WTF is Game Addiction?
[Note: I had made some changes to this prior to losing a large amount of data in mid Jan 2008. I’m planning an updated and expanded edition in Feb or Mar of 08]
Blah Blah Blah. I wanted to post a number of questions asked recently by a writer looking to get some background on addiction. These are questions that I get asked a lot, but I should mention that these aren’t the answers which I always give. These answers are tailored to answering the question, “Why is it that we still don’t know what’s going on?” The questions make for a fair introduction to where we’re at, but keep in mind that a few of them focus primarily on what needs to be fixed now. What I’d really like to do is regularly post good questions about “game addiction,” whether they’re good, bad, or ugly. If you have a question on gaming addiction, you can post it here, or email it to me. I always welcome emails, whether you like or hate what you see here.
What is gaming addiction?
Nobody knows, really. We’ve been listening to the same people for 10 years, people who made sketchy definitions based on gambling addiction over a decade ago. Most MMO games hadn’t even been developed yet. And still, we’ve been copying and pasting. The person who initially created it, Kimberly Young, has been criticized by one therapist, John Grohol, as having “all of the originality of a trash romance novel writer.†Originally, Young created the criteria for her “internet addiction†by almost literally copying and pasting criteria for gambling addiction, just substituting the word “gambling” for “internet addiction.” In the last few years, as online games became bigger business, she again copied the same addiction criteria from gambling to online games.
So what’s worse than not knowing what game addiction is? Pretending that you know, and taking action. In the last year we’ve had a few very well funded studies taking Young’s bad definition, and using it on a massive scale. In huge telephone and internet surveys they see how many people are “addicted,†despite a few fun facts. 1) These studies tell us how many gamers fit the profile of a gambling addict, not how many gamers fit the profile of a videogame addict 2) This pulls us into drug abuse rhetoric, and gaming is clearly not actually a drug 3) Once we jump to the conclusion of “how big is this problem,†it doesn’t just waste resources that could be used to understanding how games are pulling people in. It’s actually adding to the problem. By exposing people to bad numbers based on bad criteria, it sets regular folks up for confusion. It’s especially bad when these numbers have the words Harvard and Stanford stamped on them. This press reflects badly on the brilliant people who attend these prestigious universities, many of whom study games.
It’s laziness on the part of researchers, and it wastes regular folks’ time and energy. Most people don’t have access to the actual fine print, and even those that do rarely have the time to look at every study. Researchers need to shift their priorities towards looking at the actual problem. More researchers need to step up and really read the background literature. Too many researchers are copying off of the dumb kid’s test.
So where do we look? It might not actually be an addiction for a lot of the people involved. It’s certainly not in the same class as drug use, since keyboards don’t release methamphetamines and computer mice don’t inject heroin. And that gets to the core of why a lot of gamers, researchers, even parents have rightly been upset with the use of the word “addictive;†games are a medium for creative expression, not opiates grown in Central America. That said, some people have had outrageous problems controlling themselves, myself included. Some of my largest inspirations for doing what I do come from the people that I’ve met while playing, people with stories too personal to discuss here.
So what is “game addiction?†Well, it’s different for everybody who plays, but similar in many respects. A lot of people play in order to enjoy a game, while some people just claim to. People who develop clinical dependencies (official addiction) will generally have psychological disorders, and that would ideally be where a health professional steps in. Still, behavioral addictions can develop in somebody who just plays way too much for way too long, and games, for a number of reasons, seem to be able to keep regular people playing. People without serious mental disorders. There’s really no info yet on how this might work, how often it happens, or whether we should be worried — We’ve all been so fixated on being able to say “X% are addicted” that we’ve sprinted past that part where we figure out what they’re addicted to. When we finally step back, what should we then look at?
Addiction relates to human culture in and out of a game (watch for Florence Chee’s upcoming thesis, and check out some of her recent work studying in Korea). Related to that, there’s something that I call “media experience,†the idea that even in simple single player games (but especially in MMO games) we enter secondary worlds. We never physically leave the primary/real world, where we’re sitting at the computer. In many ways we experience secondary game worlds very similarly to how we experience the primary/real life. These games don’t just fool our senses and our sensibilities. They’re more than that. They’re the most recent incarnation of an artistic and human desire to, in the words of JRR Tolkien, “survey the depths of time and space.â€
What are some of the negative consequences of gaming addiction?
What part of game addiction? Before we can say that X is a consequence of Y, we first must know what Y is. Let me give you an example:
Some consequences are very bad, and obviously tied to a game ; people are dying, their children are dying as they play, and their families are being torn apart. Still, without the Y, without knowing what addiction is, we can’t say that X was caused by Y. When someone plays until they die, there’s normally more to the story than just a game. Still, say that we want to give our survey to a bunch of young kids, in order to see how many people are actually addicted. Does it make more sense to give them a questions that ask whether they’re addicted to gambling, or does it make more sense to take a serious look at how gambling might be different? Put another way, when we do big studies based on Young’s criteria, all we’re really learning is how prevalent gambling addiction is among people who play games. When we understand gaming addiction, really understand it, only then can we begin to research its prevalence. It’s also a the first step to really studying its consequences with reliable research.
How serious has the problem of gaming addiction become?
Again, how serious is gambling addiction among videogame players? Serious things are happening, but we really can’t get an accurate sense of scale until we actually take games into account.
Should the media and researchers be giving more attention to game addiction?
Let me just play you this one broken record. I’ve got it right here: Not necessarily more attention, but what we really need is more focused attention.
Beyond that there are definitely fundamental problems with how the media and researchers are approaching this.
First, they’re looking closely at people who are only too happy to guess. I’m thinking of a European treatment center whose game expert has gotten a lot of press lately. This person has worked predominantly with the 12-step/Alcoholics Anonymous model. Even if we’re going to look past the idea that a game isn’t the same as alcohol, such experts have very clear vested interests in giving very specific answers.
Talking about the 12-step model is opening a whole new can of worms. There are a number of ways to look at recovery, and a lot of different ‘experts,’ each with vested interests in making money via certain treatment options. Some of the options work; some don’t. There are such ridiculous amounts of money in addiction treatment, that we don’t really see people mixing and matching in order to give addicts what helps. They stick with big ideals because they’re so deeply engrained into how the world looks at addiction, they’re going to make money. A major part of the book that I’m co-authoring with Shavaun Scott is ferreting out the basics of what these models say, and how that’s been influencing society’s view of addiction. This entire debate becomes so much simpler once you understand the basics of one or two philosophies of treatment. Stuff like the disease model and the 12-step program, they aren’t just popular in North America.
On another topic, much of the media’s presentation is meant to shock people who don’t get games. Same thing when a politician is talking about it. What’s funny is that this is a can of worms that’s going to come back to bite people. Shock treatment is not only a slap in the face for many gamers and developers, but it fundamentally insults the intelligence of non-gaming people who just earnestly want to know what’s going on.
If you know you have a gaming addiction, and want to stop, what is the best course of action?
Lock yourself in a room with soup, bottles of water, a carton of ice cream, film magazines and opium suppositories (What movie was that from?).
Some people can control themselves easily. They’re lucky, and it generally comes to the fact that they can “self-monitor†well. Self-monitoring is kind of complex, and it’s a subset of your everyday functionality. If you’re doing fine personally, professionally and romantically – and if you’re paying your bills, feeding the cat, feeding yourself and bathing more than twice monthly… Well, you’re probably functional. Good for you, you should be able to keep from playing too much. Functionality is key, we’ve spent a lot of time making this section of the book useful for different readers.
Being functional doesn’t always mean that you can monitor your gaming. Media experience, which I mentioned earlier, seems uniquely tailored for taking some people very much away from the real world. People call it “flow,†or “sunk-time/sunk-cost,†but those concepts don’t fully capture what’s going on in a game. Some people may not be as susceptible as others, but really there’s no telling. Regular, functional people can get pulled in.
It’s pretty common to see the big aggressive guy. His life is falling apart, but he’ll fight tooth and nail to show you how “under control†his gaming is. People get defensive in a variety of ways, and it’s hard to call. Sometimes a person will have a problem, and sometimes they just want to be able to game in peace. When we know what’s actually happening, we’ll be in a better place to call it. For now, insane interventions are a risky call. Even if someone does have a problem, pestering them can definitely serve to feed their beast.
If, like me, you can play until the sun comes up, then cold turkey may be the best option. It’s easy to think that you can just play a little, and some single player games might allow you to do that easily. Some, not so much. MMO games are generally very difficult to play to moderation, ESPECIALLY for someone who has had any kind of problem in the past. In these games, “secondary world†and “media experience†take on entirely new dimensions. It’s still secondary in the sense that you can be drawn in by your physical senses, but also secondary in the sense that you can enter into another layer of human culture. You’ve entered a city populated by people from different physical geographies. It’s mindboggling.
Some people can limit their play, some people can’t. If you can’t, then my earnest recommendation is cold turkey.
That said, I fully intend to break my cold turkey from time to time. Games are an amazing art form, and with every bit of my soul I love them. Except stuff made by Rockstar. Those guys are bastards.
What should parents do if they think their child may have a gaming
addiction? Is it better to limit game playtime or cut it out altogether.
Parents need to be both firm and involved, especially with younger children.
Many parents feel like they don’t have the time to check in every now and again, and others feel powerless to stop too much gaming. In almost any case, you do have the power, and (think Spiderman) with that comes the responsibility to understand how your kids are playing. Some kids will respond to well-defined limitations, but some will need to be cut off when they don’t respond to your reasonable limitations. What’s a reasonable limitation? You are the parent. This doesn’t mean that you should shut it down for fun. These games have been shown to be psychologically very positive for many kids, though very bad for others. Taking away a positive influence is like dropping them on their heads. Look at their play and take an active interest, then decide.
Do you have any tips that you can offer to individuals who are recovering
from a gaming addiction?
Two extremely important ones:
1) You’re not alone
2) Some people play and love it, but some people honestly cannot control themselves. Both types of people deserve respect and compassion. Neither deserves to be laughed at.
Where can parents, researchers, and gamers learn more about game addiction?
The library. They can email me if they want a list of my favorite books and studies.
What’s your question?
Neils Clark :: Apr.12.2007 :: Game Addiction, Games ::
i’m not sure if you’re familiar with it, but salguero and moran had a study published in addiction magazine in 2002 dealing with problem video game playing in adolescents and how to measure it. instead of using young’s cut ‘n’ paste method to define and identify video game addiction, they combined the diagnostic criteria for substance abuse and pathological gambling from the DSM-IV and used it to create a scale to measure “problem video game playing”. it’s not perfect, but it’s an interesting idea. just thought i’d pass that on.
Thanks Christina, I’ll check it out sometime. One interesting approach (and the one checklist that I’ve used - in my own research) is John Charlton and Ian Danforth’s 29-item composite for MMO addiction. What they actually do is separate “high engagement,” lots of play, but not neccessarily bad, from “addiction,” unhealthy levels of excess play, stuff like not eating.
Since then, I’ve been shying away from advocating any criteria until we have the kind of basic data on “what’s happening” that’s usually used to make these criteria.
Yeah, these permutations are advancements, but effort applied to the wrong place. And while this is an overly strong analogy, it seems like we’re making minor improvements and modifications to a square wheel. Wait, wait, I’ve got a better analogy.
So we have this chariot, right? Young aimed it in the same direction as gambling. The studies which use her criteria send that chariot merrily on its way, and if executed well the chariot will get to where it was pointed. The problem? If it’s not aimed well, then it’s possible that it could send us in the absolute wrong direction (and I think that’s happening, to a degree). The NIMF made some adjustments, and then sent the chariot merrily on its way. They weren’t big adjustments, they modified Young’s criteria, changing some questions. The NIMF also made a stronger cutoff for qualifying for pathological use/addiction/what have you.
We had one or two hacks copy ‘n’ paste, and now everyone thinks that it’s fine. Is playing a digital game on a computer (to say nothing of the variance across games), the same as playing craps? Or drinking alcohol?
What I’m saying is that our priority should be determining the problems and processes for the addicted gamers. Once we have supported qualitative research (good information) that tells us even a little bit more about what’s going on, then we can intelligently point the chariot in one direction. We will have created something coming closer to a circular wheel, and only then should we refine it.
If you’re looking to do research in this area, then I would recommend reading my thesis, “Addiction and the Structural Characteristics of MMO Games” published on Gamasutra. I don’t recommend it lightly - it’s a long and difficult read. My theories have also changed in many fundamental ways. That said, the thesis offers some qualitative and quantitative data which does shed some light on the process of addiction, though it’s very over-the-top academic.
I’ll definetly check into your thesis it sounds like a good read..I just wanted to chime in cause I’ve been on the path of recovery from the most powerful mmo out there 4 months clean woot. However I would like to mention that the huge gaps of time that have been left behind must be filled with something otherwise relapse is very likely to occur. I would like to point out that although I was addicted (spending 30+hrs playing),not sleeping at all friday due to my work schedule and often defending my “role” to my spouse and peers, I did not understand that I was an addict until I stopped playing and had to deal with unexpected withdrawl.
My reasons for stopping honestly came about because our group was systematically collapsing to infighting and greed. That mechanism to the game play is largely left untalked about in most forums. The breaking down of a group of online players and how the emotional impact is felt in the real world. That cycle can create feelings that are very intrusive for everyday real life activity and I would not be surprised if it is the game manufacturer’s most formidable challenge when creating anything that has a real chance of competing in the market.
It may also be good to point out that recently Blizzard ,creator of World of Warcraft, has altered the number of folks it takes to accomplish anything in their end-game to a smaller much more manageable number. They’ll take a hit now with disgruntled players who dislike change but will reap rewards ten fold since the player base will have to endure the collapse cycle more frequently and therefore learn to stifle the emotional impact or eliminate it altogether. I hope that makes sense.
I just read your article and gamasutra and now with a better understanding of exactly what the primary issues are I feel I may contribute something worth a toot. I’ve never been addicted to anything like how I was with an MMO. I learned that I am inately challenged with doing anything in moderation. I found that recognition was the most valuable reward for me. I only cared for interaction with a very small and select group of gamers…gamers that I believed I could learn from to further improve my skill set and greater impact my viablity in group play. To aid in illustration, gamers exist on 4 planes.
Plane 1: is mildly interested, easily board, highly cynical and tends to have a very short attention span and seems to know everything and has played everything.
Plane 2: carries moderate interest , will give anything a chance , has an attention span only when being rewarded regularly and likes games to be visually appealing and have high quality gameplay
Plane 3: Gets into the game quickly, has much experience in the genre and is considered to be a competent player amongst his peers as they all are usually playing the same game. Very attentive to detail and enjoys all aspects of the game even if it is not a popular game.
Plane 4: The highest extreme. Possibly has a significant other that plays a game with them, maybe even met inside the game. Has strong relationships with other gamers. Playing is beyond a hobby as much as it is now a definable and accepted life style. The whole day tends to revolve around ingame activity and while not playing the game , they are in some method of practice for the next time they log in.
I started off playing an MMO as a Plane 1 gamer. I moved to Plane 2 because that’s the least amount of attention I could give to play and still be considered viable to my group. I left the game the day I realized that I wanted to move to Plane 3. I, at that point, was very much in awe of those players I considered giants in the virtual world, those players that exist as Plane 4.
All the info I am providing is coming from personal experience. The Plane classification is my own and is what I used to help determine if the group I was playing with was playing at a level that could work with my lifestyle and schedule. To broaden my understanding of the game I played( world of warcraft) I spoke with some folks I met that played a different MMO a much older one(everquest). They explained to me all the inner workings of a functional group/guild of players and how each of them had to go through the “group collapse cycle” before finding a group that met their needs individually.
These gamers played together but they were each affiliated with a different group in-game and its in those groups they play with primarily that provided their foundation for long term game play, 2 or more years of solid online participation. Also to note the folks I played with ingame in the beginning, I also worked with in real life.
The natural differences came out much more openly online as those social filters were removed like facial expressions and tone of voice and the emotional abrasion from ingame interaction was subtle at first until we actually were fighting at work about stuff that happened in game. I found a new group to play with and discovered how very much a apart of the game the “collapse cycle” is.
I simply did not have the stomach for so much emotional battering and when the game was gone from my life ( threw away the game cds and uninstalled completly) . The space left was simply unbearable thankfully I have great support system with my wife who by the way is pursuing a masters in communication woot, and friends who are truly empathetic with my concerns. WoW detox is good as simply the right kind of negative press you need to stay away.
However to end all this ranting I would like to say simply a warning is not so much a need on the box as much as a developed exit strategy for such an endeavor. These games I feel would be at a benefit to simply educate all potential players on the most common problems leaving the game however like anything that is relatively new reseach must happen with care to be accurate and professional and for anything with any real quality to come of it why not get the big manufacturers in on the research since they have access to lots and lots and lots of information I mean how else do you think they make any money. thanks for reading!!
If only we could get the big manufacturers in on the research. ;P
You’re right, that an exit strategy is crucial, if you’re making the decision to end your playing of a game or games in general. I’m glad that you’ve got the support system you do - a lot of people definitely aren’t so lucky.
I see what you’re going for with the four planes. It fits a pattern that I’ve seen with some gamers, at various levels. The trick is taking those insights to the next level via good research - so that we can see which ones hold up. In my MA thesis (go communications =P) I found that raid guilds were, when controlled for, the highest contributor to unhealthy play.
But yeah, a lot of what you’re describing fits under ‘media experience,’ too. You’re seeing people, in your phase 4, who are really making this real.
Thanks for the posts, and for checking out the gama article Greg.
Hi, interesting to read through all this.
I’m addicted to computers/gaming, no more denial for me, what I’m looking for now is help on getting over it. Do you know of a forum of some kind dealing with this where I can ask some questions?
Thanks Ruan. A problem with ‘addiction’ can actually mean a quite few different things when we’re talking about games. Without knowing more about how exactly you’re playing, I can’t actually make definitive suggestions, but I can throw out some of the more popular options.
For starters, it can be really helpful to develop (or reinvigorate) real life social support. If you have other friends who’ve decided to stop gaming altogether, then connecting with them could be helpful. Really, some people just need to get out of the house.
If you’re sure that an online forum is what you want, then check out gamerwidow. A few dozen different forums have cropped up in the last few months, but gamerwidow kind of has an established body of people who know what you’re dealing with. They don’t just help spouses.
A lot of people seem to like wowdetox, but there are limitations to that. If you can kick that easily, then you probably haven’t developed any kind of chemical dependency.
That said, if you’re taking your gaming to serious extremes, and this stuff really isn’t helping, then you might want to look into seeing a therapist. Like we’ve been talking about on the blog lately, a lot of them really aren’t sharp at all when it comes to gaming - but most of them will be able to sift through what’s going on with you.
Let me know how things work out. If you don’t find anyone who can help you, then shoot me an email. I’m not a clinician, but I’ve had my own experiences with not-so-hot playing.
Im think I have a Internet/Gaming addiction Im normally on the computer around 10 hrs a day But In my mind I dont see anything wrong with this as I go out in day sometimes but I can feel the negatives as I havnt had a full time job since finishing High School (2004) and I feel I cant communicate well with people in real life Im more comfortable on PC I dont know what to do……..
Well first off, 10 hours is a lot of time to be sitting in one place, ala the whole “sitting can kill you” schpiel I went on a week or two ago
That’s here, if you missed it: http://neilsclark.com/archives/108
Something that I’ve been getting more and more worried about is general gamer health. Nobody’s really talking about it. We’re getting into the intimate details of Karazhan and our PS3, but nobody’s really figuring out how gamers can play AND maintain their bodies.
But I’ll leave that to a full on post (and maybe an indulgent rant).
If you were to go see a therapist (which, if you’re honestly worried about your play, you ought to seriously consider) - then the first thing they’d look at is whether you’re functional in your life. It sounds like you’ve got a job, but is everything really well-squared away? Like, have you bathed in the last week? Then, over time, they’d work with any other side-problems which you might have. If you look here:
http://neilsclark.com/archives/106
You’d see that most therapists believe that most serious addicts have serious underlying problems: depression, bi-polar, whatever. I’m not convinced that a gamer ALWAYS has to have those problems, but with a completely out of control gamer, I’d tend to agree. And with those crazed and self-destructive gaming fiends, taking away the gaming isn’t always the best choice.
Gaming sits in this grey area - it’s not exactly just entertainment. There are people to please, and dramas to avoid. That can keep a person playing, even if they’d really rather spend some time looking for a job. This became most apparent to me when in a recent gaming binge I found myself unable to focus on the Late Show with TV’s Craig Ferguson.
And I like that show! In fact, I realized that I liked a whole lot better than my current game of Civilization.
Man I could turn this into a huge tirade…
But I won’t!
If these comments sparked something for you, then good. If not, feel free to post more. And good luck Iain.
I’ve just read several articles on this subject and they mostly attribute the addiction to the social and escapism aspects of gaming, and those features are definately not exclusive to gaming, but the things that makes me want to start up the game and then hard for me to turn off the game is the rush that comes from succesfully hitting oponents with my weapon. I don’t care to socialize in the game because I’d much rather be shooting and moving.
It seems like FPS addictions are being overlooked or ignored in favor of MMORPG addictions, and that while MMORPG addiction has a lot of ties to social avoidance issues or ego trips and are easily written off as such, FPS addictions have more to do with the action and adrenaline.
Authors are taking special care to disassociate video game addiction from an actual drug addiction but the fact is our brains produce chemicals in response to stimulus, and FPS video games provide a particular stimulus to create a particular chemical in our brains, and that it’s the kind of chemical people crave more of at the expense of other rewarding hobbies that don’t have the same effect.
Maybe the same effect happens when people play sports but atleast it causes excersize and has practical limitations, such as the sun going down or getting tired, but with a computer there aren’t as many limitations. The rush keeps me wide awake long after I’d normaly be tired.
When characterizing video game addictions I think people have to consider that there are different forms of video game addiction, and that some types aren’t so far removed from drugs.
Hey Andrew. First off, thanks for the post. Second, you’re about ten steps ahead of most researchers.
Something I’ve been talking about recently is that game addiction, like you say, absolutely has many faces. Most of the people studying addiction just want their research to make for interesting headlines. If they can publish a study that says that “8.5% of children playing games are addicted,” as the “National Institute of Media and the Family” recently did, then they stand a good chance of getting government funding, academic attention, all that jazz. The problem with this is that they aren’t actually contributing to our knowledge of whats happening in a useful, “we care about helping gamers” sort of way. They’re not distinguishing these different kinds of “addiction” that you mention.
Instead, they’re probably causing more harm then they are good. When we focus on stuff like addiction and violence, what we’re ultimately doing is playing on the fears of a society that largely doesn’t understand gaming. A lot of them are all too happy to write off gaming as something for weak-willed addicts and violently troubled children. We need to move the focus to what you’re talking about - how much of this is chemical, and can games pull in and addict otherwise healthy people?
While I truly embrace anyone willing to step up and research game addiction, I’m torn on whether this stuff is going to help us in the long run. It could bring funding to the area, but is that funding going to help?
There’s too much good stuff in your post, Andrew, but I don’t want to make a TLDR. Thanks again for the post.
Is the level of addiction directly related to the type of person you are. If you have a highly addicted personality then you will ultimately become addicted to the game(s) you are playing. With MMO games the excitement you get from completeing quests as an individual or as a group is quite high. The search for a better item for your inventory, or make a better item keeps driving you forward.
the the game gets you on another level, not only can you pit yourself against the environment you also go up against other players.. this leads to more addictions, being better than other people and thus getting better gear to be better than other people … Its similar to a spiral of decline, except you get caught up in this single focus that you have no concept of time or what is going on around you.
Many times I have logged on at 6pm and suddenly its midnight. You get so engrossed in what you are doing, and this is the addiction (in my opinion).
And if you feed of this then and are driven by it, finding something else to do that gives you, not a buzz or a fix in a Drugs sense, the same satisfaction proves to be hard.
On the other hand MMO’s have become the most “anti social” social game. Give some one the internet, TS or Vent server and 1 game and people from all over the world can meet in one place, to chat, laugh, and share a common bond / goal. They play the game because they enjoy it, but they also enjoy the company of the other people that play it. When you are not playing the game, yes you miss the game but you also miss your “online” friends..
Not really sure where this was going, but I liked the points people raised.
I got into a tirade with my friend today, as he is doing a documentary about gaming addiction. Long story short, we agreed on most counts but he has to play devil’s advocate for many things. I linked him to this site (In google, your actual domain name’s blurb comes up advertising Natural Male Enhancement by the way) so just in case some guy named Josh comes out of the woodwork to talk to you…
I will spare you the same tirade, which is odd since for as long as I’ve known you I don’t think we’ve ever really discussed the matter. I will let it stand that, for as much as I believe gaming can be addictive, I believe everything in society can be as well. We should not blame the catalysts, but blame ourselves for evolving into creatures of effortless desire and achievement. People are the problem, so instead of bringing down gaming, we should look into changing ourselves, and helping those who have these problems.
….That is very much paraphrased.
-(((nik)))
Wow, adding to why I’m switching away from wordpress. It lost a lengthy (yet also very much paraphrased) comment. I’ll try to recapture the magic in brief. So thanks for letting me know about the male enhancement. That’s pretty embarrassing - but apparently my wordpress has seen fit to stop letting me know about posts that deal with penis size.
I’d love to talk to Josh. I’ll talk pretty much anyone’s ear off if given half the chance.
The thing about gaming - is that some online social spaces (ala the WoW) are just that. They’re a place where you can meet and greet - but also play a game that (if all’s working right) is satisfying. But all of that is pretty new for your average pleasure-seeking human. When older people can just plug a VCR-like thing into their TV and have a face-to-face conversation with somebody 100 miles away, regular people are going to start to have a hard time balancing real living and digital living. How real and how fake is it?
We *are* creatures with an inborn love of certain kinds of rewards - which is why a failure to understand this intersect between reality and illusion is going to catch a lot of people off guard. It should never be about bringing down games or labeling gamers - that doesn’t *help* anybody. Especially when gamers congratulate someone for their Season 4 Arena weapon in Warcraft, and then the next week ostracize people who lose track of the basics as “irresponsible jerks,” or “undependable” when they’re quitting the game because work just gave them a final warning on skipping out.
There’s a balance to these lives, and it’s something that gamers around the world are learning the hard way. I’d rather gamers, game designers, legislators, journalists, PARENTS, worried people - all understand games before we rob them of their serious potential.
Anyway, I could carry on. We should talk sometime.