It is nearly impossible for me to sit in class for more than 20 minutes before I start to look at my phone, at the people around me or anything that is not related to what I should be paying attention to. However, I can sit and play a video games for a stupid amount of hours and it seems like in video games, there is an underlying obsession to obtain the satisfaction from completing the tasks at hand. I have not encountered this addictive behavior in past years since I have barely any time or money for video games. To a lesser extend I have experienced a similar behavior with mobile games, these games are simple and do not require a significant time commitment but provide the similar satisfaction as any other video game.
For most games, the goal is to reach the highest level, obtain the highest score or beat the game. For the most part those objectives can provoke compulsive behavior that enables players to stare at a monitor for a considerable amount of time. It can be argued that video game developers should incorporate mechanisms that trigger addictive behavior in games to ensure the success of their product. I have often found that my favorite games are those that I obsessed over and could not put down. Games like Pokémon, Minecraft and Call of Duty are by far my favorite and the ones that I have spend the most time playing, when these games came out and even when I play them again all I can think about is the game.
However this doesn’t happen with every game I enjoyed, there are plenty of games that that I love to play but never got addicted to. I can’t really identify what makes a game addictive I just know that there are games that I have played for an unhealthy amount of time. I think this obsession for a game varies by person since not everyone played Call of Duty or Minecarft like I did. Even though it is not an ideal situation to be addicted to a game, I enjoyed the time when I played those games that I was addicted to and hopefully I can find a game in the future that can provide a similar entertainment value.
I think that video game addiction is often swept under the rug, both by those suffering from the addiction, and those who care about the afflicted. If you think about an addiction to something like drugs or alcohol, you can see that the substance has the ability to take over the persons rational thought process. You can imagine over indulging in these yourself and getting “hooked”, but either avoid them or use them in moderation. Videogames are not looked at like these substances and most people see them as completely benign.
Many of us brag about a weekend where we barely slept and ate nothing but fried food and soda, playing a new game for endless hours. Now look at this same scenario, but replace the phrase “playing a new video game”, with “smoking crystal meth”. Your parents and friends would probably be a lot more comfortable with the first sentence, but the fact is some people react the same way to video games.
I have personally never suffered from these feelings of addiction, but have seen and heard many stories of people who could not tear them selves away from a game. A friend’s roommate freshmen year was forced to leave Penn State because he barely attended classes fall semester. My friend was worried about his roommate, and said that all he did was play games with his friends online, and barely left to shower or get food. He no longer had control of his actions, and continued to play regardless of the consequences.
As gamers, we need to take time to ensure that they do not take over our lives, but almost more importantly, we need to watch our friends and realize when they have lost control. Gaming is an amazing way for you to experience different worlds and lives without having to leave your couch, but we can’t forget that we have our own lives to live outside of the games. I want to leave the links to three videos that I watched a few years ago made by an online game design lesson series called “Extra Credits”. Here they talk about the dangers of video game addiction, and in the second video, one of the writers breaks the usual formatting of the show to explain to the audience on a more personal level just how dangerous this addiction can be. I found them to be very powerful videos, and encourage anyone who feels that they have an addiction, or knows someone who might to watch them.
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5RSngCFpsc
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_qlumZ5K4I
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9n2JehjQ7I
I think the topic of video game addiction is an interesting and important one. Often, I think players and game developers use the word addiction too lightly. People often say something like “This game is so addicting” where they use the word “addicting” with a positive connotation. I know I have used the word addicting in this way before. In reality, for some people games are a destructive force in their lives. Either they play a certain game so much that they neglect other important aspects of their lives, or they spend hundreds of dollars on mobile games.
An article on Forbes that highlights this problem is:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/03/01/why-its-scary-when-0-15-mobile-gamers-bring-in-50-of-the-revenue/
The article references a report that found “0.15% of mobile players account for 50% of mobile games revenue” – these players are the whales that Matthew mentioned. This creates an interesting dilemma for game developers and publishers. On one hand they have to make money, so they need to give players the ability to spend large amounts of money on the game. On the other hand the vast majority of players will never spend any money on the game, and in-app purchases only serve to make the game experience worse. Personally, I prefer to pay $1 – $3 for a mobile game that has no ads or in-app purchases, but for better or worse I think that the mobile game market favors free-to-play games.
It can be a little be scary when game developers take advantage of their customers though. It doesn’t really apply to games like Call of Duty or other triple A games. However, on the mobile market it can cost people fortunes. Some developers design their games to focus on people with addictive personalities. What happens is that the companies will offer some sort of way to pay real money for in game currency. The first time it’ll be around 99 cents for 100 gems. This makes the player feel as if he or she hasn’t spent a lot of money, so over time the player may not realize how much they have spent. People refer to these players as “whales.” I’m not sure if this is politically correct, but these are people who typically get addicted to gambling and things of that nature.
That was a very long winded explanation. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve played games for several hours at a time and loved every minute of it. My main point is that developers should cater to their customers and never take advantage of them. To do that would be morally unacceptable.