Aritlce written by a student about his experiece with Runesc

Hello. I am a sophomore student. I am writing to you because I would like to request you to review the following article and post my article where you deem appropriate on the website, olganonboard.org.

I wrote this editorial/article because I feel extremely passionate about this topic and had a heartfelt experience with this issue of game addiction that tremendously impacted my life. Ultimately, I wish my article to influence, inform, and be beneficial the readers on how excessive game playing is a problem and some solutions to treat it. This is also for an assignment in school. Please reply to me regarding any comments on my article. I sincerely plead you to reply to me via mail to my address lameo_nameo@yahoo.com since it is part of my assignment. Thank you incredibly much for understanding and replying to me.

Here is my extensively researched, persuasive editorial/article:

aEUoeIn 2002, the video game industry generated $10.3 billion in record-breaking sales, surpassing the film industry,aEU said by MAVAV aEU" Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and confirmed by the market research company Datamonitor in the US Report. The online gaming industry has thus risen to the ranks to the billion-dollar industries of tobacco, smoking, gambling, and alcohol. It is no surprise that the commonality of these industries is addiction. Olivia and Kurt Burner, authors of Playstation Nation: Protect Your Child from Video Game Addiction states that gaming companies like Microsoft and Sony use the same addictive qualities to target adults and children alike. Game addiction is definitely a problem in todayaEU(tm)s society and must require the persistence and determination of both the gamers and their parents or loved ones to treat it.

Excessive game playing ruins oneaEU(tm)s social and academic life. I was a victim of game addiction. I was once an ardent player of RuneScape, an online, massively played game. The game buried my life and me. Every day I went through school, scarcely talking to anyone and constantly thinking about the game. My verbosity at school leveled to around 50 words each day! I had barely any friends and no social life because of RuneScape. I missed all kinds of clubs and sports at my school. Additionally, my grades were not good at all. When I came home, the first kind of homework I would attend to is RuneScape homework. I would play for about an hour and a half on each weekday and three hours each weekend. I gained weight because of all the sitting when I play; my social circle of friends demolished to only a handful; I was extremely worried that I will not be successful in life because of my poor grades. In retrospect, my life was a complete ruin. However, I did not even know that games are bad and had been ruining my life while I played RuneScape. Rather, I agreed upon the same opinion game developers have, that games are educational and benefits the critical thinking process among players. In retrospect, I found that view is tantamount to saying, aEUoeDoing drugs are good, because when people buy the drugs, and it helps them with their consumer skills.aEU

The consequences of game addiction predominately overweigh the benefits of gaming. Specifically, games ruin countless lives. According to Entertainment Software Association, aEUoeSixty-nine percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.aEU For an adult, these games may lead to arguments and divorces, firings and poor salaries, because the adult will often find himself not wanting to go to work or go to bed because the adult has to play the game in order to gain a level or win some prize. Some husbands will spend very scarce time with their wife and children, thus emotionally neglecting them. Spouses Against EverQuest and EverQuest Widows are two groups on Yahoo! which boast over 2,000 spouses who are emotionally devastated on the other spousesaEU(tm) neglect. Thence, there is no wonder why girlfriends, boyfriends, and spouses are saddened by their partner for neglecting them and not going to bed each night, instead playing games, why a friend is disappointed in the other for playing games and not spending time with that friend, and why parents are angry at themselves for raising a game addict who is failing at school.

For a child, these games may lower grades, worsen family and friend relationships, and preempt a college dropout and a disastrous future. Julia Scheeres from wired.com reports that Jeffrey Stark, a high-school student from Ontario, would aEUoego for a week without bathing or eating a proper mealaEU and that aEUoeHe finally stopped going to school for a semester because he couldnaEU(tm)t tear himself awayaEU from EverQuest. It is impossible to imagine a teenager who plays games forty hours a day neither to be selected to a good college nor to have a well-paying job.

There are additional consequences to game addiction Mary Schlimme from Bryn Mawr College stated that constant game playing have the effects of aEUoedifficulties in work or school, telling lies to loved ones, decreased attention to personal hygiene, decreased attention to family and friends, and disturbances in the sleep cycle.aEU MAVAV also mentioned that game addiction for children causes aEUoelong term depression and sadness...aEU Hence, there are numerous repercussions to excessive game playing and game addiction. However, the most detrimental one is death.

Even though there is debate on whether games directly caused the deaths of the following three examples, the police and most people blame that the cause is game addiction. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Stanley A. Miller II wrote, aEUoeShawn Woolley shot himself to death at his apartment in Hudson. His mother blames the game [EverQuest] for her son's suicide.aEU Moreover, according to a Chinese magazine EastWestNorthSouth, after playing thirty-six consecutive hours of another computer game, Warcraft III, a thirteen-year-old boy jumped from the 24th floor of a building and committed suicide while assuming a standard sky-flying pose. It is no wonder that games have the ability to make a person prone from such fantasy that the player is able to aEUoeflyaEU Furthermore, according to GameSpot Gazette, a careless couple went to an Internet CafA(c) to play the World of Warcraft for an extended period of time. When the couple came back, they found that their only child, a four-month old daughter died from suffocation and irresponsibility. The couple was arrested. It is despicable to imagine what games can do to two grown adults.

Back to RuneScape and me I did not even know that my life was shattered in the years I played RuneScape. I also did not know about these detrimental consequences of excessive game playing. I thought that I was doing well at life being aEUoeLinty LintaEU aEU" the great dragon slayer in the world of RuneScape. My parents had always wanted me to quit any games that are addictive, because the games are just plainly useless in life. However, I resisted their advice and positive commands. I even woke up at four oaEU(tm) clock each Saturday morning and sneak out of my bedroom to play that game!

After a few years, however, I finally made the decision to stop. Since April 1, 2007, I have not played any computer games. I forever quit RuneScape, and I am extremely glad. Many factors contributed to my act of quitting. However, the most crucial factor is my own determination and my parentsaEU(tm) persistence to tell me, aEUoeStop playing, or else I will smash this computer!aEU

There are two groups of people who can better, treat, and cure the problem of game addiction/excessive gaming aEU" the players themselves and their parents or loved ones. The first two paragraphs are devoted to the parents and loved ones of players, while the next two is devoted to the players themselves. First, the parents, the friends, or the loved ones of gamers need to inform them the devastations of gaming. Tell them the story of a man in Hudson, Wisconsin suicides because of a game. Tell them the negative social and future impacts on their lives if they continue gaming. Tell them how their constant playing is emotionally hurting you. Gamers need to know this. Do not cease to tell them this, because that is how I quit. I had enough of my parentsaEU(tm) constant annoyance whenever they see my play. Especially when the gamer is frustrated during the game, tell them that they should stop playing. When the gamer is particularly angry, this suggests that it is something in or about the game that is causing the frustration and anger, particularly if something in the game does not go well. This is thus your chance to weaken the playeraEU(tm)s attraction to the game by saying things similar to aEUoeyou will never win what you lost backaEU and aEUoethis is a complete waste of your time and effort.aEU By continually saying these things and expressing your opinion about your loved oneaEU(tm)s gaming habits, the player will eventually agree with you because of your persistence.

According to the website People Against Video Game Addiction, one cause for children to play online games is that they want to find a sense of belonging where they can interact and be friends with similar players in their online game world. Parents can easily cure this problem by having a close-knit family and by loving the child. Parents may also arrange more play dates or urge their child to participate in more clubs or sport teams at school, encouraging their children to build friendships outside of the game. From that point on, players must eventually choose spending time between their real-life friends and their invisible friends. Most likely, they will choose their real-life friends.

Gamers themselves need to first make a decision to quit or lessen the time spent on games. Because the director of a game addiction clinic in Amsterdam, Keith Bakker at joystiq.com says that game addiction is aEUoenot a chemical dependencyaEU but is an aEUoeobsessive-compulsive disorderaEU aEU" something aEUoelike picking one's nose or watching TV incessantlyaEU aEU" the key to prevent game addiction lies in the gamers themselves. You must start to think about their life outside the game. You must listen to what your loved ones are saying to you. You must think that the game is nothing except a bunch of useless codes and data that the programmer uses to create it. You need to take a brand new look around you and see what is wrong with your lives aEU" your family, your hobbies, your schoolwork, your partner, and your career. You need to either gradually reduce the time playing the game until you reach the healthy amount of time or, if that cannot be done, you can uninstall, unsubscribe, give the game away, smash the CD, or even sell the computer. Make a promise to yourself and to your loved ones. Instead of playing all day, you can do other hobbies or spend more time with loved ones. Your decision is key for a better life.

After the first step, you need to maintain your promise. According to Reuben Logsdon, a self-confessing game addict from his website logsdon.net, he declared that a good way to maintain that promise is to aEUoeset up a reward system for yourself.aEU Put simply, you can reward yourself a small reward for a small decrease in the time gaming or for a short period of time you do not play, and reward yourself a large reward for a large decrease in the time gaming or for a long period of time you do not play. For example, you can buy yourself a small present for two days of no playing, and buy yourself something that you have always wanted for two weeks of no playing. You can also set a goal for yourself using a calendar to decrease the time playing by five minutes each day. Logsdon also stated that if your game is on a CD, you may smash it, and hang the remains in your bedroom as a constant reminder and as a trophy that you can conquer the difficult. Another method that worked for me is to tell your loved ones about your goals and have them support you on a daily basis. The last method that I personally recommend, in which was the vital factor for me to maintain not playing games is to create another passion. Start to think of other hobbies, fields of interest you want to pursue, or other things you want to do in life, and implement that interest into your life. You will find that pursuing that other interest is definitively worth playing the game. Take me for an example. I chose my other passion or responsibility to do well in school. Now, I cannot be more thankful that I chose that path on April 1, 2007. You will accomplish your goal. You will maintain your goal. You will succeed.

Ultimately, game addiction and excessive game playing are major problem in todayaEU(tm)s society of growing technological entertainment. Games continue to diminish family values in countless households. It may even mark the failure in oneaEU(tm)s future life. In some rare case game addiction causes death. However, both players and their loved ones have full potential to better, treat, and cure the problem of game addiction or constant game playing. Determination is key.