Video Games as addictive as heroin?

[Ameroth]

Here's a link: http://gameinvasion.comcast.net/game...itn_videogames

Discuss maybe.

[Feba]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

you can get addicted to anything. You wouldn't say a kid that spends all their time reading is addicted to books though, nor would you say that a kid that spends all their time playing sports is addicted to that.

Right now, video games still have a negative stigma, so people are going to focus on the fact that people can become addicted to them, instead of realizing that anything a person enjoys doing can become an addiction.

If it isn't a chemical addiction, then it's irrelevant.

[Taskmage]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

I agree with Feba. The chemical changes in the brain that are attributed to addiction to activities can and do appear for any activity that you enjoy. Imo, calling anything outside chemical acclimation to a substance "addiction" in our alarmist culture is an abuse of the term.

[Humar]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

im not addicted i SWEAR!! >.> <.<
lol ok now that thats outta the way....
i agree with Task and Feba..... it s not really an addiction
yeah people can overly like something or get enjoyment outta something but its not and actual addiction just....just something people do that gives them happyness or enjoyment and thats easy to access.....
btw....i am addicted...>.> <.<
shhhh *tell no one*

[Murphie]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

Your idea of a what constitutes a paragraph is certainly interesting.

Taskmage really said it best. I think people get overly lazy, and label too many things as an "addiction", when they really aren't. While you may indeed enjoy doing something, and prefer doing it to anything else, the absence of a chemical dependence means that you simply lack willpower. Not that you're addicted.

[Humar]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

Why thank you ive never been told something i did was interesting....
Yeah so once schools out i tend to not care how i word/type/write things. I guess thats a small problem of mine, and i will attempt to fix it.

Maybe.


In other news I have found that I am addicted to chocolate and milk. Four milk glasses a day a long with 1 ounce of chocolate(along with my fast metabolism keeps me at a stern 126 pounds at 5'11)

[Murphie]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

You're not addicted to that. You just enjoy it.

[FinnDS]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

you can get addicted to anything. You wouldn't say a kid that spends all their time reading is addicted to books though, nor would you say that a kid that spends all their time playing sports is addicted to that.

Right now, video games still have a negative stigma, so people are going to focus on the fact that people can become addicted to them, instead of realizing that anything a person enjoys doing can become an addiction.

If it isn't a chemical addiction, then it's irrelevant.

Such a good explanation!

This is what has been bothering me my entire life put to words.

[Deeke]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

I disagree with the 'if it isn't chemical it's a lazy label' thing.

A dependancy that consistently causes self-destructive prioritisation is an addiction. Not a lack of a certain of chemical.

Accomplishment and status within a peer group are naturally appealing to humans. And they can be difficult to achieve in the Real World. MMOs especially, but also newer trends in general gaming (XBOXLive, Home, etc.), offer another way to experience these feelings of achievement and the (peculiarly social) rewards they seem to bestow.

When Jimmy is gloomy but xxSephijim92xx is full of happy, there's always a potential case for destructive prioritisation.

[Murphie]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

Accomplishment and status are appealing. But they aren't addicting. People may enjoy those things, but they aren't dependent on them. They aren't going to suffer physically because of the loss of them. They may suffer emotionally, but that's because of depression or something else going on in their lives.

[Humar]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

Ok you got me...i do enjoy them....but hey ...whos says i cant depend on milk for the rest of my life? I could die and callapse upon myself with a lack of calcium so maybe i do depend on it ay?

[Murphie]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

It's unlikely that milk is the only source of calcium in your life. Still, not an addiction though.

[Van'derfel]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

wow change jimmy to my name and w/e name you put for the charcter to mine and you got me
i like to think it causes me physical harm, i get cuts seemingly out of nowhere

[Humar]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

You win Murphie. You always will.
Ill just have a talk with my phychiatrist and discuss the terms of my...seemingly close to but not quite an addiction of over enjoyment of milk.


Edit:

In related news.....we ran out of milk today. There was much chaos. No one survived.

[Feba]

Re: Video Games as addictive as heroin?

I could die and callapse upon myself with a lack of calcium so maybe i do depend on it ay?

Milk is crap for calcium anyway, most of the stuff you actually benefit from is added by the manufacturers, the calcium content in cow's milk is intended to be ingested by baby cows, obviously humans can't digest it efficiently.

without milk, you'll live, millions of people already do.