If Gambling Addiction is a Clinical Diagnosis, Why Isn't Video Game Addiction?

I sat through a youtube ad about a video game with a wolf in it to watch you pull a stuffed wolf out on stage, it is you right?

From what I understand the man on stage says that video game addiction isn't a clinical diagnosis because video game companies make so much money that they can get away with calling it virtual goods (or "art") that people are buying instead of real goods (thus getting around any gambling laws).

So by promoting video game companies (buying games, investing in their market, etc) we are casting our vote to keep video game addiction off the radar.

Even so, I would think you medical dudes would be more objective in testing to see if video game addiction exists.

Great! That's awesome that you are doing what you need to in order to raise awareness! It is immeasurably evil that they look for ways to get people addicted. Raising any kind of law against it would be a violation of freedom of speech, though. And honestly, I still don't feel as if the whole of society (especially the older generations) fully understands just how serious of a problem it really is. It isn't exactly hidden, though. You just have to go to any college or restaurant and all you'll see are people neglecting to interact to be on their stupid Smart Phones.

I have a DINOSAUR phone and I'm **** proud of it!

My question is, Why isn't addiction a clinical diagnosis? Does there really need to be a separate diagnosis for each and every behavior (drinking, drugging, gambling, gaming, overeating, shopping, workaholism, sex & porn, etc, etc) that addiction uses as an outlet???

Autism existed when it was first diagnosed. People didn't know about it, though. It was only through raising awareness and when enough people put their foots down that things were able to change.

I rewatched this today from the point of view of someone off games for 2-1/2 years, and I did get a different feeling from the video.

WARNING**** gaming terms:

I honestly played WOW 60 hours a week to attack a fluffy wolf, crossing my fingers and praying I got the super duper DPS silver ring which allowed me to add it to my "frost outfit"?

Did I honestly buy $30.00 worth of in-game gold so I didn't have to sell potions and herbs in order to buy X-equipment, Y-food, or S-spell?

Yup.

As funny as it looks like now, I really loved it all, especially working with 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25- or 40-people raids. And I HATED wiping because some idiot fell asleep at the keyboard and didn't heal the tank.

What a crock! I can see doing it for a month or two, but 8 solid years???!?!?! getting upset every night because things didn't go my way?

Gaming stole 8 years out of my life that I will never get back.

My son told me yesterday that anytime I wanted to go kayaking, he'd come over with the kayak and help me get it into the water. Now THAT's something that is worth doing.

I am a gaming and gambling addict. For me, they are pretty much the same. In fact, slot machines are computer games.

I quit going to the casino when I quit gaming, but a few months later I allowed the AB to talk me into going again. "It's not the same as gaming," it said to me. So I went. Well, after staggering from one slot machine to another for five hours, and blowing every dollar I went in with, like I always had, I realized that gambling was the most intense form of gaming that I experienced. I didn't go to the casino that often, but the dopamine hit I got was huge.

I think these two addictions are pretty much the same thing, at least for many people. Gaming has many elements of gambling (depending on which games are played) and gambling can be done online as well. Pulling slot handles was my first-person shooter. And my cravings for the casino are actually worse than any cravings I experience with games. If I think about the casino, I want to go. I want to go now.

But, and this is the key for me, I don't have to go today. It used to be that if I had the opportunity to go, the time, the money, and I gave it one thought, I'd go. There was no argument, I just went. And I blew everything except a little money to get home. Sometimes I'd stay so late I'd have to sleep in the car for a while before I could drive. But now, I've quit gaming and gambling, and when it hits me, I just decide to put it off. Until at least tomorrow. And if I need to, I call another addict and tell on myself.

Addiction is addiction. And gambling gives people very intense dopamine rushes. As does gaming. As a free-range addict, if I want to live a sober life, I can't be putting myself back into the mental state that the casino puts me in. I go back to being a tweaker, a gamer, looking for Mr. Dopamine so that I can get another hit.

So yeah, I think it's absolutely silly for medical professionals to make an arbitrary distinction based on utterly irrelevant characteristics. Don't be dumb: it's not about the money. It's about the brain.

To the brain, it doesn't matter. The neurotransmitters and dopamine receptors get their "fix" regardless of addiction. The "spike" will vary dependent on stimulus, but a spike occurs nonetheless.