Tag: video games

South Korea Grapples With Line Between Pro-Gaming and Gaming Addiction

Where is the line between professional gamer and person with with gaming disorder?

South Korea, a country where e-sports flourishes, is grappling with a difficult question now that gaming disorder has become officially recognized by the World Health Organization: Is professional gaming actually gaming disorder?

The answer, they’ve determined, is… not really. The WHO has a pretty narrow definition of gaming disorder, where video gaming takes over a person’s life to a point they neglect their family, friends, and job in favor of playing for an extended period of time.

Pro Gamers Practice Self-Discipline

Representatives for professional gaming leagues say that the way in which pro-gamers play is quite the opposite of this.

“Addiction is akin to social isolation. People who are addicted often display lack of interest in the world other than their obsession,” said Kim Jong-seong, a senior manager at the Korea e-Sports Association. “But esports is the opposite — it’s about bringing individual gamers out into the world to teamwork, connect with the mass and possibly gain fame.”

The key difference, he argues, is in the self-discipline practiced by South Korean career gamers.

“Furthermore, professional esports is systematic. For example, if the players spend 12 hours training, they would have specific hours for solo play training, group play training, with regular nutrition intake hours and workouts in between.”

Not only that, but these gamers aren’t neglecting their professional life and financial responsibilities–they’re taking care of them by playing. Expert and sponsored League of Legends players in the country took in an average of 175.6 million won ($145,000 USD) last year. These surveyed gamers are also younger than the average salaryman at an average age of 20.8 years old. The oldest surveyed was 26, while the youngest was just 17.

Can the Quest to Go Pro Lead to Gaming Addiction?

But there is concern for those who toil away at these games to try and go pro but just can’t hack it. These players dedicate themselves to their game of choice at a young age, and experts worry that these youngsters could become addicted to gaming in the process.

“Some scholars point to individuals’ innately impulsive nature as what causes substance addiction, but in the case of behavioral addiction like video game addiction, we don’t have enough evidence yet and socio-psychological factors might play a larger role,” said Prof. Ahn Woo-young, who researches psychology at Seoul National University.

Examples of such socio-psychological effects include the availability of gaming in South Korea’s multitudes of internet cafes as well as children having to occupy themselves with digital entertainment waiting for their parents to return from busy work lives.

Pathologizing Gamers

“A rising number of young people around the world are becoming more passionate about games,” said Arnold Hur, the co-president of esports company Generation Gaming. “However, instead of embracing this trend, many societies have chosen to ignore or even stifle this growing interest. In doing so, passionate gamers are often at risk of becoming marginalized — perhaps even to the extent of being labeled as having a ‘gaming disorder.’”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 September 2019
When Does Hardcore Video Gaming Become An Addiction?

Experts weigh in on the World Health Organization’s decision to add gaming disorder to its International Classification of Diseases.

Many gamers know the feeling of playing for too long into the night and being just useless the next day, but that’s now something that could be indicative of gaming disorder as defined by the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases.

The WHO officially recognized gaming disorder last year, defining it as “impaired control over gaming.” The diagnosis is applicable to gamers who put their video gaming time ahead of everything else in their life, including work, study or relationships.

Is It Really An Addiction?

Many experts, including Dr. Kenneth Woog, were unsure if gaming should really be considered addictive.

“In 2002, a lot of people [were] laughing at it and scoffing at it, saying it was ridiculous,” said Dr. Woog, who now treats gaming addiction. “But after doing my research in 2003 and 2004, I was pretty much convinced. I’d seen a few more clients and after I surveyed mental health professionals across the United States, I became convinced that it could be a real thing.”

People may be slow to accept gaming as addictive because there isn’t a chemical component acting on the brains of gamers, suggests Dr. Alok Kanojia. The purely mental nature of video game addiction also means that a hard approach that includes abstinence is often not necessary.

“I think sobriety for gamers involves understanding why do you play the game?” said Dr. Kanojia. “To understand the drives behind the game, and to try to replace those drives with healthy alternatives.”

Personal Experience

Dr. Woog and Dr. Kanojia, who play video games themselves, say that there are a lot of benefits to playing video games. In particular, social games like Fortnite are replacing the malls of yesteryear as a space where children can socialize. Dr. Kanojia says that he tries to help his patients find a healthy balance between video games and life, a lesson he himself had to learn as a university student.

“I basically had less than a 2.0 GPA after two years of college because I was just playing a bunch of video games every night,” Dr. Kanojia recounted. “I was on academic probation, really trying to figure out what was going on and didn’t understand why some days I would wake up and be able to go to class and then other days not.”

He took a break from school to study yoga and meditation in India.

“I started to study myself, and figure out how games interact with me, what is it about the game that I really like, why can’t I wake up in the morning?” he revealed.

Unfortunately, video game addiction isn’t being taken seriously enough in the United States, where proper diagnosis and treatment for gaming disorder is hard to find.

View the original article at thefix.com

15 July 2019
Can Tetris Help Alleviate Anxiety?

Researchers explored whether the classic game could have positive effects on those battling anxiety.

Could an old-school video game help ease your anxiety? New research points to yes.

According to NPR, Kate Sweeny, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, conducted research into whether the game Tetris can have positive effects for those struggling with anxiety.

The premise of the game is to rotate and adjust moving tiles so they fit into a flat line at the bottom of the screen.

“Years of my life were lost disappearing into a game of Tetris on my Nintendo system,” Sweeny told NPR.

The game, according to Sweeny, can help ease anxiety by allowing players to enter a state psychologists call “flow.”

“The state of flow is one where you’re completely absorbed or engaged in some kind of activity,” Sweeny told NPR. “You lose your self-awareness, and time is just flying by.”

In conducting the study, Sweeny’s team focused on people who were waiting for “uncertain, potentially life-altering news” with the idea that playing Tetris could help their minds focus elsewhere for a period of time.

Specifically, they took a group of 300 college students and told them their peers would be rating how attractive they were.

“I know, it’s kind of cruel, but we found it’s a really effective way to get people stressed out,” Sweeny told NPR.

While the students were waiting for the results, they were instructed to play Tetris. There were three levels of difficulty assigned to different students: one slow, easy and boring; one fast, challenging and frustrating; and one classic version, meaning the game is adjusted based on the player’s ability.

While players still reported varying degrees of worry, the group that played the classic version reported slightly increased levels of positive emotions and slightly decreased levels of negative ones.

“It wasn’t a huge difference, but we think it’s noticeable,” Sweeny told NPR. “And over time, it can add up.”

Games aren’t the only way to reach a state of flow, according to Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who studies happiness.

“Think of the activity that grabs your attention and doesn’t let it go,” Dunn told NPR. “For me, it’s mountain biking.”

While Dunn was not involved in the research, she says the results were not surprising.

“I can’t say I found this study particularly surprising at all,” she told NPR. “Mostly because, based on previous research, it’s hard to find a situation where the experience of flow isn’t a good thing.”

Dunn also noted that the research indicates “that even in tough moments, we should push ourselves to do something challenging to get us out of the moment.”

View the original article at thefix.com

8 November 2018
Fortnite Addiction Leads Sports Team To Institute Ban

The self-instituted ban was put in place so the team could focus on bonding with teammates.

The popular video game Fortnite has caused problems in some marriages and in academic settings—and now it’s being banned from some professional sports teams for the same reason.

TSN 1040 reports that members of the Vancouver Canucks, a Canadian ice hockey team, have taken matters into their own hands, with a self-instituted ban on the game while on the road.

Team Captain Bo Horvat told the radio station, “Yeah, that’s definitely a no-go on the road. No more Fortnite. No more bringing video games on the road. It’s strictly team meals, team dinners and hanging out with the guys. So we put an end to that.”

Horvat also added that there are better options for killing time when traveling, such as bonding with teammates.

“In my opinion, there’s better ways to spend time on the road, whether it’s hanging with the guys in the room or going to a movie with the guys,” Horvat said. “There’s a lot of cool cities we visit and to be cooped up in your room all night, playing Fortnite, is a waste of your time.”

Personally, Horvat says he has never played the game.

“Hopefully a lot of parents and little kids are listening right now,” he told the radio station. “I don’t play it. Nor will I ever.”

According to TechDirt, the Fortnite issue first arose for the Canucks last year when the team claimed a young player was “inactive and seeking counseling for video game addiction.”

This isn’t the first time Fortnite play has disrupted professional sports teams. According to Fortune, players from the Ontario Hockey League were asked to remove Fortnite references from their social media accounts.

Reporter Renaud Lavoie says that executives in the sports world have spoken out about the issue.

“That GM told me it’s an issue,” Lavoie told Sportsnet 590. “Before, the athletes were going to bars. Now, they’re staying in hotel rooms or at home and playing video games for hours.”

Major League Baseball has also claimed to have issues with the game, including one case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Outside of sports, the game is causing issues in some families. In the UK, the game has been cited as a reason for divorce in 200 divorce petitions filed in the UK from January to September 2018.

A nine-year-old British girl was admitted to treatment after her Fortnite addiction kept her up all night and affected her grades and health. The girl’s parents say the tipping point came when her father found her sitting in her own urine while playing the game.

“She was so hooked to the game, she wouldn’t even go to the toilet,” the girl’s mother told the Daily Mirror.

View the original article at thefix.com

17 October 2018
Girl Admitted To Rehab For Fortnite Addiction

“This is a serious issue and it is destroying our little girl’s life, and someone needs to step in to ban it before it becomes an epidemic,” said the girl’s mother.

The Daily Mirror is reporting that a nine-year-old girl in England has allegedly been admitted to rehabilitation for a dependency on the hugely popular survival game Fortnite.

The story quoted the girl’s mother, who claimed that her daughter would regularly play the game until dawn, which negatively impacted her grades and health. Her dependency eventually grew so severe that she would not interrupt her gameplay to use the bathroom, prompting her parents to take her to a counselor for “intensive” therapy.

The girl’s story comes on the heels of Culture Minister Matt Hancock declaring video games as “potentially damaging,” a stance that appeared to be supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), which included gaming in a draft of its 2018 list of “disorders due to addictive behavior.”

According to the Mirror, the girl’s parents noted that her personality began to change two months after she downloaded Fortnite on her Xbox. She reportedly began to lose interest in sports, and her teachers contacted the parents about missing homework and other issues.

When the couple confronted the girl, she reportedly became “unusually argumentative”—which they chalked up to “hormones.”

The girl’s mother stated that they discovered small but consistent charges on a credit card—Fortnite is free to download but offers in-app purchases—which caused the girl to lash out and allegedly strike her father when he confronted her.

For the parents, the final straw came when the father found the girl sitting on a urine-soaked cushion while playing the game. “She was so hooked to the game, she wouldn’t even go to the toilet,” claimed the mother.

The girl later confessed that she played the game every night, sometimes until dawn. Her parents contacted Steve Pope, an addiction counselor, who began treating her for the reported dependency. Pope told the Sunday People that hers was not an isolated case.

“Over the last two months, I’ve been contacted by dozens of parents with children as young as eight showing signs of addiction to Fortnite. I’ve been working in this field for three decades and never seen anything like it—how widespread and potentially damaging this is.”

The girl’s mother called for government action to intervene in the growing problem. “This is a serious issue and it is destroying our little girl’s life, and someone needs to step in to ban it before it becomes an epidemic,” she told the Mirror.

A ban against loot boxes—a game feature that allows players to acquire rewards through gameplay or for money—has already taken effect in Belgium, which declared the feature in violation of the country’s gambling legislation.

In comments to the Daily Telegraph, Culture Minister Hancock expressed concern that “too much screen time could have a damaging impact on our children’s lives,” and specifically cited Fortnite as “aggressive” and potentially “addictive.”

Hancock—who had previously voiced support for more active gaming business in the UK—also stated that the British government is working with game publishers and developers to promote safety and allay parental concerns.

Though the WHO has submitted gaming addiction for consideration on its list of addictive disorders (the organization must still approve it for final inclusion), medical professionals are divided on the subject.

Research from 2017 noted that gaming increases dopamine levels twofold, whereas drugs like heroin or cocaine increase the chemical response by ten times that amount.

A 2016 study found that addiction to gaming occurred more frequently in individuals who already showed signs of depression or stress, and video games had become their chosen form of avoiding those feelings.

View the original article at thefix.com

14 June 2018