There was a post about this somewhere but I can’t find it so here goes.
And the majority of bosses, teachers, and girls will continue to not GAF what the WHO says, and to laugh at you for being a loser (gamer).
The Rothschild WHO. Ah yes. Everything is an addiction so they can shove more gene-modifying, sterilization substances down our throats…
No, gaming is misunderstood. Gaming is much more rewarding today than it has ever been. Humans seek pleasure and enjoy being rewarded. The ‘addiction’ is more of a replacement for the lives many of us would prefer to live in real life, meaning successful at overcoming challenges and taking risks, even meeting new people. The time and effort spent in games like Eve, WoW, etc… is a replacement for opportunity lost in the real world for far too many of us. There are fewer opportunities than ever before unless you are the 1-in-a-billion that invents the next iPhone or Windows OS.
Eve alone is a shining example of how hard-working and dedicated many of us wish to be, and it just happens to be the only place that allows us to use that ambition… our fault or not.
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I think that’s a misunderstanding of how some of these disorders are diagnosed (or how they’re intended to be diagnosed anyway). What you’re describing is a reasonably healthy relationship with gaming. But when it’s diagnosed as a disorder, it’s because it’s become an unhealthy relationship - not because it replaces real life activities, but because it has become detrimental to basic life functions.
If you play every free minute, that’s a reasonable lifestyle choice (even if it wouldn’t be everybody’s). But if you’re so focused on gaming that you lose your job, can’t pay your bills, your wife leaves you and it ultimately makes you unhappy, yet you still can’t stop, then that’s not a lifestyle choice anymore. That’s a harmful compulsion no different than any other psychological compulsion that creates a cascade of negative impacts.
These aren’t things that can be objectively defined by the number of hours you play or the opportunity costs involved. It’s going to be different for every person. Even good things can be unhealthy when they interfere with basic living functions.
Most of this psychological disorder stuff is a little too touchy feely for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t intellectually understand why they exist. Just because I don’t have PTSD doesn’t mean I disregard it as a legitimate problem for some people.
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give this man a cookie, he gets it.
good post sir.
Can I get disability now if I can show them my logs of eve and how addicted I am…never mind my list of other ailments, and it is a list.
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Im sure as soon as it goes onto the list you would just have to find an “agreeable” doctor and youd be all set.
@OP Everything becomes an addiction if you let it. Most people couldnt ever see the difference between a lifestyle choice and obsession as most merely dont want to. The DSM has expanded immensely from only a few disorders in its first printing to thousands by now and more are being added each day. Its quite… insane… in its growth and evolution. But it does open things up for people at the same time to at least being heard which isnt a bad thing. What becomes bad is people sticking labels on other people with decisions that will last a lifetime.
The reward system is more developed these days as more gaming companies have cottoned on to how to keep players more involved with the games they produce. There were plenty of chances to be rewarded in the past too it just required people to get off their butts and travel a bit to get to gaming conventions to take part in events and competitions.
Depending on how good you were back then and the amount of competitions you won, it was possible to actually get sponsored by gaming companies too. A friend of mine ended up sponsored by Namco and was given a ps2 and tekken tag for free 6 months before the official release date because they wanted him to do beta testing.
you forgot to mention about those players who spend the last of their money on the game instead of buying necessities like food and drink and live of stuff like tinned beans. 
#AllTheirFault
At what point does the cause shift from being within the individual to being inherent in the mechanism that produced that individual? If every wall I build comes tumbling down, maybe the fault does not lie in the bricks I used. Broken societies produce broken individuals, but it usually starts with individuals that are not broken. Most children are born perfectly healthy and functional. Then the “learn”.
My God, why blame the child? Where is your conscience?
Compulsive behavior is a mental disorder when it causes you or your fellow human beings problems. Gaming has some risk to do that, like a lot of things have. But one has to distinguish between someone who just plays a lot and an addict.
Playing a lot may be considered as wasting time, bad for one’s carrier, unhealthy and whatnot, but as long as there is no fallout it’s just a (bad) choice of life like many others. Addicts on the other hand can’t stop even when they want to and will show withdrawal symptoms when forced to stop.
Gaming got a spotlighted a lot recently as an example for bad compulsive behavior while a lot of way more serious and more common problems get neglected. I get “Maybe you should game a little bit less, I am sure that would be better for you” now and then. I don’t mind that, at least they care for me and I always answer with: I am very happy the way I life and wouldn’t change much even when I could start over new. And I don’t miss gaming it when I am busy with anything else; I just hate boredom (and most books/shows).
But when I question my peers drinking habits their mood hits rock bottom an instant because some of them know exactly that it is a major problem. DUI, easily avoidable HIV tests and all that… And I am quite sure some of them watch more Netflix than I game. But I never heard that excessive streaming was considered an illness now, despite a lot of people doing not much more between work and sleep.
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All he’s doing here is outlining an unhealthy relationship why a classification like this should exist , in no way does anything he has written there exonerate or excuse any anticonsumer or predatory business practices.
His point is that some people are legitimately vulnerable to [insert thing].
Watch this
See the point.
Same here. But as the years have gone on my wife knows what my reply is going to be…
Would you rather I went to the pub every afternoon?
Because I used to work strange shifts and have 3 or 4 days off midweek while my wife worked Mon-Fri it could get very boring sat at home in an empty house and as we rented a house there was no diy etc to do.
Daytime soaps, I’d rather pluck my eyes out 
I don’t play for hours and hours everyday, sometimes I’ll just log on for 10 mins or so. But try to explain to some people that you play online games as a hobby/pass-time and they look at you stupid as if to say “what, at your age”.
Sadly the vast majority of the general population have a preset idea of a typical gamer which doesn’t help in the slightest, they can’t accept that some of us find it relaxing and that it can keep the mind active rather than bored and stale.
I do ofc accept that some can get drawn into a game to the detriment of all else. Is it a disorder? Or is it just getting carried away? I don’t know, but this report seems a bit ott and extreme for my liking.
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Sure will… in time.
BUT, it will require that you stay away from ALL gaming or otherwise lose the benefits.
Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease… 
–Dr. Gadget
Go MGTOW and it won’t be a problem.
That’s the alternative you give your wife? Let me game or I’ll drink every afternoon? That’s the only alternative you see to gaming?
You’re “hard-working” in-game because you cannot be “hard-working” outside gaming?
I see some good interpretations of the study in this thread, but there are a few copouts, as well (unsurprisingly.)
I think the comparisons to excessive gambling are more accurate than comparisons to excessive drinking. Professional gamblers exist, and an analysis of the amount of time they spend gambling could lead one to believe that they’re “addicted” but in context it’s just a job. Likewise professional gamers. Currently I’m unaware of any profession that pays to consume alcohol to excess. It’s possible the Icelanders may disagree, based on my experience at FanFest.
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If every hammer that comes out of a factory breaks, do we blame the hammers?
A friend of mine told me an anecdote about an interaction he had with a woman. She wanted to buy something from him, but she didn’t have any money. So, she offered to sleep with him for it. He accepted her offer. He said that afterward he was so disgusted by her that he threw her merchandise at her and told her to get out.
I’d known this friend a long time. Even being the naieve young man that I was, I could look at his face and plainly see that he wasn’t disgusted with her. He was disgusted with himself.
Even a street level drug dealer understands, at some level, that it isn’t the addict that has the problem. The addict is the solution to a problem. What is the problem?
What the bejeasus are you talking about …
In the most simplistic terms I can muster,
If you’re an addict and someone exploits you because of it, you’re still an addict .
Being exploited ontop of that doesn’t negate or detract that real problem.
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It was a rhetorical statement. My wife gets it, you obviously don’t.
When you’re at home all day by yourself there’s not many options when the washing etc is done by lunchtime. So I can play a few games for a few hours, or I can get my kindle and go to my local pub. It’s not an alternative I lay down as an option to her (or else), she accepts that I’ll be bored stupid without something to do.
BTW, we’ve been together 30 years.
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I asked some simple questions. If you don’t want to answer them or even think about the answer, that’s fine. But what do you expect the outcome to be if you’re just going to shovel cow excrement?
Yes, and the sky is blue. Your point, sir?
/giggle
Seriously, though, I’ll bite.
On the matter of hammers - It Depends.
Most would initially blame the hammer, especially before finding out that there is a larger problem.
Okay, if a person is aware of the larger hammer problem, then they might blame the maker - rather depends on their religion and/or biases.
However, some might look deeper into the problem. Maybe there’s a problem with the initial materials (genetics). Maybe there’s a problem with the manufacturing machine (yo mama). Maybe the manufacturing process wasn’t being done right (tell yo mama to stop drinking). Maybe there’s a problem with the quality control (pressures of childhood conformity). Maybe there was a problem between manufacturing and delivery (later societal pressures).
Find the problem and fix it… if at all possible (rarely is on the human level).
However, remember that people aren’t hammers. Scrap all the bad hammers if you can - it’s a smart move. Do that to people and expect to live the rest of your life in a cell.
Your anecdote is just that. a cute story, bro.
And how many interviews have you done with street pushers? Link, please - for science.
–Curious Gadget
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