Do Permanent Bans Encourage Addiction?

HI ConcernedMa and welcome to Olg-anon. I'm afraid you may be missing the point of the purpose of this website. It sounds like you are more concerned with your child's being banned from a game than you are worried about their gaming too much. This forum is for parents who are at their wit's end because their child is wasting their life playing video games. If your child seems to have a balanced life and you're not worried about their spending too much time gaming, this is probably the wrong website for you.

OR permanent bans by these companies can make gaming addiction more apparent as the gamer goes through withdrawals.

I agree with Andrew. A permanent ban is more likely to show up an addiction that is already there, rather than create one. In which case a ban by the console company will be serving a very good purpose and parents will have the opportunity to sit up and take notice and do something about it.

In answer to the initial question, in my opinion I think perma-ban has no effect on addiction either way. A non-addicted gamer will not become addicted because of a ban, whether fair or unfair, and an addicted gamer will probably not get a "wake-up call" on a gaming ban alone. It's pretty much the same way that an alcoholic will not be cured by being permanently kicked from a given bar / nightclub and that a person whose relationship with alcohol is healthy will not turn into an alcoholic over such an incident.

As for the specifics of your case, you don't give a lot of details so it is difficult to judge - is it a small "pay-to-win" game ? Is it a larger game (WOW or another MMO) ? I don't think gaming companies ban their customers for no reason as a strategy, especially customers who have already paid "hundreds of dollars" and would well have spent many hundreds more. On the other hand they probably do spend much less ressources on deciding such cases than a prosecutor spends on a (real) death penalty case, so "mistakes" could happen.

You will never know what your child actually did online and, while you are certainly right to trust him rather than a company, I would encourage you to get a closer look at him/her next time he games. Is he showing excessive passion ? Is anger and frustration building up ? Is he spending too much time on the game, losing sleep on it and thus being less able to handle it rationaly ? If yes, it might have been the cause of a behavior which then led to whatever action led your son/daughter to be banned (which does not mean it was "justified").

On the issue of privacy, in my views you have a valid claim that the company should have a duty to be more explicit as to what happened that caused them to ban your child. You are probably the one paying for the game, and your child is probably a minor. Thus, I do not believe that "privacy" prevents them from being more specific about what type of action was brought up against your child (insulting ? profanity ? harassment ? cheating ?), it is important for you as parent to know and I do not think that the company should withhold it from a parent any more than a school would refuse to disclose the actual reason why a child was punished in the name of "privacy". If I were you, and if the game is a large on, I would write a calm and courteous letter explaining this, that way you might get to the bottom of the matter.

Best regards,

ConcernedMa,

I agree w/ what has been said so far. I'm sorry your son was unfairly banned, however, as mom's we can use these experiences to teach our children how to cope with disappointment, use the experience as a strength builder and how to move on. However, as was suggested, if you son reacted in a highly inappropriate way to the ban you may want to consider the extent of his involvement in online gaming. Here's a list of withdrawl syptoms provided on this website that you may find interesting and maybe enlightening. (If your son's life is not being terribly distrupted by online games then this shouldn't apply).

http://www.olganon.org/?q=game_addiction_withdrawal_symptoms

After reading this and looking at posts in the Parents Section, if you are concerned about exessive gaming, please feel free to post your thoughts on this website. There are a number of mom's in this community who would be willing to share their experiences if that is of interest to you.

Take care.

ConcernedMa,

As a recovering gaming addict, I can say that permanent bans happen only when you cheat or lose your temper and lash out at others in a game. People are given numerous warnings by the admins via personal emails sent to your account and 3 day or 7 day temporary bans before they are permanently banned (unless it is hacking they are caught doing and then it's an automatic permanent ban). Why anyone would think they could play a game with others and cheat or hurt others and NOT get banned is crazy - people are kicked out of real life sports/games if they cheat all the time - those are the rules of the game. Bans are not the problem but a symptom of what the real problem is - the gaming addiction. In some respects, they are a good thing. They are a wake up call that someone's gaming is a problem as opposed to a casual form of recreation and fun. If we're honest with ourselves, any of us gamers know exactly what we did to receive a ban and that what we did was wrong. Not wanting to face that or blaming others for it is just more proof of how serious our gaming problem is.