Read an Excerpt
Control the Controller
Understanding and Resolving Video Game Addiction
By Ciaran O'Connor Free Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Free Publishing Limited
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-85343-226-2
CHAPTER 1
The Damage of Video Game Addiction
Nearly every day there are new articles published about video game addiction. These range from the mildly concerned to the outright scare-mongering. It is very difficult to know exactly what is at risk when a gamer plays too much, or more importantly, plays to the point of becoming addicted. This chapter seeks to bring together some of the evidence and give a realistic overview of the short and long-term risks of someone being addicted to video games.
Gaming addiction, at its most severe, can have a harmful effect on a person's wellbeing. While there are a range of ways in which this can happen, the damage is most acute in how it affects a person's relationship with others. It can limit confidence in social interactions as well as creating tension, alienation and conflict within a household.
There is relatively little physical risk associated with gaming too much; typically what harm is done to the body is minimal and only affects a small percentage of addicted gamers. Symptoms that do occur include: insomnia, poor attention span, motion sickness, headaches, dry eyes, muscle pains, various repetitive strain injuries, and auditory hallucinations. All of the above conditions will typically pass once the gamer ceases to game so frequently (King 2013b). There are instances where gaming has been linked to epilepsy. This is something that the gaming industry has had to address in the way it uses light and animation; both "Pokémon" and "Super Mario" having to be redesigned following some adverse responses from users. Overall, while the chance of a seizure does increase for gamers, the likelihood of it happening is considerably less than a percent of a percent (CSPH 2007). If anything it is a useful incentive to make sure gaming doesn't go on in isolation – something I'll talk more about later.
When it comes to the physical dangers of gaming, the most pressing issue is the general lack of health that we end up with once we spend long periods of time sitting still. A shortage of exercise, a typically poor sitting position and no time in the fresh air and sun is well documented as having general negative impact on physical and mental health. But our bodies are not where we should prioritise our concerns; it is too often relationships that are the real casualty of video game addiction.
The Social Risk of Gaming
An addiction to gaming will almost certainly create a number of significant social problems; ultimately becoming a catch-22, like any other addiction. Whatever the problems were that drove a person to overuse gaming, those problems will start to magnify once the behaviour becomes addictive. This can lead the gamer to turn to gaming even more in order to feel better, and so the problems spiral until the gamer finally and decisively changes course.
Unless steps are taken to reduce gaming addiction, sufferers will ultimately see their relationships wither away, possibly even becoming irreparably lost. There will be those that will simply stop wasting their time trying to get in touch or arranging to meet. Loved ones will, if the gamer is lucky, start to fight back against the games, insisting upon time being put back into themselves and others. If the gamer is not so lucky then they will gradually see even these relationships fall away. This will happen slowly and subtly; it is often the case that addicted gamers fail to see the extent to which they have drifted away until they are forced to reflect on how things used to be. This damage is particularly acute for people who become addicted in their teenage years. While such people are likely to overcome the gaming addiction, they will find themselves playing social catch-up with their peers, something they may never feel like they can achieve in the long run.
The most addictive games are online roleplaying games, such as the incredibly successful "World of Warcraft", whereby players will be constantly engaging with one another online (Nagygyorgy 2013). While there is nothing unreal about the connection and bond that gamers feel with one another online, it crucially lacks the face-to-face experience that we encounter in the world away from games. Many young men I have worked with are drawn to these relationships because they find them to be more dependable and trustworthy relationships, something we will talk more about later. For now it is important to note that even though gamers may have a thriving social life online, they are often lacking an important aspect of human connection in not being with people in person – one that will gradually erode their confidence should they not redress the online/offline balance.
Online social interactions within games are frequently negative. For all the benefits of having an anonymous internet, the disadvantage is that for many people, this lack of accountability gives them permission to be negative and even insulting toward one another. For those that are new to games they will often have to stand up to ridicule at their lack of familiarity with the game, and at higher levels the competitiveness and intensity of the challenge can frequently lead to bullying, trash-talking and flaming. Many of the young people I have worked with have developed a negative worldview which, in part, I see as a direct result of their being over exposed to this cynical and hostile environment.
Definition: Trash-talking and Flaming
Both of the above are forms of negative comments made by other internet users (and in this case, gamers) toward one another. Trash-talking occurs in competitive games and is when someone deliberately insults another player in order to intimidate them into losing. Flaming (sometimes in the form of trolling) is when a player will deliberately make inflammatory remarks in order to derail situations or get a reaction.
Conflict between gamers and their significant others is a very real problem when someone becomes addicted. Most notably, this conflict occurs at the inevitable point where others try to stop or interrupt the gaming. This situation can frequently lead to addicted gamers sulking, arguing, becoming suddenly overcome with emotion and, in extreme cases, violent. Some parents have reported the horror at their typically placid teenage son suddenly attacking them when they turned off the games console. This is an extreme example, but the extreme change in mood can be dramatic, immediate and disturbing.
Much of this is a defence mechanism. When someone has come to rely upon gaming in order to defend against the fear, pain or loss they experience in their lives they know full well that others will be looking to take their gaming away from them. Addicted gamers will, sometimes knowingly, allow their ill mood to run riot whenever the subject of limiting play is mentioned: shouting, tantrums, sulking and storming out are all viable tactics. They rely upon others prioritising an easier life of just letting them game over the more difficult and conflict-ridden life of helping them get better. At the same time, it is also important to remember that games have their natural high and low points. Stopping playing when you have completed a mission with friends is quite natural and feels right, but being ripped from a game when you are at the culmination of an hour long quest in which your friends need you most would enrage anybody. As discussed later on, it is important that people supporting games through addiction familiarize themselves with the schedules of gaming in order to rule out the natural conflict that can occur from others having an insensitivity to games.
When a gamer becomes overinvolved in gaming, the shift back to normality can create a period of unease that creates tension with others. While this is more an issue of playing excessively (playing for long periods of time) rather than addictively (playing in a way that hurts you and others), the effect is likely to be noticeable in any instance of addiction. Video games are all about immersion, both through the creation of flow in the activity (Csikszentmihalyi 2002) and the simulation of being in another world. Typically, if a gamer plays for any prolonged period, the gamer will have to readjust to the out-of-game world once he has finished. In comparison to the world within a game, the outside world has a number of striking differences.
1. It has depth. The gamer is required to now see and navigate things coming and going at varying distances unlike the mock 3D of the gaming world.
2. It requires contact with the body. The gamer, who has been little more than eyes, ears, fingers and a brain is now having to notice and control their whole body.
3. It contains others in close proximity. Suddenly people are right next to you, with all the confusions of body language, physical contact and expressions.
4. You mind is free to wander. Games require attention, thereby taking you away from other anxieties and stressors that will otherwise flood into the space left behind.
5. You are at risk. Games are safe environments. While your character may die, you are always able to keep restarting. The outside world offers no such assurance.
Definition: Flow
Flow is a psychological concept described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. When a person engages in an activity that presents them with a level of challenge that matches their level of skill they reach a state of immersion and timelessness that is termed 'flow' (Csikszentmihalyi 2002). Basic game design involves attempting to keep the player in a state of constant flow by ensuring that the difficulty increases in gentle 'waves'.
It is during the period of adjusting between the world of the game and the world outside that gamers will often become agitated or moody. The changes in experience lead to the gamer experiencing a low-level and persistent threat, one that can create a sense of hypervigilance and anxiety.
This increased sense of threat and complexity can generate defensiveness and distraction in the gamer. This is normally present in gamers that have just stopped gaming even if they are far from being addicted; if someone plays for a prolonged session, they will likely be perceived as distant, non-responsive and sometimes mildly argumentative by others during that post-game period of adjustment. For gamers that play games addictively, this often leads to full on conflict.
Much of the above takes us into the murky waters of the links between video games and aggression. This subject is not one we can do justice to here, suffice to say that the field is littered with contradicting studies on the subject. There is, perhaps, a marginal inclination toward the possibility that they do, to a degree, have this effect (McClean 2013) if only in the short-term and not to the extent of violence. Consequently, it is worth bearing in mind that gaming has the potential to create brief, aggressive feelings in the gamer, something only likely to become profoundly noticeable where addiction is present.
Perhaps you are close to someone who is addicted to games and you recognise that you would rather avoid falling out with them rather than step in and assert that this behaviour is unacceptable. Consider this decision you are making, reflect on it and make sure you know where you stand and that you feel it is the right decision. This is particularly important for parents; I would argue that your role is not to be liked, but to do the best by your children. If they are gaming in an unhealthy way, then compassionately intervene, even if this means risking their anger.
Can Video Game Addiction Kill?
In short – no. While there are an incredibly small number of deaths that happen in relation to gaming, these tend to do little more than provide fuel for the media fire that surrounds video gaming. These unfortunate cases make for sensational reading, but don't build up into any significant picture about the lethality of gaming.
There are a number of instances whereby players have died after gaming for prolonged periods, presumably too involved in the game to attend to their physical needs, such as sleep, urination and simply moving around. At some point the body packs up and the heart gives out, finally enforcing an end to the gaming session, as well as their lives. There have been a handful of such deaths; nearly all of them, strangely, in South Korea; although Taiwan had a similar incident recently. The Korean government has subsequently taken controversial steps to limit gamers' access to online gaming, which is now shut off to under 16-year-olds past midnight.
In addition, there are a number of further instances where video games have been made accountable for murder, killings and manslaughter. These include a couple letting their baby starve to death while they were too busy feeding their online baby, a young man killing his friend over the loss of a virtual sword and a son shooting his parents while they slept. These deaths are almost incalculably rare. Exact numbers are hard to pin down but are globally estimated at around 10 in recent memory. Considering the 8,367 alcohol related deaths in the U.K. in 2012 alone (Office for National Statistics 2014), this makes gaming a comparatively very safe pastime. To talk about gaming as being lethal is to miss the point. When games do damage it is to our social and emotional lives; that is the concern that we should be focused on.
A Lack of Embodiment
A particular concern is for the gamer's sense of embodiment. This is by no means an issue localized to excessive gaming, but expands to cover computer, phone and tablet usage more generally. The education advisor Ken Robinson, during a TED video, talked of the temptation for people to "look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads" (Robinson 2006). As we move to spending more and more time connected to devices, this trap of forgetting our bodies is set to become a regular challenge for current and subsequent generations. A recent report revealed that, in the early part of 2013, every one in 12 waking minutes used by people in Britain was spent online (IAB 2013). That's a considerable portion of our time (not including television) that we are spending focused on the digital, rather than the physical world.
During time spent at computer and mobile screens, we lose a sense of being connected to our bodies. More and more, we are finding out the importance of having an experience of the wholeness of our beings; much of today's mindfulness-based psychotherapy involves encouraging people to make contact with their otherwise forgotten physical selves (Siegel 2011). All emotions are situated in the body, something that rapidly becomes apparent in psychotherapy. If you were to experience happiness and I were to ask you where in your body you felt it, then either immediately or after some reflection, you would more likely be able to describe the physical sensation as well as the exact place in your body where you felt it. Most likely it would be a fullness in your chest, but it could also be a buzzing in your stomach or a lightness in your limbs. Other emotions are the same; all of them manifest physically. Our emotional weather is not something that goes on within just our minds or even our brains, but runs throughout our whole system. Your stomach churns when you panic, your heart leaps in love, your brow sweats in fear, and so on and so on.
For gamers who find themselves addicted, time spent online is time spent largely shut off from their emotional being; they have effectively blinkered themselves from themselves. The result of this is that they come to be so disconnected by their feelings (feelings that they inevitably experience whenever they are away from the game) that they become distrustful and almost scornful toward them, as if they are something to be repressed, fought against and sedated. Ultimately, this puts people at odds with themselves, leading to a deep existential unease, one that is further expressed by their increasing fear of time spent away from gaming. For such people the most obvious way to deal with this is more gaming.
Definition: Existential
This word refers to anything that is to do with the fundamentals of our existence. Typical existential concerns are death, being isolated from others, having to make meaning out of a meaningless world, not having any freedom and conversely having too much freedom suchthat we are overwhelmed by choice. We all struggle with existential problems at some level and can react strongly to situations when we perceive an existential threat. Existentialism is chiefly ascribed to the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Control the Controller by Ciaran O'Connor. Copyright © 2014 Free Publishing Limited. Excerpted by permission of Free Publishing Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
