gaming - passion or addiction?

[Djuntas]

We all haft to kill time with something...

Thats why we are on this earth surely...

//Think about it, no emo shit or whatever...do something to not be bored yes :P I enjoy gaming and will proboaly always do.

[Shock]

I am addicted to wow but consol games are a nice hobbie of mine.

[Deleted]

gaming detracts you from real life problems, like other things like drugs too

is it a addiction if you just want to chill? prolly not
is it a waste of time? yes, kinda
would you waste your time elsewhere if you wouldnt play games? absolutely

it's also a matter of your attitude towards life, some people like the slacker lifestyle and have no real goals in life and dont mind losing a year in college for the pleassure

[Lilija]

You're missing a huge part of what the chemicalportion of addiction is. Just becasue a chemical is addicting doesn't mean somethign that isn't a chemical can't be addicting. Chemicals are addicting because they mimic, boost, or otherwise artificially increase the effects of certain neurotransmitters, usually seretonin or domamine. Many activities do the same thing. You think a chemical has to be introduced in order for there to be an addiction. Why don't you go ask someone who is addicted to gambling or sex or food about their addiction? You'll get a huge eye-opener. Just because your case may or may not have been an addiction doesn't mean you can extrapolate that to every gamer out there. THats liek saying there's one black guy who is a drug dealer so every black guy is a drug dealer. Its called eithe rinductive or deductive reasoning (can't ever remember which is which), and it's a very poor way to come to conclusions.

First off I think the problem lies in semantics which was actually pointed out in your link. The problematic addiction is the one that causes dependancy. Passion or obssesion will occur in extremly similar way to dependancy yet they are not the same thing. Once again, the line is pretty thin. And yes, I am aware of the chemicals in our brains yet I don't believe gaming produces enough to make it addictive. Playfull behaviour is awarded by our body because it's the natural way of learning, however, the "award" is smaller than in case of reproductive behaviour or sustaining nutrition to your body. As for gambling I don't know the mechanisms of this behaviour, however, I do wonder if it isn't closer to an obssesive behaviour rather than addictive behaviour.

Anyway, how many people "curied of gaming addiction" do we know? You can't really cure the reasons of excessive or obsessive gaming the same way you treat an addiction. Those are still a problem. Those can have similarities to addictive behaviour. Those are not an addiction and if you think that is your problem you're doing yourself harm because it will lead you to running in circles instead of dealing with the problem.

[Piitz]

Both, mostly because my hardley got anything else to do during my free time, except during weekends.

[Lilija]

It depends. For me, at this point, its an addiction. I rarely have any fun at the game anymore, I hardly really do anything when im online, but I still play it. It is also some times fucking up for my real life. Thats addiction.

Have you tried finding something else to do to chill? Imagine you stopped playing - what would happen?

[MerinPally]

Well at home, between going out and working, I game. At university, I drink more or go out more often rather than game. I made a spreadsheet to keep tabs on how much I'm drinking for this girl (now my girlfriend as of last week \o/) and I don't think I've dipped below 40 units a week since I came back in January, and the only reason it wasn't that high before xmas is because of various illnesses. I've been addicted in the past, I watch some vids about gaming even now out of interest but it's more of a passion that I've pushed to the back of my mind, it was no issue to stop suddenly and go cold turkey once things changed in my life.

For those not in the UK who don't know what a unit is, a bottle of beer is about 2, a pint getting on for 3, a shot (25ml) of 40% is 1, a bottle of alcopop is about 1 and a bottle of wine (12%) is 9.8. The recommended daily amount by the NHS is 2-3 units for men a day, with 21 per week as most and getting on for 50 week after week is defined as alcoholic.

I don't have a problem, the system does by not accommodating students D:

[savvasp]

It's a pretty fine line between addiction and passion. As long as it's not interfering with the things that matter (school, family, etc) then it's merely passion.

^ This pretty much

I feel like a lot of times I just cba with homework and I just end up playing some game, even if I won't be doing anything in it.

[Lothrik]

The word addiction is overused to the point of irrelevancy.

Dependence: One person can depend on heroin the same way another person depends on insulin. Both of them might very well die if they stopped taking their respective drug. Neither of them are necessarily addicted to it. Maybe the heroin-dependant person suffers from a genetic disorder that causes agonizing pain in their bones and requires heavy use to tolerate day-to-day life. Maybe the insulin-dependant person is actually abusing the drug to build muscle mass, and is addicted to body building.

Obsession: One person could be obsessed with masturbation, another person could be obsessed with collecting rocks. Both of them would probably be pretty angry if you prevented them from doing their thing. Neither of them are necessarily addicted to it. For all you know the person that masturbates a lot could be sexually hyperactive and unable to find a partner that is willing to have sex that frequently. The person that collects rocks could be cripplingly addicted to rock collecting, and forsake work, friends and food to do so.

You probably thought the opposite of both of these examples, right? That's your own personal bias in action. Directly linking dependence and obsession to addiction is a highly destructive habit many people have. You might even say.. they're addicted to it. :P

TL;DR:
Dependence and obsession do not imply addiction. They don't even imply it, and thinking they do is presumptuous and arrogant. Addiction is something that has to be diagnosed, it's not just a label you can throw on someone.

It is possible for someone to be addicted to video games, the problem is people "diagnose" it far too easily and without much thought. Would you say an 8 year old that gets angry when he can't play with his Lego is addicted to it? It's pretty easy for parents to boldly claim their teenager is addicted to video games, but if you push it down just a few years and switch video games for Lego, the parents look like morons that don't know how to raise their kids. Bottom line is, people like to play -- some people just prioritize it higher than others.

[savvasp]

Have you tried finding something else to do to chill? Imagine you stopped playing - what would happen?

"What now?". He'd probably realise how he doesn't have anything else to do outside of WoW (like me for example).

[Poppincaps]

I don't think I've ever been addicted to WoW or any video game for that matter. I enjoy playing them, but if a friend invites me to go out, I'll save my game and go out (unless it's a raid night, but that's more keeping an obligation rather than an addiction).

[Kaidog]

Been playing games pretty much nonstop from age 9 to my early thirties. It's an addiction, I've come to face. There were times I didn't play much/at all for one year stretches, but when I wasn't playing I was doing bad stuff..

This pretty much sums it all

[Lilija]

"What now?". He'd probably realise how he doesn't have anything else to do outside of WoW (like me for example).

It's still better to do nothing that something that doesn't give you pleasure. Eventually nothing might evolve into something else ^^ Besides, it's not really true, isn't it Be good to yourself. Think of things that used to be exiting or potentially might be. For me it's having a really nice meal or something I like - always cheers me up. Everyone has something like this tho sometimes when we let the world to put ourselves down too much we forget about it.

[Dragonix80]

Definitely a passion. There is no difference than playing game or say... love to draw for 30 years. Would you call people who love to draw, read books, play basketball for 30 years as "addiction?" There's a fine line between passion and addiction. It all depend on the state of mind of that person. If a person have a certain hobby that are interfere with normal daily routine life and cause some damage, like say... relationship, your health, and so on then you can safely say it's addiction. Addiction usually portray in negative way where passion show your love for certain thing. I would see both very different thing.

[Lilija]

Been playing games pretty much nonstop from age 9 to my early thirties. It's an addiction, I've come to face. There were times I didn't play much/at all for one year stretches, but when I wasn't playing I was doing bad stuff..

Playing isn't bad so stick to it :P

---------- Post added 2013-02-24 at 01:56 PM ----------

Definitely a passion. There is no difference than playing game or say... love to draw for 30 years. Would you call people who love to draw, read books, play basketball for 30 years as "addiction?" There's a fine line between passion and addiction. It all depend on the state of mind of that person. If a person have a certain hobby that are interfere with normal daily routine life and cause some damage, like say... relationship, your health, and so on then you can safely say it's addiction. Addiction usually portray in negative way where passion show your love for certain thing. I would see both very different thing.

People can do bad things to themselves or others out of passion as well. The problem is that there isn't really a fine line and that's why those get mixed up so much. However, it's still easier to controll your passion than an addiction since by default addiction means something you don't controll.

[DechCJC]

Meh, I play games because i'm bored out of my mind a lot of the time - If im given any other option i'll drop it. I'd say it can be both, WoW was definitely an addiction for me in the past for a few years; I definitely don't consider it that anymore.

[Asphyxiate9]

I did a paper on the psychological effects of video games a year ago now and it varies from person to person. From what I remember a lot of it had to do with social habits, eg. do you lie to your friends when they ask to see you so you can play more games? etc.

I consider gaming a hobby for myself though

[Seirith]

For me it is neither, it is a hobby that I am enjoy doing just like I enjoy any of my other hobbies. I have never wanted to play a game so much that I neglected real life such as homework or housework. I also find it impossible to become addicted to WoW. Both my husband and I are already bored of Pandaria and our accounts will close in a few days, plus we haven't played in almost 2 months. We actually did the annual pass but ended up not playing almost 2/3 or more of the year we had it. We have also tried other MMO's and got bored of them very quickly.

I do play a lot more games in the winter because its cold and snowy. I hate cold weather and I don't do any winter sports so I either watch TV or play games. When the weather warms up I am outside a lot more.

[breadisfunny]

my parents quite frankly dont care what i do with my time. they simply view it as a passion of mine.

[Machomaije]

Have you tried finding something else to do to chill? Imagine you stopped playing - what would happen?

I am perfectly healthy. Plays football at a competetive level and go to the gym daily. Thats what WoW sometimes fuck with, makes me not go to the gym etc.