Blogpost 4: Addicted to Gaming

Did you ever find gaming as your life and submerged yourself in tons of hours of playing? Did you ever play so long that you forgot to eat, sleep and even take a bath? Or been addicted to a game that you spent real life money on top-ups, novelty items and pro-gaming events? These are the signs of being strongly addicted to playing virtual games.

Online game addiction is just like any form of worldly addiction like gambling and drugs. Studies say that all types of addiction push the person to do something they cannot withdraw easily and see it as essential as eating and sleeping. More than 2 hours of gaming can be classified as addiction. Also studies say that gaming addicts are most commonly men than women, with the ratio 6:10. I experienced gaming addiction when I was in High School. Most of my gaming budies are men and we like to spend 3-4 hours in internet cafes. This addiction has led to many physical and psychological effects. There are different ways to classify a computer addict. According the article “The Mental and Physical Side Effects of Computer Game Addiction” by Seymour Jacklin, “A game clicks over from being an entertaining diversion to being an addiction when the player begins to neglect other normal functions of life in order to keep on playing or finds that they experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability when they have not had a fix. Risk behaviours such as getting into debt, ignoring responsibility or depriving oneself of sleep are also characteristic of addictions.”

Physical effects include migraines, back aches, inability to eat and take proper hygiene and carpal tunnel syndrome. Excessive amount of sitting and radiation of hardware electronics on the other hand can lead to many other physical ailments like weakening of one’s immune system.

Psychological Effects includes dependence upon the game you are playing. Socialization in MMORPG are sometimes altered, so does the name says (Role-Playing). It affects the way we behave in the real world by being free of changing your identity.  On the article “Video Games: Are They Really a Source of Addiction?” Kristi A. Dename says that,” Massive Multi-user Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs) are the fastest-growing forms of Internet gaming addiction. This is because they combine customizable characters in a virtual world alongside other live players. This socialization with online characters that others around the world control replaces socialization within the real world. With those who have low self-esteem, social anxieties, or other insecurities, they will find comfort in a new identity.”

If we include the fact that you are addicted to playing online games, it can lead to tendencies like lesser social interaction to your family, friends and loved ones. If so, teens this days will soon neglect reality and be dependent on this artificial world. This can lead to the worst case scenario, raising an introvert community.