Video games are addictive?!

So, I just read this article about video game addiction in which it's mentioned that the American Medical Association (AMA) is going to formally recognise video game addiction as a mental disorder in 2012.

How do I feel about being told, basically, that I have a mental disorder? It's teh awesomes, I'm mental! Seriously, though, I just hope that findings such as this don't further fuel the anti-video game stance that a lot of politicians seem to take. We've got enough problems with them getting all up in our grill about violence in games.

Honestly, I can't believe it's taken this long for video game addiction to be recognised ( or even that it's still not going to be formally recognised until 2012 ). I could have told them all about video game addiction back when I played EverQuest for three plus hours a day ( sometimes doing an all-nighter for twelve hours or more ) for almost three years straight, 2000 - 2003.

As is mentioned in the article, those who are most at risk of falling prey to video game addiction are those who play MMORPGs, and I can totally see the truth in this. Online RPGs are tailor made to keep you playing...and playing...and playing. Quite often the grind of levelling isn't even actually any fun, but the hook of just wanting to reach that next level or get that next bit of loot is impossible to resist. I look back on my time playing EverQuest and can clearly see how unhealthy it was to play that game, or any game for that matter, as much as I did. I remember quite a few times when I would actually forgo social occasions with friends just so I could stay home and play EQ, which is really pretty sad. In the end, that's actually one of the reasons that I stopped playing. When I looked at the amount of time I'd been playing my main character ( Smoove Grooves, the kick-ass bard ) and saw that it was over 40 days real time, that's more than 40 x 24 hour periods of me sitting on my ass in front of a computer screen, I realised enough was enough.

The other big reason that I quit? Because I was spending so much time playing EQ, I felt like I was missing out on playing other games! Yes, I was so addicted to one game that I felt like I was ignoring other games and needed to spread my addiction around.

I don't play games as much as I used to, that's for sure. So would I still consider myself addicted? At certain times, yes. It depends on the game. Most recently, it was S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl. Considering this is a 30+ hour game to finish, and I clocked it in a couple of weeks, you could definitely say that I was well and truly hooked.

In regards to MMORPGs, even though I freely admit to being totally addicted to EQ and that I wasted far too much time on the game, I honestly don't regret it. I have so many great memories from that game, in fact one in particular is probably my greatest gaming memory ever ( I imagine I'll make a post about it soon, now that I think about it ). Since EQ, I have played a number of other MMORPGs: Saga Of Ryzom, EverQuest 2, Guild Wars, World Of Warcraft, and most recently Lord Of The Rings Online. With all of these games I have managed to keep my addiction in check, never reverting to the heights of my EQ addiction. In fact, normally around the one or two month mark I tend to stop playing altogether. I think my brain has this built-in failsafe now where it says "You know Pete, I think you're spending a bit too much time playing this game. Maybe you should stop now, and go outside and enjoy the sunshine...or maybe just play a different game. Actually, that copy of Final Fantasy XII is feeling a bit ignored. How about popping it into the PS2 for a spin?".....or something else along those lines.

At the moment I'm going through a bit of downtime with video games. Since I finished S.T.A.L.K.E.R I haven't actually played any other games on my PC. The only game that I've been playing recently is Super Mario Galaxy, and despite how awesome it is I'm definitely not addicted to it.

What's the next game that I think will get me addicted? Once I get around to trying it out, probably Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Well, at least for a couple of months until my failsafe device kicks in.