Gaming addiction - your thoughts?

KjGarly wrote:Gaming addiction - your thoughts?

Clearly IMO means strawberry float all. Personally I believe my gaming hobby, something I've had for 30+ years, isn't an addiction and that's my opinion on the matter. If someone else neglected his family at one point in the past 40 years by staying up all hours playing Destiny strawberry floating 2, drinking (That would have also contributed a lot) and having his work routine suffer besides the family then he has the problem and its great he's knocked that gooseberry fool in the head, I honestly believe it is great he has but don't tar all gamers with the same brush.

No, I've never neglected my family and never in the 17 years working in the same job had to take a day off because of my hobby. Maybe I do have a narrow view on addiction, I've never once smoked a cigarette or tried/taken any drugs besides what would have been prescribed to me via my GP and I don't drink at all.

#NotAllGamers

The Last Ginja wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:

KjGarly wrote:Belittle you? Wtf you talking about. I just don't appreciate what I count as a hobby being regarded as the same gooseberry fool as an alcoholic/drug user/smoker.

It's a hobby and something I enjoy, not something I need in my life or start turkying for when I don't get the play anything in a day. Don't get me wrong, back in my youthful days I'd say it was escapism from what was a gooseberry fool life thanks to god awful gooseberry fool parents. Absolutely no difference than enjoying reading, watching movies/TV or supporting your favourite footie team. I mean, at least I'm not getting smashed in a pub every match day acting a banana split.

Can do that from the comfort of my own home without the drink thankyouverymuch.

The whole addiction bullshit is nothing more than an excuse and I feel the same when some deranged, sick piece of sub-human stain murders x amount of innocent people and they lump gaming as part of the reason why they've done it.

Is your point that you're not addicted to your hobby? If so, congrats I guess? The Last Ginja says he unfortunately was to the detriment of other parts of his life. That doesn't somehow make all gamers addicts.

Nor does an addiction not exist just because someone can afford to fund it through normal means; the financial cost isn't the sole factor.

Thank you. As I said in my post that the other guy didn't actually read it happened once in 40 years, but it just takes that one thing to grab you. I'm not tarring every person with the same brush, nor saying everybody who plays games are addicts but addiction is real and it happened to me. The only other thing that has ever got me addicted is nicotine, which I have now quit, and I say to all my children the only thing I ever regret is starting smoking. None of them smoke, so I guess I did something right.

KjGarly wrote:Gaming addiction - your thoughts?

Clearly IMO means strawberry float all. Personally I believe my gaming hobby, something I've had for 30+ years, isn't an addiction and that's my opinion on the matter. If someone else neglected his family at one point in the past 40 years by staying up all hours playing Destiny strawberry floating 2, drinking (That would have also contributed a lot) and having his work routine suffer besides the family then he has the problem and its great he's knocked that gooseberry fool in the head, I honestly believe it is great he has but don't tar all gamers with the same brush.

No, I've never neglected my family and never in the 17 years working in the same job had to take a day off because of my hobby. Maybe I do have a narrow view on addiction, I've never once smoked a cigarette or tried/taken any drugs besides what would have been prescribed to me via my GP and I don't drink at all.

It's really like you don't read other peoples posts.

Knoyleo wrote:

KjGarly wrote:Gaming addiction - your thoughts?

Clearly IMO means strawberry float all. Personally I believe my gaming hobby, something I've had for 30+ years, isn't an addiction and that's my opinion on the matter. If someone else neglected his family at one point in the past 40 years by staying up all hours playing Destiny strawberry floating 2, drinking (That would have also contributed a lot) and having his work routine suffer besides the family then he has the problem and its great he's knocked that gooseberry fool in the head, I honestly believe it is great he has but don't tar all gamers with the same brush.

No, I've never neglected my family and never in the 17 years working in the same job had to take a day off because of my hobby. Maybe I do have a narrow view on addiction, I've never once smoked a cigarette or tried/taken any drugs besides what would have been prescribed to me via my GP and I don't drink at all.

#NotAllGamers

Apologies for just quoting myself here, but there's more to be said on this.

As Ginja says, he is not saying that you are addicted, and nor is anyone else. People are simply stating that it is an activity that can get people addicted. Some are more susceptible to addiction than others, so the same gaming techniques and systems can have different effects on people.

It's clear that you're very aware of the extreme negative effects of addiction, and I'd guess from your total abstinence of alcohol and cigarettes that you have adopted a hyper aversion to it in some form. This is absolutely fine, and if you want to avoid addictive substances, then that's good, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

But I suspect that maybe you don't see the grey that lies between having a drink, and being an alcoholic who needs to drink. Nobody chooses addiction. They choose to drink, because they like the relaxing effect of alcohol, the social aspects of drinking, the flavour and variety of alcoholic drinks. People start smoking because it relaxes them, makes them look cool, or whatever. Nobody starts drinking because they want liver disease, or smoking because they want oesophageal cancer. However, for most people, they're able to enjoy these things in moderation, while others become gripped by them and fall into addiction.

People game because it's fun. This entire forum is here because we all enjoy, or have enjoyed, gaming. Nobody is going to argue that gaming is wholly bad and you shouldn't do it, or that everyone who games is addicted.

However, you need to be able to acknowledge that some people may get carried away. The endorphin release that comes with gaming is the same endorphin release that leads to all manner of addictive behaviours. As I mentioned before, there are more and more systems in games that are designed specifically to replicate addictive habits, RNG loot drops, blind loot boxes, ever increasing levels of difficulty and item power, never ending procedurally generated content, all designed to keep people playing for longer, chasing the endorphin high that comes with reaching that next goal.

But saying that something can be addictive is not a personal attack on you for enjoying it, and it's definitely not a good reason for you start attacking people who have been brave enough to come forward and talk about their own experience of dealing with a genuinely harmful problem. Maybe you should open your mind, listen to others experiences, and at least be prepared to acknowledge that other people can experience things in a different way to you.

I drink alcohol, but I'm not an addict.
I occasionally gamble, but I'm not an addict.
I play lots of games, but I'm not an addict.

Do I think it's possible to be addicted to playing a videogame? Sure, why wouldn't it be, addiction is psychological.