Reply to Emmajane :

 “Violence and addiction”

Before this course I always thought of videogames as addictive and that they could cause violence among certain people. I had just never really explored my reasons for thinking this, I am not addicted to videogames and I don’t think they make me any more violent than any other type of competition. After the lecture on addiction and exploring how things like addiction and “depression”, “obesity” and other signs of “videogame addiction”  are all inherent problems that are not caused by videogames but are ‘illnesses’ that may make one more inclined to play videogames. The difference is massive when looking at something like videogame addiction, the fact that there are people out there who make these claims about videogames and base there logic on unreliable information gathering methods with a system that is modelled off of drug addiction. I don’t believe Videogames are more inclined to make someone more violent than they are already capable of.  But I do think Videogames can provide an escape from reality that is easy enough for it to become problematic. When I play videogames it tends to be an all or nothing relationship. I will start a campaign in a new game and play lots until it ends. Knowing my own tendency towards this, I have tried to avoid MMORPGs as they don’t seem to ever end. That seems to me to be a breeding ground for problematic gaming. Although I think all games should have a function that orders you pizza to your house.