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There are people that spend most of their available hours staring at screens of graphs while trading various tokens in order to achieve the highest score... but

There are people that spend most of their available hours staring at screens of graphs while trading various tokens in order to achieve the highest score... but of course we call them professionals not addicts.

berthe 8y ago
> There are people that spend most of their available hours staring at screens of graphs while trading various tokens in order to achieve the highest score... but of course we call them professionals not addicts. Not really, we call them workaholics (e.g. work-addicts) if they're so compelled to work that they can establish boundaries between it and the rest of their lives. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/workaholic http://www.dictionary.com/browse/workaholic
- nostrademons 8y ago
  Do we? In some professions (eg. investment banking, medicine, corporate law, fashion, entertainment) long hours are so ingrained in the culture that the rest of the world doesn't even bother to call them workaholics, because it's exceptionally unlikely that anyone from the rest of the world knows them on a personal level.
imtringued 8y ago
Trading on an exchange is zero sum for the active participants and has secondary benefits like increased liquidity and less volatility for the passive participants. Gambling is negative sum for all participants. The house is always going to win. The jackpots are just a user acquisition expense to trick even more participants into playing.
- glastra 8y ago
  What about commissions on traded volume?
cbm-vic-20 8y ago
Hey, leave Eve Online out of this.
sdiepend 8y ago
There are people that spend most of their available hours playing video games against other players to get the most kills, wins, ... but of course we call them esports athletes. For some people it's a job that generates income for others it's an addiction that impairs proper functioning.
- cabaalis 8y ago
  This seems to be the point of the issue. What I heard on the radio was "do you lose your job, lose your wife/family, yet continue to play?" So what about the case where playing the game IS your job (which is a growing field?) What about the case where your wife/family is playing it with you? I'm not denying there might be some underlying destructive problem, but to my layman ears it sounds more like something someone is interested in that contradicts what another believes to be "properly functional."
  - mrguyorama 8y ago
    It should be: "do you lose your job, lose your wife/family, BECAUSE YOU continue to play?" IE, instead of helping your wife do important things, you play a game. Instead of going to bed so you can wake up for work, you play another round, and as a result of not getting enough sleep, your performance suffers. Addiction is basically a mis-prioritization of resources due to abuse of brain chemistry. Worse, it is typically a feedback loop: "She left me, now I am sad, but the game activates my dopamine response, providing some semblance of happiness"

berthe 8y ago

> There are people that spend most of their available hours staring at screens of graphs while trading various tokens in order to achieve the highest score... but of course we call them professionals not addicts. Not really, we call them workaholics (e.g. work-addicts) if they're so compelled to work that they can establish boundaries between it and the rest of their lives. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/workaholic http://www.dictionary.com/browse/workaholic

nostrademons 8y ago
Do we? In some professions (eg. investment banking, medicine, corporate law, fashion, entertainment) long hours are so ingrained in the culture that the rest of the world doesn't even bother to call them workaholics, because it's exceptionally unlikely that anyone from the rest of the world knows them on a personal level.

imtringued 8y ago

Trading on an exchange is zero sum for the active participants and has secondary benefits like increased liquidity and less volatility for the passive participants. Gambling is negative sum for all participants. The house is always going to win. The jackpots are just a user acquisition expense to trick even more participants into playing.

glastra 8y ago
What about commissions on traded volume?

cbm-vic-20 8y ago

Hey, leave Eve Online out of this.

sdiepend 8y ago

There are people that spend most of their available hours playing video games against other players to get the most kills, wins, ... but of course we call them esports athletes. For some people it's a job that generates income for others it's an addiction that impairs proper functioning.

cabaalis 8y ago
This seems to be the point of the issue. What I heard on the radio was "do you lose your job, lose your wife/family, yet continue to play?" So what about the case where playing the game IS your job (which is a growing field?) What about the case where your wife/family is playing it with you? I'm not denying there might be some underlying destructive problem, but to my layman ears it sounds more like something someone is interested in that contradicts what another believes to be "properly functional."
- mrguyorama 8y ago
  It should be: "do you lose your job, lose your wife/family, BECAUSE YOU continue to play?" IE, instead of helping your wife do important things, you play a game. Instead of going to bed so you can wake up for work, you play another round, and as a result of not getting enough sleep, your performance suffers. Addiction is basically a mis-prioritization of resources due to abuse of brain chemistry. Worse, it is typically a feedback loop: "She left me, now I am sad, but the game activates my dopamine response, providing some semblance of happiness"