Video game addiction is a subject that has become something of a much debated topic over the recent years, because with the rising technical stats and improving quality of video games more people are becoming gamers, and more people are becoming what some would call ‘addicted’. It is something of a fear among the older generation that their spawn and progeny are going to end up addicted to video games – though to be honest, I’d be more concerned if my son was smoking weed than playing Call of Duty, if not by much – and so many people are starting to look at the inherent risks of video games and the chances of becoming addicted to them. As a result, the over-the-top reactions are coming aplenty about this topic. The reason I want to get this topic out of the way is because it is closer to home than I might like, as I’ve slipped somewhat close to the line of video game obsession, or what some people would call addiction (as if you need telling, but I digress). So I’m going to drop a knowledge bomb on your arses… did I just say that? Let’s move on.
Scientifically, there is no actual basis for calling video game addiction an addiction. An addiction falls under the definition of something which causes chemical alterations in the brain to cause people to need the substance or item to which they are addicted in order to function. Something like that. I find science boring, and I’m sure most of you people out there do as well, save for the fair few of you who actually care about science and medicine – and I pity you for it – but there you have it. There have been medical studies into the subject, but there has never been much evidence to show that people can become physically dependant on video games. Well, that’s what a doctor says, anyway. I might agree with the whole “there is no such thing as video game addiction” notion, but try taking Mass Effect away from me and I swear I’ll wilt away and start decomposing in a day. If that isn’t dependency, I don’t know what is. It’d be like taking air out of someone else’s lungs.
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If this game had dialogue written by BioWare, it would have been the best game EVER. Well, it already is, but it would have been even BETTER.
So what would you call it when someone becomes so engrossed in a video game that they allow their children to starve to death while they play (and as per my previous controversy article, any parent who allows this to happen shouldn’t have been allowed to reproduce in the first place, but I once again digress), or when someone spends up to twenty hours a day playing a video game, without proper breaks for food, drinks or even to use the bathroom? Well, I would say that would fall under the lines of video game compulsion, not addiction. Compulsion is similar to addiction, I grant you that, but the two are fundamentally different, considering that while an addiction makes you dependant on using/doing something, compulsion is a force that makes someone do something or is something that is… compelling – and yes, I do realise how bad that was – and therein lies the difference. If I play a video game for a straight fifteen hours – and I have – it’s not because I am physically and mentally dependant on that video game, it’s because that game is so damn good that I just can’t let go. Of course there aren’t many games that can safely claim to be that good these days, and that’s a little sad, but when the day comes that the Mass Effect development team partner up with Ben Croshaw, James Portnow and the development team from Final Fantasy VII, you might have the first video game that starts video game addiction. In me, of course, but I’m willing to be a test case, because it would just be that good.
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You beautiful, beautiful man... sorry, what?
Games aren’t the only reason why people become deeply immersed and sometimes develop a compulsion towards playing them. Sometimes the people themselves are the cause. If you have an awful day, doesn’t it all make it better when you come home, turn off your phone, sit down in front of your Xbox with a nice, glittery game on the television screen and just lose yourself in the world you’re suddenly running around? People use video games as an escape, and that can cause a compulsion to develop; if people have spent years having life drag them through shitty experience after shitty experience, with video games as their only means of ignoring the problems of the real world and maybe finding a brief bit of joy, then you can’t really blame them for falling back on video games all the time. This is, by the way, the small section of my writings where you won’t see me make any jokes – I used to be that kind of guy, hence why I said this topic hits a little close to home. I’ve often come back home after a hard day at college, decided to forget my troubles and just sat there, playing Mass Effect 2, simply wandering the halls of the Normandy (even with that long-arse unnecessary elevator load screen) talking to my crew members. Who wouldn’t want to kick back with a nice glass of Serrice Ice Brandy, open a copy of Fornax and sit there talking to Garrus and Thane about the hot babes on Illium. Oh, Garrus… sorry, what? I think I got a little distracted there. But you see my point. It’s easy to get a bit lost in a game world, and people can sometimes use video games to escape the real world if they feel it is necessary. And if you are someone who is like that, I empathise, I really do, although it isn’t necessarily a long-term solution. But if they ever develop virtual reality gaming, the first thing I’m doing is giving Garrus the biggest hug (I don’t even care how many people know about my severe crush on him).
The problem with video game compulsion is that people aren’t exactly equipped to deal with it. A parent might see their child playing hour after hour of video games and not really associate anything wrong with it until months of continuous playing go by, at which point the parents usually fall back to the ‘addiction’ excuse and assume that the video games are the cause behind the problem. Yes, true, the shiny bright colours on the lad’s TV/computer screen might well be the reason he’s playing hour after hour of World of Warcraft (although if you catch me playing hour after hour of World of Warcraft, it won’t be because it’s compelling, it’s because I paid £8 a month to play that bloody game and I intend to get my money’s worth), but that isn’t the only reason your sprog might be losing themselves in the game – see, I just used a PC term, seeing as I have been casually reminded mid-typing that girls can play games too. If you ignore the potential problems, the fault lies with you, and maybe the parents need to honestly think about why their child is sitting on their computer and playing video games rather than going outside. Is it because they want to get a better kill to death ratio on Call of… I mean, some other online shooter (I think mentioning that blasphemy to gaming twice in one article is more than enough) or is it because they don’t want to go outside and face the real world and all the problems within it, and would rather save Hyrule, where people actually give a crap about them? I for one would rather be praised by the people of Earth for lifting the Reaper invasion – not by the Council, those arrogant, ignorant *CENSORED* – than I would face a particularly brutal coursework deadline, but that’s not the best example. I’m just a lazy bastard.
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If you see them even thinking about playing this, hit them. Hit them hard.