I like where this video goes. This is a very clear headed and non-biased approach to videogames and why we play them. Yes, there is mention of the Media misunderstanding gaming, but that isn't the main focus. I am happy to know there is some attempt at showing some reason in gaming. Though a lot of things about gaming are ignored in our world. It seems the ESRB is all but forgotten, as no one seems to pay attention or care. Or it maybe a case of common sense that most parents do not have. I'm not sure really. But a key point of getting a better understanding is to ask those who play games. Do you enjoy gaming? Do you seem to sometimes play with no reason during darker times in your life? Do games affect you or are they just a form of escape? Questions like these would get better results compared to people saying 'Videogames are EVIL!'. I have a poll above that can be filled out if you wish to do so. Just to see people's standing with gaming. No judgement here, just understanding on people's thoughts. You can post your thoughts here as well about it.
Most of the time I game for fun, but I tend to play more violent games when I'm in a bad mood. It keeps me from killing real people.
Video games have been a part of my life since I was a kid: I was introduced to Atari when I was three and the NES around six and seven. I'd go so far to say that it has been the most prevalent thing in my life. I think my relationship with video games has been the same all these years, but circumstances can make things more complicated. In my youth, I enjoyed video games a lot but never had to be told to play outside and stuff, even though I often played by myself. These days a mixture of jadedness, depression and wanting to write has put me in a position where I have a bunch of unplayed and unfinished games, but I'm playing a couple of app games that I can't get so invested in that I'll want to play them instead of doing other things. If I had the means to, I'd take some ideas I have and direct the creation of video games. Sadly, I don't have the money for such a thing.
How long have I been playing video games? Since I was around... 3 or 4, or thereabouts. I had Super Mario Bros. aced by the time I was 4, much to my parents' chagrin. >^_^< I favored platformers---the SMB trilogy and the Goonies II---and sports games, like Double Dribble and RBI Baseball. Thing was, I was little bit too obsessed with the NES; while I was in... I'd like to think 2nd grade, my brother sold our Nintendo and all its games at a yard sale because I was playing them too much. It backfired---it got me to focus on PC games instead. I'm not going to lie and say that I've never played overly violent video games before. In no particular order I've played the PC version of Space Hulk (the one published in 1993), the first two games in both Command & Conquer and the Red Alert series, Starcraft (and Brood War by extension), Lords of the Realm 2, the Descent series by Interplay and Parallax, Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: Tie Fighter, plus the first few levels of Dark Forces and the unpredictability of NetHack. I even played Starcraft on Battle.Net for some years, but stopped because maintaining an account was getting to be too much of a hassle. The thing is, I try to avoid playing especially bloody games where I can avoid it---it's had some degree of influence on my psyche over the decades, but explaining it in words is beyond me at the moment... it's a rather disturbing sensation, if that helps any. Space Hulk in particular was a major influence in my childhood years, to the point where I started having nightmares either depicting me fighting against Genestealers in a derelict spacecraft, or taking orders from my commanding officer while the building burned down around me. At times, I can still imagine the ominous BGM and the officer telling me that I "am the mailed fist of the Emperor". It unnerves me. As far as playing games during darker times... yes, I'm rather invested in that. Jazz Jackrabbit, Pokemon, Touhou, the Let's Plays of raocow and RoahmMythril, other stuff I've gotten involved with since the mid 90s... they help distract me from life in general and give me something to look forward to when I get home from work. They proved to be an especially major distraction throughout the rigamarole that was 2016, I'll tell you that.
My first console was the Atari 2006. I then had NES, Super Nes, N64, Xbox, and Xbox 360. I didn't like the new generation of consoles specially the DRM, so I skipped it. I don't think I will buy another console anytime soon. I just don't have the time I used to and I still have tons of games that I bought that I haven't played. I have a Steam account and I use it to play Civ V. I'm not in a rush to get Civ IV anytime soon. I didn't watch the video, but I do think that video games can be addictive. I had to give my steam account password to my wife so that I don't play endlessly. I am much better and more productive and I don't waste as much time. Not saying that video games are necessarily a waste of time, but they can be.
This isn't a question of if videogames are or aren't addictive. The answer is obvious. This a thread about those who do game and if they have sercome to addiction sometime in their life when it impacted them the most. For most, videogames are a great escape from reality. They allow us to believe in things that are not in our own world. But sadly there are those who have taken it too far. It has been shown that the sweep under the rug case study of hours played isn't viable. While many foolishly stand by it, a few have conducted a new study that focuses on psychological issues and varing levels of emotional satisfaction. Anyway, I'd give the video a watch. It's a great look at videogaming and the addiction behind it. It goes into greater detail than I can. Anyway, I am happy to hear your side, as well as everyone's sides on gaming. It's proof we are not addicted junkies, but just people who enjoy a medium. Sure we have our moments of addiction, but it's not as bad as parents and Media say, trying to demonize it.
I like playing video games but I don't think I'm addicted. They're just fun and kind of a 'release' for me.
I don't know... at some point in time I probably could have qualified as an addicted junkie. I had a lot of free time on my hands during my college years, and I spent a ton of that time on my Gameboy Advance. As an example, before I got a full-time job and could afford to purchase a DS and Pokemon Pearl, I'd logged over 700 hours on my Sapphire cartridge due to a single-minded obsession with the game's Battle Tower, and that's without taking into consideration the other games I'd collected for both the GBA and the PC. I'm not sure if I play video games as much now as I do then, but on a scale of 1-10 I'd still say it's higher than 6.
700 hours isn't really all that much, so I wouldn't worry about it. Hell, I've got 2000+ hours in Skyrim, and I'm not an addict.
More than 2,000 hours on a game that's only been around since... (checks Wikipedia) ...2011, and you say you're not an addict? I find something off about that. No offense. As I said, though, I was playing a whole bunch of other games and dealing with Henry Ford Community College's curriculum at the same time. I started on Pokemon LG/FR and Emerald when they became available, did multiple playthroughs of Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission (including a 15% run on Normal that blunted the edges of my sanity), played through most of the Megaman Zero series, gained a fascination with Yu-Gi-Oh thanks to Duel Academy... and that's all I remember off the top of my head as far the GBA's concerned, though I know there were others. In addition, there were no shortage of stuff on the PC. I had several discs full of old shareware from the 90s and 80s, NetHack (oh boy howdy, NetHack), the complete TIE Fighter (which took me a while to finish), and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Make no mistake about it: if I wasn't in school, reading or writing fanfiction, I was playing video games. Didn't get a job until later. >^_^<
Unless my math is wrong (and it could be, I'm really *squee!*ing tired), that averages out to a little over an hour a day. Quite a bit, but not as bad when you realize that most people spend 1-3 hours per day watching TV.
I play video games a lot, but I don't consider myself addicted, since I do put school and such first.
