Why We Game V - Addiction

A lot of people used to say that every cloud has a silver lining. That may very well be true, but of late, what most people are thinking instead, is that behind each silver lining is some dark secret that has to be exposed. News stories today blab about the dangers of buying a car, playing baseball, or taking a walk. "Consumer Councils" get their meat and potatoes from issuing "consumer warnings" of items, usually toys, that could potentially be hazardous or dangerous because little Timmy could possibly twist off the head of his new N'Sync doll, sharpen the stub of the neck into a shiv, and stab it into his eye. Our society today finds itself responsible not for finding new activities or encouraging fun, but for rooting out and finding ways that any activity could possibly kill us. That paranoia spreads everywhere, even into the virtual realm of video games. Before, all that they had was that gaming could possibly cause violence, and hence must be dangerous. But lately, the focus has shifted slightly. Shawn Wooley, a name that has probably been thrown around the forums and IRC chats of late, was found dead last year. He shot himself, after playing a session of Everquest, a game that his parents say he played for over 12 hours per day. More recently, two men, one Korean, one Taiwanese, were found dead in Internet cafes after marathon gaming sessions of Lineage, another MMOG. Suddenly, the mainstream has found their dark side.

The idea that gaming causes addiction is one that has been covered in many places before, some even on this site, and so is not something that bears repeating. What is interesting however, is that even though gamers say that these incidents are flukes, blown out of proportion by the mainstream media, and not worth holding as evidence, the fact is that there is a kernel of truth to these arguments. Too often, we distance ourselves with words. There is fun, and there is addiction. One is good, while the other is usually bad. The truth is however, is that they are almost always the same exact thing. For something to be fun, there has to be some quality to it that is addictive, it is a necessary requirement for fun. Unfortunately, we almost always end up taking the term addiction and associating it with anything bad that occurs, trying to pry it away and separate it from what we consider fun. It explains much of the past few years, where the endless coalitions and councils have attempted to strip away anything that is addictive, not realizing, that we require some form of addiction, to keep things fun, to keep things normal. Our society is taking away our ability to satisfy the addiction of pleasure, of doing things that are fun. And what they are really doing by inhibiting and taking away sources of pleasure, is, perhaps involuntarily, taking away our greatest addiction. The need for interaction.

It is not yet a problem that many of us have truly had to face yet, though we see symptoms all the time. Many of us still maintain healthy interactions, feeling like we are a part of a human community or society. We have friends, family, people that we can turn to, whether good or bad. We still maintain the ability to satisfy our addiction to interaction. However, it is getting easier to strip even this addiction away. We grow up alone, children of single or working parents. Puritan beliefs instilled in us tell us that work is good, play is bad. Getting that new product out before Christmas is more important than actually getting home for Christmas. Children can be taken care of with game systems and computers. The latchkey society has grown up and now we are beginning to see the repercussions. The lack of interaction for someone hinders their ability to maintain this need for interaction. People find it harder to make friends, to talk to people. They become "antisocial." And because the natural defense for a person is to prove that it was not their fault, they will blame everything from television to video games to the advertisements on the walls. Parents today have given rise to a culture of shut-ins. And so they have finally succeeded in their task by stripping away anything that could possibly be dangerous, while also taking away the basic need of interaction with people.

Enter the Internet. Suddenly, we don't need to be outside to meet people. People become virtual entities, human interaction becomes digital. For those that have no other recourse, the Internet is a savior of sorts, giving them a way to contact the outside world from the safety of their own room. Of course, not everyone that uses the Internet become hopelessly obsessed. But the possibility is there, and in the rare cases of Shawn Wooley and the net café deaths, it has become a reality. With little else to satisfy the basic human need for fun and interaction, attention becomes focused on the outlet that they do have, which in this case, ends up being video games, MMOGs to be specific. It allows them to satisfy their addiction, to interact and to have fun. What happens though is that their attention becomes so focused that it becomes obsession. The addiction becomes so strong that it drags us under, just like alcohol or cigarettes would do to someone addicted to them. It is not the fault of the video game, but the fault of the society, that these people can find no other release or outlet to satisfy their addictions. We take everything away, and cram these people into what is essentially a prison. MMOGs just happen to be the only source they have left to satisfy their needs.

What society will see from this is the idea that video games are a dangerous addiction, and will treat it just like they do with any other addiction. They will attempt to take it away. They know no other way to treat such a thing; the only solution is to take away what they see as a direct cause of the problem. Unfortunately, MMOGs end up not being the problem, but a symptom. To solve the problem, unfortunately, is not something that can be easily done. To tell someone that they've done something wrong, especially when it concerns their children, is like slapping them in the face and inviting them to fight back. Excuses are given, and people take up the cry, focusing their efforts on the things they do not understand that in the end, weren't really the problem after all. To solve this, two things need to happen. People need to realize that addiction is not always bad, and is sometimes necessary, just as fun is necessary. Second, that the greatest and most important addiction of all is that of interaction with other live human beings. Not the Xbox or the PS2 or the computer, but real live people. The sooner that we realize the basis and need for fun, the sooner that we can prevent the reactionary events that set up the deaths of three gamers from happening again.