What is Digg?125 Comments
- Hindermore, on 04/15/2009, -0/+43Ehhh, I don't think you guys understand. There was a time in summer of 07 that I played WoW for like 10 hours a day. I had never been so hooked on something before. I started to eat my meals in front of the computer during the day, and dreaming of WoW at night. After about 2 months of this activity, I noticed my health and overall physical well-being was diminishing. It wasn't until I took a good look in the mirror that I realized that I was an addict.
It was tough to do but I canceled my account and didn't go anywhere near it for several months. I got my ass out of the house and did some running and started going to the gym. Now I schedule my play time around my life, and not my life around my play time. It's all about taking things in moderation. I absolutely believe that if it is not checked, gaming can become an addiction. - TheCamino, on 04/15/2009, -1/+28 Oh, this is ridiculous!
No one can get addicted to video games any more than a person can get addicted to Facebook, or messing around with their cell phone!
Oh, hold up... - dna513, on 04/15/2009, -1/+26Patch 3.1 for wow is out!!! what you guys doing on digg?
- nerdherder, on 04/14/2009, -13/+34Video games are not addictive. Anybody who would get addicted to video games would get addicted to anything pleasurable, like pie.
- ballardr, on 04/15/2009, -2/+22Mmmmmm. Pie
- dazparkour, on 04/15/2009, -0/+17Games tend to give you a lot of "Well dones", "Mission complete".
People are task completing machines and games are full of tasks to complete - an easy endorphine rush. - Thebruce88, on 04/15/2009, -0/+14There's a major difference between eating pie and gaming (aside from the obvious...). Pie has a built in limit on how much you can eat, eventually you will be full, or if you're a particularly fat *****, eventually you will run out of pie, forcing you to stop.
Playing a game like World of Warcraft however, there is essentially no end to the game. The same goes for most online games(L4D, TF2, Halo, pick yer poison). You can play these for hours and hours on end, get some sleep, go to school, come home and start the cycle all over again.
It's the potentially endless nature of videogaming that can make it addictive, especially in the case of WoW. There's always potential for higher rewards, so there's always incentive to play.
I'm alot calmer with WoW now than I used to be, but I know that when I used to be doing anything BUT playing WoW, I'd be thinking about WoW, or talking about it. The same goes for my friends who used to play. You show me someone who sits around all day talking and thinking about pie, and I'll concede your point. As is, you're dugg down for overly simplifying the issue, and not taking the time to look at the behaviour of so-called video game addicts. - dazparkour, on 04/15/2009, -2/+15Or bacon.
- Roogen, on 04/15/2009, -0/+12"I'll play less when I hit level 60"
"I'll play less when I hit level 70"
"I'll play less when I hit level 80"
I haven't gotten to 80 yet... I hope I play less then... - toxictonic, on 04/15/2009, -0/+12I'm a game developer and my job is to make games as fun as possible, and you're right, if you want people to eat your pie it had better taste good.
- Shazbuckle, on 04/15/2009, -0/+11Indeed, if you close your eyes at night and all you can see is your MMO character running around or dreaming about getting loot at night.
I used to be like that, it seems to stupid now! :) - benroy, on 04/15/2009, -1/+12My favorite part was the pictures of the Sega Genesis controller and Halo.
Wait...WTF?
Why not just throw in a few pictures of Mountain Dew cans & some Zaxxon screens. - inactive, on 04/15/2009, -0/+1120 time is a slow day.
- Greengoo, on 04/15/2009, -0/+10I've got to do SOMETHING at work, don't I?
- Navicerts, on 04/15/2009, -0/+10I think you hint on the same subject the article did there (but the article addressed it a bit more articulatly and in depth than yourself). I'll try to give a tldr version for you: The word "addiction" in and of itself is something that is misunderstood. It's common knowledge that the "addictive" aspect of games is the dopamine release to the brain in the reward center.
However, as you pointed out these chemical responses in our brains are what cause us to do MANY things in life, exercising, eating healthy, heroin (albeit it also has physically addictive properties), exc...).
The reason it is called an "addiction" is because of the effect it has on things like personnel hygiene or sleep or [fill in something it has a negative impact on here]. Unfortunately, people look at the sub-group of "addicts" and equate all gamers to be the same. This stereotype is re-enforced through main stream media hype and alarmist news. Also, stories such as people who play 15 days straight and drop dead are assumed to be the result of "gaming addiction" when in fact they had much deeper problems in all likelihood.
I think it is important to separate fact from fiction here without automatically taking a black/white stance on the issue as a result of the disapproval of one side or the other if we want to advance our knowledge about gaming and why people enjoy it (and sometimes overdo it).
Edit: awww crap, I just made another tldr version for you :( - moofree, on 04/15/2009, -1/+10Video games provide 5x the happy angry lazy strength when combined with the above.
- 1town, on 04/15/2009, -0/+7Well if you're playing Halo on Genesis, I'd say you're addicted. To shrooms.
- p4r4d0x, on 04/15/2009, -0/+7Spoiler: you don't play less.
- Vaiper, on 04/15/2009, -0/+7Still shorter than the actual article...so you win in my book.
- MrInfallible, on 04/15/2009, -2/+9aye cun speel wurds ene wai I wunt.
- Clbull, on 04/15/2009, -0/+5It can depend on what the guild and its members are like.
- nat014, on 04/15/2009, -4/+9I am sure you can addicted to games, especially children if you let them. They get addicted because they like to play and they are surrounded by them. Like anything you like you can become addicted. monitoring the amount of play time can help them. They need to be encourage to do other activities.
- TurdFaceManLove, on 04/15/2009, -0/+5It's like your brain had diarrhea on my screen.
TURDFACEMANLOVE
http://itypedmyusernameatthebottomofmycomment.org/ - dazparkour, on 04/15/2009, -1/+6I'm pretty sure that it hits the same area as rewards for tasks evolution wanted us to complete - it's not a small corner, it's a fairly big section of the chemical makeup of your meat machine.
- Staggx, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4There is a disease/disorder/addiction for everything these days. Get over it.
- Navicerts, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4As a fellow addict....
Went through a similar phase but not with WoW. I am actually surprised at my ability to control it now with no effort and still game from time to time - it is not the same as quiting smoking for example (I just can't smoke in moderation). - audreysee, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4Video game addiction is the same as internet and text messaging addiction. Everyone can get addicted to anything, from food to drugs and oh! from video games.
- geehossiphats, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4DRM broke my addiction. One day I went to play my legit copy of Crysis (I hadn't played in a little while) and it complained that it needed to updated it's credentials or some nonsense like that, and wouldn't start. Since this PC is my non-networked gaming machine, it wouldn't start. So, I didn't play Crysis and havn't since then. And since I've been pursuaded to not play Crysis anymore because of the DRM in it, I'm now reluctant to buy anymore video games. Too much trouble to go through just to play a fscking video game. And they'll all tell you that "its the piracy!!! it's the piracy!!!"
No, it's DRM that killed that market. Dumb fscks. - NUMBER4940, on 04/15/2009, -0/+4One can compare some video games to some books (fiction). They allow you to escape into another world, only the world is virtual and sometimes filled with real people behind characters. It's the ultimate fantasy novel that one can become engrossed in. The story never has to end. Imagine a book that you "can't put down," and don't have to.
- hebejebelus, on 04/15/2009, -1/+5Dugg for the Genesis controller.
- airwalke, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3The problem with correlational research is that it often ignores the third variable. Do video games cause social isolation? Maybe, but the theory ignores the fact that those who are socially isolated may be introverted to begin with.
- Navicerts, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3In a sense i think the article supports that theory. This based off the fact that they are both phyclogical addictions more than they are physical addictions.
- 1town, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3In the sense that only addictive people get addicted to them.
I wouldn't shed a tear if i couldn't play games nor smoke weed again. Nicotine withdrawal is a bitch, tho. - inactive, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3Ironically, there have been studies showing that the gold at the end of the rainbow isn't the reason for chronic masturbation, it's more hormone levels.
- dazparkour, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3@Mrlnfallible.
I'm not touching on God.
It doesn't have a will, I agree - there are some things that make communication easier even if the direct meanings of the words are not very articulate. Like "Turn a phrase".
By "tasks evolution wanted us to complete" I mean - behavoirs that have stuck with people and been ingrained into their subconscious through millions of years of trial and error of which we are the successors - It makes sense that the ones that had their brains flooded with Happy Drugs after doing something that furthered society contributed more and were successful than those who got the happy drugs when they were idle (and therefor learned doing nothing was fun).
I didn't mean litterally that evolution said "Build house" and then, once a house was built, a hand came out of The Origin of Species and injected dopamine into the builder.
I meant that because we evolved to be more introspective and more philosophic than other species, for us to be as successful as we have been, there was a need motivate people to do things and the chemical soup that your brain floats in provides that quite well.
Games exploit that by giving us tasks that will please the brain even though no real tasks have been completed.
People think of virtual reality helmets - but by playing games, you put your brain into a virtual reality where it thinks your actions have real world consequences and does what it's evolved to do - reward task completion. As a result, people play more games because "they like it" and in turn, your brain gives you more and more chemicals.
The same process is applied to money - you do your work, you get your virtual reward (money) at the end.
@Vaiper - For all the influences and people I've read - this isn't really an area they touch on.
It actually came from my recent musings on why I can play Harvest Moon for hours but could not work on a real farm and frequently resort to doodling at work even though the principles were the same.
I decided the reason was because of the length of the tasks.
At work, I can spend an hour working on something, send it off, wait a whole day to get feedback, approval, the final nod and, if you are like most people - you get paid MONTHLY.
That means, I have to spend 60 minutes working and (according to google calculator) could wait around 43,829 minutes to get my dopamine reward!
Harvest Moon, I can go from playing to my in game bank balance going up in less than a minute. In fact, I'm HYPER efficient playing that damn game. My time is strictly rationed out, I know exactly what I have to do to get the maximum amount of money back at what times.
If I was a real farmer - it would be months before things I planted actually grew - in the game I can go from seed to profit in around five minutes.
These are the types of things people have evolved to do but games give us the rewards so much easier than real life that it is no wonder we play them.
I've seen the laziest, most idle people play Fable 2, just blacksmithing for 30 minutes straight and they are still just as alert when they started - why - because the cash reward comes in every sword, 3 - 6 seconds between each time you and your brain is rewarded.
Of course, over time, making swords doesn't have the same effect - that's because you get the same dose that is less effective each time (resistance) or a decreasing dose but that is okay, because games always lead up to high adrenaline bosses with much more exiting rewards than the mundane tasks like blacksmithing anyway.
Most games have a similar reward structure -
things you can get with litle effort but you will need a lot of them to progress - watering things, making swords, killing things in random battles in any RPG, etc.
things you can get with a medium amount of effort and you will need less of them to progress - Bosses
things you need a lot of effort to get but you only need to do once or twice - complete the game.
I noticed that I tend to play games a few times to the end however most of my friends tend to play until they complete the last big goal, see the ending and stop. Even if there is side quests etc left.
My hypothesis on that one is that their ancestors are less effected by small doses of dopamine etc than I am and therefor only go after the big hitting tasks, whereas I feel every little bit of it and therefor will spend a lot of time to get all the hits I can.
Maybe only coincidently - I noticed the same friends need more alcohol than I do.
I'm also going to add in that I think this is why GTD (Getting Things Done - basically, a book on how to organise yourself so you get more work done) by David Allen is so successful - it targets people like me who are more susceptible to dopemine.
A really dumbed down summary of that book is "Split big tasks into lots of little goals. Now you can feel good every few minutes because you've completed a goal".
//End tldr Essay - hozer, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3Video games are addictive, just not more than anything pleasurable.
- priegog, on 04/15/2009, -0/+3Exactly dude.
I had a similar phase when I was 15/16 but since MMO's didn't quite exist back then I was hooked on RTS's specially Age of Mythology.
Creepy stuff when think back on it...
But all in all it doesn't seem to be something dangerous or life-destroying like being addicted to cocaine would be like. In fact many of my friends went through similar phases and we all just kindda grew out of it. Or maybe we traded one adicction for another (chicks and later on booze) - techdever, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2"I know what you did last summer on facebook,3 years ago, in the winter!"
- ShiftyBizniss, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfqk78y54Zo
- 1town, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Masturbation, now there's an addiction.
- inactive, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Dude I laughed. HuKed On Foniks Wurkd Fur MEEE!
- Hindermore, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Werd, the game just starts at level 80.
- Vaiper, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2I never thought of it that way. Did you read that somewhere or did you come up with that yourself? The reason I ask is because I am actually curious and I would like to read about it. Thanks!
- Snarfy, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2That's the problem though. People can get addicted to pie. They are called fat people. Anything that makes you feel good is inherently addictive.
- SteveMax, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Yours can be tl;dr, but at least it's not tmp*;dr as the article
*=Too Many Pages - Andrwmorph, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Agreed. I played WoW excessively for like 2 ***** years but I was addicted to the escapism of virtual reality, not the game itself. I just phased out of playing WoW completely once I made some real friends and grew up a little.
- PorcusWallabee, on 04/15/2009, -1/+3Got a call?
- PorcusWallabee, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2It's not harmful to get into a $10 000 student loan debt because you wanted to get to level 80?
- PorcusWallabee, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2Currently addicted to Monster Hunter 2
- Shazbuckle, on 04/15/2009, -0/+2I was actually in one of those family like guilds on my server. They met up regularly and had lans and stuff.
But what I didn't know was that if I left I would be forgotten about in a few weeks. Real friends wouldn't forget so quick. Wow friends are easily replaceable -
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