examples of video game "addiction" around me

Among people in my social circle, the idea of being 'addicted' to a game is used pretty often as a point of reference in humor. Lately, the most common thing is to joke baout how Skyrim has eaten up everyone's time. A friend of mine said to me recently "AMY YOU HAVE SKYRIM? DO YOU STILL POSSESS YOUR SOUL??" another said, "what is this thing called sleep? Is it a new quest I haven't done?", and yet another said "Don't do it! Don't start playing! I started and then I didn't see anyone for about 50 hours"

I actually have a friend who disappears on me everytime he decides he wants to clock a game. He'll drop off the map for awhile, not answer texts or his phone. At least he'll always inform me before he disappears I guess... Recently he's borrowed my nintendo DS and started playing pokemon. He's had it a week and all his pokemon are already level 70-something...

After hearing Kevin talk about 'missing time' and 'casual games' it reminded me of a friend of mine who was "addicted" to bejewelled blitz. She had a "bejewelled night", she called it, (which was every wednesday when the scores would reset) and she'd play and play and play until she was top on her leaderboard for the week. And anytime during the week someone beat her score, her night would be spent on climbing back up the scoreboard.

And.. I can't deny it, I've also rejected invitations to go out because I wanted to finish one of the mario games on Wii.

After we covered the topic of game addiction, I felt that I should reconsider my use of the word 'addicted' in relation to games. I've realised that although it may be just a joke among my friends (who are people who do play games often and know that it doesn't really damage their lives), to the wider society, the term becomes problematic. It may be easy for us to throw this word around and say "omg i'm so addicted to skyrim" but to our parents, or to the media, it becomes a cause for alarm. The use of this word excessively in the media on the subject of video games means that people have a common image of souless children who are glued to their tvs or computers. Because no one really defines this word correctly and everyone has a predetermined notion of what addiction means, there is no escaping this image.
If the media read my anedotes above, they would say "OH MY GOD! SEE! GAMES MAKE KIDS ANTISOCIAL!"

But I really think playing games (because it has become such a common thing) is a way for people to interact with each other. It's a point of commonailty among people, a conversation starter, if you will. Even if it is not a multiplayer game, people still gather to discuss it - share straegies, frustrations and playing experiences. Games is just something that people talk about, not only on forums, but in real life. It's become a common hobby, a part of the world and I see no reason why it should be viewed as an "other".

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