Courses/Computer Science/CPSC 203/CPSC 203 2007Fall L04/CPSC 203 2007Fall L04 TermProjects/Gaming: The highly addictive drug

Group Name:
The Geek Squad

Group Members:
Carmen, Darren, Hapi, Sam

Internet Gaming: The effects on youth from addictive internet gaming
According to Dictionary.com, addiction is considered to be defined as "the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma." Our group feels that todays video games enslaved, both youth and adults alike, in a way that only drugs have enslaved people in the past. According to this definition, excessive internet gaming can cause addiction. American Medical Association, also known as AMA, is now considering gaming overuse or gaming addiction a disorder. Studies and clinical evidence have been made to prove the validity of this new syndrome. Therefore, it is vital for all youths to realize that gaming addiction is a serious disorder that should be dealt with right away if they have this disorder. In this project we will look at the causes of internet gaming addiction, the effects of internet gaming addiction, and the solutions for internet gaming addiction.

Causes of ADDICTION
Efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability are what most people expect in everyday life. The easy access to a monitor and the internet help us achieve this. But what if computer games were what you always turned to? What if it provided you with a sense of achievement, freedom and a sense of connection with other players? This is identified as a computer gaming addiction. The main indicators of this addiction are said to be lack of social skills, minimal religious beliefs, and assuming that they have no control over their lives. It presents itself as an image of short-term psychological wellness for the addicted individual. Also an addictive chemical is released in your brain as you are playing these games. Media literacy specialist, Dr. Charles Ungerleider explains that "they're very compelling with increasing complexity, so a child becomes more facile, yet wants to know more and apply new skills." The prospects that play MMO, Massively Multiplayer Online, feel as if they have importance and have a sense of existence with gaming satisfaction.

Two Theories Behind Computer Gaming:

"The Use and Gratification Theory explains how people use media to get specific gratifications such as personal identity, personal relationships, and diversion. These gratification needs can stem from low self-esteem, lack of personal relationships, and dissatisfaction with life."

"The Flow Theory explains the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter, totally unaware of their surroundings but enjoying the task and having fun while doing it. MUD players who are good at communicating through text and were socially awkward would be able to make friends through the network."

source: Chen, Jengchung & Park, Yangil. (2005). The Differences of Addiction Causes between Massive Multiplayer Online Game and Multi User Domain. Retrieved March 7, 2006, from http://www.i-r-i-e.net/inhalt/004/chen-park.pdf

Overall, the general causes of addiction are low self-confidence and esteem, personal well being issues, the need for any last resort social interactions, and other stressful problems an individual is experiencing in life. To overcome these problems people use internet gaming to feel better about oneself, and have the ability to get away from external situations that cause these depressing matters.

Effects of ADDICTION


Lack of Interaction

When one begins to spend excessive time gaming, they begin to take away from important time that could be used to learn valuable social skills. They begin to replace all physical social interactions with interactions within the virtual world. This can become very harmful to ones health, for interaction with others is a natural part of life and when one does otherwise, they begin to increase various physical and mental health risks, such as depression, and just a general lack of simple social skills needed to perform essential tasks such as going out, buying food, and finding shelter.

Unhealthy diet

Unhealthy eating habits and excessive gaming are two traits that often go hand in hand. For it is often found that kids that are addicted to computer gaming are also harming their health through their diets. For they are often found consuming foods that are simply prepared, high in taste, but low in all important nutrients, resulting in a lack of recommended essential nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins etc. It is through these low nutrient diets that one's body begins to lack the proper energy to perform most daily tasks, and therefore gets stuck in the vicious cycle of "vegging" away their days playing video games. To make things worse, many 'junk' food companies such as pizza pops, instant noodles, chips, and cola are now focusing their marketing crowds towards these gaming crowds. Many of these gamers are oblivious to how unhealthy these foods are, being that they are high in cholesterol, sodium, trans fats, and have calorie levels to high to be burnt off by merely sitting in front of a screen, gaming.

Bad Hygiene

Youths who are addicted to computer gaming are not just addicted; they are addicted to the point of where they will sacrifice certain tasks just for that extra play time on their computer. Many youths who are addicted go on their computer as soon as they wakeup and play a game before showering or brushing their teeth. This will lead to an increase of bodily oils around the face and body which can cause bad acne, and an increase of bacteria in the mouth that can cause bad breath and gingivitis. People who are addicted will choose to play a game first and then shower. There are some cases where the youth will not shower that day because the addiction has gotten stronger.



Time management

Today’s games are created in an action packed way, which requires the user to be highly involved. They often use tactic’s such ones that involve using many small challenges (levels) which causes the gamer to feel a continuous level of satisfaction. It is through this satisfaction that one begins to become addicted and will continue to “game” often; just wanting to spend the little time needed to pass that one last level. It is through this that the gamer begins to lose track of time and therefore develops poor time management. This is dangerous because they will then begin to poorly manage their time and will begin to put things like eating and doing their homework, second to gaming on their list of priorities.

Eye Strain

One of the other popular physical strains from gaming addiction is the eye strain. Straining the eye is from watching the action packed games that have numerous things happening simultaneously. With today’s computer screens working at higher resolutions which causes less glare, has helped relieve the strain on the eye. Yet even with these new technologies, excessive exposure, and having to constantly race around the screen in order to focus on the many different characters and objects will definitely strain the eye. Also often users play games in dark rooms, which cause an even greater strain to the eye.

Failing School

Youths who are addicted to gaming will have poor grades. They are so addicted that they will even play computer games the day before a midterm or a final exam instead of studying. Also when there is homework to be done, addicts tend to push their homework aside and play a few games thinking that he/she will just play a quick five minute game. Little do they know that five minutes will turn into several hours which means less studying time and homework time which will result in bad grades.

Lack of Sleep

Youths who are addicted to games tend to ruin their sleeping patterns. Usually, it starts off with an hour of gaming that usually turns into an all-nighter. Addicts cannot stop because of how exciting the game is. Therefore they will sacrifice sleep to play an extra game or two which ends up making them pull an all nighter. Also often gamers play in dark rooms that shut off from all natural lighting causing the body to loose track of time, and all sleep patterns. This usually results in poor quality sleep when it occurs. Also after an intensive game, the mind is too wound up and not relaxed causing the brain to have trouble winding down and relaying to the body that it wants to sleep.

Dishonesty

Being addicted to games is a big problem, and another big problem is lying. A youth who is addicted to video gaming tends to lie about what they were doing the previous night. There are cases where these addicts know that what they are doing is not healthy, but they cannot admit it to anybody because of the fear of getting rejected by fellow friends. Therefore, this results in lying. For instance an addict would skip a night of having a good time with his friends just to beat that quest on a game. The next day, his friends would question why he did not show up, and this will strike the person with shame because he is embarrassed with the fact that he decided to stay home and play games instead of going out. Therefore, the youth will lie about what he/she did to skip out on the event. The lying usually will grow bigger and will become a habit and later on will not only lie about his/her gaming addiction, but compulsively lie about other things in life as well.



Failure Causing Aggression

Some of the most popular and common games in today’s markets are the ones that involve “Real life Violence”. It is through the excessive exposure to these games that gamers begin to associate this violence and anger, as regular, and begin to lose all sense that these are actually not proper or regular occurrences. Also due to the pass/failure nature of these games, failure can be reached without a clue of how to perform the task, resulting in a significant increase in the likelihood of stresses associated with failure. This stress can be carried with the gamer without of the virtual world and can be relayed into the user’s real life world and therefore possibly transferred to others in the virtual world. Also since “gamers” tend not to have less than satisfactory social skills, they tend to learn how to properly cope with this stress, only making the problem worse.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common side effects often associated with internet gaming. Carpal tunnel syndrome is when the medial nerve (which travels from your hand to though your arm) becomes pinched or squeezed as it travels through the narrow passage in your wrist. This as well as many other problems begins to occur when an individual has stayed in the same awkward, relatively stationary position (often seen while gaming with controller or with home computer keyboards). Since gaming is often so addictive, one often will spend hours on end on what is considered to be the most comfortable position. Often the youth sitting for hours on end leads to bad spinal posture. By performing tedious and similar movement, such as the ones need to navigate various keyboards, buttons, or toggles provokes life long damage to the nerve which can result in various conditions such as arthritis.

Solutions for ADDICTION


Limitation of computer usage:

Youths with addiction to online gaming should try to prioritize their responsibilities and watch their gaming time. Parents should help the youths from addiction by monitoring their child’s playing time. An example of monitoring can be limiting the youth’s computer time to one hour on school nights. The best way to stop the youth’s addiction is to encourage them to play outside during the day or to sign them up into a social-skills group such as a youth group, a church group or a sports group.

Clinics

There are now organizational sites that are aware of youth’s online addiction, so these organizations are dedicated in helping the youths. If the youth is aware that they are addicted to gaming, they can go to websites such as Online Gamers’ Anonymous and talk with other addicted youths anonymously. There is a twelve-step guide for members of the On-Line Gamers Anonymous to live by. There are also public services and firms that are willing to help addicts lose their addiction.

Drugs

Playing games stimulates the pleasurable centers of the brain causing gaming addiction. Drugs are now used to help gaming addicts. The drug causes the body to produce antibodies to block the pleasurable effects from reaching the brain. Therefore, when the gamer plays an internet game, they find no pleasure in the game and will eventually stop playing.

Aversion therapy

Another treatment to gaming addiction is aversion therapy. This kind of therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the addict is exposed to a stimulus while at the same time being subjected to some form of discomfort. This kind of treatment is intended to associate the addict with an unpleasant sensation in order to stop their behavior. So, in the youth’s with gaming addiction’s case, there would be a stimulant that will make the youth not want to play internet games anymore because of an unpleasant sensation, such as getting an electric shock every time they touch the computer.

Incentives

Another treatment could be incentives to the youth. Depending on what the youth desires, the parents could give their child however much money for everyday that they do not touch the computer unless it is for school homework. Or the parents could offer to take them anywhere they want during a vacation if they stop their addiction to internet games. This way the youth will be away from the computer during the vacation which might help to stop the addiction.

Ways to check that you've been online for too long
According to http://www.otoons.com/joke&game/Games_addiction.html, you can tell whether you have been on the net for too long if this sounds like you:

01. Technical Support calls "YOU" for help.

02. Someone at work tells you a joke & you say LOL outloud.

03. You keep begging your friends to get an account so "we can hang out".

04. You've to get a 2nd phoneline so you can call Pizza Hut.

05. You don't know where the time has gone.

06. Your family finds out that you are moving your fingers in your sleep instead of talking.

07. You are eating cereal morning, noon, and night.

08. You find yourself sneaking away to the computer in the middle of the night when your family is asleep.

09. You find yourself lying 2 others about your time online.

10. You'd rather tell people that your bloodshot eyes are from partying 2 much than the truth - online all night.

11. You've even gotten on an airplane just to meet some folks face-to-face.

12. You have a map on the wall with lots of red pins to mark where people are you have met.

13. You bring a bag lunch & a cooler to the computer.

14. You go thru "withdrawal" if you are away from the computer for more than a few hours.

15. You wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is get online before you've your first cup of coffee.

16. Your relationship online has gone farther than any real one you have had.

17. You get up at 2 a.m. to go to the bathroom but turn on the computer instead.

18. You stop typing whole words and use things like brb, dunno and :-)

19. You type faster than you think.

20. You actually enjoy the fact that you are addicted.

21. You dream in "text".

22. You double click your TV remote.

23. You check your E-mail and forget you have real mail.

24. You set your kitchen on fire while cooking dinner because you wanted to "check your mail"

Interview on Computer Gaming Addictions
http://www.videojug.com/interview/computer-gaming-addiction#what-is-computer-game-addiction

Conclusion
In conclusion today's internet games are like an addictive drug that have enslaved many youths. Two causes of gaming addiction were explained by the use and gratification theory and the flow theory. The effects of gaming addiction are lack of interaction, an unhealthy diet, bad hygiene, lack of time management, eye strain, failing school, lack of sleep, development of dishonesty, failure causing aggression, and carpal tunnel syndrome. As we discussed before, there are ways to mend gaming addiction and that is to set limitations on computer usage, go to clinics, intake of prescribed medications, some sort of aversion therapy, or just plain incentives. With all sorts of solutions available to youths nowadays, it is vital for all youths to realize thier addiction to internet games and how they should deal with it in order to stop thier addiction.

Carmen:
http://www.babyart.org/school-age/video-game-addiction.html

http://www.ndri.com/article/cause_and_impact_of_video_games_addiction_-211.html

http://www.ndri.com/article/cause_and_impact_of_video_games_addiction_-211.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/is-game-addiction-a-mental-disorder/2007/06/22/1182019344317.html

http://kotaku.com/gaming/playing-doctor/ama-to-recognize-game-addiction-268786.php

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/massively-addictive/505289

http://videogames.suite101.com/article.cfm/can_video_games_cause_addiction

http://www.additudemag.com/additude/article/938.html

http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/story/13374/ama_rejects_video_game_addiction

http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2006/03/31/News/Video.Game.Addiction.A.Treatable.Mental.Condition-1775648.shtml

http://videogames.suite101.com/article.cfm/video_game_addiction_clinic

http://www.saferinternet.org/ww/en/pub/insafe/mediaroom/gaming.htm

http://www.aeiedil.net/?p=3

http://www.egameconsoles.com/game-console-articles/video-game-stores.htm

Darren:
http://www.addictinggames.com/

http://www.bonus.com/en/b2/content/item.do?code=home_main#en.www.bonus.com%2Fb2%2Fcheck.do

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/467/csaph12a07.doc

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13897858

http://psychcentral.com/blog/images/csaph12a07.pdf

http://www.yobserver.com/reports/10012819.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy

http://dictionary.reference.com/

http://www.otoons.com/joke&game/Games_addiction.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20430110/

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/doctor_urges_am.html

Sam:
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2005/08/26/internet-gaming-addictions

http://www.videogameaddiction.net/

http://www.theparentreport.com/resources/ages/preteen/kids_culture/130.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_addiction

http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_gameaddiction.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/03/health/webmd/main1773956.shtml

http://www.netaddiction.com/whatis.htm

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web2/gshin.html

http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/teens/gameaddiction.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/26/AR2006052601960.html

http://www.2learn.ca/mapset/specialedition/videoGames/videoGames.asp

http://www.mavav.org/

Hapi:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198701937

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/03/health/webmd/main1773956.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_addiction

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/mschlimme.html

http://www.mavav.org/

http://www.mediafamily.org/resources/video_game_addiction.shtml

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19354827/

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/124/115554

http://www.forbes.com/health/feeds/hscout/2007/06/22/hscout605801.html

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1557335.php

http://www.videogameaddiction.net/

http://www.arthritis.ca/types%20of%20arthritis/carpal/default.asp