Ensidia

Part two is available to view! www.ensidia.com/Sichas/blog/4001/

So this is an essay that I wrote for my English class this year.  We were required to do a research paper on an issue or controversy, so I chose to do my paper on being addicted to video games.  I received an A- on the paper, and after asking my professor if she thought it might be worth sending to Häns (liQ) to post here, she helped me do some minor edits.  The paper has been slightly altered from those original edits to be more appealing to all sorts of gamers, at the suggestion of liQ.  Before we go on, special shout out to my English professor, Professor Stirm, of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for all of her help guiding me in the right direction to take this paper! Enjoy, everyone!

Video Game Addiction

Video games are a late 20^th and 21^st century commodity. It began with teenagers playing Super Nintendo, and has evolved into cultural phenomena. Today, more than 12 million people play Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, the top grossing and most played game on the market.  Every day, thousands of gamers log onto Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty servers and blow each other up virtually.  Why?  Are these players addicted to their games, or do they simply love to play? What’s the line between addiction and love of the game, and if they are indeed addicted, how do they get out of their addiction? These questions are crucial to our understanding of the effects of video games.

Shaping the Definition of Addiction

            We need to have a solid understanding of the term “addiction” before proceeding into characterizing video game addiction, which will be done at length in this paper by referencing the thesis that this definition will create. Raymond Corsini’s The Dictionary of Psychology defines addiction firstly as, “overdependence on any substance, person, activity, or procedure,” secondly as, “physiological dependence usually on a drug, characterized by increased bodily tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. Acute withdrawal symptoms occur if the substance is sharply reduced or stopped,” and thirdly as, “Psychological dependence, a strong and compelling need for something such as companionship, entertainment, attention, or sexual encounters. When such needs are strong and unusual and continued despite harmful effects to self or others, a person is considered medically or psychologically impaired. (Corsini, 18) That’s a mouthful so let’s break it down.

            The first definition Corsini gives us involves overdependence on X item.  In our terms, X is video games. An addiction by this definition is defined as overdependence on the video game.  That’s a pretty solid definition, but also quite shallow, so let’s move on to the second definition.  Now Corsini talks about physiological dependence.  Note that physiology deals with the normal functioning of bodily functions and parts.  Corsini states that the addiction is characterized by increased tolerance for the substance, and includes withdrawal symptoms.  Finally, Corsini gives a third definition stating that when the dependence is unusual and is continued despite harmful effects, the person is considered impaired. That’s really important, and we can form our formula based on branching off of that information.

             What would be a harmful effect?  The answer would depend based on the age of the player.  What may be harmful to a player that is, for example, a member of the workforce wouldn’t be harmful to, say, an 8 year old. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the leading authority in studying gaming data, “the average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.” (ESA) This information surprised me, because based on the amount of gaming I see every day in the dorms being done by college students around 20 years old, give or take a few years.  So when a player is 35 years old, let’s assume they’re not living with their parents and have to provide for themselves. They would have personal responsibilities, which could include caring for children, working a job, and supporting a family. A typical 35 year old would be married or looking to get married, so they would have some sort of relationship going for them.  A relationship could also be purely friendship.  Finally, metabolism slows down far before 35, so sitting in front of a television or computer and playing games for hours on end while eating junk food would degrade their quality of life.  Based on these items and the definition put forth by Corsini, we can conclude that when players are addicted, truly addicted, to video games, their quality of life declines, their relationships struggle, and their personal responsibilities are left unmet.

The Video Game Industry

            It would be prudent to know exactly what goes on with video games, so let’s refer to the ESA again to find out exactly how big of a hold video games have on America. The ESA reports the following facts on the video game industry:

·      68% of American households play computer or video games

·      25% of Americans over the age of 50 play video games

·      Sales of video game software in 2008 grew 22.9% to $11.7 billion

·      42% of American homes have a video game console

The industry is quite huge. Wrap your head around that second fact…a quarter of Americans over 50 play video games.  Granted, that doesn’t mean they’re playing World of Warcraft since Minesweeper or Hearts is much more likely.  Now that you have some idea of what the industry consists of, let’s move on to addiction.

 Introduction to Addiction

            Douglas Gentile, a psychology professor at Iowa State University, did an elaborate study on video game addiction.  Gentile outlines that addiction consists of damaging many areas of your life (sound familiar?) in a manner that is harmful to your personal well-being.  Okay, that’s nothing we didn’t know already. But what Gentile brings to the table is how some areas of addiction can be okay.  In a video posted on the Iowa State University website, Gentile explains that, “If you really love golf, you’ll think of excuses with your wife and try and sneak out of work a few minutes early to try and hit the green a little early, and for the most part that’s okay and quite normal.  But when these damaged areas mount into something that degrades multiple areas of your life, that’s where it becomes something entirely different and can be quite serious.” (Gentile)  So we need to theorize the difference between love of the game and addiction.

Love and Addiction

            This is purely academic speculation, as there is no scientific way of identifying love amongst humans. I’m going to use the differences between my love of games and my former addiction to games as reasoning behind my speculation. I used to be addicted to World of Warcraft, and we’ll talk about this at length soon. I fit the definition we just agreed upon perfectly. Warcraft ran my life, no matter what was going on, my brain told me that it was unnecessary unless it involved bettering my character online. I had to play.  I had to take my character to the next level, and nothing would stand in my way of doing that. In contrast, I currently play a lot of EA Games’s Dragon Age: Origins. I love this game. I play it frequently, and occasionally irresponsibly, forsaking getting a good night’s sleep for playing for another hour, but when I consciously decide to stop, I stop.  I don’t feel like I’m supposed to still be playing. That’s the line between love of a game and addiction, being able to stop.

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Part two now available!   www.ensidia.com/Sichas/blog/4001/

Please also note that a bibliography will be included with the conclusive entry.