Addiction

I want to focus my blog post this week on the topic of addiction as discussed in Wednesdays lecture. As someone who is an addicted smoker I found the discussion on gaming addiction quite interesting as I can make some fairly significant comparisons between the experiences I have encountered while attempting to quit smoking, and during periods one could classify as “problematic use” of video games.

When I was in 6^th form of high school my friend and I split the cost of a PSP, and I became immersed in the games “God of War: Chains of Olympus” and “Naruto: Ultimate ninja heroes.” In “Discourse of the gamer addiction myth” Rob Cover discusses the existing rhetoric that “any concept of addiction involves a notion of behavior change and a desire for or experience of repetition.” If I was to go by this rhetoric I could probably classify myself as an addict at that stage of my PSP playing, as I certainly experienced a behavior change as I neglected homework in order to play the two games, I played the PSP when I shouldn’t have (ie in class, against class rules). This behavior change also aligns with the belief of addiction as “heavy” or “frequent” use.

HOWEVER, when I had finished the games the withdrawals were nothing like what I have experienced when trying to quit smoking. Sure I missed the experience of having those games to play and explore, but I quickly moved on to other games, and eventually grew out of my obsession with the PSP. The “addiction” and withdrawal that I experienced was transient and easily overcome than a smoking addiction.

I don’t think that the minor social and academic damage that my enthusiasm for playing the games frequently could be really be compared to the damage of a frequent smoking (or any other chemically influenced addiction). During a period last year when I tried to quit smoking, the withdrawals were harsh. There were daily headaches, shaking hands, and an inability to concentrate on anything other than my need for a cigarette. The physical withdrawals experienced from the latter were significantly worse than the psychological ones experienced with the end of an intensive period of game-play.

I am not trying to argue that there are no problems with the frequent and immersive game-play that people would classify as “addictive”, there are certainly problems that games cause for people. I do also understand that every person is different, and dependencies/addictions are very personal experiences that are never really the same for each individual. I just think that what Kevin said about chemical dependencies and physical withdrawals was a highly relevant point to think about in relation to the way that we think about “addiction”. That something like playing video games, which has no proven health or societal risks, have been/are being grouped by some people with addictions such as Nicotine, and drugs just seems a little ridiculous. Once again the term “problematic use” seems much more applicable, because no one can argue that games do have their problems and as does game usage.