Game Addiction

In Vietnam, Concerns Over Online Game Addiction

June 18, 2008

Parents and Vietnamese government officials are concerned about addiction to online games, according to a story in the Thanhnien News.

Describing an Internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, the report features interviews with players who are hanging out and neglecting their schoolwork:

They play online games day and night, and many ignore their studies. The phenomenon is also growing among college students, who can access the Internet in the dorms... without the supervision of their families.

The report also notes that the government's Ministry of Information and Communications controls online gaming accounts, automatically logging players off after five hours:
 
 

Most game players have figured out surprisingly simple ways to circumvent the system. The most common way is to simply reset the playing hours, meaning that after the player completes their regulated hours he can exit and then log in again. Minh, a game player in Hanoi, says he can play 24 hours a day, seven days a week thanks to tricks that can be found on game suppliers’ websites.

 

Shrink: WoW Addicts Feel More Shame Than Porn Addicts

June 9, 2008

Sunday's Boston Globe offers a fascinating interview with Oregon psychiatrist - and GamePolitics reader - Dr. Jerald Block, who specializes in treating online game addiction.

Block believes that "Internet Addiction" should be recognized as an official diagnosis.

From the story:

[Block] believes that psychiatry needs to do a lot of catching up in order to understand why people get stuck in games like Warcraft. One problem: Most therapists have no idea what a "guild" is or what it means to hit Level 60. Because of this language barrier, many gamers wind up begging for help in online support groups rather than seeking out mental health professionals.

Interestingly, Block said that addicted gamers feel worse about their habit than those addicted to pornography:

BLOCK: ...the computer gamers tend to be harder to treat. People feel a lot of shame around computer games. Whereas, it's socially acceptable to have a porn problem.

IDEAS: You can't be serious. You mean your clients are more ashamed of ...

BLOCK: ...playing World of Warcraft than looking at porn. Yes.

IDEAS: Why?

BLOCK: As a society we understand that porn is something people do, and you can see a psychiatrist and get treated for it. But gaming is hard to describe to anyone else. So these people can't explain their situation to friends. In fact, it's hard to give you an example of what my clients talk about, because gaming is enormously complicated.

Block has also studied the relationship between violent games and school shootings, but believes the issue is complex and enmeshed in the shooters' "relationship" with their PCs:

With these shooters, their last act was to turn against their own computers. As a psychiatrist, I think that's relevant.

 

U.K. News Program Looks at Game Addiction

September 30, 2006

After catching a recent espisode of Tonight with Trevor McDonald, I'm determined to deal with my game addiction... just as soon as I level up.

On September 18th, the U.K.'s  ITV1 broadcast an episode of the McDonald show called 'Virtually Addicted'. The half-hour documentary examined game addiction, centering around three families in which the parents believe their children have developed video game dependencies.

According to a survey of 500 children conducted by the program, 64% of British kids in the 10-16 age range spend at least four hours per day gaming, while 14% spend 10 hours a day or more.

In the interest of fairness, we're going to let the show speak for itself. GP readers can catch the first of three 10-minute segments here.

Parts two and three are also available. For non-U.K. readers, I should point out that ITV is a general entertainment channel with a large viewing audience.  Veteran newscaster and host Sir Trevor McDonald has, in the past, presented BAFTA awards to videogames, as part of ITV's now-defunct gaming awards show, Game Stars.

-Reporting from the U.K., Correspondent Mark Kelly
 

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 09/05/08 at 08:40pm
BlackIce: @Zippy: Yeah, it does. Fucking thing..
Posted 09/05/08 at 07:31pm
MaskedPixelante: This new Jack picture should be the official picture whenever there's an article about Jack.
Posted 09/05/08 at 07:19pm
ZippyDSMlee: Tyler Baumbarger: Iuse <br/> withno troubl, it dose like catching links as spam tho.
Posted 09/05/08 at 07:11pm
BunchaKneejerks: Couldn't sleep 'till I got this one last idea for a 'shop out my head.
Posted 09/05/08 at 06:35pm
Tyler Baumbarger: Hmm, maybe I should take the <hr/> off of my sig. Keeps being flagged as spam.
Posted 09/05/08 at 06:12pm
Freyar: I do love Italian foods..
Posted 09/05/08 at 06:10pm
ZippyDSMlee: Freyar: Then you must agree I iz not quit "humanz" either :P I dunno what worse thinking your "Garfield " or thinking your odie trying to be as smart as Garfield. =0-o= UHg I fail ! but then the joy of life is trying not to. ^_~
Posted 09/05/08 at 06:05pm
Freyar: I recognized the Garfield joke. *grin*
Posted 09/05/08 at 06:04pm
ZippyDSMlee: Freyar: No but I could probably mail self to you in lil pieces :P last time I went brown box I wound up in Abudobie... (Garfield joke BTW). Sadly I am in the US =0_o=
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:56pm
Freyar: Are you British? Otherwise you won't have a hope in hell of queing me.
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:51pm
ZippyDSMlee: Freyar:*chases you with my battered tung* I'll que uuuu!!!!! :P
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:32pm
Freyar: We won't blame you for an outage. :P Maybe you should get someone to help you that's more land-locked? Just kidding.
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:27pm
HarmlessBunny: Eeep sorry to hear that.
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:25pm
gamepolitics: oops, up here it's actually hurricane hanna, which we are supposed to get a taste of tomorrow
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:25pm
HarmlessBunny: LOL
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:25pm
gamepolitics: i gotta get it all done before hurricane ike hits, LOL
Posted 09/05/08 at 05:15pm
HarmlessBunny: Yeeesh Dennis, just overworking it on a friday :P
Posted 09/05/08 at 04:45pm
ZippyDSMlee: gamepolitics:GO GP!!! =^^=
Posted 09/05/08 at 04:31pm
gamepolitics: not a bad day's work, LOL
Posted 09/05/08 at 04:29pm
gamepolitics: so, that would make 13 stories, one threatened lawsuit and one pissed-off PS3 designer
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