Ryan G. Van Cleave's new book about his battle with game addiction is in stores today. The book is called "Unplugged: My Journey Into The Dark World Of Video Game Addiction," and it details what the author calls a battle with "very serious addiction" to playing videogames. His level of addiction? He claims he spent 50 hours a week playing videogames which led to self-imposed alienation from friends and family, job loss, and bad health.
A press release this morning in support of the book offers a particularly hard to belive quote on what he experienced when he gave gaming up:
Though Van Cleave went cold turkey himself, experiencing weeks of fevers, chills, and uncontrollable shaking, he doesn’t recommend that for others.
Instead, he says moving gaming consoles to an area where the player can be monitored is the first step to recovery.
Comparing a video game addiction to symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens, or DT's) seems a bit disingenuous to me.. You might also want to check out Van Cleave's 2006 book "The Magical Breasts of Britney Spears" while you're at it. Find both on Amazon.com.
Comments
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
Writing a book about brittney having magical breasts & then writing a book about addicted gamers......I will take the writer as a joke.
"It's better to be hated for who you are, then be loved for who you are not." - Montgomery Gentry
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
I have 8 full days logged in MW2 multiplayer. That's 192 hours.
EDIT - that was supposed to be a reply to Bennett Beeny above.
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
Yeah. I have over 100 on Assassin's Creed 2 and it's not even an online game.
I looked at this guy's other titles and it strikes me that this book is obviously just some hack author's latest idea to make a fast buck.
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
"Even when he was sexually molested by a young school teacher at age eleven, it was the promise of a new video game that had lured him to her house."
WOW. I think you got problems goin' deeper than video games, bro. He does sound like the kind of guy who would go into convulsions while trying to quit. Also, the page features a quote from our second-favourite scapegoater after JT, Brad from exgamer dot net. I gotta go renew my library card, this sounds like a great summertime hammock read.
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Fangamer
Fangamer
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
LOL, if 50 hours a week is considered addiction, I go through 'addiction' every time I buy a new game.
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
Wait, there's new games that actually are 50+ hours still? I thought they all became 5-7 hour bloomfests.
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
With extra content, replays and online play, a 4 hour game like CoD4 can easily be played for 50 hours plus.
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
"Though Van Cleave went cold turkey himself, experiencing weeks of fevers, chills, and uncontrollable shaking"
I honestly call BS on this line. Cigs, cocaine, heroine I can see cuasing thios, but not soemthing that's not even a substance you injest.
Re: Unplugged: Game Addiction Book in Stores
Yeah.. that line tells me that the author is not being honest....