In the world of video games, kids and adults across the planet will sometimes sit for hours and in extreme cases, days on end playing their favorite game. This has led many people, parents in particular, to think that people can become addicted to playing video games - not merely just enthralled, but addicted to the game. In the health care field, it is not the easiest thing in the world to have anything classified as being legitimate. You first must have tests, theories, and various other litmus tests to prove that something is clinically valid. What about video games?
Video games as an addiction is not a new concept. In years past, people have claimed everything from addiction to complete disability over the use of video games. Much like porn addiction, and other things of the like, people are of the mind that they are physically addicted to the games. The truth is, they are compelled to play the games. There is a major difference.
The difference between compulsion and addiction is usually not that easy to describe. When it comes to video game addiction, it is rather easy. With video game addiction, you will not go into physical withdrawal symptoms if you stop playing as you would with drugs or alcohol. Just because you lose your job because you could not stop playing video games, it does not make you addicted. It makes you unable to control your compulsions.
This marked difference does not make light of the serious issue that addiction to video games seems to put out there. Consider the lengths that some will go to play their favorite video game:
- Some video gamers play for more than 24 hours straight.
- Some video gamers will go days without showering so that they lose no time, or simply because they do not care.
- Some gamers will play instead of going to work, school, or other important engagements. One man even missed his wedding because he did not want to miss out on a “special bonus round” in the game he was playing.
- There are people who have played marathon gaming sessions that actually led them to circumstances that contributed to their death.
While all of these circumstances are serious, and speak to deeper issues than video games, they are not proof of an actual addiction. Many people play video games to escape the world they are in. Reality is sometimes too painful or difficult for some people, and this can lead to compulsive video game play as well. Whatever the reasons that people play video games online or on console, they are not addicted to them.
In future years, their may come a day when we learn something new about the way the brain works. For now, however, the “addiction” to video games suggestion does not seem to hold water in the medical community. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Thanks for this excellent summary of why issues like video game addiction and porn addiction are really not ‘addictions’ at all. The impact of these compulsive behaviours can be just as damaging on people’s lives, but helping them requires a different approach from traditional methods such as 12-steps.
As you say, gaming addiction could be classified more accurately as a compulsive desire - a craving to escape for long periods from the real world. Various factors might underlie this craving: low self-esteem, fear, anger, boredom, relationship anxiety, social anxiety. Old-school addiction recovery treatments are unable to address these issues.
Comment by Jason — August 13, 2009 @ 12:02 am