Writer's Block: Expand on this
Dec. 7th, 2010 02:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spritechan
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I don't like the way this question was posed, because it gave me the impression at first that we were talking about drugs/alcohol/gambling/sex, etc.
What kind of game are we talking about? I've spent entire nights playing the Sims, Spyro, Donkey Kong Country etc. as a teenager, and long car rides playing GameBoy as a child (and still play long stretches of a handheld). I can spend 6 hours playing a video game, with some breaks. Computer games that are strategy can always be played in long bursts. World of Warcraft has definitely proven that in long raids, players can go for 8-14 hours AT ONE TIME, not to mention whatever else they're doing in the game before and after the raid.
What's the line between addiction and habit? Well, what's the difference between spending 6 hours playing a video game, and 6 hours on Facebook/Myspace/The Internet?
I think a game becomes an addiction when it interferes with your daily life. When your children/pets/family becomes an annoyance, an interruption, to your game time. An addiction is when you pay your WoW account, but not your bills. When you don't leave the house ever and don't take care of yourself.
Otherwise, who cares if you spend four straight hours on a game? That time could be wasted in plenty of other ways too that really are the same concept - watching a tv show (such as an entire season of Lost?), talking on the phone, using the internet.
I don't like the way this question was posed, because it gave me the impression at first that we were talking about drugs/alcohol/gambling/sex, etc.
What kind of game are we talking about? I've spent entire nights playing the Sims, Spyro, Donkey Kong Country etc. as a teenager, and long car rides playing GameBoy as a child (and still play long stretches of a handheld). I can spend 6 hours playing a video game, with some breaks. Computer games that are strategy can always be played in long bursts. World of Warcraft has definitely proven that in long raids, players can go for 8-14 hours AT ONE TIME, not to mention whatever else they're doing in the game before and after the raid.
What's the line between addiction and habit? Well, what's the difference between spending 6 hours playing a video game, and 6 hours on Facebook/Myspace/The Internet?
I think a game becomes an addiction when it interferes with your daily life. When your children/pets/family becomes an annoyance, an interruption, to your game time. An addiction is when you pay your WoW account, but not your bills. When you don't leave the house ever and don't take care of yourself.
Otherwise, who cares if you spend four straight hours on a game? That time could be wasted in plenty of other ways too that really are the same concept - watching a tv show (such as an entire season of Lost?), talking on the phone, using the internet.
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Date: 2010-12-08 08:36 am (UTC)Which is kinda why I HAD to reply, because I felt like I was being personally affronted for being a gamer D: