A treatment center has now been established to help people cope with their addiction to playing video games.
(SALEM, Ore.) - Most people are familiar with the term addiction. More than 100,000 deaths per year are attributed to alcohol addiction. Cigarette smoking causes 87% of all lung cancer deaths. Just what, exactly, are the societal repercussions of video game addiction?
The problems associated with excessive playing have led to the establishment of a treatment program for video game addicts in Europe. As game reality and graphics continue to soar with technology, the attraction to these games has become more irresistible for some players. In some cases it works almost like a magnet, and the problems will likely increase as games become better and better.
For more than thirty years now, video games have been a standard pastime. What started out as simple geometric shapes has evolved into a lifestyle for people the world over. Today's life-encompassing games like World of Warcraft (WoW), the Sims, and Halo satisfy a need to escape. In some cases, that need dominates the lives of individuals.
Men and women have lost their jobs, relationships, and homes because they played games too much.
How does a pastime take over a lifetime?
Video games are much improved upon since the days of Pong. A simple, 2D environment can only stimulate a person for so long. Today, Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) like WoW have been invented to be a never-ending environment in which you are constantly improving your virtual self. This can be electric for individuals who are disconnected, or unhappy with reality.
A video game addiction may not be the same as a substance addiction, but when people find a desirable chemical mix in their brain, they naturally want to hold on to it. A monthly WoW subscription is much cheaper than a drug addiction, and is completely legal. It is possible that un-insured individuals with psychiatric illnesses are 'self-medicating' their disabilities through virtual fantasy.
To help the world cope with this unique problem, The Wild Horses twelve-step program for video game addicts in Amsterdam offers "real" alternatives to virtual life like yoga, body massage, camping, and other fun activities. Although it is the first of it's kind, the future may see this type of facility popping up more close to home.
There are no "play responsibly" messages built into the WoW ad campaigns. On the contrary, the individuals profiting would like everyone with arms or hooks to pay the monthly fee to play. They aren't responsible for the life outcome of players the same as Vegas isn't responsible for people gambling all their money away.
The responsibility lies in the individual. Anyone who picks up a controller in their free time should be aware of the effect a game can potentially have on a person. Play responsibly.
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