Many people blame videogames for being the source of videogame addiction. This is a misconception. In my opinion, the games alone are not to blame. Rather, the addiction itself is to blame.
Out of approximately 2 billion gamers, more than 3-4% of them are video game addicts. Although that number seems small, that is equivalent to 60 million people who are addicted to their games.
Wikipedia describes videogame addiction as: ‘the problematic, compulsive use of video games that results in significant impairment to an individual’s ability to function in various life domains over a prolonged period of time.[source]’ However, the remaining 96% or so of the gamer community are NOT addicts. Here we lay down the line between addict and gamer to the untrained eye – people who play a game at least once a day for an hour or two are NOT addicts. Those people are just trying to keep their progression steady in their games. Games like Clash of Clans, Call of Duty, and Civ 6 and so on and so forth. Those games need at least some daily gameplay to gradually progress.
Okay, so what causes you to get so hooked on videogames? First off, the dopamine. The rush of hormones you get from getting 1st place in Fortnite or Brawl Stars or finally reaching max level in World of Warcraft. That little feeling of accomplishment is what sends the dopamine flying and making you want more.
The problem is that most addicts cut themselves off from others, leading to them giving into the dopamine and going full crazy with their game. And I mean, like stay on 24/7/365 crazy before they kill themselves gaming. Yeah, that happens!
It also blows majorly for the economy when unemployed gamers aren’t contributing to the economy. But they do… Kinda? I mean, all the microtransactions in the free-to-play model make the videogame designers and publishers money which KINDA contributes to the economy… And also some gamers have a unique job where basically everyone pays them to play the game for them to max out their accounts.
Which begs the question, is videogame addiction good or bad? If it’s good, then why do people think it’s bad? First off, it can be bad because of your own physical health. You’ll spend more time sitting down, being inactive. And contrary to popular belief, your brain doesn’t rot due to videogames. In fact, it’s actually helpful! In fact, 3-D platformers like Super Mario World or logic puzzles games like Portal 2 are recommended by doctors!
But in the end, it isn’t the games that are the problem but the addiction itself. The fact that you’re actually benefiting from videogames non-stop sounds too good to be true, which it is! The dopamine rush gets harder and harder to get off of and makes it harder to stop playing.
The main way to solve vidoegame addiction: Get help. Distance yourself from your screens in your bedroom, set times for play and do something else with your life. In fact, a study in the 1970’s conducted by Bruce Alexander found out that in general, organisms like us and can tend to give into our addictions because of isolation.
‘Rat Park’, the aforementioned study by Alexander, had a simple premise: A rat was alone in a cage, one dispenser with water and the other with cocaine. The rat overdosed itself to death. But when Alexander made a ‘rat park’ full of rats and toys and amusements for them, the rats were super happy! They interacted with each other, playing with other rats and toys, running around, being intimate with each other. And when the cocain and water dispensers came along, none of the rats went for the cocaine! They all lived happily.
So, go out! Find your real life friends! Interact with your friends, explore places, bang your romantic interest. Or, as the gamer community prefers to say: ‘Go touch grass noob’
In conclusion, the games are not the problem. Removing the addict from games solves the problem, but they must also learn self-control to prevent themselves from falling into this rabbit hole again.
About the Author
James Trayton is 14years old. He loves to eat Blueberry Cheese Cake. During his free time, you’d catch him playing D&D, writing, programming, Worldbuilding, or watching cartoons. He’s a BUBOTS Writing Academy advanced level student.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_addiction