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Gaming Addiction -- "Second Skin" Documentary

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    JudgementJudgement Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    poshniallo wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Gee, a woman who's a big supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous has a completely skewed view of addiction.

    Stop the presses.

    Actually, being involved with AA ought to make her less likely to make claims like this, not more.

    Why? Because the number of deaths and ruined lives from alcohol is thousands annually, which I would say means millions worldwide, say, during the 20th Century.

    Whatever you think of the reasons behind the 'gaming-related deaths' we've had, it's not even vaguely a problem of the same magnitude.

    There have probably been more, fuck let's look at my desk, ooh chocolate-related deaths (tubby!), and perhaps even LCD Monitor-related deaths.

    It's ridiculous.

    World of Warcraft gave me a Tumor from dealing with retards who stand in Green Clouds on Yogg-Saron.

    Judgement on
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    JudgementJudgement Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I'm not addicted to playing games but I sure am addicted to buying games.

    Anyone else have this issue? I swear to god if I played through my backlog it'd take me a good 10 years it seems.

    I do this too, but I always say before I buy "Am I really going to play this?" Because spending $60 on colorful packaging is wasteful.

    Judgement on
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    Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Anyone know of any news articles on the gaming culture in China and how it differs from the way things are stateside? I still find it very hard to believe that people could die as a result of gaming. I mean, presumably you'd become too weak to properly play the game long before you actually die, at which point you'd re-energize yourself or call emergency services.

    Robos A Go Go on
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    ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    Anyone know of any news articles on the gaming culture in China and how it differs from the way things are stateside? I still find it very hard to believe that people could die as a result of gaming. I mean, presumably you'd become too weak to properly play the game long before you actually die, at which point you'd re-energize yourself or call emergency services.

    There are a lot of farming outfits there. They have each person oversee at least five bots (in case a mod questions one of them), and apparently pay decently but are still Chinese employers.

    Scalfin on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
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    Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Anyone know of any news articles on the gaming culture in China and how it differs from the way things are stateside? I still find it very hard to believe that people could die as a result of gaming. I mean, presumably you'd become too weak to properly play the game long before you actually die, at which point you'd re-energize yourself or call emergency services.

    There are a lot of farming outfits there. They have each person oversee at least five bots (in case a mod questions one of them), and apparently pay decently but are still Chinese employers.

    So the supposed gaming addicts who died were just overworked employees?

    That would certainly change things.

    Robos A Go Go on
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    never dienever die Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    poshniallo wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Gee, a woman who's a big supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous has a completely skewed view of addiction.

    Stop the presses.

    Actually, being involved with AA ought to make her less likely to make claims like this, not more.

    Why? Because the number of deaths and ruined lives from alcohol is thousands annually, which I would say means millions worldwide, say, during the 20th Century.

    Whatever you think of the reasons behind the 'gaming-related deaths' we've had, it's not even vaguely a problem of the same magnitude.

    There have probably been more, fuck let's look at my desk, ooh chocolate-related deaths (tubby!), and perhaps even LCD Monitor-related deaths.

    It's ridiculous.

    Still, as has been pointed out, some games are more likely to have people be addicted to them, which means that there must be something different about them. These seem to be the games that are much more competitive in nature, such as WOW.

    never die on
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    maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Judgement wrote: »
    I'm not addicted to playing games but I sure am addicted to buying games.

    Anyone else have this issue? I swear to god if I played through my backlog it'd take me a good 10 years it seems.

    I do this too, but I always say before I buy "Am I really going to play this?" Because spending $60 on colorful packaging is wasteful.

    I think I've bought a $60 game once, and that was Ghostbusters, and that was only because I got a $20 gift card with it.

    No, I generally stay below $30 with my console purchases.

    maximumzero on
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    Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
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    FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    never die wrote: »
    poshniallo wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Gee, a woman who's a big supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous has a completely skewed view of addiction.

    Stop the presses.

    Actually, being involved with AA ought to make her less likely to make claims like this, not more.

    Why? Because the number of deaths and ruined lives from alcohol is thousands annually, which I would say means millions worldwide, say, during the 20th Century.

    Whatever you think of the reasons behind the 'gaming-related deaths' we've had, it's not even vaguely a problem of the same magnitude.

    There have probably been more, fuck let's look at my desk, ooh chocolate-related deaths (tubby!), and perhaps even LCD Monitor-related deaths.

    It's ridiculous.

    Still, as has been pointed out, some games are more likely to have people be addicted to them, which means that there must be something different about them. These seem to be the games that are much more competitive in nature, such as WOW.

    There seems to be something... iterative, for lack of a better word... about the progression through a game like WoW or Civilization.

    When I get sucked into an RPG, it's because I'm thinking, "If I get one more level I can go into the next dungeon and get a new weapon which will help me get another level so I can go into the second next dungeon and get a new piece of armor which will help me level..."

    When I get sucked into a turn-based strategy game, I'm thinking, "One more turn and I can build the research lab which will let me research a new technology which will increase my income and let me build more research labs..."

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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    ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    never die wrote: »
    poshniallo wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Gee, a woman who's a big supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous has a completely skewed view of addiction.

    Stop the presses.

    Actually, being involved with AA ought to make her less likely to make claims like this, not more.

    Why? Because the number of deaths and ruined lives from alcohol is thousands annually, which I would say means millions worldwide, say, during the 20th Century.

    Whatever you think of the reasons behind the 'gaming-related deaths' we've had, it's not even vaguely a problem of the same magnitude.

    There have probably been more, fuck let's look at my desk, ooh chocolate-related deaths (tubby!), and perhaps even LCD Monitor-related deaths.

    It's ridiculous.

    Still, as has been pointed out, some games are more likely to have people be addicted to them, which means that there must be something different about them. These seem to be the games that are much more competitive in nature, such as WOW.

    They also have current events, which means that taking a break can cause a person to miss stuff.

    Scalfin on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
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    Vic_viperVic_viper Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I think the issue with gaming is the social status it carries. Gaming is still seen by many people as an immature hobby mainly for children. (Not that I see it as such obviously) Now compare gaming to gaming to other things that are easily seen as addictive behaviours, like gambling. The person enjoys the action and gets a rush out of it, endorphins and what not. The same can hold true for any action you enjoy though be it gaming, gambling, exercise or some other hobby. You can take any of these to an extreme where it can dominate your life and control your behaviour. Perhaps a better example than exercise are some physical activities with an element of danger to them like rock climbing or something. All are well and good when done at reasonable levels but people are much less likely to say someone is addicted to rock climbing than to gambling or gaming. The activities just have a different image, one is seen as a good worthwhile endeavour will the others are looked down upon.

    I play a good deal of WoW myself, less now then say maybe during the last expansion but had I been spending that time doing another activity with a better image would my situation really be different? I may have gotten a tangible benefit from it if it was physical but it could have just as easily caused me to spend a large amount of time doing said activity to the exclusion of the people in my life just that the image it has would make it acceptable.

    I think because of it's image it become a little difficult in gaming to see the difference between, playing a lot and addiction. In my case while I played a lot I would also deal with RL obligations such as school and would still hang out with friends on a regular basis, going to movies, bars, whatever sometimes when they called sometimes the other way round.

    Vic_viper on
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    Lucky CynicLucky Cynic Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I'd really like to whip up a huge post on Second Life, the good and bad, but I'm not sure how well it would be met. Say what you want about it, but giving people free rights to recreate themselves however they want and not be judged by their choices is pretty profound if you ask me.

    Lucky Cynic on
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