Post by Morreion on Oct 6, 2009 6:45:00 GMT -5
Neils Clark - Big Trouble in Little Articles: Ten Game Addiction Fallacies
An interesting look at the game addiction issue. My biggest problem with many gamers being labeled as addicts is that we tend to describe activities we don't like as being addictive while other more socially acceptable activites- such as many hobbies, watching TV or reading- are typically not labeled as such.
That is not to say that there aren't addictive behaviors involved (I think I could have been fairly described as addicted to DAoC for a couple of years), or that there isn't the occasional over-the-top addict out there in gamer-land. It just gets embellished and sensationalized IMHO.
Even one of the most impressive studies to date (conducted by gamers Yee, Williams and Caplan), when comparing problematic internet use to gaming (among 4000 gamers), said the following: “Without a control group and without accounting for the impact of time, we cannot say whether players with problematic tendencies come to MMOs, or whether MMOs create problematic tendencies.”
An interesting look at the game addiction issue. My biggest problem with many gamers being labeled as addicts is that we tend to describe activities we don't like as being addictive while other more socially acceptable activites- such as many hobbies, watching TV or reading- are typically not labeled as such.
That is not to say that there aren't addictive behaviors involved (I think I could have been fairly described as addicted to DAoC for a couple of years), or that there isn't the occasional over-the-top addict out there in gamer-land. It just gets embellished and sensationalized IMHO.
