Video Game Addiction?

Recently I've come across this website: http://www.video-game-addiction.org/

Addiction.org is a curious example of an (unnamed) individual (in this case sponsored by a group by the name of 'CRC Health group') taking video game addiction as 'common sense' and writing a well intentioned but incredibly loaded website about it.

The website provides the following description of video game addiction;

"Gaming becomes an addiction when it starts to interfere with a person's relationships or their pursuit of other goals, such as good grades or being a contributing member of a sports team."

Immediately, video games as a medium is placed at the bottom of a hierarchy of culture, superceded by school, and sports. The statement divorces video gaming from education and socialising. Video games, as we have seen during this course, can be both educational and social.

The website also provides '5 signs you need help with gaming addiction';

1. You feel really happy when you're online or when you're playing games, but as soon as you have to stop, you get angry or upset.
2. You think about going online or playing when you are supposed to be focusing on other things, like doing school work or having dinner with your family.
3. You spend more time with your keyboard or controller than physically hanging out with your friends.
4. Your friends or parents ask what you spend all your time doing, and you lie about it or laugh it off, but inside you know they may have a point.
5. You get up in the middle of the night to check your e-mail or your MySpace comments because you're having a hard time sleeping.

Most of these things could be substituted with sport, or some other more socially acceptable hobby. Many people can become obsessed with something they're interested in and are disappointed when it is over; a favourite television series for example. While number five could be an example of problematic use, as a whole this list is loaded with cultural assumptions about video games. Where it is acceptable to be heavily involved with sports, socialising, or other leisure activities, video gaming is an inappropriate use of, or 'waste' of time.

As part of a page which attempts to answer the question; 'What makes a video game addictive?', the author writes 'They want you - once you log in or pick up that controller - to never want to stop playing. ' In this sentence, the tone of the article has gone from learning more about the phenomenon of video game being 'addictive', to informing the public at large how game designers are truely evil. This statement seems a little over the top and divorced from the point.

In summary, video-game-addiction.org is an example of a website which professes its authority about something which is loaded with cultural assumptions about the medium of video games, even if well intentioned!

Ethan R.