Internet Gaming Addictions

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...t-addiction-gaming-restart-therapy-washington

I encourage people to read this article.

As someone who almost got a second degree in sociology, I actually spent a lot of time in college in the 90's thinking about how addicting internet games are and how it effected people (psychology) and society (sociology). I was fortunate to graduate college right before UO came out (by months in fact). Had UO come out when I was in college, I dont know how I could have graduated.

It wasn't until EQ, DAOC and WoW that I recognized (as early as 2000) the this was a serious crisis already in our country and it has gotten far worse as this stuff has gone main stream and medical field seems to have largely ignored the fact that 10-20-30 million Americans are addicts.

I would also hope that enlightened people such as Lord British even though some of their livelihoods are behind gaming would help work to fight this.

I see people in this game that are clearly addicts and I implore people to please moderate your game play with life. I am not passing judgement here, I am concerned for my fellow person. I was that person myself for at least a year or two in Wow where I took 7 characters up to lvl 70 with half of them being in pull epic PvP rewards gear. I remember staying up to 3AM on days I needed to get up at 6AM for work.

I think a lot of people here would agree that the reward systems in games like MMO's are really addicting and usually far more rewarding then real life in most cases. We begin to substitute game rewards with real life rewards and if you feel this has happened to you, it may be time to seek help.

 

I read complete articles of internal Data released from Everquest.

They had analysed exactly the player behaving - they even could tell you at what period of gameplay and level chances of addiction starts.

Searched the Internet. Could not find it. But this one is great also and Everquest was used:

https://www.researchgate.net/public...nological_Analysis_of_Online_Gaming_Addiction



My lesson is : watch out for what your closest friends and family members say. They are your first protection to signal you - you are playing too much. If they are getting angry or frustrated with your gaming behaving - be alarmed.

And look for games that do not demand endless time or high amount of money to feel like you achieved something. If they do be careful if you are addictive person.


Solo Adventures, Games that are set up like a Match with limited Time, Games that do not punish you with decay if you stop playing, Games that allow you to play AFK , Games that have a fast leveling System to highest level are examples of installments protecting against addiction.

 

I certainly agree about this. Gaming has led to the decline in health and welfare of many people that have been addicted to it. One thing is just being inactive and sitting in one space for a long time has killed many people. The mental part has has ruined many people with the withdrawal from society and interacting with people in real life. It defiantly is something to be concerned about. When I see people that play 18+ hours a day I truly worry about their health. I think China actually limits the time played during gaming for some of these reasons.

 

But as a counter warning - always ask yourself what source is warning you of the danger.

After Gutenberg invented the book printing mashine the first articles had shortly been written how unhealthy too much learning snd reading for children is.
Mainly instituted by the catholic church who also was the first to do zensorship.

They knew: Educated people with Knowledge is bad for them. You start becoming sceptical about what someone is preaching if you are educated


So if scienctific warns from addiction always better then politicians presenting articles about dangerous games and media.

 

PFFFTTTTTTTtttt

IMO if you havn't sold your body for extra credits in a game, you clearly arn't gaming good enough.


But in all seriousness, all addictions and obsessions can impact your social, financial and your over all well being. As with anything/everything. Moderation is key. Excess of anything is generally a bad thing.

 

Stop this Mob... ( ) PvP in the freedom of the mind !'

I will take a few opposite issues with this subject;

• TV media of all types
• Twitter and like social communications
• Sports Fans
• Sports Players
• Proactive aggression to change the world
• Anger
• Risk taking
• (fill in the blank with whatever takes over from what someone does through another's eye's they should do or be doing and however much that is)

Literally everything is potentially "bad for you" depending on someone else's views of whether or not your doing it "too much or too little".
Mob behavior has a draw to it which compels most all within the mob to join the mob in whatever they are doing, which sociology knows quite well. So the key factor within that, is that there must be a wished for norm implied or envisioned by the social observer or participants. Yet all participants believe they are the correct way, while the individual becomes the outsider in need of help from their view of normal or healthy behavior.

We recently lost a friend of ours here in our forums because he was beset on by a mob of people who did not share his views, views which that player was deeply devoted to from the culture the player was raised in. The mob did this because this player refused to condone or accept the group's idea. This is where sociology has it's flaws, when those views of the mob behavior are taken as being what should be and what should not be. The individualist is at opposite of the socialist and always will be. The social environment or norms of everyone is the socialist's world of understanding, yet when that understanding becomes an active agent upon the individual as being somehow not conforming to the group, then the group insists that that individual's behavior is somehow wrong for being an individualist. A group of individualists is no longer an individual once they have become a mob, yet rebel against the other mob. Sociology understand this, yet when sociology become pro-active to assume what normal is or should be, is when it makes it's failed entry into becoming a part of a mob, and all mobs have an end outcome to them. In this way, sociology becoming pro-active becomes the larger problem no matter whether it's a mob of individualists or a mob of socialists, one gives rise to the other heading to a showdown which becomes a much larger problem than the dispersed people they both once were. Sociology in it's retrospective, is a revolutionary once it becomes proactive and freedom dies, no matter which mob wins.

I miss our friend who was set upon by such a mob. He was and is a great individual, from a mob he learned his values from.
"Do not ask me who I am, and do not ask me to remain the same" Quoted from Michel Foucault ... which is something to think about when it comes to assuming what's normal.


What is presented as addictions, is nothing more than not conforming to an academic norm. Literally everything we do as individual or social group is an addiction, right down to our addiction to the pumping of our hearts. What may or may not be considered "a healthy amount of some or any social or individual activity" is nothing more than an outside opinion rather than fact of anything which needs corrective action to through sociology.

I do miss our friend. I didn't always agree with him, and I can almost say I mostly didn't agree with him on many issues, but he was our friend who's philosophical outlooks on life he offered us with little thanks for his sharing. There's nothing worse than a mob, unless there's another mob, which is the situation that becomes revolution because one mob rose in the first place. Revolution is fine, but never happens without conflict and casualties whether by physical or mental conflict casualty.
~Time Lord~

 

As time lord said, there are all kinds of addiction, and trying to say this is normal and this is not normal when it all comes from individual perspective and influences, often through eyes of bias, can lead to conflict and division. This is a very short, kinda of broken up video speaking towards this. The full set of videos of this talk is like 4 hours long, but is very revealing.

The shoe that fits one pinches another, there is no recipe for life that suits all cases. Carl Jung

 

~TL~

 

Totally true @Mac2. The article says the truth, but generalize is always a bad thing. Some people are able to manage their lifes playing a lot, so its not just how much you play, but also about how much time you use for the rest of things (home, family, friends, work, etc).

I think almost everyone who has played MMOs for many years has experienced this addiction at some point.

 

AHHH time lord, you find the best clips.

 

It's his addiction

 

That's actually a great sociologist vs psychologist discussion. Is it the individual or is it the society. The two academic sides have been arguing about root causes since the beginning of history In the end, yup, its all shades of gray.

But in the end, like addicts know, one must first recognize and accept that they are an addict to move forward.

Im surprised at the back lash here when talking about an addiction, I encourage everyone to read that article I posted, it does show the extremes.


They talk a lot about depression and everyone suffers from it at some point in their lives, the best way I ever heard depression summed up "inner rage" (towards oneself). Once someone realizes this, it may really help them try to fight it. Why have inner rage at things we cannot control and are not our faults.

 

Now, I think the questions to ask are, is the addiction a form of escape from the issues of the world? How can one know what is going on around in the world, and by happy?

 

Good thing about the slow zone times between zones, I can do one setup of curls in between each load. Funny, but I am literally not joking.
Loading into my home town of Xenos, I can do 3 sets... some burpees, 20 pushups, and use the restroom twice!

 

Oh ya, completely agree. Unhappiness with the world and our place in it is for sure one of the biggest issues in modern society (for a lot of people). We can look at the past few decades of politics and probably collate a massive rise in depression. Many of us play games like SOTA (or watch movies, binge netflix shows) as an escape from reality. Even more so since the invention of 24x7 media where we are just bombarded with negativity (for ratings).

To be honest, game like SOTA also attract people who are on the OCD side of things (I include myself in that lightly)

 

these videos are some really good stuff, Im going to watch some more of these.

 

YES. I have watched over 300 hours of jiddu. The way he gets a question, and then delves so deeply into it, I just love it. I cant remember what video it is, but there is one that really shows how easy it is to cause internal conflict. I will try and find it.

 

Ok this is it.

 

Nick Yee's Deadalus project from WAY back in the late 90's early 00's also has some great information about this, and player trends in general from those days. It's still available and decent toilet reading. http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/

 

SotA got me away from drinking at bars all day.