Addicted to Games

“My name’s Angelic Rogue and I’m a gamerholic”

Like the grizzled alcoholic who may contemplate his place in the world whilst staring glassy eyed at the amber liquid hue swilling in the glass before him, there comes a time when we all must consider whether our favourite hobby is slowly turning into an addiction.

Are gamers due for a bout of the cirrhosis of the liver anytime soon? Perhaps not, but every now and then the media like to make our gaming habits a bit of an issue, claim that we’re slowly killing ourselves with gaming addiction and that across the globe we’re falling under its spell – sometimes fatally so.


Take 18 year old Chuang from southern Taiwan for example, who died playing Diablo III in July. The unfortunate lad played for 40 hours straight on the online fantasy game without eating. Playing in a private room at an internet café he fell asleep from what was probably sheer exhaustion and when woken by a staff member, took a few steps and keeled over. Pretty mental right? Who knew excess hours on your fav game would kill you?

The problem is this isn’t an isolated case, in fact our beloved games have been killing us for years. I’ve attached a link below of a list made on ranker listing some more instances of gamers who died doing what they loved. They range from the first reported cases in the 1980’s to marathon 650 hour gaming sessions to some that are just plain bizarre (like the woman who died from water intoxication in a bid to win a Wii?! An Xbox would have been a better reason)
http://www.ranker.com/list/8-people-who-died-playing-video-games/autumn-spragg?page=1 

Though the examples above are clearly self-inflicted it gets a bit scary when you read about those who have killed others to fuel an ever increasing need to reach the next level. You know that free game Farmville? Pretty innocent bit of gaming fun while you’re on Facebook, right? Not so for Alexandra Tobias from Florida in 2010 who shook her baby to death after her baby’s crying interrupted her online farming session.

Or how about in 2005 when Qiu Chengwei stabbed (in real life) a fellow player when he found out the in-game sword he had lent him had been sold on in Legend of Mir 3.

It’s not just games either. Apparently addiction to technology in general is increasingly prevalent, what with smart phones, tablets and screens now a major part of our everyday lives and constantly in our faces it’s not surprising that we’ve become a bit hooked. A recent article found “Nearly one in five 14-15 year old boys said they spend more than three hours on their games console…for each hour of sleep lost, IQ drops by a point so the cumulative effect of lots of late nights can have a serious impact” (source The Metro, 23 July). We even had our first reported instance this summer of an allergy to technology; Phil Inkly has to now live in the woods as he suffers from nosebleeds, blackouts and crippling headaches after becoming allergic to electromagnetic fields. Apparently. (Though that sounds like one epic skive of work to me.)

This is the part where you’ll think ‘Hey that all sounds pretty crazy but you know what? I’m cool. I’m not addicted. I know when to call it quits’. Uhuh – sure you do. Apparently 88% of gamers have experienced some degree of the symptoms of gaming addiction. Video-game-addidction.org lists a number of ‘red flags’ to look out for, things like:

- Lying about how much time you spend playing computer or video games

- Spending significant sums of money for online services, computer upgrades, or gaming systems

- You feel really happy when you're online or when you're playing games, but as soon as you have to stop, you get angry or upset.

- You think about going online or playing when you are supposed to be focusing on other things, like doing school work or having dinner with your family.

….Crap. Well I guess we can take solace in the fact that games, in their very nature, are meant to be addictive. After all, they wouldn’t be very enjoyable if they weren’t. The sign of a good game is its ability to immerse you in its storyline or provide you with a worthwhile challenge and hey, at least it’s better than smoking.

In any case I don’t suggest that anyone who plays games on the regular is an addict per se (coughs *Dandy on battlefield*) nor are we in any position to pass judgement if you are, hell I just spent most of my last Sunday playing through the Devil May Cry series. I suppose I write this post as nothing more than just a passing thought. A reflective moment before I shrug it off as nonsense, turn on my console and take a deep swig of sweet gaming satisfaction.

Angelic Rogue