit. That is a good place to begin. Addiction is a form of enslavement. This is something I would argue most of us have probably seen throughout our lives. Ever known someone who was addicted? Serious addicts ruin their lives as they chase after their fix. If you have ever known anyone who was addicted to serious drugs, you have probably witnessed this first hand.
Still, it does not have to be something like heroin or meth. I have known many smokers throughout my life who are enslaved to their cigarettes. They know smoking is killing them, they know the packs are costing more and more money, and yet they just cannot stop. Just as a slave must obey its master, an addict must obey his or her cravings. They are not impossible to beat, but you just cannot walk away from them either.
Addictions are not just limited to things that give you a physical sensation, however. Look back at the definition; addictions can include things that are psychologically habit forming. People can become addicted to porn, gambling, companionship or any number of other things. Anything you use as an escape from reality can become an addiction, even work.
So, if we are taking this view of addiction, you could argue that someone could become addicted to video games. Believe it or not, however, that is not the point of this article. We here at Everyday Gamers are not looking to prove or disprove to anyone the existence of video game addictions.
So what is the purpose of this article? Well, I want to tell you all a story. In order for you to fully understand this story, I needed you to understand what my stance on addiction is. I want you all to know what I mean when I say I consider myself to have been a video game addict.
The Story Begins
It was my sophomore year in high school. I was trying to figure out who the heck I was in the midst of the changing world around me. My mom and dad were divorced; my mother was actually just working on her second divorce, while my dad had just recently remarried. I was living with my dad, and at the time, my relationship with my step-mom was not the best. One of my best friends had just moved to Alaska, which was a heck of a long ways away from Albuquerque, NM, and I was trying to find a way to deal with all of the changes around me and the usually issues of just being a teenager. It was not a good time in my life, and many times I found myself needing some form of escape.
Around this time, I was really getting into running. Nothing seriously competitive; I just enjoyed going for runs, especially the occasional event style 5K run. Well, my dad and step-mom insisted that if I was going to do this, I needed to practice, which makes sense. There was a great bicycle/walking path not far from my house, so I would often head there and run a mile or two.
Well, this was 1990-1991, which if you remember from reading the Retro Active article on the arcades was just when they were seeing their resurgence. Not far from my house was a local arcade, and it just happened to be the same direction as this path I ran. As things got harder at home, I found myself going to this arcade instead of doing the running I was supposed to do. After all, this arcade had my favorite game: Street Fighter II.
That was how it started. I used the local arcade and that game in particular to escape the world around me. In the arcade, I was a decent player; not the best, but far from the worst. I was fairly respected among those who came there, and while I lost many battles, I put up a good fight. More than anything, I felt like I was among people who understood me. I felt safe.
The Plot Thickens
The summer after my sophomore year, everything changed. I had always spent the summers with my mom, but I had modified that agreement so I could stay in Albuquerque to get a job. I was hoping to get some spending money to get myself a stereo among other things, and the job would give me a reason to get out of the house, where relations were getting rough. It did not take me too long to find my first real job: working as a buss boy at the Steaksmith, a local restaurant attached to Coronado Mall. I made less than minimum wage with a cut of the tips of the servers making up the difference, something not uncommon in the restaurant trade.
Now image this, if you will: a teenager who is already using video games as an escape getting a job at a restaurant where he was paid at least partially in cash every day and that happens to be attached to a mall with a thriving arcade. If you are thinking this was a recipe for disaster, you’re right.
Video games began to consume me.
My shift at the Steaksmith did not start will 10:30 AM and ended around 2:30m PM. this allowed me 30 minutes before my shift to game, and often just a little time afterward to get some time in before I would be too late getting home to be able to hide what I was doing. That was all it was at first. In time, however, I was finding it harder to pry myself away from the games. While I was never quite late for work because of gaming, I came close on several occasions, and I started getting home later than I could really explain. On top of that, I started to take money from my checks to support my gaming habit.
Needless to say, I hit a point where I could no longer hide what I was doing. To say my dad and step-mom were ticked off when they found out what I was doing is an understatement. They started demanding to see my deposit slips to make sure I was actually putting my checks in the bank. They also tried to limit my ex[osure to games, but that was tough to do when I worked at a mall.
I remember when everything really came to a head. My dad and step-mom had just about had it with me, and they threatened to send me to live with my mom if I screwed up one more time. They were headed for vacation, and my grandmother was coming into town to watch me, since I had to stay for work. That first day they were gone, I stayed at the arcade till around 6 PM, finally calling my grandmother who was worried sick. I knew I had blown my last chance, and in pretty short order, I was packing to move to Phoenix.
So how bad did things get? Well, I cannot remember for certain, but in about 2 months time, I spent over $200 on coin-op video games, and this was back when the majority of the games I was playing were still 25 cents a piece. I was out of control. I was addicted.
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So that is my story. I am not trying to convince anyone of the dangers of video game addiction here. I am just relaying my experiences with it in hopes that anyone else who might be struggling with it to see there is a way out. There are others who have struggled through it, and it can be beaten.
Patrick's Perspective
I can also relay a story of two of my own friends, who I will not name. One became clinically addicted to gaming to the point that he would forsake everything: sleep, family, friends, college, and work. It became so bad that he lost his college scholarship and lost his job. His friends had moved on.
Eventually he realized how far he had fallen and he took the step of attempting to quit. His addiction was so bad that he even had to downgrade his cell phone or else he'd find himself playing mobile games all the time. His solution was to find a job in the middle of nowhere in the midwest. No internet. No gaming consoles. Nothing...not even a mall.
After years of zero gaming he moved back to civilization. He found he was able to control his desire to play games...it was no longer an addiction. He'll now play games but he strictly controls how much time he spends. Last I heard he's on track for getting his life in order.
The second friend wasn't an addict per se, but he did allow his entertainment to rule his life. I remember going to his house one time, asking if he'd like to hang out. His reply was that he had too much anime to watch and a video game (single player PC) that he wanted to beat. Okay, fine...some other day then. But this became a regular thing where he'd rather hole himself in his room with his entertainment than hang out with his buds. It wasn't just me; everyone else was having the same experience. Needless to say, I still keep in contact with this friend but we haven't maintained our friendship. His priority is gaming, not family or friends.
The Alpha Jan's Perspective
This is a topic that has been hording its way though the many anals of the world wide web and probably a precursor of more negativity towards video games and the industry it is associated with. Throughout this year as well as the past five, there has been numerous articles and research on the possibility that video games – or should I say the love and playing of them – can be so severe that they can be classified psychologically as an addiction. Now the medical definition of addiction is to be extremely tolerant or dependent on something that is psychologically and/or physically habit-forming. And in our society today, there are many examples shown throughout the short lifespan of video gaming that may cater to the definition I have given above.
There have been numerous reports all around the world about people who are addicted to video games to the point that they are unable or not properly function in society or dare I say reality and in some cases so extreme that the result is death. In China, there is a gamer named Xu Yian who died playing video games for fifteen days during the Lunar New Year. Then later that year, a 30-year old male died playing video games for three days straight. Xu Yian’s death is a little more traumatic though for he committed suicide by jumping from a high elevation. He stated how he was a video game addict and how he would join other video gamers in heaven in the suicide note he left behind. Also in China, there was reports of murder over video games or just video game periphenalia in which one man was murdered for selling a dragon sabre sword for The Legend of Mir 3 on eBay that he borrowed from someone.
Even here in the United States, there are reports of video game-related addiction that has caused sadness and turmoil and mostly based around some form of murder. Gregg Kleinmark is probably the first person to be recognized for his video gaming addiction causing death and was charged with involuntary manslaughter. He actually left his twin ten-month old siblings in the bathtub to play on his Game Boy Advanced three rooms away. The twins drowned to death. Tyrone Spellman was convicted of third-degree murder of killing his own daughter due to rage over a broken Xbox. Finally, and most recently being 2007, Daniel Petric shot his parents, killing his mother, when they confiscated his Halo 3. Petric was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for aggrevated murder.
Now countries around the world, including here in the United States, are placing video games can be an addiction and there are even help clinics for such addictions. I find this both interesting and even though it is considered sad, I find it that it all comes down to personal responsibility yet again. My view is that anything can be an addiction. Books, video games, television, and anything else in between can have the possibility of addiction. If you are addicted to drinking, you’re an alcoholic. If you’re addicted to drugs, your a drug addict. If you’re addicted to food, your a food addict. If you’re addicted to cats, you’re a cat addict. So anything can be per se an addiction. It is how we handle these hobbies and preferences we may all have before they span off into an addiction. There is always a choice and a way out and that’s the way life was built. It is the limits of our minds that make so and so an addiction or a prison. A person playing a video game has the choice to turn off the system if they decide to. Now you may argue that if a person is addicted they don’t have the power to do what I just said. Okay, turning off the system is just one way of working around your addiciton. How about putting the system on standby. How about doing something in between load times or briefings or while downloadable content is downloading? Instead of becoming a victim in which those people do have addictions, become a survivor in which you utilize the benefits of whatever preferences you have for your survival and enjoyment without compromising anything else around it. Once again, personal responsibility takes a front seat here.
On the other hand, the flames that video game addiction is getting is overly aggressive. I understand that video games can be an addiction and I am for the provision of assistance for those who truly want to be released from their addiction. However, those who seek assistance are sometimes looked down upon and even branded as inferior or stupid for getting to such a level. Everyone has preferences. Everyone has vices. Everyone has their likes and their not-so-likes (I say that because I don’t dislike anything and my sociology always kicks in). So degrading someone for their crutch when you yourself know your own crutch is kinda off balance. Imagine someone mending a person who broke their finger on a freak accident (lets say a volleyball flew out of nowhere and smashed the hand in a way the finger got dislocated) and the person mending the finger is degrading that same person. Doesn’t sound right does it? On a more real life situation, imagine yourself asking for help and the person who says they will provide you with help will give it but want more in return. Does that make sense?
Also, since video games is fairly young, there is still the misunderstanding or the lack of knowledge on the hobby, the art, and preference itself. If a person were to stay up until 3AM playing video games, they’re branded as addicted to video games. However, if a person were to stay up until 3AM reading a book, they’re mostly branded as intelligent or having a more advanced imagination or whatnot. So there’s a little bit of stereotype and misunderstanding in the whole arguement that video games being or the ability of being an addiction. As for me, I love all media and I love people since I am like a Rubik’s Cube when it comes to my personality but it is mostly based on the INFJ combination which stands for Introvert-Intuitive-Feeling-Judgmental which is also the rarest personality combination in the world. So I like movies, I like television, I love sports, I love hanging out with friends, I like everything and if I don’t have any prior experience to it, if you like it, that’s cool and I won’t put no derogatory note about it either. However, my favorite forms of media are first off books then second video games. Seems like an oxymoron doesn’t it?
So in conclusion, video games CAN be an addiction just like anything else in the world and I truly believe that personal responsibility is the main factor in which seperates a love of video games from addiction to an enjoyed hobby that is taken seriously but not at the expense of everything else in one’s life.
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