[casual_games] Game addiction

[David Wessman]

It seems to me to be largely a problem manufactured by the media and latched
onto by non-gamers unable to understand why someone might prefer playing
games to most other activities. While I don't doubt that there are some
people who take their gaming to unhealthy extremes, I suspect they are an
infinitesimally tiny minority. Arguably, their problems have nothing to do
with gaming per se, and any mental imbalance they have would manifest in
other ways were games not available to them.

On the other hand, what detractors would consider obsessive or addictive
gaming can be exactly the thing that prepares a person to excel as a game
developer or professional gamer...both paths offering lucrative careers
doing something you love in what is arguably the most significant area of
cultural development in human history. :-) Obviously, that kind of passion
and commitment is no guarantee of success, but I'd bet that most of the top
achievers in almost any field exhibited "addictive" behavior toward their
area of interest.

Thanks for reading,
David Wessman



On 2/12/07, Jónas Björgvin Antonsson <jonas at gogogic.is> wrote:

>

> Game addiction seems to be a popular topic these days. I want to know what

> people on this list think about this topic and the reasoning behind it. Is

> it a problem? Is the media creating a problem? Will the industry suffer?

> References to research and scolary material would also be highly

> appreciated. This is mainly for research purposes.

>

> J#

>

> www.gogogic.com

>

>

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