Nah
I'm addicted to Modern Warfare 2
Problem video game users are: More likely to play certain online role-playing games Find it easier to meet people on line Have fewer friends in real life Are more likely to report excess caffeine consumption These are the results of a recent survey into video gamers' habits, completed by 1945 respondents, which revealed …
As a PC gamer I would say it's the opposite actually.
Generally I see it as those with fewer friends in reality and find it harder to make them turn to video games as they can half a laugh with otehr people they may not know, and do what they like.
Yes there's the odd case of a socialite going AWOL on WoW but it's mostly being stuck indoors on a Friday night bored and by themselves that people play online games.
MW2 is the most overrated game in history btw :P
... my 70ish year old father-in-law has been playing Civ 2 for a minimum of 6 hours every single day since he took early retirement... he retired a number of years before I started seeing my wife.. I've been with my wife over 10 years now... we've bought him new versions of Civ, but he refuses, claiming them to be an abomination compared to Civ 2... he's crazy...
There will be someone, somewhere who takes it too far. This isn't unique to computerised games.
Of course I'd like to class playing WoW as a mental illness in itself, but that's a whole other matter. Once upon a time Blizzard used to be quite good, sighs. And yes I do think of WoW as the reality TV of gaming.
I put in about 4-6 hours a day in the evening once the little kiddies are in bed.
So how the heck am i supposed to go out and socolise instead
Pay for Baby sitter
Pay For taxi
Pay for inflated drinks prices
Talk to people who will very very likley have no intrest that i can relate to e.g. football.
Or ....
Grab a crate of beer
Jump on TS3 get pissed with my mates
Play L4d2 / CSS / UT2K4 / BF2142 etc etc etc
Talk smack and computers ...
for a fraction of the price aswell .......
now i know why the goverment doesnt like it
they get less tax :((((((((((((
Wasn't there an article a few years ago saying that addiction experts cannot classify gaming as an addiction?
No withdrawal = no addiction. It's that simple.
Maybe we should setup a new watchdog or agency and pay someone a six figure salary to watch-over this 'problem'. I propose a computer game czar with unlimited powers to arrest, detain and imprison anyone caught not spending enough in pubs and spending too much time on-line. We could then setup an A B C classification system based on how 'addictive' these games are.
We could then extend their powers to those 'addicted' to blogging and then web surfing in general. What about all those people addicted to reading? Maybe we should setup help centers for them too and confiscate their library cards. Surely more books out of the library = less time spent socialising.