Jane Pauley show about video game addiction

[shopkins]

Did anyone else catch this? It wasn't a straight out bash fest, they showed some happy college kids who gamed socially and said games aren't a problem for most people.

But they did have some expert, Dr. David Walsh, on that said about 20 percent of gamers are addicted, a woman with an addicted son and a guy who lost a job to gaming. And Jane Pauley called them "the playthings of childhood," to be left behind. Plus a little bit about game violence and ESRB ratings at the end.

The woman's son was addicted to MMORPGs and played from 1 in the day to 3 in the morning. She said he told her the people in the game are his friends.

The addict who lost a job was also a MMORPG guy. He fell asleep at work. The guy was a jock in high school, and he quit when he realized he was out of shape and too skinny. Jane Pauley congratulated him with the "playthings of childhood" thing and acted very proud of him.

Here are some signs of addiction the expert used and how I think I stack on them:

Intense Pleasure/Guilt

I have to admit to this one.The only place guilt comes in is when I think about how much money I spend, though.

Obsessing

Last night I spent half an hour thinking about Dragon Warrior, and I dreamed some Prince of Persia puzzles.

Neglecting

Not really. I would never pass up something social for videogames. Sometimes I didn't get enough sleep, though.

Lying

I almost lied to my mother about how much I spent on something I purchased once, but later I told her. I try to de-emphasize how much I play and spend when talking to people, but only because of the social stigma associated with it. Mostly I change the suspect.


Anger/Depression when you can't play

Only when a console is broken.

Unable to Control how much you play

Sometimes I get into it a little more than I expected, but I can always stop when I want to. I gave up Evercrack when I realized I was spending too much unfun time with it.

Large Bills

This is a definite problem for me. I'm between jobs and still spend too much money on games. When I had my old job a portion of my paycheck often went to Ebay.

Do you think video game addiction is a problem? Do you have any of the supposed addiction signs?


P.S.

No, I don't usually watch Jane Pauley. I have a Tivo wishlist set to find anything with video game in the title or description.

[unbroken]

Yea i saw a little bit of this. I remember the doctor saying that video games produce the same addictive chemicels in the brain that cocaine does. I can see how games can be addictive, but comapring them to cocaine? come on.. I'm sure some people let games ruin their lives, but I would never let this happen, how can video games be any different then watching a movie? The asian kid that they were doing the studys on definetly had some problems, I mean did you see how he held that ps2 controller? lol.

[shopkins]

Yeah, it looked like he didn't know how to hold a PS2 controller. He hit the buttons with his middle and index fingers. Maybe that was his special technique or something. It was hard to tell because they blurred the screen, but from the sound I think he was playing one of the newer Mortal Combats.

[Julio III]

Yeah, it looked like he didn't know how to hold a PS2 controller. He hit the buttons with his middle and index fingers. Maybe that was his special technique or something. It was hard to tell because they blurred the screen, but from the sound I think he was playing one of the newer Mortal Combats.

didn't see the show (and i haven't played any of the newer mortal kombats) but for a beat-em-up its perfectly ok to use your fingers instead of thumb for the buttons

[Lady Jaye]

One thing that doesn't seem to pointed out often enough in reports/shows/studies of the sort, is that people who are the worst cases would probably get addicted to something else if they didn't get addicted to their MMORPGs.

[PDorr3]

I used to be addicted to games, my first addiction was to diablo2, but it wasnt out of control. For SOCOM on ps2 I played so much I was ranked #20 in the nation, with approx 4,500 hours of playtime.
For ffxi I used to take a month or two break here and there, but I fianly came to realize I am wasting my time and money on something I really do not enjoy playing sometimes.
I finaly cancled mhy account, and while I am upset of my year and a half memories I had, and people I met, especialy the 700 hours or so I put into them game, I am relieved I fianly gave up the addiction.

But for socom it was out of control, I would play 10-12 hours a day, no exceptions, only to eat once a day for 5 minutes. I was passing up my real life friends. The game was no doubt beyond addiction, but I knew that I had a problem once I actualy became emotionaly upset, actualy crying when a longtime clan member of mine left my clan, that I had an extreme addiction. Or maybe when optimum online went down and I had to go 1-7 days without SOCOM and I was extremely depressed, thankfuly those days are over, but I will no doubt forget my online experience like no other, and likely to never be felt again.

[bargora]

What's up with the "1 hour per day" thing? My wife seems to have stumbled on that as a gold standard of "not acting like a video game addict". And apparently, saving up hours from multiple days to use in one evening is a no-no as well. :hmm:

[john_soper]

Why not stay up late playing a game. It's the people who get up early, guzzle coffee and turn on the Today Show that are the real addicts :)

[Milk]

Pfft. The problem isn't gaming. It's the Internet! I say we shut it down. The guys who are addicted to EverQuest will thank us later.

[Wavelflack]

I'm pretty sure that even taking a shit releases endorphins, and therefore can be equated to cocaine use. And therefore is an addiction.

"My name is Wavelflack, and I am addicted to shitting. I probably feel the urge at least 3-4 times per day, sometimes more. Very rarely do I have the strength to repress this desire. I always give in at the end."

[Fuyukaze]

Adiction comes in many forms. It can be an addiction to drugs, food, games, sex, or anything else under the sun. Its news "stories" like these that only serve to scare the public into thinking any one thing is the greatest evil in the world. Check back with the news in 6 months to a year, and you will find something new has replaced it as the great evil of the world.


Intense Pleasure/Guilt
This is a weak excuse of a reason as anyone who has ever done anything that involved competition knows it feels damn good to win. It feels great when you are sucsessfull at what your doing. Be it a game of Tetris, a game of football, or anything. As to guilt, I know from personal experience that somtimes its easy to feel guilty over games. When you spend hours on end playing a game for months and finaly stop playing, one cant help but feel guilt over all that time spent. They wonder if the time was well spent, or simply wasted. Was all that money spent for nothing? Is this bad? Some say yes, but I dont think so as it reminds people to value their time and money.

Obsessing
This is simular to the first, yet pushing it. I would only consider it bad when its taken to an extreme. Situations where someone forsakes friends, family, work, food, hygene, and generaly their own health for a game.

Neglecting
Read above....

Lying
Your kidding me right? This is a joke. People learn to lie when they are 4-5 years old and just dont stop. If lying about something means your addicted to something, then we all have 4-5 addictions. How many people have said they were not home, even when they were? How many people have said they were busy doing something later, and were actualy just planing to sit and home instead?

Anger/Depresion
This almost has some merit. Getting angry over the inability to play a game is lame. So is getting Depressed.

Unable to Control how much you play
I plan to play a game for 30 minutes, but end up playing for 2 hours. Also, I plan to take a shower for 20 minutes, but realize I've been in the bathroom for an hour and a half. I want to go shoping for a couple of hours, but its been all day. Just another excuse.

Large Bills
This is a good one! Sadly, I have known people who would rather buy the latest game then pay off their bills. Its realy sad when their choice is between a new 50$ game, and paying the water bill. Sometimes, I can understand why someone would choose that new game over paying the bill. When you owe 12 Grand on a student loan, and you only have 20$ to your name, you know for a fact that the 20$ will not make a bit of difference on it. It wont even pay the interest!

Yeah, I think addiction to games is a problem. A small, minor, insignificant problem. Stupidity and ignorance is a bigger problem and yet no one reports on that. News stories like these are nothing more then scare tactics done up to make parents afraid of what there kids are doing. Rather then being parents and paying attention to what their kids are playing they simply want instant gratification with blanket laws to cover everything without even knowing what everything includes. I look forward to the day when every form of entertainment is made illegal, and the only fun people can have is eating.

[SuperNES]

i'm addicted to eating.

it's pretty pleasureful not starving. i eat all the time. i guess i obsess over it too, i do it at least 3 times every day, sometimes more. i've neglected stuff a few times because i needed some food, i was almost starving to death. once i lied to my mom and said that i was actually playing those addictive video games when i was actually eating.i felt really bad afterwards. i never should have eaten. once i could'nt eat for a whole day and i got really depressed and angry becuase i felt like i was going to die. i was taking bites out of the wall, and eating my math paper. i felt terrible. yeah i guess i can't control how much i eat either, i have at least 3 meals a day. i'm really addicted. once i spent lots of money on food one week, just because i wanted to not die. i felt so horrible. i could'nt even buy any new games or pay my gamefly bills i was so busy eating!

so yep, i guess i'm addicted to eating. i just always tell myself to quit eating, but i'm addicted so much my stomach hurts when i don't eat. it's awful.



:roll:

[ubikuberalles]

I'm pretty sure that even taking a shit releases endorphins, and therefore can be equated to cocaine use. And therefore is an addiction.

"My name is Wavelflack, and I am addicted to shitting. I probably feel the urge at least 3-4 times per day, sometimes more. Very rarely do I have the strength to repress this desire. I always give in at the end."

Don't you mean you give OUT in the end? :D

[junglehunter]

P.S.

No, I don't usually watch Jane Pauley. I have a Tivo wishlist set to find anything with video game in the title or description.
I think I read somewhere that nearly 85% of addicts also admit to doing this with their TiVo set top boxes at home.

Confess! :P

[Push Upstairs]

Personally, i'm addicted to breathing.

I've tried to stop, but i have to give in to my desires and continue on breathing.


This Jane Pauley news bit doesn't sound like its going to make me listen to news stories anymore than i have in the past.

I either get half the story, one sided stories, or minor things blown to preposterous proportions.

And its not like Jane Pauley doesnt have any "addictions" of her own. :roll:


"The playthings of childhood"

Perhaps i should kill the child inside and instead watch Jane Pauley constantly?

[MagicMajenta]

My mom told me about the show over the phone. She didn't catch all of it but saw the part of the guy losing his job and the doctor talking about the problem of addiction.

[maxlords]

What's up with the "1 hour per day" thing? My wife seems to have stumbled on that as a gold standard of "not acting like a video game addict". And apparently, saving up hours from multiple days to use in one evening is a no-no as well. :hmm:

You're boned. Especially if you love RPGs. Thankfully my wife is understanding and lets me play as long as I want most of the time. Hell, half the time she'll sit for 3-4 hours and WATCH me play a game (most recently with Psychonauts). If she told me I could only play an hour a day, I'd politely tell her to shove it. No joke.

[Graham Mitchell]

I'm pretty sure that even taking a shit releases endorphins, and therefore can be equated to cocaine use. And therefore is an addiction.

"My name is Wavelflack, and I am addicted to shitting. I probably feel the urge at least 3-4 times per day, sometimes more. Very rarely do I have the strength to repress this desire. I always give in at the end."

It's not the endorphins. Endorphins are for pain relief. The rewarding aspects of all drugs or pleasurable activities are mediated through dopamine, and neurons in certain parts of the brain that react to dopamine. Drugs artificially activate those dopamine receptors, which are naturally activated by things like eating and sex. Anything fun will do the same thing. So technically, yes, video games will mess with the same chemicals in your brain as cocaine. Not only that, but the addiction to video games is a "psychological" one, just like cocaine. Coke does not contain any "addictive" properties on a biochemical level. What gets people hooked is that they enjoy it, and crave it because it's fun, not because they need it. The exact same thing can happen with video games. So, sadly, the doctor was right. Funny, huh?

[bargora]

What's up with the "1 hour per day" thing? My wife seems to have stumbled on that as a gold standard of "not acting like a video game addict". And apparently, saving up hours from multiple days to use in one evening is a no-no as well. :hmm:

You're boned. Especially if you love RPGs. Thankfully my wife is understanding and lets me play as long as I want most of the time. Hell, half the time she'll sit for 3-4 hours and WATCH me play a game (most recently with Psychonauts). If she told me I could only play an hour a day, I'd politely tell her to shove it. No joke.
Whew. Good thing I stick more to the shooty-shooty-boom-boom type games! And it's really not as bad as all that, since I go ahead and play for a couple hours at a shot a couple of times a week anyway. :) Plus, more than an hour of Strikers 1945 II would probably make me throw my Saturn out the window. LOL

Additionally, it seems that she doesn't care so much about my disappearing for a two-hour Steel Battalion session if I just spent a similar amount of time gardening, housepainting, or engaging in other enjoyable home-improvement activites.

Ack! The chores! We hates them preciouss.

In conclusion, it is hoped that we can avoid any recommendations of shoving anything anywhere. ;)

[joshnickerson]

Jane Pauley still has a show?

Eh, lemme take the test, see how I stack up.

Intense Pleasure/Guilt
I probably don't get as much pleasure out of it as I used to, but it's still pretty enjoyable. If anything, I only game when I'm bored and nothing good is on TV.

Obsessing
Usually if it's something I've really gotten into, such as Zelda (but hell, who doesn't get into Zelda?). I played Pokemon Blue for about three years straight, does that count? LOL

Neglecting
If I have something more important to do, I'll do it. I'm not gonna skip work or social events just to finish up a game level.

Lying
Remarkably, I'm usually accused of lying when I tell the truth about how little I actually play! LOL

Anger/Depression when you can't play
If the power goes off when I'm just about to finish a boss fight, then yeah, I'm gonna be tweaked.

Unable to Control how much you play
Never really had that problem. There was a point in grade school where I was punished for a bad report card and was banned from video games for six weeks. A few times I'd get up at about 4 am, sneak into the living room and play SNES while everyone was still asleep. :D

Large Bills
If I ain't got the money for games, I ain't gonna spend it, unless of course I find Earthbound complete somewhere *L*. But I usually wait for a sale or a price drop anyway.

I think it is possible to get addicted to video games, but you can get addicted to ANYTHING if you let yourself. I'd just look at this "special show" as nothing more than May Sweeps fodder, perfect for the soccer moms who freak out that everything their kids do could lead to a deviant lifestyle.

[Graham Mitchell]

I think it is possible to get addicted to video games, but you can get addicted to ANYTHING if you let yourself. I'd just look at this "special show" as nothing more than May Sweeps fodder, perfect for the soccer moms who freak out that everything their kids do could lead to a deviant lifestyle.


Couldn't agree more. I freaked out after watching Gray's Anatomy because I'm about to start my med school clerkships and I didn't want to have to be in a situation anywhere near what was portrayed on the show. It really bugged me until I realized that the show was designed to pique the interest of bored midwestern housewives and 78-year-olds in the retirement home. No bearing on reality, just like the Jane Pauley show.

[Milk]

Totally tengental, but the title of that show is really getting on my nerves. Every time I hear "Gray's Anatomy" mentioned, I think Spalding Gray or the anatomy book, not some medical show which put "Such Great Heights" to promient use in its promos.

[Doonzmore]

Hasn't this woman ever heard of a thing called ENTERTAINMENT? :hmm:

[GarrettCRW]

Hasn't this woman ever heard of a thing called ENTERTAINMENT? :hmm:

It's all about generating fear. To whit:

"Fear will keep the systems in line. Fear of this battle station."-Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin

[PDorr3]

You know you are addicted to a game when you play it for hours everyday but dont even like the game anymore....like I used to be...

[Graham Mitchell]

Totally tengental, but the title of that show is really getting on my nerves. Every time I hear "Gray's Anatomy" mentioned, I think Spalding Gray or the anatomy book, not some medical show which put "Such Great Heights" to promient use in its promos.

I've been totally horrible about derailing threads lately, but...
Yeah, I find it difficult to come up with words to exprress how much I hate that fucking show. It's completely irresponsible to show stuff like that on television. If, while on my clinical rotations, I hear anyone say "Welcome to the game", I'm dropping out of school.

[GamerNerd]

I never watch Jane Pauley's show & it's a good thing that they pulled it off the air.

On-topic: I'm always addicted to videogames forever and a day.

[sabre2922]

HI my name is Saber2922 and I AM ADDICTED TO VIDEOGAMES so shoot me LOL

many of my friends are addicted to a LOT worse than video games and yeah I have cut many of them out of my life becuase of it.

It can be a slight problem sometimes like spending to much money on a few extra games or controllers that I really dont need but other than that It keeps me very happily occupied in my spare time to be honest about it so to me if anything its a +.

The videogame industry is a freakin BILLION dollar industry so there must be a lot of "addicted" ppl out there right? Maybe we should send miss Jane poller or whatever the hell her name is out to correct the millions of ppl that are stuck in their "childhood" :2gunfire:

[imanerd0011]

I didn't catch the show, but it seems like some of our members are truely addicted. 10-12 hours a day??? I have heard of being addicted to gaming, but that is just going WAY overboard. Why did you play that often? I'm not trying to insult you, I am just curious as to why you felt the urge to play all the time.