Gaming addictions

[Okan]

Found this video on The Escapist and it really hit me as a lot of what they said is true. At least to me. I was written up quite a few times from staying up late to "kill that last boss" or showing up to work late to farm just a tad more in MMOs. I lost a job because instead of going out and gaining a certification I signed a paper on stating that I would get, I spent all that time killing bosses in MMOs. Would spend hours on forums dedicated to searching for new tips and tricks and would ignore my responsibilities. I don't count what I'm doing now as part of that since I always stop posting when necessary to perform my job and it's functions. I mean I still sort of do the latter part of that, but I've learned that there is time for work and play and some times my current job is slow enough for me to goof off and do that.

This is why I refuse to play MMOs anymore. I get sucked in to the end-game aspect and I have to be doing the hardest stuff. I can't be a simple social gamer that logs on to do a few quests and chat. I tried it with WoW after quitting the raiding scene and the next thing I know I'm tempted to go back and try raiding again. I quit. I waited about a year and my friend asked me to go back and we can play some FFXI together. My plan was to simply casually play BST with him. Next thing I know, my BST shot from 51 (When I quit initially at the first anti-MPK patch) to 60 in about a week. 60 to 70 went even faster with the new areas I was now exploring. Next I want to get great gear so I'm looking in to Einherjar LS, Dynamis, and wanting to go back to sky and crap to get gear for my BST... I realize my mistake again and quit.

MMOs are a poison to me. It's hard to be casual and social. Damn near impossible if I say so. Others can do it and to them, keep on trucking. I think that's why I take a bit of solace in my Xbox. I can quit a game with no issues. Just turn it off because I dictate what happens in those worlds unlike MMOs. I don't need to schedule a time slot with 3 other groups to run Dynamis. I don't need to get bitchy about someone fucking up the boss fight and trash respawning on us all... Because those mistakes are mine with no one else to blame. For the games that I do play cooperatively (L4D for example), I do it with my local friends and we have fun with it. We can call it a night whenever we want. There's no "if we don't do this now, we can't do it again until XXX" moments like time running out in Dynamis/Limbus/Etc. If I decide to not play a game like Star Ocean 4, no ones feelings are hurt because you're down a member and unable to go on and have just wasted time gathering for nothing.

I know I've been addicted to games for awhile, but I never made attempts to correct it for a long time. I used them for a long time to hide from people like a previous step father. When I was 12 this was a valid excuse. Once I left the house, I should have grown up and acknowledged my own responsibilities, but for a while I continued to blame him. Quick note is he was very verbally abusive and in a sense physically too -- though he only ever really hit me a few times, he would constantly ground me for the silliest of things and put me to work doing things he didn't want to do. For example I didn't take out the trash so he grounded me of no TV or phone and made me repaint the shed. List goes on. I'm not saying this to seek pity on that as it was almost 15 years ago though so I've learned to see my mistakes (and his) and learned from them. My point is that I now know how I fucked things up in the past due to an addiction that some people still don't recognize as an issue. I know someone who thinks it's "bullshit" because there is no physical aspect of it that would be considered addicting like the nicotine in a cigarette. I have to disagree with this because it's a mental addiction where you get a "high" from gaining some of those achievements (Not the literal xbox like ones, but stuff like gaining your e.body or relic/epic weapons, etc).

Anyway, the video link:

The Escapist : Video Galleries : The Escapist Presents : Escapist On: Gaming Addiction

What are your takes on it?

[Devolver]

I see an MMO can be as addicting as smoking and drinking.

I'll use drinking as an example, as it relates to me and how I feel about mmo's

I drink on occasions in a social atmosphere. I log on mmo's mainly only when theres a social event going on (leveling with friends, events etc)

At one point I was a bad alcoholic. Drinking by myself for no reason nightly/every-other-night. And the same goes with Final Fantasy, playing by myself in-game, not being social, etc etc. But its a decision you have to make that you dont want to be involved with a specific lifestyle.

Me being a psychology major, the biggest draw to a mmo is observing people, and how they interact, and interpreting their in-game persona to possible real-life attributes. And with observing this for 3 years, I've noticed that some people just don't have the will-power to break habit, be it mmo's or real life habits. That sounds like a really shallow observation, but its really as simple as that.

Some people just don't have the mental stability to be able to break something that they feel has given them support for so long (false support, but that's one of the draws of addictions).

[Okan]

I personally think that a lot of it can come from people not knowing alternatives. Being so used to, addicted to doing things a certain way, you don't look out at other things to do and they feel unnatural or less fun because of them being so new. Go home and play your games until you go to sleep might be what you do every day, but when you get invited out, it's different so in a way scary. You find a way to avoid it and go back to your normal routine of school or work to gaming after.

And I completely agree with the support statement. I said it myself. It was my support to avoid someone I generally disliked and it was a very false sense of protection.

[Metah]

People can be addicted to pretty much anything, videogames included.

Everything in moderation, as I always say.

[_chuchu]

Self-control is like walking into a bakery, taking a whiff of the smells, and walking right out. Try it sometime :D

[Zeb]

People can be addicted to pretty much anything, videogames included.

Everything in moderation, as I always say.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

[Kitha]

I've realized my tendencies and hopefully come to terms with my addiction. I had to come to terms with the reality of it all after Jan 22. I kept telling myself I was playing for my friends, which was true for the most part regarding sticking around in FFXI for as long as I did regardless of how poorly and uneven it's been handled.

Figured I was free, but joined up with those friends who were also banned to mess around with WoW and after having the same lightbulb go off (can't play casual, its all or nothing) I came to the conclusion that MMOs are doomed ventures. Always changing, never really stable or reliable in terms of development, so you're angry with the developers... with the players... hopes smashed, blah blah blah.... I kept fooling myself into thinking I was happy with the mediocrity of it all and ignoring the truth and missed opportunities around me.

[Hiryo]

Question:

Are people who work 8 hours a day, come home and watch tv(possibly while eating) then go to bed considered addicted to tv?

If you replace that tv time with games, are they suddenly addicted to gaming?

[Okan]

Some would say yes, some would say no. It's not that they actually play games or watch TV all day. It's that they don't do anything else through personal choice. When you ask this person if they want to go to the bar this weekend or hang out, do they go out? If they'll go be social, I'd have to say no they're not. If they do not do anything else except work and TV, then yes. They could be considered addicted.

[Jotaru]

There's so many routes you can take this that I hardly even bother anymore..

The TV comment is a good one; people bitch at me all the time for sitting on my computer playing games... but I go out on weekends, I go to parties, I work a job, I go to the gym. When I'm at home, I don't like to be bored- I play video games. I don't watch a lick of TV- maybe an hour a week, IF that. Yet, the kids who come home, sit in front of the TV ALL DAY and do absolutely NOTHING else, are fine. Uh.. k.

Then there's the 'addiction' semantics discussion. Is it an 'addiction' the same as alcoholism? I'd argue no, alcoholism (or drug abuse) forms a physical chemical dependency in your brain that causes the 'disease' as it were. Gaming doesn't, unless you count the dopamine rush you get from something you enjoy- in which case, then, you could argue that anyone who enjoys doing ANYTHING and thus does it a lot is addicted, and anyone who does otherwise is addicted to lack of dopamine. Its whatever.

[Metah]

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Oh SHIIIIIIIII

Well I guess I have no choice but to eat two packages of bacon now

[BRP]

Question:

Are people who work 8 hours a day, come home and watch tv(possibly while eating) then go to bed considered addicted to tv?

If you replace that tv time with games, are they suddenly addicted to gaming?

No. Not really.


There are like, what, five key characteristics of addiction...

obsession/preoccupation with the subject, withdrawal, relapse/lack of control, negative effect on life, and building a tolerance.

If the person isn't increasing his need to watch TV and he isn't forsaking work and other responsibilities for it, then he doesn't look addicted. It is their method of relaxation, maybe even a hobby.

Now, let us look at the MMO Player. Obsession? Relapse? Negative effects? Building tolerance? All of these seem pretty common in the worse case scenarios and appear in the video linked the OP. Withdrawal I can't really point out as easily. I think people tend to feel relief, that is until they go back to it.

Now I don't think all of the heavy MMO(or whatever, FPS, etc) players are addicted. It might just be an earlier stage of addiction. What separates the two really is that these players are not driven to play, they are driven to not do school work or work. They might be fine with doing something that is neither. The seeds for addiction are planted right around here, but it hasn't started yet. So it is more like overeating or searching wikipedia about necrophilia and famous leaders of Argentina instead of studying for that english exam. They lack compulsion.

Moving onto a separate thought, I think MMOs are so addictive because they are just giant communities of supporters. I mean that's the whole point. Many players may get obsessed with the grinding / perfectionist nature of things(these are the people who get obsessed with Diablo), but I think the number of "MMO addicts" would be tiny in comparison if it wasn't for peers who do nothing but enable your habit. There can even be guilt here. You don't want to let your enablers down, you want to help them like they helped you. So you log on even when you weren't suppose to or didn't plan to.


I've been thinking about addiction in terms of personal experience. Was I ever addicted to FFXI? That is probably a question everyone on this forum will ask themselves at one point.

I played FFXI most when I had minimal responsibilities and very little to escape from. I was basically wasting time for the sake of it. It was there, so I played it and I liked it. It felt rewarding. I never entertained the thought of not playing it. Did that make it compulsion? FFXI became a problem when I started making personal sacrifices to please other people online. I began wasting my time not caring about my goals(as a character), but simply pleasing my "internet friends." If I had to point out one perfect example of this, it would be Dynamis. I felt no joy at all for Dynamis, I dreaded it. A very, very lengthy pattern within a dark, bleak, and dull version of areas I've been to a thousand times and doing this for every week for years. And yet, I had a nigh-perfect attendance for anytime I was expected. At one point I was doing LS events so late that it would end at 1am or even later. I can even recall helping with things afterward. Most jarring was that while in a point-based LS, I spent my points only once in a year and a half period. Why in god's name was I fucking doing this mess? I did actually enjoy FFXI outside Dynamis and any chore like it(hey lets camp this, or lets exp for 5 hours).

I don't think was I ever addicted to FFXI, I was obsessed with pleasing these internet comrades. Whenever I didn't have responsibilities to other players, my playtime dropped dramatically(even now, when I actually have stuff to be stressed about.) Like I said, I believe the community aspect of MMOs is what makes it so dangerous. Any "Why do you play FFXI?" thread is filled with a bunch of "I FIGHT FOR MY FRIENDS!" clearly shows this.

[The Stig]

I would say ... people think I'm addicted to FFXI, but they can't fucking understand how to multi task.

Sure, I MAY be playing FFXI.

But hey, just because I'm playing something doesn't mean I'm incapable of doing anything else.

While FFXI is on (or while I'm in front of my laptop), if I'm not involved in anything serious (idle/farming/helping):

PSP
Videos (youtube/shows/top gear/anime/etc)
Browse BG/Post on BG (and other forums)
Chat on IRC
Chat on MSN

All this on a 12.1inch (1200x800) screen laptop. I play FFXI on a 640x480 window and browse with whatever space is left (usually enough to read a small paragraph). If I'm not browsing I have a youtube/winamp video open on the bottom right corner (FFXI sits on the top left). Sometimes I do a combination, but as a fighting games player (I play SF2/SF3:3rd/want to play SF4; no PS3/360, /GGXXXXXXXX/KOF98-2003) I also watch several match videos on youtube to keep up to date (or feel like I'm mentally playing it)

Then I believe my friends are truely naive. Sure I may be playing FFXI (which seems to stand out as the ONLY thing I'm playing to them), one thing I get "pointed out" on is my anability to keep up with "modern" games, i.e. Resident Evil 5/Left4Dead/Little Big Planet, whatever.

But then again, I don't really have the cash to spend £40 on a new game each time something comes out. The replayability is kinda bad, although I'm aware of Left4Dead's funness (is that a word?) I'm just not into those types of games where I can pick up, play, and throw away.

I'm very easy going with minimal commitments in game. As BRP pointed out about Dynamis, that's the reason I don't do it, not only because I cannot find a reasonable shell with a time, I don't think I can stay focused that long. These days all the activities I participate in FFXI takes no longer than 2 hours; limbus, assault, salvage, nyzul




About addiction, I think I was addicted to it very initially when (this isn't the first time I've brought the router up) I wanted to play and yet I couldn't because a cunt of a housemate keeps torrenting and the router we used, good old wrt54g sucked ass, and there was little I can do. I kept getting R0ed so while I wanted to play moderately I ended up playing more when that housemate isn't around ... I couldn't play "when I liked".

The 2nd year he moved out and I only shared the internet with 3 others. Luckily those 3 others used the internet lightly but there were times where one will randomly torrent something. But due to the same router I still get R0ed when the router gets busy, so I had to live with that in the back of my mind. So whenever they're out I take it as an opporunity to play.


Now? I'm good. I spend 13+ hours outside the house (6:45am get out, arrive to work 8:45~, finish 5:30pm, get home 7:15pm) and play 2 odd hours during the evening between dinner/shower and usually multi task as pointed out above.


v -- Rambling begin

However I think there are some more slightly a more (none health tho) serious issue outside of being addicted to FFXI. Wasting time in RL and wasting MORE time in FFXI (carrying it into the game with you).

I live by the "If you want something done, ask a busy person." rule. I'm usually pretty busy all the time (I always have something to be working on, on or off game). But basically, put it this way, I know where to go and what to do to get things done within reason.

Find out more: If You Need to Get Something Done on Time, Ask a Busy Person to Help You

I know someone who claims they are busy, but I reckon they are just busy "wasting time". Put it this way, I know he has a GF on top, but I seriously do not think that classifies as busy (within reason). Fair enough, I'm single, but I don't think a petty female can take up all your attention/time. My friend provides examples of:

- Spending a long time to get 1 SIMPLE task done. This includes going out to purchase some drinks to carry back home. I can be ready in 2-3 minutes (put on clothes, make sure I look normal, go) but for some reason my friend can take up to 25 minutes

- Looking into toooooo toooooo much detail. A major weakness/downfall. For example if we are or he is doing something, if there is SOMETHING minor/petty/none life threatening detail that is wrong, i.e. watching a movie, or FFXI, he will literally spend 1 hour trying to correct it (reconfigure gfx card, reboot, etc). Recent example includes some weird pixels appearing up when the camera is rotated in a wierd way, when you can just simply ignore and get on with whatever it is you're doing

- FFXI example: "come help me do this". I reply "ok" and then I quickly look up whatever it is if I don't know about it that needs doing. Once I've evaluated it, I will grab gear and pop to the location. 30+ minutes later he'll arrive. Reason? Not to look up what to do. But to decide on the gear needed for this, despite me telling him "come naked I'll solo it just COME!"

- All of the above, whatever "needs to be done", there will always be bullshit obstacles in the way. "One sec, dinner" "one sec, toilet" "one sec, gotta do this" "one sec, phone"

tl;dr - I can prioritise what is important and what isn't, and you'll become better overall in game or not.

[Norelco]

I got made fun of by my friends for how much I played FFXI.

I quit one day while camping the big turtle HNM. I got sick and tired of competing for a piece of armor that was most likely going to go to some douchebag who was unemployed and had more time to devote to the linkshell.

It was like a second job. I guess I could have changed linkshells and joined one that was more relaxed and laid back but hey, I liked the armor and stuff being in an organized shell provided.

[Phla]

I used to play FFXI a lot (could do 10-12 hrs easy on friday/saturday nights, and weekdays after hw till 11:30 at night, since around the ps2 release). Only somewhat recently, around august, did I take a step back and ask myself "Why was I doing this?", and when I came up with no answer, I quit.

After that, I started going out more with my friends, and doing stuff outside the house. Personally, I've seen people that play mmos such as FFXI, which really makes other players rely on each other, turn into introverts. For an mmo such as FFXI it is really hard to play casually, since you can't really get that much done in a short time frame, compared to WoW, where you can log on and accomplish something in like 30-45 minutes if you really wanted to.

People will sacrifice their real lives to do something in-game that they really want to do - and while people always say this is a taboo, and that they never do it, I really doubt that its true. I really support the idea that people that play really play for other people, compared to themselves... when I played FFXI, it was definitely more for other people than myself, while I did want things for myself, it always seemed that the game that I played, on my time, for my pleasure, was for other people, and not myself.

[Norellicus]

I can say with absolute confidence that if FFXI were taken from me (by whatever means, I go broke and lose internet, account hacked, servers shut down...etc), I would probably regret the loss of my character for all of 5 seconds...and then would go read a book, or turn on my xbox/ps3/etc, or play another game on my computer.

I don't leave because I don't want to and have no need to. If I wasn't playing this, I'd still be doing pretty much the same things I do on a daily basis, except maybe my internet browsing habits would change slightly (less FFXI forum time, more gadget/geed cred/youtube/webcomic/flash games). MMOs are a cheap conduit to curing boredom, and better facilitate multitasking with other things (either social behaviors or practical matters such as doing your bills and such) than most other forms of interactive media, and so thus I continue playing.

If you ask me, the people who take a day off of work exclusively with the motivation of a new game's launch (even console ones) are further toward "addicts" than your average MMO goer.

[The Stig]

I'm with Norellicus. I would regret initially but then I get on with other things I never bothered to get on with in the first place (another/alternative hobby)

Phla:
As for people that insist on thinking "why am I doing this" to everything they do that appears to swallow time, I too have no answer but for a time sink so I don't have to think about that.

Some say "life is good now" after they stop playing. I always wondered if that's the case.

You see another thing I get irritated about is my friends' needs to update me with everything they do, as if they're trying to prove something to me. I -never- tell people what I'm up to or doing, because I am nearly always occupied with one thing or another. I am rarely bored and can always find something to do.

Nothing against anyone at the end of the day, but I just think it all depends on the person. I am fairly focused and determined/dedicated when it comes to doing X activity and can self learn/research and improve over time. I feel that my friends don't have such ability and as a result wear things off faster than they should last, hence their constant lookout to do new things (but hindered by money).