190°

Video gaming joins smoking, gambling on list of common addictions

Australia's Okan Kaya likes Call of Duty: Black Ops II. In November he played the blockbuster video game for a world-record 122 hours.
"I'm a massive fan," he said. "I've been playing the series since the World War days and absolutely love it."
Circumstantial evidence suggests gaming can be as addictive as gambling. In July a Diablo III fan in Taiwan collapsed and died after a 40-hour session at an internet cafe.
Australian National University psychologist Olivia Metcalf has found concrete evidence that gaming is indeed addictive.

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timeslive.co.za
USEYOURFIST4130d ago (Edited 4130d ago )

I would argue that this is far from "concrete evidence". its strongly argued the media have created the concept of videogame addiction through a moral panic, creating a panic in society by over exaggerating the problems caused by gaming, in addition to comparing it to more serious problems such as gambling addition without much rational reason for doing so. Why dont any of the major world health organiztions recognise video game addiction as a clinical condition? overplaying is not addiction! it comparable to over reading not over smoking.

zerocrossing4130d ago

In all my 20+ years of gaming I have never been unable to tear myself away from a game.

Some peopled are more susceptible to becoming addicted though, but over gaming is more a form of extreme escapism rather than addiction, IMO of course.

Lord_Sloth4129d ago

Exactly. These rare and isolated incidents are nothing more than a serious lack of self control. I haven't even played a game in a month at current. If this were an addiction, wouldn't I be yelling at people for no reason like smokers?

jrbeerman114129d ago

in that vein than watching television should be added to that list. more people are glued watching honey boo boo, and singing shows than video games.

Canary4130d ago

I think you're overreacting.

Gaming /IS/ a common addiction.

That doesn't mean it's dangerous, let alone life-threatening.

You know what else are common addictions?

Coffee.
Chocolate.
Sex.
Masturbation.
Biting your nails.

It's not a big deal.

ajax174130d ago (Edited 4130d ago )

Well, it can be life-threatening... Mainly to those who play StarCraft... Remember that South Korean guy who died after playing for 50 hours straight! Now that is an addiction!

rainslacker4130d ago

I'd stop gaming and smoking...but my mom taught me to never be a quitter.

USEYOURFIST4130d ago

you missed the point. From a clinical standpoint the phrase 'gaming is a common addiction' is factually incorrect, untill more research leads to a reclassification, which i dont see happening.

I may have come off as OTT lol its just ive been studying gamings effects on kids and found the medias representation of gaming is usually as a negative hobby that through their 'gaming addiction' makes kids violent and shoot classmates. This view bugs me as its basically not true and i could, have, write an essay about it lol.

Coffee and chocolate are are chemical addictions like drugs.

Im not sure if sex and masturbation are clinicaly recognised addictions, hypersexual disorder maybe but again not clinically recognised as an addiction disorder.

Sorry im going off on one again lol just defending gaming! (sh*t, maybe im wrong and actually am addictied lol), look i agree with most of your points but the word addiction is used wrongly quite commonly in these cases which leads to gaming being related with 'bad' things such as drugs.

Bimkoblerutso4129d ago (Edited 4129d ago )

It might be more accurate to label them a "compulsion" to some people. "Addiction" suggests a degree of physical dependence. If you quit gaming, you're not going to go into withdrawals.

When you start getting into mental dependence, it becomes a matter of mental disorder. A human can technically exhibit mental dependency on literally anything, so it seems silly to me for all these "scientists" to automatically target specific sources when they can't just throw it under the physical dependency category.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4129d ago
shutUpAndTakeMyMoney4130d ago

They should have seen xbox in 2005! It would be considered a smoker.

Nykamari4129d ago

Lol! That's too funny! I choked on my chronic smoke when I read your comment!

2pacalypsenow4130d ago

Except Smoking and Gambling can ruin your life gaming not so much

dark-hollow4130d ago

It can. If you spent too much time on it you can abandon work/school/uni for it.

I know several people who lost their jobs due to their addiction to gaming.

swice4129d ago

You need to slap them. Hard.

EddieNX 4130d ago

I agree with this. I am OCD when it comes to gaming. Although I actually love and appreciate the art that I choose to buy As I do film or music.

I do seem to spend a LOT of money on gaming. And I have a terrible addiction.

I'm addicted to buying sealed games and slowly unsealing them and then smelling their factory fresh innards.

God have mercy on my soul...

BrianC62344130d ago

To help get off your addiction in 2013 all games you buy must be digital downloads. :)

EddieNX 4130d ago

DON'T SAY THAT!!!!!!!!!! DIGITAL DEVIL!!!!!!

I will buy my retail games from the store for a long as possible. A- I like to colllect. B- I like to sell what I don't want to collect.

Digital doesn't offer such flexability.

Indie games and smaller games all day long though:)

Show all comments (41)
60°
5.5

Soul Covenant (PC VR) Review - CGMagazine

Soul Covenant feels like a game from the early 2000s, with its repetitive gameplay loop, waggle controls, and nonsensical story.

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cgmagonline.com
130°

Cold VR is all About Acting Super Hot

Indie developer Carlos Alfonso is working on Cold VR, a game where standing still isn't an option. The complete opposite to SUPERHOT VR.

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xrsource.net
Abnor_Mal5h ago

This sounds very interesting, Superhot was a great game to take inspiration from.

Babadook72h ago(Edited 2h ago)

I liked the VR version of SUPERHOT. If this ends up being as good I'l pick it up (once available) for PSVR2.

220°

Tomb Raider Remastered just quietly censored one in-game detail

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered players are ticked off by the game’s most recent patch, which censors in-game pin-up posters of Lara Croft.

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gamingbible.com
rlow15h ago

This is why gaming is screwed. When people change things to fit someone’s agenda, it’s a slippery slope downhill.

Christopher5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Even if that agenda is of the developer? Way to remove developer rights.

***One player called it a “huge problem with modern games,” saying they can now be “ruined AFTER people buy them”.***

The level of drama. Yes, I recall sitting there for more hours than I did anything else in the game. These two pinups are the core of the game, after all!

coolbeans3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

rlow1's cringe catastrophizing aside, I do think developers *ought* to strive to maintain an original work to the best of their ability. The language of a "remaster" tacitly implies that - for good or ill - what's being resold is what fans remember but better.

Profchaos3h ago

Games can be ruined after purchasing them yeah we know this not from this but from GTA IV which had half it's radio content patched out due to licensing expirations and to me that was a huge deal.

This pin up poster is a bit of nonsense but the whole argument of modern games can be ruined post launch is Absol true.

DedicatedDark2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

It's not their work to censor. They are incharge of restoration & remastering the work, not overwriting it.

Barlos1h ago

It's not the agenda of the developer though, they're pandering and trying to increase their ESG score.

Way to support censorship...

victorMaje1h ago

It’s not the end of the world for sure, but I understand the hate towards this kind of change. I believe it’s also a matter of principle.

Imagine a Picasso painting being restored & the restorer deciding there aren’t enough strokes, or some lines aren’t straight enough or curved enough…not sure it would/should sit well with people.

Have all original devs signed off on this change? Even if it’s the case, are we saying older gamers are better mentally equipped to process what was there than current gamers, hence the change?

Enough time ago the case was made that games are an art form. We’re supposed to have won that case.
So which is it? Are games art or not?

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1h ago
Eidolon1h ago

Hasn't this been happened for over a decade since remasters? I can't see that it's any worse now. Maybe if Sweet Baby starts getting their hands on remasters we will definitely have a problem.

Rebel_Scum4h ago

tbh I dont see something like this as censorship. Does anyone else not find it strange for someone to stick pin ups of themsleves in a locker room?

Now of it was a pin up of some half naked firefighters it might make sense as Lara might like that, and if they removed that I would cry censorship. But removing pin ups of the main character, yeah I get it.

Barlos1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

It's a game, and they were placed there for the audience. It's not real life. If it was, she wouldn't have fought a T-Rex now would she?

Yes, it's censorship but it's a bit less in your face. If they were in the original game, then they should have been in the remasters. It's bad enough that they have that ridiculous unnecessary warning at the start, but then they start removing things post launch. I don't care how small the change, they shouldn't be doing it. It's nothing but ESG pandering but in a subtle way.

Rebel_Scum1m ago

Look bro, if you have pictures of yourself naked on a bear skin rug up in your house let me tell you, its not normal.

SimpleDad54m ago

By the year 2030, this remaster collection will totally be changed and censored. Probably will remove Lara as a playable character. It's ridiculous. Glad that my family didn't buy this.
I still have Tomb Raider 2 PS1 as a memory.

CobraKai24m ago

It’s mentioned in the article, and it’s a point i 100% agree with, it’s the fact that they can censor a game after you buy it. That’s total bullshit.

Killer2020UK6m ago

Whilst it's an overreaction to say this has "ruined" the game, it's still problematic that this has happened post launch and for many, post-purchase.

I don't want someone to change a product for the worse after I've bought it. The same goes for implementing micro transactions after reviews.

I wonder why they did this? Nobody was kicking up a fuss as far as I'm aware.