W.H.O to add "excessive gaming disorder" as a mental health condition.

[platinum87]

It's no different than a gambling addiction really, some people get extremely addicted to gaming to the point where it takes over their lives and ruins their career and social lives. Yes it's rare, they're not talking about people who get a game and binge it for 3 days, 12 hours a day, they mean people who wake up, game, have an unhealthy amount of sleep because they want to get back on the game, so wake up after 2 hours of sleep and start playing again, and do this consistently for months or years at a time, the problem with it is it is likely to grip a hold of younger people, who destroy their future because all they want to do is play games.

This isn't even counting the people who pour thousands of pounds into free to play games, the problem is they're designed to be addictive, no different than gambling.

Well any sort of addiction is similar, however there is a problem to assume an addiction is present in all cases if the requirement is playing a specific amount of hours.

For me it is as you describe, game/work/sleep. And gaming involves many things rather than just playing the game, various recruiting, single training, team training, tournaments, group events, managing, listening to complaints, working on google doc spreadsheets etc, watching replays, discussing strategy etc etc. I mean to the point where i do not actually "just play the game" for like an entire week.

All you need to ask is how much time you spend in your home that is not sleeping, because that could easily be all gaming. I played with hundreds of people over the years and the majority match what i've said above mostly, i would not call any of them addicts at all.

Gambling is something very different, because it does destroy you.

 

[IronWarrior]

http://uk.businessinsider.com/who-c...facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-bi&r=US&IR=T

That's right. Excessive video gaming IS now a mental health issue. If you play too many videos games then you are sick and need to be treated with pills of course.

If you want to chop your genitals off and transition to a member of the opposite sex then that's not a mental health condition and is perfectly fine.

On the positive side. Will I be able to claim disability benefits for my crippling gaming addiction now???

To be fair mate, they both mental issues.

Let's be honest, if you do something too much that it risks your life and well being, it's going to be bad for you. Excessive gaming in Asian countries is a real issue, especially in China where people have died because they ignored their health and well being and died because they didn't drink or eat enough.

Let's not ignore MMO's games too which eat your time up and are addictive to play, have you not heard people not saying, they don't play MMO's anymore because it will ruin their lifestyles?

Marriages have been broken due to gaming too.

Games with unlocks and loot boxes are new MMO's now, didn't they say that Starwars needed 2000-4000 hours to unlock everything? ...

 

[neoboy]

Social media usage is more of a mental disorder and far more prevalent.

Narcissism probably existed for as long as our human race has, there's just a different outlet for it now which is social media.

 

[asim18]

lol what a joke.

Nothing wrong with gaming. Everything seems to revolve around money and slavery lol.

"Playing too many video games could become problematic if the behavior causes a person's relationships or performance at school or work to suffer."

It's only if the behavior is severe enough "to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning,"

All a load of nonsense. What on earth has a capitalist organisation got to do with what a particular human being decides is his "function" in the world? If someone thinks their function is to play video games why on earth should ANY external party care?

If an individual cares more about their personal entertainment rather than their "occupation" then let them. Identifying this nonsense as a mental health condition is just stupid and simply nurtures more of this behaviour. Instead of people having no mechanism for externalisation and being held responsible for their own decisions, they will automatically externalise it as if it's some sort of magnet in their brain which attracts them to their computer and they cant do nothing about it. Then they just pump them full of meds and hook them on as a patient with "serious issues" for the rest of their lives just because he doesn't make for a good slave, and then cases like them are paraded as examples of what the elite don't want.

 

[asim18]

The world health organisation is largely a joke these days, mainly a political organisation like the nobel peace prize, no real credibility.

Excellent post.

Never did I think "WHO" and "no real credibility" would be uttered in the same sentence.

This is a real step forward in the right direction.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

World of Warcraft has been popular since 2005/6, so the WHO is around 11 years too late Even later if you throw the original EverQuest into the mix!

 

[mrbigdaddymaz]

Mental health professionals would diagnose a rock with some type of disorder if it could somehow pay for medication/counselling.

 

[nitram100]

They should add believing in a magical sky fairy to that list.

 

[FoxEye]

Excessive gaming is an effect not the cause.

Absolutely agree.

 

[Randomface74]

Social media usage is more of a mental disorder and far more prevalent.

Yep. And all those people getting drunk out of their minds every weekend.

 

[Malevolence]

Calm down op. Disorder is classes as the point where gaming effects day to day life, not just an all weekend bender on cod.

So does that mean the dumb split arses at work who sit at their desks playing Candy Crush on their phones all day are, as I've always suspected, mentally ill?

 

[Randomface74]

lol I thought you were going to say all the people who sit at their desk all day pretending that's normal are mentally ill.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I mean you could be addicted to just about anything really.

Yeah, but there are activities that are much more likely to be addictive due to the dopamine levels etc, which gaming certainly falls into.

So does that mean the dumb split arses at work who sit at their desks playing Candy Crush on their phones all day are, as I've always suspected, mentally ill?

Quite clearly.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I've seen a few people wreck their lives over MMO's, I've been close myself. There have also been plenty of news reports about it.
I don't get some of the the attitudes in here. I thought it was common knowledge that this is as problematic as any other addiction be it gambling, alcohol, etc.
There's a reason why some games, and even countries (e.g. S.Korea) put limitations on the number of hours you can spend playing.

This is quite true, I nearly got a 2:1 instead of a 1st because of Rocket League!

 

[BuffetSlayer]

Gaming addiction is real and can ruin lives, just like many other types of addictions.

It is something I have looked into before and I would suggest some reading around the subject as it is quite interesting (or at least I think it is). The behavioural cues are pretty standard and actually resemble gambling addiction in a big way. It isn't just about a person spending a lot of time gaming, it is about how it affects their day to day life.

But as others have mentioned, the manifestation is not the cause, just the effect.

 

[Lopéz]

People get addicted to all kinds of things, and gaming is no different. Are people really that thick or ignorant that they think this isn't something real?

 

[esoteric]

In the absence of nothing better to do I use all my spare time playing games. I am not addicted.

 

[Ayahuasca]

People get addicted to all kinds of things, and gaming is no different. Are people really that thick or ignorant that they think this isn't something real?

It’s a forum full of gamers of course there’s going to be a large amount of negative backlash against anything criticising it, some people seem to think it’s a direct insult to them when they don’t even fall into the category in question.

 

[Werewolf]

lol what a joke.

Nothing wrong with gaming. Everything seems to revolve around money and slavery lol.



All a load of nonsense. What on earth has a capitalist organisation got to do with what a particular human being decides is his "function" in the world? If someone thinks their function is to play video games why on earth should ANY external party care?

If an individual cares more about their personal entertainment rather than their "occupation" then let them. Identifying this nonsense as a mental health condition is just stupid and simply nurtures more of this behaviour. Instead of people having no mechanism for externalisation and being held responsible for their own decisions, they will automatically externalise it as if it's some sort of magnet in their brain which attracts them to their computer and they cant do nothing about it. Then they just pump them full of meds and hook them on as a patient with "serious issues" for the rest of their lives just because he doesn't make for a good slave, and then cases like them are paraded as examples of what the elite don't want.

Nothing about capitalists at all.

It's not about gaming, it's about obsessive/compulsive gaming which in case you've been living under a rock for at least 20 years is a problem for some.
When people are getting so involved in games that they're neglecting such luxuries as bathing, eating, sleeping and drinking it's an issue, the same way gambling or anything else can be.
IIRC there is some indication that the same parts of the brain that give you a "high" from winning at gambling can be triggered by games, something that some games designs have played on to try and get people to either play for longer or buy in game stuff to give their characters a boost).
Getting it recognised officially as a problem with some sort of diagnostic/measures to let you assess the problem is the first step in dealing with it for those who have the problem.

When you have people who are spending 6-12+ hours a day sat playing a game to the detriment of every other part of their lives it's a problem, from memory you've got (in extreme cases)
People dying because they've basically got dehydrated and then suffered thrombosis, you've got people who have ended up letting their kids become neglected because they've been so engrossed in their game, you've got people who have lost their jobs because they've consistently placed playing a game as a higher priority to going to work and earning the money they need to live.

 

[FoxEye]

It’s a forum full of gamers of course there’s going to be a large amount of negative backlash against anything criticising it, some people seem to think it’s a direct insult to them when they don’t even fall into the category in question.

I'm trying to think what's inherently different between gaming and any number of other solo hobbies that a person might become obsessed with?

Certainly other entertainment options. TV, books, YouTube... None of them produce anything or develop any skill at anything.

I think PC Gaming is just another non-productive hobby that people can and do turn to when they want to forget about the real world and its associated difficulties. I don't think PC Gaming is inherently different to many other forms of escapism. As a kid I was totally addicted to books btw - obviously before I discovered gaming