Posted February 26, 2011
Some games have a Skinner Box component, ah hell, a lot of them do, especially MMOs. So in theory some people may never stop pushing the lever hoping for a reward (you can be addicted to gambling, for example).
I don't think it's something most people will have life changing issues over. People say WOW ruined their marriage, job, whatever. I suspect WOW was merely an avoidance behavior, similar to using drugs or alcohol as an avoidance. A bit of that is healthy, but completely avoiding problems makes them fester and eventually whatever was screwed up before is irredeemably screwed up.
There's been a lot of sensationalism over this. You'd see a lot less game playing in the extreme we tend to see it now if real life didn't suck so bad for a lot of folks.
saluk: I don't think it's right to blame games/game makers, or casino runners, or any other person responsible for the thing the person is addicted to, in the same way we might want to blame drug producers/dealers. I mean, anything fun can be done to excess, and it seems wrong to tell people to stop making things that are fun. Actually, the more addictive games are Skinner box type games and we can pick on people who make those because it's, frankly, shitty game design.
I don't think it's something most people will have life changing issues over. People say WOW ruined their marriage, job, whatever. I suspect WOW was merely an avoidance behavior, similar to using drugs or alcohol as an avoidance. A bit of that is healthy, but completely avoiding problems makes them fester and eventually whatever was screwed up before is irredeemably screwed up.
There's been a lot of sensationalism over this. You'd see a lot less game playing in the extreme we tend to see it now if real life didn't suck so bad for a lot of folks.
Post edited February 26, 2011 by orcishgamer