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Videogames don't cause cancer, but I wonder whether we'll look on them as being sort of like cigarettes or alcohol in a few decades. There are enough "Wives of

Videogames don't cause cancer, but I wonder whether we'll look on them as being sort of like cigarettes or alcohol in a few decades. There are enough "Wives of Warcraft" stories out there to suggest that normal models of human volition break down when presented with highly addictive material. In related news: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1983234,00.html http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1983234,00.htm... South Korea Cracks Down on Gaming Addiction He was pleased last week when the government ordered what it calls a "nighttime shutdown" for gamers: the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism directed the operators of the three most popular games to block people under age 18 from playing games between midnight and 8 a.m. starting in September. Another rule will significantly slow down the Internet connections of young players if they engage for too many hours into the night, rendering the more graphics-intensive games unplayable, and several other bills are pending in the National Assembly that could restrict kids' gaming habits even further. "It's a great idea," says Yoon. "Video-game addiction is having bad effects on our generation. The kids have to study and grow up eventually."

w1ntermute 15y ago
> "The kids have to study and grow up eventually." Studying addiction is just as much of a problem in South Korea as gaming addiction is. South Korean children spend a ridiculously high amount of time in class, most of it used very inefficiently. Taking away what scant leisure time the children have and devoting it to more studying is going to have a net negative effect, not a net positive one.
socillion 15y ago
Games really are not addicting. They are compelling, and can easily be used to escape life when it really sucks. Honestly, books, TV, and music can easily be used for the same purpose. Why are these kids being allowed to play games at those hours? Sounds like bad parenting to me. There are people who spend vast amounts of time watching, training for, and playing games like football. I haven't ever heard someone say that is unhealthy and a bad thing, even if football is all they ever talk about and use their free time for. Where is the boundary between Football, Chess, D&D, SC2, Quake, and WoW? When does it transition from a healthy interest to a waste of life? Why is the line drawn there?
- codexon 15y ago
  Because you can make a lot more money being a football player or coach. That's where the line is drawn.
  - sqrt17 15y ago
    So, Chess and SC2 must be ok because (somewhere, sometime) there are people playing these games competitively and making money, while D&D and WOW are evil, at least doing more than 10hrs/week, because it's not done competitively and you don't get any reminders about it if/when you are a loser(?) This is the first media-neutral definition of games that are worth/aren't worth playing obsessively that I've seen, and it actually makes some sense.
  - Anderkent 15y ago
    Many people play football without any hope for making money of it. Why does the fact that someone somewhere makes money from it matter?
  - electromagnetic 15y ago
    It's very likely that only 1% of children who spent countless hours of their childhood in organized sports ever made a dollar off of it. I had friends that spent 2 hours a night, saturday morning and sunday morning playing organized football (soccer). Their grades were always low because they rarely completed the assigned homework. They had no social life in football season, literally no social life. I had a friend who would be grounded if he got an after school detention, because it meant he missed an evening practice. He didn't get punished because he'd done wrong, he got punished because his dad wanted him playing sports. I played video games. I had lots of free time to socialise with friends, my grades were always excellent. Me and my friends would get together for gaming parties, 8-player C&C games, Halo 4 player deathmatch tournaments, etc. I spent most of my time interacting with people. Even when I was at home playing games, half the time I was online with my high school friends. Why is there a line drawn in allowing parents to forcibly confine their children into organized sports because a very slim minority that don't get serious injuries and manage to play in the top 5 percentile MAY be scouted and then MAY get picked to play for a professional team. If not, they're just a loser that spent way too much time playing a game and achieved nothing. At least video gamers tend to lead a life because they need money to buy games. It may be true that video games are addictive, but so are cigarettes and alcohol and the majority of addicts lead normal productive lives because these minorly addictive substances require money. This money requirement means people work, which mean people socialize. Most gamers I knew as a kid had paper routes or mowed lawns for money. Why? Because money bought games. The kids playing sports didn't have paper routes, they didn't have the time. They never did a job until they graduated highschool. Myself at 15 was working as a video game reviewer. It was a job that gave me video games.

w1ntermute 15y ago

> "The kids have to study and grow up eventually." Studying addiction is just as much of a problem in South Korea as gaming addiction is. South Korean children spend a ridiculously high amount of time in class, most of it used very inefficiently. Taking away what scant leisure time the children have and devoting it to more studying is going to have a net negative effect, not a net positive one.

socillion 15y ago

Games really are not addicting. They are compelling, and can easily be used to escape life when it really sucks. Honestly, books, TV, and music can easily be used for the same purpose. Why are these kids being allowed to play games at those hours? Sounds like bad parenting to me. There are people who spend vast amounts of time watching, training for, and playing games like football. I haven't ever heard someone say that is unhealthy and a bad thing, even if football is all they ever talk about and use their free time for. Where is the boundary between Football, Chess, D&D, SC2, Quake, and WoW? When does it transition from a healthy interest to a waste of life? Why is the line drawn there?

codexon 15y ago
Because you can make a lot more money being a football player or coach. That's where the line is drawn.
- sqrt17 15y ago
  So, Chess and SC2 must be ok because (somewhere, sometime) there are people playing these games competitively and making money, while D&D and WOW are evil, at least doing more than 10hrs/week, because it's not done competitively and you don't get any reminders about it if/when you are a loser(?) This is the first media-neutral definition of games that are worth/aren't worth playing obsessively that I've seen, and it actually makes some sense.
- Anderkent 15y ago
  Many people play football without any hope for making money of it. Why does the fact that someone somewhere makes money from it matter?
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  It's very likely that only 1% of children who spent countless hours of their childhood in organized sports ever made a dollar off of it. I had friends that spent 2 hours a night, saturday morning and sunday morning playing organized football (soccer). Their grades were always low because they rarely completed the assigned homework. They had no social life in football season, literally no social life. I had a friend who would be grounded if he got an after school detention, because it meant he missed an evening practice. He didn't get punished because he'd done wrong, he got punished because his dad wanted him playing sports. I played video games. I had lots of free time to socialise with friends, my grades were always excellent. Me and my friends would get together for gaming parties, 8-player C&C games, Halo 4 player deathmatch tournaments, etc. I spent most of my time interacting with people. Even when I was at home playing games, half the time I was online with my high school friends. Why is there a line drawn in allowing parents to forcibly confine their children into organized sports because a very slim minority that don't get serious injuries and manage to play in the top 5 percentile MAY be scouted and then MAY get picked to play for a professional team. If not, they're just a loser that spent way too much time playing a game and achieved nothing. At least video gamers tend to lead a life because they need money to buy games. It may be true that video games are addictive, but so are cigarettes and alcohol and the majority of addicts lead normal productive lives because these minorly addictive substances require money. This money requirement means people work, which mean people socialize. Most gamers I knew as a kid had paper routes or mowed lawns for money. Why? Because money bought games. The kids playing sports didn't have paper routes, they didn't have the time. They never did a job until they graduated highschool. Myself at 15 was working as a video game reviewer. It was a job that gave me video games.