5 Reasons We Need to Take Video Game Addiction Seriously Read more: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-we-need-to-take-video

Read the article thanks for sharing. I also read the linked "Open Letter to LoL parents" and wow... Worst part is I remember raging a few times when "kids" had to get off the games I played while we were doing something.

Many truths in this article! I would add that virtual reality gaming also lowers pain perception by visual distraction AND endorphin/hormonal release. Thus, gaming is like using a digital narcotic, and clinically medical providers are using gaming to scrub burns and change burn dressings in kids and adults!

Like a hypnotist's pendulum or hypnotic spiral when the subject's mind is focused on 3-D graphic scenery and moving images like avatars, it creates a hypnotic trance like state. Video game designer Erin Hoffman said it perfectly: "Addiction is not about what you DO, but what you DON'T DO because of the replacement of the addictive behavior." Leaving your mind open to the power of suggestion is their plan. Like gambling casinos in Las Vegas game creators use every trick they can to keep you focused and playing endlessly.

Forget about school, work or being a productive member of society, play the game and forget about your family real life and friends, here you can become a lazy good for nothing deadbeat while making us rich! Welcome to the age of digital drugs.

Sublinial technology: A suggestion to a person at a level inaudible or invisible to the conscious mind will be entered directly into the subconscious mind, even the conscious mind is subject to suggestions over time. The media has been using subliminal advertising for years to influence our decision-making in order get the public to by their products and services and is well aware of the impact it has in marketing advertising. If it didn't work they wouldn't be using it.

The subconscious mind accepts commands without questioning them. It's like a child. Have you seen how fast a child picks up languages or for example learns to use computers? At an early age the mind doesn't filter and limit new thoughts. As we grow older we imprint do's and don'ts at a conscious level. We think we block and question our thoughts however, if we constantly subject ourselves to a certain environment we become its victims. Like it or not we are all the product of the environment we subject ourselves to.

Addiction starts when it becomes a pattern of the unconscious mind. Like learning to play the piano or guitar after a period of time it seems to become second nature. Once your mind has learned a pattern it doesn't have to work as hard as it once did when it first learned the new task, so the learned pattern becomes enjoyable instead of being a task. This may explain why hours can seem like minutes playing video games, like breathing we don't realize we are doing it, it's a unconscious task.

Learned patterns that we enjoy took time for us to learn and they unconsciously become part of our identity that makes us who we are. Giving up something that you've learned to enjoy and took time to learn like a piano or even a game can be very difficult without replacing the enjoyment with something else. Find a new hobby that you enjoy and you will break the patterns of addiction.

The first question that came to my mind was: what is the author referring to when talking about "addiction". Because we often use "addicted to" very liberally and for things people do a lot, but are not necessarily addicted to (as we know it). I think the author does not appreciate this difference really.

The author states "I play a ton of games" and "why do we have the sh**tiest online community". I believe he is trying to understand himself and the online gaming community behaviour, and from that starting point he writes his article.

When looking at the points individually, I think this becomes even more clear.

Number 5 : "Gaming Addiction Is an Addiction to Feeling Powerful". This is true for me. But the author puts it into a social context, that you need approval from your peers.

I always played solo. So I think that this cannot be a "general rule" to addiction. My form of addiction is isolating me completely, and I believe this is true for the majority of addicts.

Number 4 : "We Don't Want to Accept That Games Are Just Recreation". To discuss this seems besides the point. Why is it important that we need to realize that it is just recreation? Drugs are used for recreational purposes too. How do you help a drug addict by saying: "you need to accept that it is just recreation"? People that still can stop can be helped by saying "you need to bring it down man... it is just recreation".

Also notice how the author write "we", as in "we the online gaming community writing in forums". Not specifically about addicts.

Number 3 : "Addicts Aren't Even Enjoying Games Anymore". This was absolutely true for me, and I continued to game. The author is motivating his statement by saying that a lot of people write angrily about their games on forums. But this is not restricted to games, this is much more generally true. Isn't the same thing happening with movies? People get used to movies and want more More MORE: more special effects, more action, more whatever, new stories, new episodes, new wild whatever. And people write bad critics on movies too.

Besides, I did not write on forums about my games. I gamed my games until I could not go anymore. Game game game. No time to complain, game game game.

Number 2 : "We suppress the needs that games dont satisfy." (I do not understand this sentence "games dont satisfy sex, so we suppress the need for sex?"). The argumentation quickly goes to sex and offending women, in summary: you cannot get women, so you become offensive towards them and a gaming addict (?). This also assumes that only guys can become game addicts? This does not correspond to my experience as a gaming addict. I did not disrespect women online ever.

Number 1: "We're Begging to Be Mocked".

The author writes: My point is, we need to admit that our hobby can be really destructive when abused. Because unless we solve this problem, this is the only way non-gaming "normals" are ever going to see us.

But the author is referring to his hobby and the online gaming community and how the outside world is looking at them, not addiction per se. (Or not the completely destructive gaming that I am suffering.)

My apologies for posting this long message. Also I want to thank the original poster for posting this message, and I hope my post is not discouraging future posts (it should not). I find this post so interesting because (to me) it shows how we use the word "addiction" in "normal life", and how it can refer to different things, and how easily it can become confusing.

I will shut up :-) Talked way too much. Sorry about that.

Hey Steele

It's really good mental excersise to get your thoughts together and written out sometimes; good on you to make the effort. I found myself doing it the other day. After had typed like fury I thought; where did that all come from ?!