Detox service for compulsive gamers
Jason Hill
July 20, 2006
LiveWire
Great games are often flippantly described as addictive, but a European clinic has begun treating game addicts alongside drug abusers.
Smith & Jones, addiction consultants in Amsterdam, offer a new detox service for compulsive gamers, making the astonishing claim that 20 per cent of all game players can develop a dependency.
"We saw that these gamers often displayed many of the same characteristics of addiction as heavy gamblers and drug addicts," the centre's website says.
"Many of these individuals have neglected family, romance, school and jobs, not to mention their basic needs such as food and personal hygiene."
Compulsive gamers are treated using many of the same techniques for other obsessive-compulsive behaviour, including group therapy, psychologists and psychiatrists.
The consultants claim to have observed the same "withdrawal symptoms as chemically dependent people" in players as young as eight, and recommend total gaming abstinence.
The games commonly associated with anti-social behaviour are multiplayer online worlds such as Everquest, Second Life and World of Warcraft. In Asia, there have been reports of players dying after marathon sessions and China has established a Government-run clinic to help combat the problem.
Visitors to The Age's blog written by this columnist also report gaming addiction.
"They don't call it Evercrack for nothing," says "Vian".
"I know two people who've lost long-term relationships to that game. They're both scarily intelligent and hold down well-paid, demanding jobs, yet this game is an obsession."
Another reader, "Vishy", says Warcraft "totally sucks you in and everything else real just passes around you. I forgot I had TAFE and work some days, so it was really bad".
"Pumpkinhead" confesses she "once asked my mother to look after my daughter one Saturday as I wanted to finish a particular quest in an online game. Gaming addiction is not a victimless crime".
Fortunately, Bond University's GamePlay Australia 2005 survey found most gamers play in only short periods and also enjoy a range of other hobbies.
I propose they put in shock feedback in MMORPG so that when you die or take damage it actually shocks a certain part of the brain that makes the person feel what the character would feel if it was real.
When it gets to a certain level of realism in the game the appeal of escaping into this other world will wear off, and they will then come back to the real world realising it isn't so great being there after all. So if a character dies, you feel intense emotional pain, and if you get attacked by a powerful character, you will be discouraged from player killing or trying to steal stuff.
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." -Shigeru Miyamoto
I saw an American version of this little press snippet a few months ago when ilce was tearing up the forums. Pat and I decided it was in PN's best interst that a link to it was not posted.
thanks grey i was hoping someone would do my work for me
i know myself what it's like the be in the grip of a great game, we all do, but for it to reach that kind of level..wow.
"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion" - L. Ron Hubbard
