Amateur documentary tackles online game addiction

@Deadalon I support what you're saying and all, but...

Your shoving normal down my throat as if playing online games makes me abnormal. It's not a good word for it, and kind of insulting.

@(Unverified)

Im sorry but billions of ppl do not play WOW 4-8 hours per day every day of the week. See - those ppl are normal.

@Deadalon

OH! So nice that you're the arbiter of what is classified as 'normal' in society. That must be a full-time job, walking around and informing people as to how they're supposed to behave if they want to be considered 'normal'. How much does that position pay anyway? I imagine that many could do a much better job, given the abysmal state of your communicative skills in the written English language and basic logical reasoning, not to mention tolerance.

@Deadalon And some of those people that don't play online games have alternative lifestyle dungeons set up in their homes. ...what is this 'normal' thing?

@Deadalon Despite what this documentary may want the viewers to believe, compared to the overall population of the earth, gamers in general, and even MMO players specifically, the types of people who are "addicted" to these games to the point where it negatively affects the rest of their lives are an extreme minority. Whats more, its not the developers or publishers fault.

For anyone between the ages of 1-18, its the parents fault if the child becomes that way. I have friends whose parent cut them off if it got too bad. That's what PARENTING is about.

For anyone that's 21+ its their own fault. At that point you should have enough common sense to realize what the real world requires, which is not you sitting on your ass playing games. If you work for a living and spend the rest of your time playing games, fine, as long as you're productive.

For anyone between 18-21 its a bit of a grey area. This is the time where people generally ruin their lives. You're on your own, no parents, no real grap on the world yet. Look at the stats of where people ruin their credit. Its in that area for the majority. In this case, its STILL the parent's fault, imo, because they should instill some sort of teachings in them so they don't turn out like this.

I'm not saying this addiction isn't real. When FFXI first came out, I spent a year saving up money JUST to play it (I was a kid back then). I hadn't even played an MMO before that and I was addicted but it didn't ruin me, thanks to good parenting. I have a job, a degree, a fiance, and an apartment and I still play MMOs hours on end.

@Deadalon

Billions of people live in poverty is poverty normal is so you having the luxury to be on the internet at all is probably abnormal...

@(Unverified) Exactly, without MMOs people would be finding something else to get addicted to. People get 'addicted' to MMOs because they're trying to escape real life, just like alcoholics or drug users.

@(Unverified)

I agree. There is no such thing as "Game Addiction". The word that people are confusing addiction with is compulsion.

However i do like this young mans personal story and its really inspiring. He was unhappy with where his life was and he decided to change. And now he is happier. Amazing. =)

The production value of this video is also great. Good job!

@(Unverified) More important to me, it's not "addiction". That's a misnomer, and I thought we were moving away from it. Addiction is a physical need. Video games don't have directly physical effects. It's called video game compulsion. There is no heroin or nicotine in the glow of a computer screen, as much as we like to joke otherwise.

S'like calling digital piracy "theft". Addiction and compulsion are similar, and equally bad, but the former is a much more loaded word that seems to be being used incorrectly for the shock value.

@(Unverified)

Disagree. Compulsion is a component of addiction. On topic, the video was very well made and happy to see him able to overcome something that was clearly unhealthy.

@(Unverified)

Whatever the correct term, its the same as "problem" that gambling causes.

More importantly though, people need to understand that it isn't the game that needs fixing, its the person that can't control their need to play it. This is recognised as real issue in Europe and Asia, where institutes are already in place helping those addicted to gaming.

It is a serious problem, I'm just glad I don't suffer from it.