Interview with Liz Woolley to discuss video game addiction can be tragic

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Scott
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Kate1song wrote: One can
Kate1song wrote:

One can attempt to demonize the activity of gaming but the enemy here is addiction.

reminds me of this quote from Alcoholics Anonymous's Big Book, page 103:

We are careful never to show intolerance or hatred of drinking as an institution. Experience shows that such an attitude is not helpful to anyone. Every new alcoholic looks for this spirit among us and is immensely relieved when he finds we are not witch-burners. A spirit of intolerance might repel alcoholics whose lives could have been saved, had it not been for such stupidity. We would not even do the cause of temperate drinking any good, for not one drinker in a thousand likes to be told anything about alcohol by one who hates it.

To be clear, they were not against the Temperance Movement (who fought to ban alcohol) but they were very much against mixing AA and the Temperance Movement. It was perfectly clear that the two needed to be 100% separate. It was and is vital to the unity and survival of AA.

The same is true of OLGA, which has quite a history of problems caused by mixing two very different causes. If we want our fellowship to survive and thrive, it needs to be separate from the very important work that Liz and Andrew are doing in education and advocacy around the dangers of gaming and gaming addiction. This thread has driven the point home once again.

What you feed grows, and what you starve withers away.

Patria
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mudphud wrote: Patria
mudphud wrote:
Patria wrote:
Kate1song wrote:

I just can't seem to equate gaming with smoking.

Good point. I have to think about this, as I've equated it with smoking. But I need to rethink it.

It's the same when gaming stimulate dopamine pathways. Did you know cocaine stimulates dopamine and catecholamines? If gaming stimulate dopmaine pathway, then it is a digital drug.

Did you know gaming is used on children so doctors can perform painful procedures?

It's a digital drug, digital pain killer, and digital anti-depressant. Thus, it's very similar to smoking.

The addiction to smoking is caused by being addicted to Nicotine. It's the nicotine.

Quote:

It is actually the nicotine in tobacco that is addictive. Each cigarette contains about 10 milligrams of nicotine. Because the smoker inhales only some of the smoke from a cigarette, and not all of each puff is absorbed in the lungs, a smoker gets about 1 to 2 milligrams of the drug from each cigarette. Although that may not seem like much, it is enough to make someone addicted.

Quoted from http://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/tobacco

Patria
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Kate1song wrote: mudphud
Kate1song wrote:
mudphud wrote:
Patria wrote:
Kate1song wrote:

I just can't seem to equate gaming with smoking.

Good point. I have to think about this, as I've equated it with smoking. But I need to rethink it.

It's the same when gaming stimulate dopamine pathways. Did you know cocaine stimulates dopamine and catecholamines? If gaming stimulate dopmaine pathway, then it is a digital drug.

Did you know gaming is used on children so doctors can perform painful procedures?

It's a digital drug, digital pain killer, and digital anti-depressant. Thus, it's very similar to smoking.

I get that. But any activity that bring pleasure stimulates dopamine pathways. One can attempt to demonize the activity of gaming but the enemy here is addiction.

I 100% agree.

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Games are designed to be

Games are designed to be addictive too. Watch this video starting at 32:21 (WARNING SOME GAME FOOTAGE.. SO LOOK AWAY IF YOU'RE IN RECOVERY):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n7ekQWgQU0

All things are permissable... but not advisable...

Other things that give dopamine rushes that we do not give to children:

1) Porn; 2) Coffee; 3) Shopping with Credit Cards; to name a few.

If the games themselves are not addictive, they would not be abused. :)

There's two issues that it is important in OLG-ANON and OLGA:

1) Because of the addictive nature of gaming, gaming is not advisable for young children.

2) Because of the addictive nature of gaming, we are here to support those who have addictive personalities.

Not everyone who game will be addicts, like not everyone who smoke will be addicts.

I smoked, but didn't get hooked on "nicotine". I also took Codeine after my appendectomy, but I didn't get hooked on "narcotics". However, if my mother gave me nicotine and codeine to passify me as a child, I have a much, much greater probability of being an addict with these agents.

Becareful what we give to our children.

You don't have to agree with me. You can take the information and 1) Do nothing; 2) Observe your kids who may fail out of life or under achieve; or 3) Do something about it. If people don't listen, they're simply lowering the bar for everyone who do listen.

Andrew P. Doan, MPH, MD, PhD

My Gaming Addiction Videos on YouTube: YouTube.com/@DrAndrewDoan

*The views expressed are of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the U.S. Navy, DHA or Department of Defense.

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Hot off the press... gaming

Hot off the press... gaming companies have responsibility!

In UK, Calls for Online Video Game Industry to Help Deter Compulsive Use

http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/08/06/improve-moral-responsibility-from-online-videogame-industry/58093.html

By RICK NAUERT PHD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 6, 2013

A new study suggests the online video industry is aware of the addictive properties of new games yet is doing little to prevent addictions from occurring.

UK researchers believe online game companies need to be more socially responsible for addictive use of their products to avoid government intervention.

The study is found in the journalAddiction Research and Theory.

Researchers say that conventional video games have an ending, or may become boring and repetitive, yet new game genres, such as Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are an inexhaustible system of goals and success.

In these games the character becomes stronger and richer by moving to new levels while accumulating treasures, power and weaponry.

While video games started as an innocent form of entertainment, evolution of the product has led to what some call the problematic use of online video games. A number of studies from different cultures are providing evidence that around seven to 11 percent of gamers seem to be having real problems, to the point that they are considered pathological gamers.

Some are reported to have been playing for 40, 60, and even near 90 hours in a single gaming session.

Shumaila Yousafzai, Ph.D., of Cardiff Business School comments:

"The warning messages on the loading screens of popular online video games raise the question of why the online videogame industry warns its players not to overuse their product. Does the video game industry really believe that their products have addictive features that can lead to negative consequences and the functional impairment of gamers' lives?

"These warning messages also suggest that the online video game industry might know how high the percentage of over-users is, how much time gamers spend playing, and what specific features makes a particular game more engrossing and addictive than others. While they do not directly admit this, by showing the warning messages, they do take some responsibility into their own hands."

Co-author and cyber-psychology researcher Zaheer Hussain, Ph.D., said: "Online game developers are already working on bringing Online Role Playing games to consoles. This type of game is most often implicated in cases of online game overuse and, as console systems have more market share than PCs, the number of 'videogame addicts' will increase in the coming time.

"Our study found that although warning messages about risk of overuse have recently started to appear on the loading screens of popular MMORPGs, this is not enough.

"Previous research has suggested that responsible game operators can try to help gamers improve control over their own behavior by following a three-step strategy of combining good game design with effective gamers' care polices, and referral services.

"As a first step, online game developers and publishers need to look into the structural features of the game design; for example the character development, rapid absorption rate, and multi-player features which could make them addictive and/or problematic for some gamers. One idea could be to shorten long quests to minimize the time spent in the game obtaining a certain prized item."

The study warns that if game companies refuse to create restraints for players and their games grow in greater popularity, then Western governments may have no choice but to follow in the steps of their Asian counterparts, who have already taken steps to reduce the potentially problematic effects of game play by limiting usage.

Psychologist Mark Griffiths, Ph.D., added: "The proportion of gamers who develop problems and/or become addicts may stay roughly constant but as online games get better and better, and increasing numbers of people discover them, the number of addicts is most probably going to rise.

"We therefore propose to proactively approach the main online game publishers and explore options for collaboration between academics, health care, and the video game industry in order to provide proper referral, customer care, and information to the general public."

Andrew P. Doan, MPH, MD, PhD

My Gaming Addiction Videos on YouTube: YouTube.com/@DrAndrewDoan

*The views expressed are of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the U.S. Navy, DHA or Department of Defense.

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Thanks Andrew for sharing

Thanks Andrew for sharing this article. It is good to know that the awareness is increasing about on-line video gaming addiction. And I agree that with better computers, better internet speed and better games the number of addicts is most likely to increase unless gaming companies and governments start to do something about it.

BTW, I just finished reading your book "Hooked on Games" which I received two days ago from the Book Depository. I think every parent should read this book. It is plain, easy to read and very informative. It is based not just on theory and research, but the fact that it is written by someone who experienced it all first hand, makes it a very valuable resource in understanding how addiction really effects someone's life and how an addict's mind works. One of the things which struck me as a parent was the lack of knowledge in recognizing the symptoms of gaming adiction.Some symptons resembles the symptoms of depression and anxiety and difficult to recognize as game addiction at first. I hope my son will read it too, at least "the addiction" chapter.

"The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past. You can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches." "The first step toward change is acceptance." "Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. That's all you have to do." "Change is not something you do, it's something you allow."- Will Garcia

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May Light, I'm very thankful

May Light,

I'm very thankful my son did read Andrew's book and while he was not willing to talk about it much, I know that what he read will always stay with him in one form or another and may prompt the little voice in his head that tells him to stop or not start again, if he should end up getting back into games some day in the future.

iamhuman
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I haven't yet gone through

I haven't yet gone through the video - just catching up on the comments on this thread. I do just want to put this out there that I feel a separation needs to be maintained between the recovery/group space, and the awareness/outreach part. I'm sure that you guys have handled this and are experienced with it - am just sharing my slight anxiety that cropped up when I started going through this thread.

I know that there's no fixed boundary between these two spaces, because there's flow between group members who become confident enough to become advocates themselves, and also people who hear about it from awareness programmes (like the above) and join the group space.

What would feel terrible for instance is if something we had written was quoted/cited in some public context - it's different if another addict and I make a documentary about our experiences and use OUR writings.

I hope that makes sense. I'm actually drawing on my experience as part of another community and we have this come up often as an issue because the group space is a 'safe' space and by definition implies protection from public scrutiny since we can be vulnerable/seek support.

And I fully support all awareness initiatives, I guess I would have been a little more comfortable if it had been awareness about gaming as a problem, on having 'our' experts (mudphud and liz) talk about this stuff in a way where people actually listen, basically focusing on what THEY (the outside world) are doing wrong, and less on OLGA itself - I haven't seen the video yet so as I said, these are just immediate anxieties :p

Also in case I sound ungrateful in any way - I wanted to thank you liz (if you're reading this) because you and the others here are saving so many lives literally. This has, immediately, added so much precious life to our days.

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mommy3, to my surprise my

mommy3, to my surprise my son also read a few chapters of the book. I was sooo happy.. I totally agree with you that even though they don't discuss the book with us, it will stay with them.

My son also visited the OLGA site and read some posts (including mine!). He is not ready to totally give up gaming yet but the total time he is playing reduced to half already (due to internet restrictions). In about a week it will be halved again.

But it makes me sad and anxious to see him using his hand held mobile broadband to access the internet to watch the game when he can't play.

I try hard not to turn this process into a power struggle between us. He needs to understand that everything we do is for his own good. I hope he understands. Because it takes so much of my mental energy,I usually find myself not concentrating much on the other things I have to do, including my job. Some days are worse than others. Some hours of the day are worse than others. I hope we all find peace within ourselves again.

Take care!

"The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past. You can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches." "The first step toward change is acceptance." "Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. That's all you have to do." "Change is not something you do, it's something you allow."- Will Garcia

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