Question:
I happened to catch a segment of talk radio last night that was
discussing EverQuest addiction, and specifically the guy who
committed suicide as a result of his addiction (according to his
mother.)
But what was even more surprising to me were the number of people
who called into the show and admitted that they were so seriously
addicted that they have lost jobs and relationships over it, or
have flunked out of school. And it seemed that people who were
socially isolated were even more susceptible to addiction, because
they had nothing else in their lives that was more important than
"the game".
Any comments/experiences?
Personally, I'm just glad my video game playing days are behind
me!
Answer:
Online games are a funny addiction, really. Unlike drugs and alcohol,
there's nothing physically going into your body to change your brain
chemistry. And unlike gambling, there's no chance of vastly improving
your real life through some stroke of fortune in the game. With
online games, you literally make your own addiction. You have to come
up with reasons to keep playing just one more hour. Then, a year
later, after you step out of the context and realize you are totally
responsible for blowing the last 3000+ hours of your life on NOTHING,
yeah, it can be pretty depressing! Then what do you do when you stare
that fact in the FACE and STILL can't stop playing? You've lost the
will to do anything else; you've lost control of your motivation; and
it's all--your--fault. What do you do?
I used to be addicted to multiplayer Quake, by the way. There's a
different motivation for playing that vs. Everquest, but the addiction
is pretty much the same. The reward:effort ratio is so high in those
games, if you accept that the rewards mean something.
