Game Addiction

Game addiction is a term used to describe the condition defined by the excessive play of either video or computer games or both. The term is informally used to diagnose people meeting this condition. Game addiction is characterized by intense feelings of pleasure and guilt when playing video or computer games, obsession about games, even when not playing, interference with social, family, and/or work life, anger or other signs of withdrawal when prevented from playing the game, and an uncontrollable feeling that one needs to play the game. Game addiction is not recognized as a formal mental pathology in the DSM. In 2007, the American Psychiatric Association reviewed whether or not they should include "game addiction" as part of the DSM 2012, but rejected the idea, saying that there was not enough conclusive evidence to support the idea that game addiction is truly a mental disorder. However, there is an increasing amount of concern in the public sphere about the negative effects of excessive gaming. More researchers are conducting surveys and experiments to determine more about the possible disorder.

Game addiction - is it real?

Media Coverage

• 2011: the National Geographic Channel aired an episode of Taboo on the topic of addiction.

The show specifically focused on children in Korea, who are put into a government-funded rehabilitation center (The Internet Rescue School) for a 12-day program. The first 2-3 days are typically spent in denial, where the children insist that they are not addicted to the Internet or online gaming. However over the program, the children engage in physical activities that will re-teach them how to interact with others face-to-face and talk with counselors to see how they can divert their attention away from online gaming to other activities. The parents also teach the parents of the children on how they can help their children end their addiction. Experts believe that the typical Korean household structure contributes to the growing "gaming epidemic." Many families in Korea only have one child, breeding the loneliness of the child. The child is able to take his mind of off the loneliness by playing and interacting with other online, in the safe confines of the home.

Causes

Children are increasingly vulnerable to game addiction, due to the salience of computer use in public and at home.

In the case of Korea, the typical one-child structure of modern families isolates the child from other activities and playing with siblings and parents who work. To fill in the feeling of isolation, many children turn to the Internet to chat or to play Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). Many young children become addicted to popular video games such as League of Legends and Starcraft in order to occupy time and have fun. Parents believe that it is a cheap form of entertainment and do not express concern or limit play at much of the early stage of addiction. This consequently creates a cycle of addictive gameplay for young children in Korea who grow up with the habit. The Korean culture also celebrates high-level video game players and offers career opportunities for the best of these players as e-sports has grown more and more popular.

The structure of the games themselves also encourage addiction, as players are able to gain levels and win more loot by increased playing time or involvement in virtual guilds. The feeling of satisfaction as they gain levels is also a notable source of reinforcement. There is a snowball effect as these factors enhance each other, eventually leading to full-fledged addiction. The more invested in the game, the more addicted the player becomes to the game and wants to continue to get better at it.

There are several theories as to the cause of addiction, not limited to game addiction:

• Moral choice/Free will: people who have low willpower and moral standards become addicted
• Genetic basis: "addiction gene" and "addictive personality" causes addiction
• Learned behavior/Social learning: children observe and mimic the behavior of those around them
• Disease model: dopamine release, similar to drug and substance addicts, reinforces the addiction behavior

Diagnosis and treatment of game addiction

Symptoms

• Back and neck aches
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Dry eyes
• Failure to eat or take care of personal hygiene
• Headaches
• Sleep disturbances

Diagnostic Questionnaire

Dr. Kimberley Young, recognized as the "world's foremost cyber-psychologist," developed a questionnaire to diagnose whether a person has game addiction. The questionnaire is as follows, and anyone can do it on their own to gauge their gaming activities:

1. Do you need to play (online) games with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve the desired excitement?
2. Are you preoccupied with gaming (thinking about it offline, anticipating your next online session)?
3. Have you lied to friends and family members to conceal extent of your (online) gaming?
4. Do you feel restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop (online) gaming?
5. Have you made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop (online) gaming?
6. Do you use gaming as a way of escaping from problems or relieve feelings of helpfulness, guilt, anxiety, or depression?
7. Have you jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, or even risked your marriage because of your (online) gaming habits?
8. Have you jeopardized a job, educational, or career opportunity because of your gaming habits?

Answering yes to any of the above indicates that a person may be addicted to games.

Griffith's Criteria

Mark D. Griffiths, a prominent psychologist in the field of gambling and addiction, has established five criteria for Internet addiction. Although not constrained to gaming activities, it covers most of the symptoms exhibited by game addicts, and is a useful measure.

1. Salience: Using the Internet dominates the person’s life, feelings and behavior.
2. Mood modification: The person experiences changes in mood (e.g. a ‘buzz’) when using the Internet.
3. Tolerance: Increasing amounts of Internet use are needed to achieve the same effects on mood.
4. Withdrawal symptoms: If the person stops using the Internet, they experience unpleasant feelings or physical effects.
5. Relapse: The addict tends to relapse into earlier patterns of behavior, even after years of abstinence or control.

Proposed IGD (Internet Gaming Disorder)

The APA or American Psychiatric Association has put Internet Gaming Disorder in Section III as a condition that requires more clinical research, and experience before it can be put in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as(DSM-5).

Treatment Methods

There are two phases to game addiction treatment:

1. Reduce the rewards from playing games
2. Increase the rewards from doing other activities

Thus, the primary method is not withdrawal, but gradually weaning the addict off playing the games.

An example of first-phase treatment occurs in China, where the amount of experience points a player can gain after 3 hours is limited. All registered players under 18 years old gain half as many experience points after 3 hours of play, and no points at all after 5 points of play. Although such a serious measure directly changing the game infrastructure is rare, it is successful in reducing the rewards from the game. However, new problems arise as players find ways to deceive the system, using identities of parents and others to fake their ages. This raises other ethical concerns because players feel compelled to try deceptive tactics in order to feed their video game addiction.

An example of second-phase treatment is to promote participation in other activities, especially for children and young adults. Interaction with others promotes positive feelings and less dependence on game activities for pleasure. The more time a person spends doing other activities unrelated to playing a video game, the more invested they become in other activities, which can help curb the desire and addictive feeling to play the game constantly. Possible methods of cutting back on playing video games includes quitting cold turkey and uninstalling the video game, or slowly dialing back through controlled processes that help the player become less and less addicted to the game.

Treatment Resources

• www.netaddiction.com
• Online Gamers Anonymous

Notable game addiction incidents

Noah Wilson

The earliest incident over video games in the United States happened in 1997 when Noah Wilson, a teenager, was allegedly stabbed to death by his friend while reenacting battles from Mortal Kombat. Noah Wilson's friend was later charged with second-degree murder. Andrea Wilson, Noah Wilson's mother sued the developers of Mortal Kombat, attributing the death of his son having been caused by the violent nature of the video game. This also raised ethical concerns for the violence in video games and how violent video games affect the psychological minds of the younger generation.

Shawn Woolley

In one of the earliest examples of death attributed to gaming addiction, 21-year old Wisconsin resident Shawn Woolley committed suicide on Thanksgiving day in 2008 after being supposedly dumped by a fellow player in the popular MMORPG Everquest. Woolley's mother Liz went on to become the founder of Online Gamers Anonymous, a non-profit organization dedicated to using a 12-step program to help addicted gamers recover. OLGA was among the earliest and remains one of most popular programs dedicated to treating video game addiction today, with chapters around the United States and Canada and an active online community. Video game addiction ultimately raises the ethical issue of replacing reality with a virtual reality, causing players to become engrossed in their virtual world even to a point where they prefer and/or prioritize the virtual world over real life.

Does this look like simple child tantrum or something more serious?

World of Warcraft Freakout

In 2009, a YouTube video titled “Greatest freak out ever” became a viral video with over 67 million views today. In the video, YouTube user “Wafflepwn” secretly films his brother’s reaction when he finds out his World of Warcraft account has been cancelled. The angry tantrums and eccentric outbursts his brother displays in the video depict an extreme example of withdrawal symptoms of game addiction. Many people viewed the reaction as hilarious, while others saw it as a real problem. This viral video sparked awareness of game addiction and provided an argument for people who believe game addiction is a real disorder. However, in 2010, Comedy Central’s Daniel Tosh interrogated the boy about the authenticity of the video and revealed that it was actually fake. The video was deemed as an act of trolling, but it still represents the public’s popular view of game addiction withdrawal.

Daniel Petric

On October 20, 2007, Daniel Petric, an Ohio teenager, age 16, shot and killed his mother Susan and severeley wounded his father Mark over the fact that they took away Halo 3 from him for a month. According to Mark before the shooting, Daniel said "Would you close your eyes? I have a surprise for you". He then proceeded to shoot both his parents in the head. The judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison and stated "I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents that they would be dead forever".

Diablo III Death

Shortly after the release of Diablo III, an 18 year-old boy, Chuang, was reported as dying after a 40-hour gaming session involving the game. Chuang booked a room in one of Taiwan's internet cafes and ate nothing while he played. After being spotted by one of the cafe workers, Chuang appeared, "only tired" but collapsed after attempting to walk. He was rushed to the hospital where he died, presumably from cardiovascular difficulties that authorities attribute to sitting in one place for a long period of time. Blizzard would later make a statement claiming that it encourages players to exercise in moderation when playing their games. Video game designers and companies ultimately do not have to take responsibility for how addicting their video games can be, but they do generally encourage users to play in moderation and live a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle.

See Also

• Anonymous Behavior in Virtual Environments
• Ethics in Computer & Video Games
• MMORPGs
• Virtual Reality in Online Role Playing Games

References

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