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Addiction
The word addiction is almost synonymous now with gaming. It's one of the leading arguments against video games as well. In truth, it is a valid argument because gaming can be addictive. The following is the story of my struggle with gaming addiction:
During my first week of grade 9, my brother took me to a cyber cafe to play a game he and his buddies were all playing. No, it wasn't Warcraft, it was Counter Strike. It was great, better than great, it was extraordinary. I got hooked the minute I started playing. Not because it was the best game I've played, it was because I sucked. The urge to get better and better took over. At this point, I had been spending all my money at the cyber cafe (It was called 'The Matrix'...go figure) but it wasn't that bad. I mean, as a 13-14 year old, what else could I spend my money on. Then the day came when my parents had given me money to buy clothes. $200, alone at the mall. I've always been the type to by non brand name items, so with wise purchasing I saved enough to buy my own copy of Counter Strike. That's where it all went downhill.
I was playing CS all day. Any chance I could get, there I was HS'ing noobs. During the end of the school year, I skipped 2 whole weeks of class just play Counter Strike. I forged signatures, threw my voice so I could call in as my parents making an excuse for my absence. I almost failed all my classes, just barely got by with 50s. However, this wasn't the end of it. I said to myself, "Ok, no more of this shit, you will not skip anymore and you WILL get good grades." Tenth grade comes around, I ended up skipping another 3 weeks. You're probably thinking, how could I have kept getting away with this? Well, I couldn't, of course I was eventually caught.
Now, CS bores me. I install it on my computer once a year, but I can't play it, most likely overplayed the game. I haven't played another game that has been able to put me in a hold like that. Call of Duty 4 was awfully close though. Well, that was my little story and maybe some of you can share similar experiences, hopefully not to my extent, or past.
Edit: Oh and just for the record, I'm 20 now.
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I have to say.. I've never been addicted to a video game to the point where I skipped school or missed out on anything more fun (friends or girls for example). The only game that has kept me playing for hours and hours (when I was much younger, of course) was RuneScape (insert flame messages here). After that it was the first Halo on the PC, then Oblivion, and now nothing has been as fun, but Starcraft II has come extremely close. I've had friends who skipped out on movies to raid in WoW and other people who stayed up 3 days straight playing the brand new Pokemon games and beating them in those three days.
I don't really think video game addiction is an actual addiction unless you have absolutely nothing else to do (no offense). Everyone I know who's played extreme hours of WoW has terrible home lives or lives with guardian's (their parents left them >.>) who don't even take care of them like they should. That way it seems like a drug, an escape from reality, but seems a lot better than a drug since it doesn't slowly kill you from the inside out...
Good examples MD. The closest I've gotten to being a addict is maybe a allnighter on COD. Since COD games usually come with their fair share of frustration, I don't normally play more than four hours.
I've known friends who went on insane marathon runs on CoD when it first came out though.
Skipping 3 weeks of HIGH (emphasis there) school for a game must've been a pretty strong addiction... good story Raptinox.
Do you believe that there are addictive personalities? Do you think that video games are more prone to cause addiction over other things, or just that they're more acceptable in society?
If your brother took you to go get drunk or high instead of play Counter Strike, would you have become addicted to those things? If you did, I think someone would have probably intervened sooner, because those things are very unacceptable for a 9th grader. But video games are not, so letting a 9th grader play games all day doesn't seem like it would be detrimental to their life.
Do you think addictions are always bad things, or are some people better off having them?
Raptinox, would you live that part of your life any differently if you were given another chance?
"an escape from reality" is the sentense i really agree with, but you say that people that have an addiction to a game don't really have a good life or like have a lot of hobbies. That's not true. I guess i've been addicten one time for about two years agoe or so and i know that feeling, it is JUST because of the game is so freaking addicting and fun, you don't wanna do else because the game owns everything.
But yea, someone don't have a life so they just escape to play wow.
Thanks for the responses people. There are some things I'd like to clear up however. Due to the fact that retelling the entire story would have taken up a lot of space and time, I condensed it quite a bit into the blog post. I did have a social life. It's obvious with the story that I played it a lot, but I did hang out with friends, mainly on the weekend. I never played CS as an 'escape from reality'. It was, just as Henke911 said, the game was really fun to play.
@ExplicitD
To be honest, I didn't miss out when it comes to hanging out with friends. Also, I made a lot of friends playing CS. Some of which I became really good friends with, and still talk with to this day. It's been 6 years now. If I were to pick a main reason, or something specific, I would redo my time missed in school, no doubt. BUT, I would relive that time again without having played the game, to satisfy curiosity.
As for your question about addictive personalities, I can only speak for myself when I say no. CS is the only thing in my life that I was ever addicted to.
I can really relate to your story however I never skipped class. But I did miss out on social stuff. For a long time I barely left the house... at all. Now however I've taken a step back and I play less than I used to. I actually feel like games are getting worse every year.
Hmm NickyTheGamer is right... games are getting worse, but still every now and then really good games comes out... like cod4. I wouldn't say that i got addicted but i remember playing that game non stop(besides eating and getting redbull) for a god 3 days. It was in the hollyday and there were no parties and everybody were somewere in france or italy or something so.... :D but i got damn good and when it became too easy i stopped playing.... so i guess i agree with the addiction part but i have never been so addicted that i skipped school!!!! hehe
Wow. I can't say I've ever been addicted to just one single game. I mean I do play a lot of games but no game has every been able to hold my interest for very long, especially not recently.