1. If you look back in history you will see a whole string of new forms of entertainment all treated with disrespect and suspiscion by the greater population. Right now it is the Internet and our entertainment there. Before it was television--the boob tube as my mother called it. Before that was radio programs. Would you believe that when novels were first printed there was an uproar. Novels were silly drivel that would rot the brainis of the young. I would wager that the same was said of the first plays and poems and so on. I grew up in the boob tube generation and I have now replaced most of my TV watching time with SL. What is bad about that? Now I socialize and explore and excercise my creativity.

I also know the signs of addiction and although I itch to get on SL every now and then I do not *need* it. I do not feel anxious and unsettled if i choose not to go online or if I cannot. I still go out and enjoy RL live music. I chat on the phone with my family and friends (btw how different is that than chatting on SL?) and I go out and socialize. I still can't tear myself away from a few good TV shows and I enjoy the occasional night out at the movies. I enjoy a full RL as well as my SL. There are differences, and in some ways SL is better and in some ways RL is better but I would never give up RL for SL.

If something is not negatively affecting your life, work or relationships it is neither bad nor addictive. Anyone who finds SL is specifically having a negative impact on you, e.g. severe lack of sleep, not getting things done in RL that need doing (to an extreme degree), regularily choosing to be on SL rather than be with friends and loved ones, then you have a problem and need to talk to your doctor.

Posted at 7:13PM on Nov 1st 2006 by Divine

2. You're always going to have that "core" person in any type of activity that considers what they are doing more important than almost anything else in life.

But overall, the general population enjoys partaking in it, and when they're done, as you say, "I do not feel anxious and unsettled if i choose not to go online." To me that makes the difference to the normal user of anything.

If we can't pull away from something at all, then we may have a problem.

Posted at 1:28AM on Nov 2nd 2006 by Gary Bourgeault (thealphamarketer.com)

3. A few years back it was "Internet Addiction" that was the problem. Of course, they never mention all of the hours that the average individual spends glued to their TV.

Most people who play games or use the Internet are simply replacing their TV watching time with something that is more interesting, more personally relevant and in fact, *more* social than television.

Posted at 1:08AM on Nov 3rd 2006 by Jack Harker

4. The topic of video game addiction is extremely hot right now. Often it gets rolled into the same category as video game violence. The two things represent the same facet of society, victimization.

I have conducted a minor survey and am in the process of creating a web based survey on video game addiction and violence. I attempted to make the survey as unbiased as possible because I want people to give their real opinions, but I must profess, I am hugely biased when it comes to this topic.

Video games are addicting. They are just as addicting as working out, television, movies, friendship, careers, collecting, travel, or any number of things you could name that people enjoy doing. They become "addicting" when people lose the ability to set and maintain priorities.

In my survey of people on and around my college campus, the majority happened to be gamers and by and large everyone felt that video game addiction was the responsibility of either the parents or the individual.

Video games might be psychologically addicting as many things can become, or you get into a habit of playing day in day out and it becomes difficult to break the pattern. However, this is not a fault of the video game, it is a flaw in the person, and this is something that many people have a very difficult time coming to terms with. They want to believe that they are right and that they are not making mistakes. Often the game will reinforce that view, because they see continued and increased success in the game, while their real life crashes down around them.

I have been "addicted" to video games, but I came to realize that it was not the games, it was the escape. There was many other things going on in my life that I could not control and video games allowed me to hide from those issues. Because I was hiding from some things, I ended up hiding from everything that was not overwhelmingly positive in my life. My grades suffered, my relationships suffered, I blamed EverQuest, and subsiquently found that I was completely wrong. Finally I realized my mistake, I saw a councilor who helped me work through my issues, which turned out to be mostly non-game related, and I was able to play video games healthily again.

I personally feel that the only addictions that need actual medical treatment are physical addictions, such as those created through chemical dependencies. However, it is important to realize that every thing that stimulates the brain is chemical because we are chemically created creatures, and our body works by sending chemicals to elicite response A or response B. Or it fires an electrical impulse which at its base is chemical.

Any video game has potential to be over used, but again, so does pretty much anything a person can take part in. I would really like to see the people who are so concerned with video game addiction devote their time to something that is truely a problem for society.

Posted at 11:25PM on Nov 15th 2006 by Zach Sprague