US doctors shelve game-addiction resolution

I am an Public Accountant From Costa Rica, I am a Bussines consultor and Manager, Fiscal asesor too; all these with 23 years old And 17 or 18 years of gamer experience the studies need to be more deeper because there are lot fo professional that are gamer too. I have Job, I am Studied, practice manysports and Wife, friends, I am a Cristian too. I love my life, I love my God and I enjoy alot the video games See ya and God bless you

so is reading a mental disorder or addiction?

Dorks

I'm guessing the Church of England probably bribed the AMA and APA to hold off on their study. Why? Because the members of the Church of England would look like the biggest retards on earth for asserting the negative effects of video games that anybody with a pea-sized brain would debunk. And why 2012? Well, I can only guess the C of E is full of a bunch of pagans that believe in the myth that when the Mayan calendar ends, so does the world... so now they get to save face until (they think) they will die.

even though it is only an addiction , it doesnt do bad as like alcoholism. but we have to think about it.

I wonder if Kieran_Y even thought about what he was saying when he typed that. Maybe it sounded better in his head :P

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Kieran_Y: ""If its keepin me in the house out of trouble" and thats the EXACT problem. You are now a non-functional member of society. You can only exist inside of your household, with no outside contribution through work in the outside world." - No, that's not the problem. The most game-obsessed people I know are fully-functional members of society. They go to work or school, hang out with friends, put in their contributions to society, then go home and unwind by giving into their love for video games. The only people I know who aren't fully-functional members of society are the ones who are too young to be fully-functional members of society. Do you expect bored 10-16 year olds to get quality jobs, fill out their W2 forms, and pay taxes? Or did YOU give up all your free time as a young kid to "contribute" to society? I doubt it. By saying what you said, you're lumping every person who sits at home playing video games as useless members of society, and to be honest, that's one of the most asinine things I've ever heard - especially coming from a person who's sitting at a computer to post on GameSpot.

It's comforting to see that there are at least a few sane, in-touch people left to defend this nonsense.

Kieran, if anything, its good to stay in the house and keep to ur self sometimes... just because someone stays in the house a lot doesnt mean they dont offer things to society. I have a 19 year old friend who plays games all the time, yet still has a job in a Fiber glass plant. Plus some people that stay in side are less prone to take drugs and other substances which help authorities keep stuff like that off the streets... But still what gives you the idea that gamers dont contribute to the outside world? We buy the games right? that is helping the Gaming Industry. Through work, well lets see i contribute to my school sometimes by cleaning up highways that have been littered oh and what do you know, seems ive contributed... so how about you, what have you done to "contribute" to the "outside world"? :D Need i continue?

Idiots

Does anyone go through crazy withdrawls when they stop platyinh video games? Get all sweaty and shaky? Lose control, faint, collapse? Become spontanously violent? Hallucinate? Dont think so. Can hardcore gamers go a day or 2 without playing games? Definitely. The whole issue is retarded.

"If its keepin me in the house out of trouble" and thats the EXACT problem. You are now a non-functional member of society. You can only exist inside of your household, with no outside contribution through work in the outside world.

If you want me to stop gaming you'll have to kill me.

I love video games and im pretty much never gonna stop and to hear that somthin i do all the time is considered to be some type of mental illness is bull. If its keepin me in the house out of trouble then there shouldnt be a problem.

These people should look at the benefits of gaming not the pitfalls of the rare WoW type games. I knew idiots at childhood who played the original Nintendo all the way till they became surgeons. They still don't know much about medicine but their VERY good at what they do.

Gaming isn't an addiction because it's a choice to play, for instance I don't have a problem dropping the controller for a day or two if not longer, for the people who are dailies is still not an addiction, you just choose to play it more than I, what a joke classifying gaming right next to the alcoholism disease, get real.

It's funny how if some one is addicted to their work no one will do anything, they will let the sorry sap die at his desk working, but if some one is addicted to something they enjoy that isn't productive then it's a problem. This study is a load of crap. If some one plays video games too much the problem isn't the video games but rather in the person. If video games did not exist the person would find something else to be addicted to because the problem is not video games but rather the mental illness the person is suffering from.

@Inv_Machine: I think it's important to note here that an addiction is more than just something you always want to or need to do. If it was just that then you could consider breathing an addiction. An addiction has to 1) have a massive destructive affect on your social/proffessional life, 2) have some kind of negative affect when the addicted person doesn't indulge the addiction and 3) has to release dopemine into the body when the addiction is indulged. Also it's important to note that ANYTHING can be addictive. This ranges from buying products to sexuality. That is not to say that these activities as a whole are addictive. There needs to be a high rate of addiction in correlation with the activity.

its just more political bull****

'if some people had their way all we would do is work and go to church' -Homer Simpson

Although I don't think it's an addiction (maybe to the odd MMO player though) I was hopeing they did consider it some type of mental addiction. Now I don't have an excuse for being lazy.

Game's don't force addiction on you. You create the addiction yourself.

talking about the negatives of gsmes how about positives talk about something that actualy is important

As comet says its not an addiction it's like a passion. Pretty good job it isn't classed as a mental disorder I swear I have too many already lol. Also red_comet hit the nail on the head with how older generations see people playing video games or watching tv or whatever and see it as something bad so that the 21st century is just like the 20th century they grew up in and cherished.

Well since they are so concerned by gaming addictions why don't they realize that thousands DIE from drugs each day. I don't see thousands of people dying from games very often and if they do they die of starvation or mentality problems...

its not an addiction...its a loved hobby that uptight scientist and suits don't understand...so they label it as an addiction..lucky now that has been dismissed. but it is always like that when new technology becomes accepted so quickly by the youth...people of an older generation don't understand what just happened or even call it evil just because it wasn't around in their "good old days'...it happened with rock and roll, what did they call it? "devil music" it happened with the television they said that t.v. was making people stupid and that it feed them evil thoughts...now it is video gaming that is the target..they say it makes you wanna murder or that it makes you somehow less intilegent or that it is even a medical disorder...but the people that love and grew up with video games understand the movements and know what this hobby is all about, escaping and finding yourself in a new experience , deifying all the laws and rules and restrictions and general mundaneness of the real world.

addiction.... LMAO!!! what else are they going to come up with? play to much video games and a little monster will come crawling out of your ears?? lol jeez...

I love video games, but ain't addicted.

"Me and many of my other friends have game addiction, but to a lesser extent. We actually have jobs or school to deal with. Any other time, most of it is spent playing video games. Sometimes I have trouble trying to fit everything into one day. Eventually, I get into a little funk that hits me into a huge depression because of the anxiety of the life I live in. And the worst news of all of this? It's not our fault." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Of course it's your fault. You guys convince yourself that it has control over you to alleviate your personal responsibility.

everything is addictive if u let it

Playing video games too much can be a problem. There are times like right now where I will play **** too much and it will make me stressed out because I wonder what I could be doing better with my time. I guess you could say it even makes me a little depressed at times. Its just so easy to sit down and do something your good at and just forget everything. But then I snap out of it and shut my XBOX and do something productive. I'm not sure you could go as far to say that playing video games is a disorder but It can become a major problem if your stupid and you don't know when to stop.

*Looks at Inv_Machines post* O.O You are coming up with an excuse for yourslef and your friends game habbits. It is a hobby. If you no longer wish to be a part of that hobby, find another one you may like just as much that does not consume as much of your time. The problem is their are a lot of them, now if you are spending all your time playing the same title all your life, reguardless of how bored you are with it, then their might be a problem... unless it is an MMO, then you are either playing to hang out with your friends or just powering up a file to sale off for money. If you really ARE as big into games as you say you are and you are not BSing just to get on our nerves, and you really think you have an addiction, then perhaps you should read up on how addictions affect peoples lives and how they solve them. Then take the steps to fix that problem. Because the only way to cure yourself is to 1st: want to cure it & 2nd try to cure it. It seems you want to cure it, now try to cure it. Their are books you can get that will help you through the stress of the pressure the cure will cause. Go to a book store and ask them for books addiction. No matter the addiction they are based on, they can help you for other addictions as well. Read into them and that may help you... if you really think this is an addiction. Now if you are too lazy to do that, the I think I found your problem.

Inv_Machine i'm dam near addicted as your freind but i don't see problem with this i like the way i live

i dont care i am not addicxted to anything.

Awesome. I might have been put into rehab if it was considered a disease. Imagine, a disease for having fun!

lol that Gitlow quote was incomplete it should have been: "There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't have to have the word addiction attached to it, now if you'll excuse me I need work on attuning my level 70 night elf drood"

It seems like some people don't understand that their not saying that everyone who plays games is addicted, just some people.

"Last week, the American Medial Association (AMA)" error. =P

Even Alcholism being called an addiction is a joke, you ever site in on an AA meeting? I did once for my ex-gf's best friend, and well....i don't see how anyone can get help in that. You got some jerk telling you that you have a problem and the only way to fix it is by letting God into your life. Its serious a religious recuitment center.

Anything and everything can be addictive depending on the person, but videogames aren't as nearly as addictive as many drugs out there.

I'm a addict. And I don't want to be cured or treated. Send me more games ! Let the non-gaming world kiss my A$$

"a mental disorder can be anything that causes a person (you or someone else) harm, mental or physical, or great distress." That makes our President, Mr. Bush, a mental disorder in himself.

I BEEN PLAYING VIDEO GAMES TO LONE TO STOP

Omg another ridiculous thing to study on...how about taking all this money we put on USELESS studies, towards every American getting a college education or Universal Health care instead? Priorities people FIGURE THEM OUT!

hey, lets cure cancer! Nah...let's make video game playing an addiciton. I bet if someone wears ear buds instead of head phones when they listen to music all the time will be classified under Ear Bud Addiction.

[quote] AnFangs_Endes "There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders" No duh; when it's a substance abuse-disorder, you can pretty easily get it from a guy in an alley, and not say...a Toys'r'us...[/quote] Spoken with pure ignorance. Im not sure if you have seen a movie called "Supersize Me", but if a happy meal can be abused to the point of addiction so can a video game.

Well, let me tell docs - I do not like people that dont play videogames, I personaly think they're not cool, if a person cant play videogames it is becuz the brain was not function right in the first place(didnt mean to be rude to some of mentally ill out there).....Yes, and Im addicting to videogames, so? but Im not that stupid to go to one of your "rehap facilities" to recover - for what? more hospital bills for me? I dont think so. - Anything can be addicting to, gambling, smoking, alcoholic, shopping, food..... but to me videogaming is not consider addicting, it's more of what I like.

well if its a diseas or addiction or watever then I have it!! ...But hey im still livin my normal life!!!!!

I'm a psychology major, ( I know that means very little) but according to DSM-IV-TR, a mental disorder can be anything that causes a person (you or someone else) harm, mental or physical, or great distress. Therefore, if you absolutely have to play video games to the point where you cannot provide for your three yr old daughter or you are not getting sleep and your productivity at work becomes hindered, OR, if you actually believe it is a problem that must be stopped, it most certainly can be classified as an addiction. Your body does not have to PHYSICALLY need something in oder for it to be an addiction. It can very well be mentally addicting and still classified as an addiction. For example, how many people know people who are addicted to Marajuana? Marajuana is not a physically addictive agent, when people are addicted to it it is a mental addiction only...same thing applys to sex addiction. Anyways....GO POKEMON!