Video Game Addiction Column

Video Games: The New Drug
By John Rosales

It’s sent people to the poor house, ended relationships, and even caused people to lose their friends. It’s an addiction that seems to be growing more prevalent every year. It’s an addiction that most people don’t even see coming.

Video games have become the newest drug. It may seem a stretch for some people to believe that something as harmless as a video game can be the cause of such a serious addiction, but each day we’re seeing it become more of a problem. It’s become such a problem that there are help groups specially dedicated to assisting people recover from this addiction.

Most of us have grown up with video games, playing them since our childhood. We've waiting in anticipation for that Christmas or birthday gift that would send us packing to our bedrooms for hours on end, but most of us come out of it just fine. So what's caused this shift from simple pastime to hardcore addiction?

One contributing factor is the ever-expanding content for games. It used to be that you would play a video game until you beat it, and then it would go on the shelf to collect dust. Video games now offer continually expanding content to games. Add-on packs and new levels are added all of the time, so much so that a game doesn’t have to end for years after its initial release.

Another contributing factor to game addiction is the online role playing game or mmorpg(Massively Multi-player On-line Role Playing Game). Games like World of Warcraft never really end; there is no ultimate endpoint or finale to the game. The games encourage the addiction, with gamers constantly seeking perks and benefits in the game that will make them “elite” player's. Hours spent in the game garner the player not only gear, but bragging rights; a new weapon or a new set of armor is something that shows the player's dedication to the game. It also enables a certain superiority over other less dedicated player's.

The Internet is full of stories from players who have tried to quit or know someone who is addicted. Rebeltim shared his experience on the website Digg:
“3 years ago my wife missed new years with me and our 4 kids because while we were doing the count down, She was playing WoW…What started as just a couple nights a week turned into everyday, every free moment and late into the evenings(early mornings).” There are countless stories remarkably similar to this on almost every post.

Groups of people can spend months trying to earn a new set of armor or a special weapon and when this is accomplished there is always another piece of armor or another weapon waiting in yet another dungeon. It’s this constant search for the newest and best gear that keeps gamers playing over and over again every day.

There also seems to be obligations between players to reach a common goal, they rely on one another to complete quests or dungeons and if a player doesn’t help out with their guild (a group of people working together in the game) then they feel as though their letting them down and disappointing them.

“Yeah, my girlfriend seems to have a hard time with letting down her guild and will sometimes run an extra instance just to help out,” getbusyliving remarked on Digg.

These are the extreme cases, most of us can handle these games; we can continue to function in society. The reasons for addiction are different for each person; Some are social, some enjoy the sense of accomplishment for being one of the best and for others it’s just an escape. The problem is it's becoming ever more evident that these games don’t just become pastimes but take over peoples lives. People begin to work their lives around playing the video game instead of playing the video game around their lives.

At A Glance:
Online Gamer Addiction Help:On-Line Gamers Anonymous
Online Game Addiction Forum:TechAddiction
Online Game Addiction Stories:Video Game Addiction.org
Online Game Addiction Symptoms:Telling It Like It Is