neils clark

Once again, I was excited to see Dr. Jerald Block’s publication in the American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry for his article Letters from Columbine: Virtual and Real Rage. As I said earlier, it is a must read for anyone who wishes to speak with any kind of authority on issues of games and violence. I had the chance to look it over again, and some of Block’s insights really hit home for me.

Before I start talking about this, I want to mention my personal reaction to this article. Besides the crazily scribbled journals, the bomb-making, and the school-detonation-plans, these guys struck me as me. When I say that, I mean that I identified with many of their feelings and experiences - I was roughly the same age as them, I liked and still enjoy many of the same movies (The 5th Element, Aliens, The Rock, Predator, Event Horizon), and many of the same games (Warcraft, X-Com, Command and Conquer, Quake, Diablo). I can’t be sure from the scribbling whether they love it or hate it - but they even talk about Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and WWF’s Mick Foley (known as Mankind in 1999). In talking with Block about the article, we agreed that the normalcy of these killers was perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of this story.

X-Com: One of my Personal All-Time Favorite Games

Block goes over some of our most common explanations for these kinds of acts -

Bad Parenting

Traumatic Childhood

Psychosis

Bullying

Copycat Killing

Peer Pressure

He looks at them all with a fair eye - but ultimately concludes that they don’t seem to fully explain what happened. They each make their contributions, but none are quite so pertinent as the relationship that each of the killers developed with virtual worlds. They were deeply immersed in modding Doom, creating their own custom levels, and they prided themselves on their gaming abilities. Nobody, not even the therapists working with them, seemed to fully grasp the relevance. As a result, two people who seemed to want to be caught - never were. This relationship in and of itself with the gaming, the internet, and their real lives (which became increasingly tumultuous as time passed), worked in ways that therapists simply must learn to understand. As Block rightly points out, we’ll never truly know exactly what was going through the minds of the killers. Even if they were alive today - how much would really be extractable?

While this topic strictly, or on the face, may not seem to relate to what we call “game addiction,” the two are connected by a unique and growing disparity and separation of the real and the virtual, and the individual’s ability (or lack thereof) to keep pace. Whether we use Turkle, Castronova, or my own media experience theory in order to understand the new ways in which we live our lives, what’s important is that we continue to explore the new texture of our increasingly digital world.

In English, we need to understand that calling something “virtual” doesn’t mean that it’s any less real.

With Dr. Block’s kind permission, I’m hosting the full-length PDF here [Download PDF]

You can also find it on his personal website here [Jerald Block, MD]

Neils Clark :: Jul.09.2007 :: Games, Research :: 3 Comments »

I just picked up Mazes and Monsters after about four years, and I had completely forgotten how utterly awesome that movie is. Don’t be ashamed if you haven’t heard of it, I was only born a few days after its Dec 1982 release. I originally had it recommended to me by the always awesome academic Aaron Delwiche. M&M was made when D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) was coming under a lot of spiritual and psychological criticism – and stars a super young Tom Hanks as the level 9 Holy Man Pardeu.

Mazes and Monsters (1982).

If you’re a paper and dice gamer, then this movie is for you. If you study this stuff (God, you’ve got my sympathy) then it’s also a great example of sensational anti-gamer press. If it traumatizes the gamer in you, and you’re looking to recover with a very pro-paper and dice movie, then check out Dead Gentlemen Productions’ The Gamers. Despite their similar endings, The Gamers is just good dourky fun.

Neils Clark :: May.29.2007 :: Games, Research :: No Comments »

Violence and addiction. What better recipe for press attention and funding than to research not one, but two sensationalist topics at once!? Excessive Computer Game Playing: Evidence for Addiction and Aggression? Published in last month’s CyberPsychology & Behavior, beat us all to it. While the claim that these researchers have staked seems enticing, how much value is there in asking these sorts of questions? Does it help the therapists, researchers, gamers and their loved ones, or is it possible for these questions to take everyone further away from actually being able to deliver that help?

Before we get to big sweeping questions, there’s a key problem that I just don’t see being addressed in a study which compares addiction against violence, and that’s causality. And I’m not just talking about whether the violence caused the addiction, or visa versa. How do you establish that gaming was the real driving force behind Lee Seung Seop’s fatal 50+ hour gaming binge, or behind the Columbine massacre, rather than the established psychological models which incorporate the biology, psychology and socialization of a person exhibiting truly excessive or troubled behaviors? This is key, and it’s glossed over in almost every single study of gamer violence and gamer addiction to date.

I think that a much more telling piece of research is the article to be released soon by Dr. Jerald Block, who was on this blog late last month talking about Columbine. Jerald noted that,

“The Columbine shooter, Eric Harris, only began making actual plans to blow up his school after his parents banned him from computer access for about a month, on the advice of a therapist.”

So what, then, is the relationship between addiction and violence? It’s unique, because people are unique. There are important distinctions that we only really see once we understand a game, and many therapists just aren’t willing to take that step. A great many therapists are waking up to the complexity of games, but many more still only barely use email. When somebody like Kimberly Young says that gaming is a problem to be stamped out, many otherwise excellent therapists are apt to listen – not because she’s actually credible and informed, but because they don’t have the first clue about what happens inside of a game - let alone the various ways that problems might manifest themselves. They may even have their own fears and stereotypes associated with the technology - and the bottom line is grim. Many problem gamers who seek mental help aren’t getting a high enough level of care, and all gamers, healthy and not, are further stereotyped.

What do we really learn from asking a question like this? Even with perfect methodology, sampling and analysis, it would have said that addicts are or are not also violent. That doesn’t seem to me the question of someone with a blank slate, ready to figure out where gaming actually connects with addiction and violence. Instead, we’re exploiting societal fear and focusing on issues which hold the greatest amount of prejudice against people who use technology. Is this research about helping a gamer, their family, and their loved ones – or is it about giving fodder to politicians, justifying society’s fears, and meanwhile providing therapists with tools that are flawed in their reckless simplicity?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I haven’t read their article yet!

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Neils Clark :: May.19.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: 4 Comments »

I recently read the autopsy findings for that one famous Korean guy. You know, the one who died after playing 86 straight hours in an Internet cafe.

He died of a fatal pulmonary embolism, caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In simple terms, sitting killed him. See, a lot of sitting caused a blood clot to form in the “deep” veins of his legs. The blood clot then got loose, creating what’s called an embolism. These clots “can lodge in the brain, lungs, heart, or other organs, causing severe damage to those organs.” (1) We’ve observed fatal embolism linked to sitting for over 60 years, but only just now have studies begun linking the condition to computer use and gaming.

The New Zealand Medical Journal recently rounded up 5 people with similar conditions. (2) All 5 were under 40, and had no other risk factors whatsoever for DVT. There’s not enough awareness among the people using computers, but shockingly enough even among medical professionals. Until we get that,

GET SOME EXERCISE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!

If you’ve got 6 hours to do your important business on the computer, then you’ve got 30 minutes to exercise. At the very least, you have 5 minutes to walk your legs every hour.

(1) Lee, H. A New Case of Fatal Pulmonary Thromboembolism Associated with Prolonged Sitting at Computer in Korea. See pictures from the autopsy here: http://www.eymj.org/2004/pdf/04349.pdf

(2) See both the editorial and article - find them by searching for “thromboembolism,” here: http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/118-1212/1398/content.pdf

Neils Clark :: Apr.29.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: 2 Comments »

I wanted to share Dr. Jerald Block’s excellent case study vignettes which may be of particular use to therapists new to gaming problems (as well as the intrepid researchers who read 5 articles per day). These vignettes are tailored towards helping mental health professionals, though they do show some of the complexities inherent to treatment. Is it always safe to cut gaming out of the loop? Certainly every case is different.

Something that I’ve wondered for some time is whether gamers reporting problems would have experienced problems regardless (with other problems – drugs, alcohol, you name it). Dr. Block thinks that a pre-existing disorder is the “rule rather than the exception,” and in that regard joins a number of seasoned therapists whose opinions I respect (namely my co-author and good friend Shavaun Scott). That said, I’m (very respectfully) still not convinced that it’s the rule or the exception. My brain needs concrete data, although I do recognize a few problems in proving or disproving the proposition.

In fact, we probably won’t have that data within the next couple of years, if ever. If we collect data from people qualified to assess an individual as having a disorder, then (1) It’s hard to combine data from many therapists, (2) many therapists are not yet sensitized to, or even aware of even the basics of these games, and (3) not every problem gamer elects to seek therapy. I think that the last is the most important. There are a lot of gamers out there who might need to get a grip, but of those, each will have their own reasons for seeking or avoiding therapy.

I still see the problem developing as a process. It’s not just games, nor the gamers. Each brings to the table certain goods and bads, of which assessable disorders are one of many learnable and identifiable factors.

That said, read on!

Again, Dr. Block’s vignettes

Neils Clark :: Apr.25.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: 6 Comments »

Not much, actually. This Harris Poll, originally linked by Game Politics and Joystiq, gave kids a quick diagnostic for ‘pathological use.’ That’s good, since addiction is such a harsh word to use. While the study claims some groundbreaking findings, that 8.5% of children qualify as pathological gamers, there are a few major reasons that the numbers aren’t saying much.

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Neils Clark :: Apr.09.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: No Comments »

Fresh from The Korea Times [Full Article Here]. Blatant copying and pasting ensues:

A Korean venture start-up has developed an inaudible sound sequence, which it claims can prevent obsessive use of online games, thus giving hope to game addicts.

Xtive on Monday said the sound sequence is based on subliminal effects.

“We incorporated messages into an acoustic sound wave telling gamers to stop playing. The messages are told 10,000 to 20,000 times per second,’’ Xtive President Yun Yun-hae said.

“Game users can’t recognize the sounds. But their subconscious is aware of them and the chances are high they will quit playing,’’ the 35-year-old Yun said. “Tests tell us the sounds work.’’

1) Game addiction (most all addiction, for that matter) is often the result of some kind of physical or mental problem; its causes are different for everyone. Hypnosis and Subliminal messages can be a valuable tool, but really only when employed by a therapist who has background info on a patient. Random messages may help or harm, and they certainly won’t just “fix” people.

2) This is the kind of technology that would be very attractive to lawmakers looking to please voters, regardless of how effective or ineffective the technology proves to be.

3) People play games in order to have fun, and many play responsibly.
a) These games represent a creative medium, and influencing such a medium with subliminal messages represents a gross infringement on the potential of the form as well as the notion that creative expression be unregulated.
b) These games represent one of the most effective forms of leisure that we know. What if it is employed without a player’s permission or knowledge? What kinds of adverse impacts would this technology have on those who just want to enjoy themselves?

4) This program will apparently make it easy for someone to, “change the messages.” Change them to what? Buy more cheesy poofs? Each mind, each subconscious, is very different. If this technology is employed, then we would need to pay close attention to its real-world effects.

If this technology works, and it can be used judiciously, then it is worth exploring. That said, I have misgivings.

Neils Clark :: Mar.17.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: No Comments »

This post is going to speak primarily to researchers who work with games.

Before research is ever conducted, there’s a lot of planning. If the chosen plan calls for the use of human beings, then university research generally has to get the approval of an institutional review board (IRB), or human subjects committee. These guys are trained to make sure that researchers don’t cause harm.

In a nutshell, very few people really understand games, be they these IRB committees, regular folks, professors or researchers. That’s why, in my experience of games research, the researcher is the one responsible for the safety of the people involved. Researchers are also accountable for the research that they publish. I’ll admit that I’ve made mistakes in my research. What’s important with a new area, like games, is that we take a critical eye, and separate the wheat (the useful and representative data) from the chaff (the unrepresentative and potentially harmful data). I want to talk about wheat and chaff in published research as well as the process of conducting research.

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Neils Clark :: Feb.07.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: No Comments »

Fresh off the harddrives at the New York Times: patients with a very specific type of brain damage were found to have a far easier time at quitting smoking.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/science/26brain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

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Neils Clark :: Jan.28.2007 :: Game Addiction, Research :: No Comments »