neils clark

This post on gamerwidow.com was fantastic, because it really struck a recurring theme in game addiction rhetoric. It seems like everywhere you see a sufficiently large enough game addiction blog post, you see that it attracts a few distinct opinions on, “addiction.” Some people note that all they had to do was uninstall one problem game, and that they want “whiners,” to “stop bitching about their gaming problems.” Others try cutting back, or going “cold turkey,”  yet consistently go back to games despite negative consequences. Can you actually teach yourself to balance games with a healthy lifestyle? That depends on how your brain works. The fundamental difference is a functional versus chemical dependency. “What the hell does that mean?” you may be asking. Fair question.

In a chemical dependency, the brain becomes primed for a behavior. It’s ready. Whether the behavior is running, gaming, talking, or what have you, the brain has gotten good at using games to send out happy fun feel good brain sauce. I think that a major component to this is that we learn to use games with excessive skill. That may or may not mean that you’re good at PvP, PvE, Grinding, or anything else in the game. What it certainly means is that your brain has learned to stimulate itself when you perform an in-game task in a certain way. The more you play, the better your brain is at getting more chemical bang for its buck. More happy fun good time brain juice is released. That’s probably the main way in which we gain a tolerance for gaming, combined with things like real social connections and media experience [1][2][3], we are eventually consumed. Our brain gives us a certain type of stimulation when we play, and it is very chemically difficult to pull ourselves away.  

At some point, our brain can no longer gain skill at using the behavior. If we’ve been overflowing our brain with dopamine, or any other snappy feel good brain sauce, then it very likely has made internal changes so that even more is required for stimulation. Sometimes we can play so much, and get so much stimulation, that even maintain a consistent level of play isn’t enough. Our brain has begun to perceive a constantly increasing level of stimulation as normal. 

As gaming gets to any of these relatively excessive scales, we start to accumulate a number of consistently applied negative stimuli, springing up as a direct result of our playing. Excess gaming may or may not have been a symptom of a larger problem, although it certainly can start to have its own unique impacts. Our kids are looking at us with sadness, and that makes us feel gut wrenching remorse. We skip class every so often, and lost points accumulate, missed extra credit opportunities fly by. Perhaps we waste an entire day that could have been used to write a brilliant book on gaming addiction.  

If we stop, delete the game, and actually begin taking care of these problems, it may very likely be immediately gratifying. One part of our brain might be saying something like, “Wow, I’m so glad that I went to my daughter’s ballet recital instead of listening to a pissy raid leader and self absorbed pre-teens for 6 hours.” Brain chemistry aside, we see the value of our decisions, and we’re able to recognize what constitutes a good choice. Still, there are elements of brain chemistry involved. If you hear yourself thinking, “Holy crap! I never knew that studying Lattice Gauge Theory in Particle Physics could be so warmly gratifying!” this might be because (in this example, at least) we don’t just have skill at using games. In the past, we may have built some skill at stimulating our brain by learning about complex physics. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that there are people who can consciously enjoy the act of learning about particle physics, I’m just making fun of them. If we chemically stimulate our brains with behaviors that worked in the past, this may be immediately gratifying after “quitting,” a game. Yet the “brain skill” that we’ve built at using games never completely disappears.  

Once your problems are solved, and you’re not getting all sorts of positive reinforcement for staying in the non-game world, your brain will start to remind you about a certain something something. “Hey dude, remember how much happy fun good time brain reward sauce we got when we played Battlefield II? CoH? Oldskool X-Com #1? Come on man, just install it and play for like… two hours a day. Yeah man, ooooh, that’s the stuff.” (IRL I’m salivating while writing this, and not just because my brain is coming on to me).  

This is exactly why somebody who has had a chemical dependency on a game will need CONSTANT AND CONSISTENT MAINTAINANCE in order to stay away. This is a major reason why the social support provided by a group like AA will have so much success. While gaming, or drinking, or doing anything else to excess, some people might have moments of clarity which tell them that there’s a problem. These moments can be inspiring, even give us a huge amount of motivation. For this, and other motivations, a lot of people try to go it alone. They see themselves as manly, or a powerful woman. They think that they can just tough it out and beat something like this without anybody’s help. I’ve tried. I like to be the manly man, but at some points during chemical craving I know that I’ve got to seek out some kind of support.  

At times, a person can tough it out when the chemical pathways have not formed, or have only very slightly formed. This is usually the case when someone has played, but they have an excellent amount of SELF AWARENESS. They are highly functional in all areas of their life. They’re extremely happy with where they are socially, romantically, professionally. Hell, they’re even groomed in a way that is highly pleasing to them (and occasionally also to those around them). When these games start to impact them in any one of these areas - be those social, romantic, or any number of other areas - they REALIZE it. They say, “well CRAP! I just lost the LOTTERY because I was TOO BUSY PLAYING TO CASH IN THAT WINNING TICKET! SCREW THIS GAME!” These people may be able to quit without assistance, but they can often have a hard time understanding people who don’t share that trait. These are often the people who say, “lrn2quit, noob.” “omfg so easy just uninstall and ur done noob.” “omg y do ppl say that it’s addictive u just have no self control quit ruining it for ever1 els.” Whatever.

Addiction is complicated, and so are people. What that means is that when addiction develops, it does so in a unique and complex way for every individual. It’s high time this debate gets some sophistication. That’s right, it’s time to aknowledge that some people have problems with their happy fun time brain sauce. If your brain is drawing you in, again and again, then the road ahead won’t be easy.

Neils Clark :: Feb.24.2007 :: Games ::

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