On-Line Gamers Anonymous is a fellowship of people sharing their experience, strengths and hope to help each other recover and heal from the problems resulting from gaming addiction.
If you don't have a problem with gaming, fine, we are not here to debate that. We are people helping people, here to support each other. If you disagree that gaming can be a problem, or if you yourself don't have a problem, start your own organization so you can all go there, and tell each other how much fun you are having. You do NOT have to be here! Liz
—
Liz Woolley
Exactly.
The purpose and objective of this board are to help those people who find themselves "addicted" to online games. Again, help those who wish to quit and are having difficulty and people who are related to gamers, people who need to vent and seek out support. Period.
What are your problems, people??
There is no agenda here!!! You dont need to be in this board, have fun and play, this board is not engaged in finger pointing and saying you are ALL addicted and blahblahblah.
I dont think this board needs to justify or defend themselves. Geez.
You gamers may have valid points, but I dont see them associated to the the purpose of this board. You make good arguments to the definition of "Addiction" and so on and so on, but those arguments do not belong here in this board, because this is for those who think they are "addicted".
yes TIE, but the problem is, mindless sheep watch shows like marketplace and it was mentioned on another, but the REAL problem is that you can't get addicted to anything but drugs, largely because nothing releases the same chemicals in the brain as drugs
Music, on the whole, has been linked to releases of the same drug that REAL drugs do, the same as video games, but again the problem would be, video games are taking the bashing on TV, while music is a multi-billion dollar/year industry with the same effects on the weak minded.
just remember, when you point at someone you got 3 fingers pointing back, people...
Point blank, DTToole, sorry to disappoint you, but no is pointing fingers. We are here to support each other with our own common problems.
If you don't have this problem, than go find someplace that can help you with the problems you do have!
You do not need to be here. This organization is not for you.
Liz Woolley
This organization appears to be here to put blame for people's unwillingness to deal with responsablility on someone else.
"Games are addictive"
NO!
Games are not chemacly addictive. Yes it is entertainment to get your mind off the day to day BS, just like TV, music (classical included), board games, and close friends. To say this board is here to help people, you have to admit there is a problem, and what that problem is. Online games, or any game for that matter, is not the problem. The publics mental health is the problem. People don't feel the need to get stuff off their chest, so it just sits there and fements untill they can't stand it and it all comes out at once. If you want to help people, push for afordable mental health care from the poeple that are at the helm of our society..the government.
James, gaming is just like with gambling, alcohol and drugs - all are which inanimate objects but can have detrimental effects on those who abuse them. But they all can also be used for entertainment or healing, if not abused.
People who abuse ANYTHING have a mental problem.
As we state above: "Compulsive game playing can be a symptom of serious underlying mental/emotional problems. This board is not intended as a crusade against any particular game, but to alert people that excessive playing should be evaluated in context with any other symptoms a person may be displaying. Then, if there is still concern about the individual's state of mind, we recommend that he or she seek a professional evaluation." (Used by permission from Leucol)
Our Mission: On-Line Gamers Anonymous is a fellowship of people sharing their experience, strengths and hope to help each other recover and heal from the problems resulting from compulsive game playing.
Liz Woolley
Actually...
James, Everquest can very well be an addiction, a chemical one at that.
You see (I am using simple biology here, try to follow), when you have fun or experience pleasure, endorphins are released into your blood stream. These "endorphins" deaden pain and generally leave you feeling "high".
To end the sarcastic tone, your body can produce your own drug in response to playing Everquest. If you can control this, then you are not addicted, obviously.
If you can't then you will be searching for that high in exclusion to all else.
To summaries, you can chemically become addicted to a game.
So, by your own words JNPastor, it's not actually the game that's addictive. It's the chemicals your body produces. Therefore you are targeting too small of an audience by just going after games. You must also target anything else that can cause your body to produce those chemicals.
I'd really hate to live in a world where we are restricted to having no fun because our bodies might become addicted to it's own chemicals.
What good is it if you are good with words if your words do not tell the truth?
To elaborate on what was said by Kilamdar, it is, by JNPastor's discription, not the game which is addictive, but "fun". Since we can't put a warning sign on "fun", we put the warning on the game? "Warning, this game is fun, and thus might possible become addictive"? You'd have to put a LOT of warnings on a LOT of products and things in this world. The more fun, the more warnings. Hershey's Syrup bottles would have the biggest warning of all, given the high number of endorphins released when chocolate is ingested.
So, quite simply:
Fun = addictive
Games = fun
therefore
Games = addictive
I think I'm getting this right. Am I?
Kilamdar, exactly.
It is NOT the game, of that I am fairly sure. However, Liz has also stated that this site is also, not about Everquest. It is about helping those who have a problem with online games.
I am sure, as a defender of EQ, (thus a player I assume?) you have heard the story from the EQWidows forum about the guy who actually decided to PL a stranger instead of help his wife to deliver his baby?
He needed a place like this. For you, for me, we do not need 'help' with our addiction (Well, I know I don't ;D ).
Really I just post here to offer support to Liz and what she is attempting to do.
EDIT: Fun and endorphins are only a problem when you become addicted to the high they produce.
Edited by: JNPastor at: 6/6/03 12:35 pm
We're not here to dispute the nature of game addiction. We are not professionals. However we are here to help those who have lost control of their gaming and as a result have found their lives to be unmanageable. The organization is a fellowship of people who support one another in their recovery from game addiction.
If you find that you have control over your gaming and that your life is manageable, or if you're simply not interested in this program of recovery, then this organization is not for you.
Edited by: Aryianna at: 6/6/03 4:06 pm
Gambling addiction is debilitating and it has no chemical dependency either.
Whatever, there are many forums to debate whether gaming is addictive. This isn't one of them. We help those who are here, who believe this is so and that they or a loved one are ill with this condition. Whether others don't believe them, that their pain is self-imposed not addiction-related, makes no difference to us. We are here to help them anyway.
Leveling in Real Life
I needed help for my obsession with gaming. It seemed the more I played, the more I wanted to play more. I knew my choices were wrong. I ran a stop sign last week, it felt great, getting away with it.
The next day I ran five more, and ten more the next day.
This went on because I was getting highs from it.
Yesterday I ran a stop sign and almost....
almost ran over a little boy riding his bycycle, definately in the right of way crossing the intersection. I knew my choices were wrong, but I did them anyways. Do I need to go to stop sign running anonymous? Nope, I am fine here... I am getting the help I need from people who understand why i am hanging out here.
If you are new, even if you are checking us out and don't agree with us, be sure and read at least 50 (fifty) posts in several different topics, THEN, if you want to tell us all that we are wrong, go ahead. I need to be here & I want to be here, for me, and for the online gaming addict who thinks he or she might have a problem with gaming. ` LongJohn