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> Gambling disorder is the only behavioral addiction (as opposed to substance use) identified in DSM-5. There is no such thing as video game addition. Video ga

> Gambling disorder is the only behavioral addiction (as opposed to substance use) identified in DSM-5. There is no such thing as video game addition. Video games do not directly hijack the substrates your brain uses for calculating motivation and interest. It's just another stimuli coming in through your normal senses. There is nothing magical, good or bad, about stimuli on screens.

excitednumber 5y ago
This is so, so wrong.
erulabs 5y ago
There is nothing magical about other addictive substances either… I don’t believe anything about the definition of addiction has to do with how it “hijacks your substrate”. As far as I found - OP is describing addiction: an overwhelming desire to do something one knows is harmful, which provides no benefit to one’s life, that one cannot maintain a healthy relationship with.
- superkuh 5y ago
  Addictive substances directly effect the biochemistry of motivation. Directly acting on some subset of receptors (or other mechanisms) in the brain on neurons and glia is entirely different from something coming in through your senses. One is direct and one in indirect. For video games to become addictive they actually have to be fun and rewarding; probably in a random interval operant conditioning pattern. For methamphetamine to become addictive you don't even need to be having fun or experiencing reward. That's a big difference. Addicting drugs are usually intrinsically addicting. No video game is. Most video game "addiction" material is from for profit private treatment centers and rarely peer reviewed. It is not represented in the legal medical codes or in high impact journals.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - erulabs 5y ago
    You’re confusing some basic points. An addictive -substance- does need to be a substance, yes. But video games also come “in through your senses”. I do not need an appeal to “the literature” without a cogent argument to begin with. Video game addiction (and other forms of non-substance addictions) are real.
tomekw 5y ago
Have you tried Escape From Tarkov? :P
Bancakes 5y ago
Gaming releases dopamine and gets you addicted to the reward. It's a whole profession on how to optimize dopamine releases over time.
freedomben 5y ago
I usually try to avoid describing speech as "dangerous" or "toxic" but in this case I think this is dangerous as it's a perfect fit for confirmation bias for someone struggling with video game addiction who wants it not to be true (I know from experience). That said, I encourage it's widespread dissemination because it's an important discussion. Upvoting to try to prevent this thread from becoming dead. Using the DSM-5 as the only source is quite risky. Consider how they described homosexuality at times in the past. Video games are absolutely magical! The human senses/brain system evolved to fit a very particular world with certain limitations, none of which exist in a video game world. You can get so deeply into the video game world that you ignore and are even unaware of basic needs like hunger. In video games your senses can become supercharged. You can obtain god-like powers that humans have dreamed of probably since the dawn of time (invincibility, flight, etc). A human brain that evolved with a basic dopamine-based reward center can easily be tricked/manipulated to crank out way too much, which is (at a very simple level) how drugs and other addictions work. Honest question: do you think there is such a thing as sex addiction?

excitednumber 5y ago

This is so, so wrong.

erulabs 5y ago

There is nothing magical about other addictive substances either… I don’t believe anything about the definition of addiction has to do with how it “hijacks your substrate”. As far as I found - OP is describing addiction: an overwhelming desire to do something one knows is harmful, which provides no benefit to one’s life, that one cannot maintain a healthy relationship with.

superkuh 5y ago
Addictive substances directly effect the biochemistry of motivation. Directly acting on some subset of receptors (or other mechanisms) in the brain on neurons and glia is entirely different from something coming in through your senses. One is direct and one in indirect. For video games to become addictive they actually have to be fun and rewarding; probably in a random interval operant conditioning pattern. For methamphetamine to become addictive you don't even need to be having fun or experiencing reward. That's a big difference. Addicting drugs are usually intrinsically addicting. No video game is. Most video game "addiction" material is from for profit private treatment centers and rarely peer reviewed. It is not represented in the legal medical codes or in high impact journals.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- erulabs 5y ago
  You’re confusing some basic points. An addictive -substance- does need to be a substance, yes. But video games also come “in through your senses”. I do not need an appeal to “the literature” without a cogent argument to begin with. Video game addiction (and other forms of non-substance addictions) are real.

tomekw 5y ago

Have you tried Escape From Tarkov? :P

Bancakes 5y ago

Gaming releases dopamine and gets you addicted to the reward. It's a whole profession on how to optimize dopamine releases over time.

freedomben 5y ago

I usually try to avoid describing speech as "dangerous" or "toxic" but in this case I think this is dangerous as it's a perfect fit for confirmation bias for someone struggling with video game addiction who wants it not to be true (I know from experience). That said, I encourage it's widespread dissemination because it's an important discussion. Upvoting to try to prevent this thread from becoming dead. Using the DSM-5 as the only source is quite risky. Consider how they described homosexuality at times in the past. Video games are absolutely magical! The human senses/brain system evolved to fit a very particular world with certain limitations, none of which exist in a video game world. You can get so deeply into the video game world that you ignore and are even unaware of basic needs like hunger. In video games your senses can become supercharged. You can obtain god-like powers that humans have dreamed of probably since the dawn of time (invincibility, flight, etc). A human brain that evolved with a basic dopamine-based reward center can easily be tricked/manipulated to crank out way too much, which is (at a very simple level) how drugs and other addictions work. Honest question: do you think there is such a thing as sex addiction?