Anyone who has experienced video game addiction knows it all too well, video game addiction IS real. A closer glance at video game addiction shows that it is not just affecting the individual, it is also affecting the ones around them, their school, their life, and much more than that.
When a gamer in Russia started playing the game “Fallout 4” he stopped eating, sleeping, spending time with his wife and family, and even not going to work. He lost his marriage, his job, and his health. He even prosecuted the video-game developer “Bethesda Softworks”. He said “If I knew that this game could have become so addictive, I would have become a lot warier of it.” He argued for $7,000 in “damages,” and argued for a warning label on the game so other players will know what they are getting into. His request sounds bizarre, and even his lawyers say that they will “see how far we can go regarding this case.” In this situation, the reason regarding becoming addicted to the game may be in the eye of the gamer. Some gamers would argue that the “addictiveness” of a game is just a classification of how good the game is.
A study conducted on a randomly chosen college showed that the ratio of people who played video games to the people who were addicted to video games. They studied how video game addiction was associated with the expectations or goals of college engagement. They also researched how it affected college grade point average (GPA). There were 474 male students who were surveyed, the results suggested that video game addiction has severely affected college engagement by almost 45%!
One of the more recent changes to the video game addiction study that I want to talk about is in South Korea. One of the most advanced technology addiction study groups is at the Gangnam Eulji Hospital, in Seoul, South Korea. In the hospital, they focus specifically on video game addiction for help and research. As Dr. Lee Jae Wong, one of Koreas top neuropsychiatrists says, “Teenagers are more vulnerable to the dangers, and the chances of addiction are much higher. In Korea, the majority, or 90% of addiction cases are caused by online gaming.” He also explains how they test or show how someone is addicted. He says, “The first stage of treatment is the brain scan”(Wong 1.) After that, they record the neurofeedback by sending pulses through the brain and detecting how the brain reacts to it. He points out that, “the notion of addiction treatment had changed in recent years”(Wong 1.) One of the reasons why the leading video game addiction treatment and research centers are in South Korea is because gaming is more of a prominent activity. On almost every street there are centers called “PC bangs” or “PC rooms.” In these places, it is filled with gaming computers, comfortable gaming environment, food and drinks, and anything you could possibly want. As you can see from this picture you could imagine that it is the spark of gaming addiction.
Of course, not all of gaming addiction/internet addiction research is done in Korea, it is done all over the world, but just on a smaller scale.
For example, In August 2005, the government of the People’s Republic of China, where more than 20 million people play online games, introduced an online gaming restriction limiting playing time to three hours, after which the player would be expelled from whichever game they were playing. In 2006, it relaxed the rule so only citizens under the age of 18 would face the limitations. Reports indicate underage gamers found ways to circumvent the measure. In July 2007, the rule was relaxed yet again. Internet games operating in China must require that users identify themselves by resident identity numbers. After three hours, players under 18 are prompted to stop and “do suitable physical exercise.” If they continue, their in-game points are “slashed in half”. After five hours, all their points are automatically erased.
Lee Jae Wong also says that there was an interesting study carried out using brain scans. It showed the results of a “pro gamers” brain and a gaming addicts brain are completely different. He describes it as if someone was to think of gaming as a training purpose and make it a future goal, it wouldn’t bother any normal brain activity. But if someone used gaming to gain some satisfaction, or release tension (ie: the dopamine), it would cause damage within the brain system. Also, a reason people might become addicted if from trying to rely on video games as a job. And yes, it sounds crazy but people may HUGE cash playing video games. For example, Zhang Ning “xioa8” made $1,662,202 from playing in 44 gaming tournaments. This might be hard to believe but people take pro video game playing very seriously.
A new study from the American Psychological Association (APA) found there found that there is evidence showing video games increase aggression, but not enough to show that playing games can lead to serious criminal behavior. Scientists have analyzed the use of violent video games for more than twenty years. But to date, there is not enough research showing if violent video games cause people to commit criminal offenses. However, the connection between violence in video games and aggression in people is one of the most studied and best established in the fields of video game addiction. In over more than 150 research papers, experts have found a persistent decrease in social behavior, empathy, and sensitivity to aggression. Although I am not trying to shut down video games, or internet addiction in general, I would like to point out that not everybody who plays video games will be addicted. For example, many teens can play video games a few hours a week, successfully balancing school activities, grades, friends, and family obligations. But just like gambling and other compulsive behaviors, teens can become so enthralled in the fantasy world of gaming that they neglect their family, friends, work, and school. Also, it is not just the video games that cause problems. It also could be in part with Substance abuse and different problems in real life.
For example, the goal of treating someone with a drug addiction problem would be for the person to stop taking the drugs completely. But for internet or gaming addiction treatment, it is not about avoiding the internet as a whole, it is more about a patient being able to control their use of the internet like a normal person. That is when people can say that addicts are “cured.”
Video game addiction is “described” as an impulse control disorder, which does not involve the use of drugs or alcohol. Scientists say that video game addiction it is very similar to excessive gambling. People suffering from video game addiction most commonly use their computers for playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games or for short “MMORPGs”. MMORPGs are basically anyone from anywhere around the world playing together in a virtual world, completing quests, fighting monsters, and leveling up. One of the reasons why MMORPGs can become so addicting is because players feel “obligated” to finish quests or stay with the team, or that they aren’t doing enough. Some of the most popular MMORPG’s include Ever Quest, Asheron’s Call, Ultimo Online, Final Fantasy, Vanguard, City of Heroes, Starcraft 2, and most of all “Proclaimed the most addicting game in 2006 and 2007,” World of Warcraft. Similar to other addictions, people suffering from video game addiction use the “virtual world” to socialize with real people through the Internet. They reach people from the internet as a variation for “real-life human interaction,” which they are unable to seek normally. Some suffering from video game addiction may develop an emotional attachment to online friends and feel an obligation to meet with them in real life.
Those suffering from video game addiction may enjoy parts of online games that allow them to socialize, and exchange ideas through the Internet. Especially some games require a large number of players to log on simultaneously, for very long periods of time, to accomplish a game’s task or quest. Because of that, players may feel an obligation or commitment to other players to complete the task. Because of that it may further the individual’s sense of relationship with other players, that are otherwise strangers.
I am not going to get into this too much but it is not just video games that can cause stress or make people feel an “obligation.” For example, in social media today, in particular many popular “Instagram-errs” feel an obligation to post every day, because of that they get very stressed out and in some cases, end up quitting their profile all together.
According to the Center for On-Line Addiction, warning signs for video game addiction include: Playing for increasing amounts of time, thinking about gaming during other activities, gaming to escape from real-life problems such as anxiety or depression, lying to friends and family to hide their gaming habits, or feeling resentful when trying to cut down on gaming. In addition, video game addicts tend to become isolated, dropping out of their social networks and giving up their previous hobbies or activities. But there is one more thing we have to talk about, the Brain. The way “addiction” works is very simple actually. Anytime you are doing an activity that you “enjoy” or feel pleasure or excitement when doing that activity, a substance in your brain called dopamine is released. Dopamine in short words is basically the feeling of accomplishment, motivation, pleasure and especially reward. Here is a graph showing the levels of dopamine released in different activities.
(see table 1)
As you can see gaming addiction is closely related to Cocaine, one of the worst drugs ever. Now with Cocaine it kills you because of the chemicals in the specific drug, but with Gaming Addiction is it mental, which makes it slightly worse. Now here’s the more scientific stuff… From an expert, this is the definition of video game addiction and dopamine. “Dopaminergic neurotransmission may be involved in learning, reinforcement of behavior, attention, and sensorimotor integration. Binding of the radio ligand 11C-labelled raclopride to dopamine D2 receptors is sensitive to levels of endogenous dopamine, which can be released by the pharmacological challenge.” But obviously, not everyone would understand that. *laugh* What this article is basically saying is, when dopamine is released in the brain it effects attention, behavior, and other tasks such as driving, or in my case, playing video games.
Below, it shows the level of performance at performing different tasks (see Table 2,3) (ex: doing homework) when you are addicted to video games. The line going diagonal is the average level of performance when you are not addicted. The 4 different graphs symbolize for the different systems in the brain. The little dots on the graphs symbolize how the different parts of the brain perform while doing tasks while you are addicted. As you can see the average is much lower than expected. They are all in the negatives, which is not good. On figure 2 it shows the level on how you can focus on different activities when you are addicted to video games. The o’s represent a normal person’s level to focus, and the x’s represents the level of when you are addicted.
Here you can see the release of dopamine in a “normal” persons brain (R) vs a person who is addicted to video games (L). On the (L) side it shows a much larger release of dopamine, which leads to people playing more or feeling more obligated to play, which in many cases is not good.
There’s more to addiction than just brain chemistry. “Even with alcohol, it’s not just physical. There’s a psychological component to the addiction, knowing ‘I can escape or feel good about my life.” says Young, a professional neurologist. The lure of a fantasy world is especially persisting to online role-playing games (RPGs). These are games in which a player takes the role of a fictional character and interacts with other people in a virtual world. As Young puts it, “an intelligent child who is unpopular at school can become dominant in the game.” The virtual life becomes more appealing than real life itself, almost like an escape from what is going around them. Too much gaming may seem relatively harmless compared to the dangers of a drug over usage, but Young says video game addiction can ruin lives. Some of the most common symptoms of being addicted are compulsive gaming, social isolation, mood swings, diminished imagination, and being extremely focused on in-game achievements, to the point of exclusion of other events in life. Addicts may also neglect personal hygiene, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play resulting in sleep deprivation, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends, or lie about how much time they spend playing video games.
While Internet gaming disorder is proposed as a disorder, it is still discussed how much this disorder is caused by the “gaming activity” itself, or whether it is due to an effect of other disorders.
In a 2005 “Tom’s Games” interview, Maressa Orzack estimated that 40% of the players of World of Warcraft (an MMORPG) were addicted. Not to blame the addiction itself, but World Of Warcraft has the Guinness world record for the largest number of people logged into a video game at a single time, which is 18.5 million people.
Since the American Psychiatric Association decision in 2007, studies have been conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine related to video game play. Researchers found evidence that video games do have addictive characteristics. An MRI study found that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video-game play. The 2009 OSDUHS Mental Health and Well-Being Report, by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario, showed almost 10% of 9,000 surveyed students from Grades 7 to 12 get at least 7 hours a day of “screen time”. A little over 10% also reported having video gaming problems in the previous year.
Some scholars suggest that psychosocial dependence may revolve around the intermittent reinforcements in the game and the need to belong. Some scholars explain that the social dependence that may arise due to video games occurring online where players interact with others and the relationships “often become more important for gamers than real-life relationships”.
Though the study on the topic of gaming addiction is growing, the research is still young and is, therefore, conducive to critique. Other concerns also address the definition of addiction and how to “measure” it, questioning whether or not time is a proper unit to determine how addicted someone is to gaming. A 2014 study done by Brunborg, Mentzoni, and Froyland found that video game addiction does have a correlation with negative outcomes, however, as stated in the article, the link between time spent on gaming and the same outcomes were found to be weaker than the former, showing that time may not be the only factor in gaming addiction.
On a more severe scale, video game addiction may directly lead to premature death. A Norwegian study conducted by the University of Bergen has looked at links between gaming problems and common health problems. The study compared health factors like headaches, neck or back pain, digestive problems and sleep problems between people with normal people with no affiliation to gaming and people with gaming problems. (see table 1)
The study shows that people with gaming addiction are more exposed to all the tested health factors than the other groups. The table below shows some numbers from the study. It compares the share of people who replied that they never had problems with each particular health factor between the groups “people with gaming addiction” and “people without gaming addiction”.
Table 1. Rate of Health Problems
Non-addiction group
Addiction group
Headache
28.7%
20.6%
Neck-/back pain
25.8%
16.2%
Digestive problems
51.4%
40.3%
Insomnia
45.3%
31.2%
Depression
43.1%
22.0%
Drowsiness
22.6%
10.4%
In an April 2008 article, The Daily Telegraph reported that surveys of 391 players of a popular game called “Asheron’s Call” showed that 3% of the respondents suffered from agitation when they were unable to play or missed sleep or meals to play University of Boltons head researcher John Charlton stated, “Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming.”
The first video game to attract political controversy was the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders. In 1981, a political bill called the “Control of Space Invaders (and other Electronic Games) Bill” was drafted by British Labour Party MP George Foulkes in an attempt to ban the game for its “addictive properties” and for causing “deviancy”. The bill was debated and only narrowly defeated in parliament by 114 votes to 94 votes.
In 2008, one of the five FCC Commissioners, Deborah Taylor Tate, stated that online gaming addiction was “one of the top reasons for college dropouts”. However, she did not mention a source for the statement nor identify its position in relation to other top reasons.
Some theorists focus on presumed built-in reward systems of the games to explain their potentially addictive nature. Many video games, particularly massively multiplayer online role-playing games and social network and mobile games, rely on a “compulsion loop” or “core loop”, a cycle of activities that involve rewarding the player and driving them to continue through another cycle, retaining them in the game. The anticipation of such rewards can create a neurological reaction that releases dopamine into the body so that once the reward is obtained, the person will remember it as a pleasurable feeling. This has been found similar to the same neurological reaction believed to be associated with gambling addiction. In reference to gamers such as one suicide in China, the head of one software association was quoted, “In the hypothetical world created by such games, they become confident and gain satisfaction, which they cannot get in the real world.”
A high prenatal testosterone load may be a risk factor for the development of video game addiction in adulthood.
Ferguson, Coulson, and Barnett in a meta-analytic review of the research, concluded that the evidence suggests that video game addiction arises out of other mental health problems, rather than causing them. Thus it is unclear whether video game addiction should be considered a unique diagnosis.
Researchers at the University of Rochester and Immersive, Inc. (a Celebration, Florida, computer gaming Think-tank) investigated what motivates gamers to continue playing video games. According to lead investigator Richard Ryan, they believe that players play for more reasons than fun alone. Ryan, a motivational psychologist at Rochester, says that many video games satisfy basic psychological needs, and players often continue to play because of rewards, freedom, and a connection to other players.
Michael Brody, M.D., head of the TV and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, stated in a 2007 press release that “… there is not enough research on whether or not video games are addictive.” However, Dr. Brody also cautioned that for some children and adolescents, “… it displaces physical activity and time spent on studies, with friends, and even with family.”
Dr. Karen Pierce, a psychiatrist at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, sees no need for a specific gaming addiction diagnosis. Two or more children see her each week because of excessive computer and video game play, and she treats their problems as she would any addiction. She said one of her excessive-gaming patient’s “…hasn’t been to bed, hasn’t showered…He is really a mess.”
Some online support groups include Gamers Anonymous, an American non-profit organization, Computer gaming addicts anonymous from cgaa.info, and the most noticeable in China if someone is addicted to a game they basically get escorted by the police to a basically prison that they go cold turkey with all screens or electronics. If people do not receive proper treatment video game addiction can get so severe that in some cases it leads to suicide or murder.
Although there are many deaths related to Gaming addiction, there is one specific one I want to focus on. Back in 2014 Cheon Min-ki’s or better known as “Promise” attempted suicide. He was one of the best League of Legends players in history, until his attempt. He was in the League of Legends finals and he was told by his coach to do a poor job, for the money. After he felt too much pressure because he left his team down, just for the money. He attempted suicide but went into a coma after jumping off a 12 story building into a dumpster. To him, and many people around the world video games are more than just a “thing” it a lifestyle, a job, a career, a purpose, and a dream.