Aileron Posted June 27, 2007 Report Posted June 27, 2007 No, physical addictions are always worse. Mostly because there is a mental addiction there anyway and the physical addiction adds to it. Physical addictions do vary in degree, but the worst case-scenario is that the subject will literally die if they stop taking the drug. Okay, when I made statements about only some games having addictive properties, I meant role-playing games. All other genres don't. Football is hard to get addicted to, because in order to reach the highs, one has to increase their skills, which requires work and discipline, and even when you get on top you have to work to stay there. Role-playing games are different - all they require is time and then the game eventually becomes easy. It disgusts me, because last week I went to the video game store aiming for a PC game that wasn't a role-playing game, and couldn't find anything left that suited my tastes. I doubt this will ever turn into a lawsuit. I do think there might be regulations put in place if you could ever get a group of AMA doctors to understand video games...which I doubt because most doctors don't understand the concept of "free time" and if they do the only thing they do with it is golf.
AstroProdigy Posted June 28, 2007 Report Posted June 28, 2007 Addictive drugs actually change your brain chemistry to force you to keep taking the drugs while damaging your brain, whereas video games are played to fill a void that is often created in our modern society. That's why video games addiction cannot be considered a health disease because while I used to be addicted to video games when I went to college and got a life I quit them for the most part and there is no every day battle with video game addiction as I would have if I became addicted to and quit a drug.
Aileron Posted June 28, 2007 Report Posted June 28, 2007 Video games cannot cause a physical addiction, but neither can a lot of things that are already considered addictive, like marijuanna according to Smarties. (Though if I'm not mistaken marijuanna does have a low grade physical aspect to it.) This decision is a pre-curser to forming some sort of treatment or therapy program that can get those truly obsessed off the plug. Its not geared to create class action lawsuits against Blizzard and Sqaure Onix. The AMA doesn't care who sues who.
NBVegita Posted June 28, 2007 Report Posted June 28, 2007 As I posted in a different post, you can be mentally addicted to thousands of things without them containing physically addicting properties.
rootbear75 Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 As I posted in a different post, you can be mentally addicted to thousands of things without them containing physically addicting properties.MySpace, Facebook, World of Warcraft, Video Games, Cell phone, texting, etc. FOOD
AstroProdigy Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 This decision is a pre-curser to forming some sort of treatment or therapy program that can get those truly obsessed off the plug.Just get those nerdy kids laid. Then when they realize that they're spending their time playing video games instead of %@$#ing problem solved.
JDS Posted June 30, 2007 Report Posted June 30, 2007 pot is nice, but i dont think you can call it an addiction when you 'just want more' its not 'i need more pot' its 'i want more pot' same with video games 'i need to level up in wow, or make this guild meeting' its not, 'i NEED to' so no, not an addiction
AstroProdigy Posted June 30, 2007 Report Posted June 30, 2007 Pot; another solution to video games. Who's going to frantically bang on their keyboard or controller when they're too lazy to?
Aileron Posted June 30, 2007 Report Posted June 30, 2007 Funny Astro, but before you can do any treatment you must first diagnose the condition. If the AMA doesn't consider the behavior to be a problem, then you have no right to treat it. I forget if Marijuanna is a stimulant or a depressant, but both come with a low-level physical addiction to it. Your nervous system essentially slows down or speeds up while on the drug and when off the drug won't work at the right speed. This isn't much of an addiction; coffee can do this. But the AMA still classifies it as a physical addiction.
NBVegita Posted July 2, 2007 Report Posted July 2, 2007 JDS: Awful argument. Even if you are fully addicted to heroin, you never NEED to have more, you very strongly want more, but ultimately the only things we NEED are food water and oxygen.
SeVeR Posted July 2, 2007 Report Posted July 2, 2007 You all really need to understand the difference between psychiatry and psychology. Heroin addiction would be a psychiatric illness as the mind genuinely feels that it needs to take more of the drug to remain alive (despite the actual non-fatal repurcussions of withdrawal). Computer game addiction is a psychological disorder and not an illness as the person is able to stop playing games at any time. They play the games because they enjoy the games, so if anything its an example of hedonism. What makes people think it's an illness is the negative effects of playing too many computer games; but then if you do too much of anything you'll end up neglecting other areas of your life, which is why i offered football as an example of an activity that could be detrimental to academic acheivement if played too often.
NBVegita Posted July 2, 2007 Report Posted July 2, 2007 My arguement still stand with JDS, unless you are in an extreme addiction to heroin, your body severly wants the drug, same as ciggarettes, but you do not NEED the drug. Case in point, there is no addiction, unless at absolute extremes, where your body actually needs the addiction, there is just a strong want for the addiction. Even addictions with chemical properties that allow your mind to become dependent on them still root down to a mental addiction. If an addiction did not root down to a mental addiction, then it would be impossible to release yourself from the addiction without medical treatment.
manhunt432 Posted July 5, 2007 Report Posted July 5, 2007 wat da fuk u thinkin no video games ar gonna rot ur brain out and if it does who gives a fuk no one that's who wow u must be some nerd or somthing sounding so smart
Greased_Lightning Posted July 5, 2007 Author Report Posted July 5, 2007 Punctuation and Grammar, meet manhunt432... manhunt432, Punctuation and Grammar. I think you guys could really hit it off.
Obsol33t Posted July 5, 2007 Report Posted July 5, 2007 RPG's are the only ones that I have a hard time putting down. I swore an oath never to play online RPGs like WoW or Everquest because I know that I'd never leave the computer ever. That's why I haven't gotten Xbox Live either. I've limited the amount of online games I play just to my computer. It's all about time management.
Aileron Posted July 6, 2007 Report Posted July 6, 2007 I'd like to remind people that the !@#$%^&*le of the topic deals with whether or not it is a mental health disease, not whether or not it is an addiction. And all this decision means is: "Should a psychologist have the right to tell a patient 'you play video games too much'?" So, I've thought about it and changed my mind. I'd give a flat out "yes", because there are people who play video games too much and those people need help, but in order to give them help, the condition must first be considered a problem.
»Ducky Posted July 8, 2007 Report Posted July 8, 2007 This topic makes me giggle.People who don't think playing videogames 16 hours a day could be problematic and needs an antidote makes me laugh, seriously. This isn't a topic about coming home everyday and killing 4 hours on madden before bed. It's the addiction !@#$%^&*ociated with basically letting your life go in favor of something that becomes harmful to you. People don't eat, sleep, shower or go outside at all because of videogames. Whether or not you think it's classified as "hardcore addiction" is pretty !@#$%^&*ing trivial. It is what it is and I'd rather money be spent on this than another !@#$%^&*ing bomb. Siding with Ail on this one.
SeVeR Posted July 9, 2007 Report Posted July 9, 2007 Well yes, it is a problem and it is an addiction, but it's not a mental health disease. Nothing about playing video games is physically damaging, as the addicted will still eat and sleep. Nothing about video games generates a physical dependency. So its not a disease. It is however something that should be recognised and dealt with through psychotherapy and counselling.
»Ducky Posted July 9, 2007 Report Posted July 9, 2007 *boggle*A disease has no necessary physical connotation. What are you getting on about?Mental Addiction in any real harmful form is a disease. How can a need to bridge dependancy to a certain part of the brain be anything but. Look at acute OCD. The need to have repe!@#$%^&*ion and routine based on what you believe. It's along the same lines.Really, you're all just picking at words and !@#$%^&*les here. It's the same concept no matter what you label it.
SeVeR Posted July 9, 2007 Report Posted July 9, 2007 (edited) OCD is a good example. It is not classified as a disease (the D stands for disorder). Some scientists believe it is a psychological disorder, meaning those who have OCD are personally responsible for their obsessional thoughts. Some believe OCD is caused by abnormalities in the brain, meaning the disorder is genetic and therefore a physical disease. Clearly computer game addiction is a psychological disorder and not a disease. The addicted are in control of their actions, there is nothing physically wrong with their brain, and there is nothing physically damaging to the addicted beyond a lack of activity. It's not a disease, but this doesn't make the disorder any less important. Mental addictions often include physical addictions (tobacco). Computer game addiction is no different to football addiction or masturbation addiction . If you do too much of one thing then it's bound to be detrimental in some way. The reason it's not a disease is because it's their choice to do those things. So effectively you're saying that thinking a certain way makes someone a diseased individual. I know of past fascist regimes that thought this way. I'm surprised to see it here of all places... on a games forum. -EDIT- Based on this analysis i think many of you are self-hating individuals who want to blame video games for any lack of success in the real world. To that i say tough !@#$%^&*, it was your choice and nothing made you do it. Edited July 9, 2007 by SeVeR
»Ducky Posted July 10, 2007 Report Posted July 10, 2007 I quit reading your reply when you said OCD wasn't a disease. Let me know if I missed anything important.It was worth a good chuckle though.
Recommended Posts