Gaming may be social problem, not an addiction
by Seraphina Brennan 
Nov 25th 2008 at 5:00PM
Filed under: Culture, News items
The head of the Smith & Jones Centre, the first and only clinic that treats "gaming addiction" in Europe, has now said that he believes gaming may not be an addiction after all.Keith Bakker, the founder of the clinic, is now saying that compulsive gaming behavior may be a social behavior rather than a psychological addiction. Through treating so many of the gamers that have walked through the clinic's doors, Bakker has realized that while the symptoms appear to be addiction, the sources of the problems are on a more social and emotional level
Bakker believes that the success of his clinic now lies in providing compulsive gamers a place where they feel accepted.
"Many of the symptoms they have can be solved by going back to good old fashioned communication," said Bakker.
Bakker is more interested in the inclusion of parents and other caregivers in the video game addiction battle. He believes that it's very important for parents to listen to what their children are saying and provide a supportive atmosphere. Something as simple as these talks can be enough to bring children out of cyberspace and back into the real world.
"Many of the symptoms they have can be solved by going back to good old fashioned communication," said Bakker.
Bakker is more interested in the inclusion of parents and other caregivers in the video game addiction battle. He believes that it's very important for parents to listen to what their children are saying and provide a supportive atmosphere. Something as simple as these talks can be enough to bring children out of cyberspace and back into the real world.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
borgy78 said on 5:58PM 11-25-2008
sound like a fair enough hypothesis, would be good to see some support evidence.
however i doubt this rules out the addiction factor many have suffered.
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Graill said on 6:46PM 11-25-2008
One can look at the hundreds of thousands of videos about WOW addiction and see a trend. All walks of life are represented in these videos, from the super rich partiers to the social rejects posting they lost a day of game time and spazzing for millions to see.
Failure on the gaming industries part to regulate or moderate interaction of these MMO's is partly to blame, the other part is self control mixed in with a bit of proper parenting.
Kids, teens, and adults that have no self control and little ability to use common sense are going to have problems when comes time to "wanting" something verse "needing" it. Addicts feel they "need" something or their life is incomplete or they will die or some other nonsense. Social deviants, those that "want or need" to be in an MMO to function is a totally seperate issue, however both exist in todays society.
An addict needs all the time. A social deviant (according to the current society) can need or want and for whatever reason chooses to be like he/she/it wants. The bottom line is choice. Either you are weak minded and cant delete something you have spent years putting time into, or you have enjoyed the entertainment of those years and deleting you avatar doesnt mean a whole lot as you can move on to other things.
These studies using terms like "may be" are simply giving themselves a reason to write a piece. Without years of clinical study or the years of research done by single minded PHD's there is nothing to back up and piece written, instead it's just opinion and what one person thinks, which again, unless it changes my life in some substantial way is meaningless and simply a moments entertainment.
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DFG said on 7:11PM 11-25-2008
The proof of this is that people actually come out of the clinic, especially during its switch to social help instead of psychological help. Drug addiction is totally different because the drugs affect the brain biochemically. You need to go through withdrawal. Games have no near-permanent, nor permanent, biochemical affects on the brain in that regard.
What is this addiction factor? As I said, in drugs there is a biochemical addiction factor. Gamers, with intervention, have a choice to not be addicted to the next level if that's what you're referring to. They then just need to talk with someone and get involved in something else. There is no Addiction. There is a sort of addiction, if there's no intervention, nor any offer of getting involved in something. But it's not biochemical.
That's what games are, something you get involved in. Thus, why I don't see it as a problem unless they fail to turn on the alarm clock (which I do see that people normally don't). People just like to get involved in something.
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digibluez said on 10:41PM 11-25-2008
Bs, nothing, is bringing me back to real life so easily as an siple chit-chat!!!
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Ingrod said on 3:53PM 11-27-2008
Cyberspace is a part of real world not other world, is a powerful comunication system that connect people to other people no some antisocial doom machine, when cyberspace becomes more common and the people realizes that all this news and odd virtual vs. real theories will end.
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mediumsizedrob said on 9:30AM 11-26-2008
It's just semantics. What they mean is that it's not classical addiction in the sense that players are not chemically or physically addicted to gaming. As in, if they stop, they don't start vomiting and convulsing. They use it as a form of escape and begin to rely on it in order to avoid real life so they play all the time. So it's related to a social disorder, not a true addiction.
People like Oprah and "Dr." Phil call it addiction in the media because it's a stronger term and they really don't know what they're talking about.
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matthewf978 said on 10:53AM 11-26-2008
What is it that a game offers that real-life can't? No consequences. It is easy to lose sight of this fact when gaming with people who throw a temper tantrum when someone doesn't do what they command. Games are supposed to be fun, as was intended from their conception. Perhaps if the real-world wasn't so highly populated with control freaks more people would spend more time with real-life. Is it impolite to admit that something is boring? In games people have the choice to do so, and move on to another activity which is more interesting.
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NYK007 said on 9:03AM 1-02-2009
Hi,
Hello everybody, thanks for the article. Drug addiction is very bad habit to everyone due to this people are suffering from cancer. Drug addiction is totally different because the drugs affect the brain biochemically.
NYK
Drug Intervention Texas
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