Yes, the basic traits that lead to video game addiction are actually beneficial in most real-world scenarios: Identifying challenges, focusing on them, engagin

Yes, the basic traits that lead to video game addiction are actually beneficial in most real-world scenarios: Identifying challenges, focusing on them, engaging in behavior that overcomes them, persisting in that behaviors until signs of success manifest, and then feeling rewarded by these signs of success. These are all traits that really do tend to lead to skill-building, self-improvement, and success when applied in REAL contexts. The problem with video games is that they create an ARTIFICIAL context to exploit these traits. It's not you who improved your fighting skills by mindlessly mashing that button 20,000 times - it's your avatar, a fictitious being. But games are set up so that you will feel the sense of accomplishment. Games is conditioning our generation to gain the rewarding sensations of fitness, self-improvement, and survival success from trivial activities that are merely dressed up to appear challenging and "masculine".