Archive for category Effects of Gaming
Don’t be fooled
Posted by admin in Effects of Gaming, Game Psychology on June 6, 2009
You may have reached this site because you are playing too much WoW and it’s becoming an issue. Maybe a friend or family member is playing WoW and it is causing problems, you can see them putting everything into the game, to the neglect of all else in life.
Before you start shaking your fist at WoW and cursing the developers for ruining lives, first consider these facts:
- The developers are creating a highly imaginitive game for socially responsible and balanced individuals. (more on this to follow).
- It’s not due to the specific nature of WoW that gamers become addicted. They are vulnerable to other potential game addictions.
To expand on the first point. Game developers spend months creating exciting and vast worlds with incredible graphics and game play. It’s their job. It’s not reasonable to ask them to create something sub-par, or mediocre.
Harley not so proud of new bike
It goes against the pride we have in our work, against human desire to excel in our chosen field and against the primary objective of creating profit for the game company.
Games companies will continue to try to be the best they can be, and games will continue to develop, become richer and more involving. Don’t believe me? Just read Mona Lisa Overdrive or Neuromancer
by William Gibson to gain a glimpse of how the future might look. Games will become multi-sensory and utterly engrossing.
However, I’m a firm believer in education before prohibition. People need to make their own choices and make their own mistakes. How else do we learn as individuals, and as a society? Banning something is generally not a solution, in fact it often makes it more desirable. Educating ourselves and each other is the key, as these learnings can then be carried forward into other areas, to prevent repeat mistakes (hopefully).
Lessons not passed on from father to son
Also, be aware, if you or someone you know is obsessed with WoW, the situation would probably be the same with another similar game. This means the solution does not lie in simply switching to another game to break the habit (unless the game is completely different). The main aim should be to fill the gaming hole with something very different, and certainly more positive.
More on this in our eBook “Quit WoW Now, 10 steps to success” which you will see on this site very soon. Our solution is much more proactive, involving your Dreamlines, finding heroes, and making a positive step forward in your life, as a reaction to the shock of quitting WoW.
What is addiction?
Posted by admin in Effects of Gaming, Game Psychology on June 6, 2009
Although the term “Addiction” is used in the area of gaming, and also on this site, it needs some clarity.
Some interesting observations can be seen at the IGDA site (International Game Developers Association).
Passion – When you are passionate about something. It draws you to something; it increases the value of activities in your life; it increases your energy, your motivation, your creativity. You feel expanded, revitalized, and passionate.
Addiction – takes away from your life; it reduces your motivation to do things outside of the one activity. The hallmark of an addiction is that it takes away from your life. It makes you feel compulsively involved. You feel a compulsive desire to move towards that thing, where compulsion is being driven by some external thing rather than being driven by something internal; by your own internal creativity.
It is possible to differentiate between these 3 things:
- Excessive use of something;
- Dependence on something, behavior dependence, when you continue to do something despite external factors that tell you it’s wrong. “My wife keeps yelling at me to stop and I know it is bad but I don’t stop.” “My grades keep falling but I keep doing it.” “I’ve missed work 3 times this week but I’ve done it.”
- Addiction to something, which is supposed to be physiological; cocaine is addictive because over time my body begins to crave cocaine whether or not mentally or psychologically I actually want the cocaine.
Things labeled as addictive should have the physiological component. The opinion is that this is where the whole idea of computers being addictive becomes problematic.
Gaming can fit the outwards characteristics of addiction, but is this physiological aspect also present?
The IGDA study agreed that games can be seen as addictive and cited a particular study done in 1999 that showed PET scans of people playing a gambling game. The scans showed increased levels of dopamine in the brains of the players, and based on earlier correlations made between increased dopamine and other forms of addiction, the study suggests that game playing is also addictive. Of course, many activities can cause a similar effect, so gaming is not unique in this respect.
In the early 1950s, Peter Milner and James Olds conducted an experiment in which a rat had an electrode implanted in its brain, so the brain could be locally stimulated at any time. The rat was seated in a box, which contained a lever for food and water and a lever that would deliver a brief stimulus to the brain when stepped on. At the beginning the rat wandered about the box and stepped on the levers by accident, but before long it was pressing the lever for the brief stimulus repeatedly. This behavior is called electrical self-stimulation. Sometimes the rats would become so involved in pressing the lever that they would forget about food and water, stopping only after collapsing from exhaustion.
Sound familiar?
It’s not about the game
Posted by admin in Effects of Gaming, Game Psychology on June 6, 2009
I am Matt, the founder of this site, and I love gaming. Ever since I was a young kid, I have gamed. It’s a big part of my imagination, and has directed a lot of my creativity.
World of Warcraft is just one of many, many games out there that I have played. The imagination and creativity that has gone into building WoW blows my mind. Entering the game offers a chance to let your imagination run wild. The whole experience is huge and exciting.
For a lot of people, playing WoW causes no problems. For others, it causes severe problems. For me, gaming has caused problems. I had to give up gaming, because I can’t do things by half-measures, I want to be the best and compete at the top, or not do it at all. Playing more and more and competing at the top, the time requirement gets bigger and bigger. The more you play, the less obvious are the rewards, and the more time is needed to achieve certain improvements.
For reasons like this, many people let their gaming get out of control, and it affects other areas of life. If I look at what I have given to gaming, and what I have got back, it has not been a good relationship. Gaming sucks some people dry and eventually spits them out, a wreck. I could see myself going down that path.
It’s not about the game, is one of my main points. It’s about the person gaming. Some players have the kind of personality that means they become obsessive very quickly (addictive personalities). Games like WoW have been designed and developed specifically to encourgae long-term play. Certain types of people are much more vulnerable to this kind of game type.
When I used to see forum posts of people quitting, it would annoy me, because I felt like it was an attack on me, and on the game that I love. It felt like an attack on my lifestyle, and a judgement of what I was doing with my time. That’s what would make me feel defensive and then become critical of what they were doing. There were plenty of people around me feeling the same way, so I didn’t feel alone in my reaction.
This site is not here to attack games directly, or to try and have them banned. It is here to help people overcome problems they have had due to obsessive gaming and live a normal life again. Simple.
If you are gaming and feel you want to flame or criticise people who want to quit, then go ahead. Most posts are not edited on this site.
What is a problem for others, might not be a problem for you. Please remember that a recovering gamer or ex-gamer was once a passionate gamer, who loved their gaming, often above all else.
How do I know I have done the right thing in giving up gaming? When I gamed I slept badly, had sore eyes, relationships were going down the drain, I was ineffective at work, didn’t exercise my body, didn’t do much else really. When I don’t play games, I am fit, I think about the people around me, I am happier, I sleep well, I love life more, I don’t miss it, I do more. This is how I know.
Have a good look around the site, if you want to have a good flame, the forums are here.
Matt (Game lover, and ex-gamer)
The WoW addiction quiz
Posted by admin in Effects of Gaming, WoW Addiction Quiz on June 6, 2009
Have you played every class and race to max level? Have you given up eating since installing WoW 3 years ago? Have your parents forgotten your name?
Take the WoW addiction quiz and see just how bad it is.
Quiz for Younger players and students
Quiz for older students and adults
Once you finish the quiz, post your WoW addiction story in the forums.
Lack of sleep from Gaming
Posted by admin in Effects of Gaming on June 4, 2009
When gaming, time seems to take on a new quality. The best comparison I can make is like a film run at x10 normal speed. The sun rises, the sun sets, people come in and say something, people leave. It’s 9pm, you have to log out in 1 hour. 2 hours pass, better log off soon, just need to finish this instance. OK, just need to sell this stuff and clear up some bags. Suddenly it’s 4am, and you have work or school the next day.
In a study on the effects of sleep deprivation, it has been shown that subjects who sleep for only 4-6 hours a night showed “significant deficits in cognitive performance equivalent to going without sleep for up to three days in a row. Yet these subjects reported feeling only slightly sleepy and were unaware of how impaired they were.”
Sounds familiar? It’s like when you speak to someone in-game who you know has been burning it hard for the last few days. There’s that slight pause before they reply, while their brain figures out how to reply.
One of the worst feelings is waking up well before you want to, and having to force the unwilling limbs out of bed and into the shower. You tell yourself you will get a great night sleep tonight, until you log back in later and rinse and repeat the previous day. You become the Living Dead.
Do not hire WoW players
Posted by admin in Effects of Gaming, Reasons to Quit on June 4, 2009
Interesting thread over at f13.net forums. They have been discussing a post made about a game player who met with a recruitment consultant friend, and was discussing WoW. The general theme is:
“Employers specifically instruct him (as a recruitment agent) not to send them World of Warcraft players. He said there is a belief that WoW players cannot give 100% because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, etc. I mentioned that some people have written about MMOG leadership experience as a career positive or as a way to learn project management skills and he shook his head. He has been specifically asked to avoid WoW players.”
WoW players might not be attractive to some in business, but players post-WoW can be well motivated and be useful employees, having seen the light and moved on. check out the post and make you own assessment.
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