Game addiction
Encyclopedia
Video game addiction, or more broadly used video game overuse, is excessive or compulsive use of computer
and video game
s that interferes with daily life. Instances have been reported in which users play compulsively, isolating themselves from family and friends or from other forms of social contact
, and focus almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than other life events. There is no formal diagnosis of video game addiction in current medical or psychological literature. Inclusion of it as a psychological disorder has been proposed and rejected for the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM).
or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems
.
However, some scholars suggest the effects (or symptoms) of video game overuse may be similar to those of other proposed psychological addictions
. Video game overuse may be like compulsive gambling, an impulse control disorder
.
According to Griffiths“all addictions (whether chemical or behavioural) are essentially about constant rewards and reinforcement”. Griffiths believed that addiction has six components: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse. Some scholars suggest that psycho-social dependence, if it occurs, may revolve around the intermittent reinforcements in the game and the need to belong. . Some scholars claim that the social dependence that may arise from video games occurs online where players interact with others and the relationships “often become more important for gamers than real-life relationships” . However this is not a view which is generally accepted among all scholars.
In 2007, the American Psychiatric Association
reviewed whether or not video game addiction should be added in the new DSM to be released in 2012. The conclusion was that there was not enough research or evidence to conclude that video game addiction was a disorder.
survey of computer game players and noted that players of MMORPGs were more likely to play for more than two hours per day than other gamers. In its report, the Council used this two-hour-per-day limit to define "gaming overuse", citing the American Academy of Pediatrics
guideline of no more than one to two hours per day of "screen time". However, the ESA document cited in the Council report does not contain the two-hour-per-day data.
In a 2005 Tom's Games interview, Dr. Maressa Orzack
estimated that 40% of the players of World of Warcraft
(an MMORPG) were addicted, but she did not indicate a source for the estimate.
She may have derived the estimate from the informal survey managed by Nick Yee
at The Daedalus Project, who notes that caution should be exercised when interpreting that data. Other critics have satirized the idea of MMORPG addiction, illustrating that the genre has built-in mechanisms for burning-out players, which is contrary to the concept of addiction.
A 2006 lecture reported by the BBC
indicated that 12% of polled online gamers reported at least some addictive behaviours.
The lecturer, Professor
Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University
, stated in another BBC interview that addicts are "few and far between."
In 2007, Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming for Parks Associates (a media/technology research and analysis company), said that "Video game addiction is a particularly severe problem in Asian countries such as China and Korea."
Results of a 2006 survey suggested that 2.4% of South Korea
ns aged 9 to 39 suffer from game addiction, with another 10.2% at risk of addiction.
A 2007 Harris Interactive
online poll
of 1,187 US youths aged 8–18 gathered detailed data on youth opinions about video game play. About 81% of youths stated that they played video games at least once per month. Further, the average play time varied by age and sex, from eight hours per week (responses from teen girls) to 14 hours per week (responses by teen boys).
"Tweens" (8–12-year-olds) fell in the middle, with boys averaging 13 hours per week of reported game play and girls averaging 10.
Harris concluded that 8.5% "can be classified as pathological or clinically 'addicted' to playing video games", but did not explain how this conclusion was reached.
Since the American Psychological Association
decision in 2007, studies have been conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine
related to video game play. Researchers found evidence that video games do have addictive characteristics.
An MRI study found that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video game play.
A 2009 survey by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
(CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario of 9,000 students from Grades 7 to 12 showed almost 10% get "screen time" for seven (or more) hours a day. A little over 10% also reported having video gaming problems in the previous year. A recent article Pediatrics (journal)
found a mild association between watching television or playing a video game and attention issues in more than 1,300 children ages eight to 11 years old. Children who played video games or watched television for more than the normal two hours a day maximum, which is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics
were 1.5 - 2 times more likely to show signs of attention issues, the researchers found. However, the study was further criticized in eLetters to the same journal for failing to use well-validated measures of attention problems or control for other important variables. A more recent study using the Child Behavior Checklist and controlling for family and mental health variables, found no link between video game use and attention problems. Also, a study in Pediatrics found problematic gaming behaviors to be far less common, about 4%, and concluded that such problems were the result of underlying mental health problems rather than anything unique to gaming.
Writing in the American Psychological Association journal Review of General Psychology's special issue on video games, Barnett and Coulson expressed concern that much of the debate on the issue of addiction may be a knee jerk response stimulated by poor understanding of games and game players. Such issues may lead both society and scholars to exaggerate the prevalence and nature of problematic gaming, and overfocus on games specifically while ignoring underlying mental health issues.
student who was playing a MUD
for 12 hours a day instead of attending class.
Press reports have noted that some Finnish Defence Forces
conscripts
were not mature enough to meet the demands of military life and were required to interrupt or postpone military service for a year.
One reported source of the lack of needed social skills is overuse of computer games or the Internet.
Forbes
termed this overuse "Web fixations" and stated that they were responsible for 13 such interruptions or deferrals over the five years from 2000-2005.
In a July 2007 article, Perth
, Western
Australia
, parents stated that their 15-year-old son had abandoned all other activities to play RuneScape
, a popular MMORPG
. The boy's father compared the condition to heroin addiction.
In an April 2008 article, Telegram.co.uk reported that surveys of 391 players of Asheron's Call
showed that 3% of the respondents suffered from agitation when they were unable to play, or missed sleep or meals to play. The article reports that University of Bolton
lead researcher Dr. John Charlton stated, "Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."
On March 6, 2009, the CBC
's national newsmagazine
program the fifth estate
aired an hour-long report on video game addiction and the Brandon Crisp story, titled "Top Gun", subtitled "When a video gaming obsession turns to addiction and tragedy".
On August 2010, Wired Magazine reported that a man in Hawaii, Craig Smallwood, sued the gaming company NCsoft for negligence and for not specifying him that their game, Lineage II was so addicting. He alleged that he would not have begun playing if he was aware that he would become addicted. Smallwood claims to have played Lineage for 20,000 hours between 2004 and 2009.
, where more than 20 million people play online games, introduced an online gaming restriction limiting playing time to three hours, after which the player would be expelled from whichever game they were playing. In 2006, it relaxed the rule so only citizens under the age of 18 would face the limitations. Reports indicate underage gamers found ways to circumvent the measure. In July, 2007, the rule was relaxed yet again. Internet games operating in China must require that users identify themselves by resident identity numbers. After three hours, players under 18 are prompted to stop and "do suitable physical exercise." If they continue, their characters gain 50% of the usual experience. After five hours, their characters gain no experience at all.
In 2008, one of the five FCC
Commissioners, Deborah Taylor Tate, stated that online gaming addiction was "one of the top reasons for college drop-outs". However, she did not mention a source for the statement nor identify its position in relation to other top reasons.
.
Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives.
Players may play many hours per day, having late baths
and regarding personal hygiene as a waste of time, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play and suffer sleep deprivation
as an effect, play at work, standing in the middle of nowhere looking into space
for a considerable amount of time, avoiding phone calls from friends and/or lying about play time.
Other scholars have cautioned that comparing the symptoms of problematic gaming with problematic gambling is flawed, may introduce research artifacts and artificially inflate prevalence estimates. For instance Richard Wood has observed that behaviors which are problematic in regards to gambling may not be as problematic when put into the context of other behaviors that are rewarding such as gaming. Similarly Barnett and Coulson have cautioned that discussions of problematic gaming have moved forward prematurely without proper understanding of the symptoms, proper assessment and consequences.
In reference to gamers such as one suicide in China, the head of one software association was quoted, "In the hypothetical world created by such games, they become confident and gain satisfaction, which they cannot get in the real world."
Researchers at the University of Rochester
and Immersyve, Inc. (a Celebration, Florida, computer gaming Think-tank) investigated what motivates gamers to continue playing video games.
According to lead investigator Richard Ryan, they believe that players play for more reasons than fun alone.
Ryan, a motivational psychologist at Rochester, says that many video games satisfy basic psychological needs, and players often continue to play because of rewards, freedom, and a connection to other players.
Michael Brody, M.D., head of the TV and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
, stated in a 2007 press release that "... there is not enough research on whether or not video games are addictive." However, Dr. Brody also cautioned that for some children and adolescents, "... it displaces physical activity and time spent on studies, with friends, and even with family."
Dr. Karen Pierce, a psychiatrist at Chicago
's Children's Memorial Hospital
, sees no need for a specific gaming addiction diagnosis. Two or more children see her each week because of excessive computer and video game play, and she treats their problems as she would any addiction. She said one of her excessive-gaming patients "...hasn't been to bed, hasn't showered...He is really a mess."
, China
, the Netherlands
, Canada
, and the United States
, have responded to the perceived threat of video game addiction by opening treatment centers.
Because few clinical trials and no meta-analyses have been completed, research is still in the preliminary stages for excessive gaming treatment.The most effective treatments seem to be, as with addictions or dependencies, a combination of psychopharmacology
, psychotherapy
and twelve-step program
s.
operates several clinics to treat those suffering from overuse of online game
s, chatting
and web surfing. Treatment for the patients, most of whom have been forced to attend by parents or government officials, include various forms of pain or uneasiness. In August 2009, Deng Sanshan was reportedly beaten to death in a correctional facility for video game and Web addiction.
became the first treatment facility in Europe
to offer a residential treatment program for compulsive gamers.
Keith Bakker, founder and head of the clinic, has stated that 90% of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted. The clinic focuses on excess gaming being a result of social situations rather than an addictive dependency.
in Belmont
, Massachusetts
has set up Computer Addiction Services. Elsewhere, gamers may seek services at generalized addiction support centers.
Online Gamers Anonymous
, an American non-profit organization
formed in 2002, is a twelve-step
, self-help, support and recovery organization for gamers and their loved ones who are suffering from the adverse effects of excessive computer gaming. The organization provides a variety of message boards, daily on-line chat meetings, a Saturday and Wednesday Skype meeting, and other tools for healing and support.
In July 2009, ReSTART, a residential treatment center
for "pathological computer use", opened in Fall City, near Seattle, Washington.
www.gamingaddiction.net, was formed in 2011 to promote responsible gaming including internet games, online gambling, and fantasy sports. They offer surveys for gamers and people that care about gamers. They advocate a simple three pronged approach to responsible gaming: Understand what gaming is; Solve problems that are created by excessive gaming; act out the solution and live a healthier life free of gaming addiction.
, British Columbia
, excessive gaming accounts for 80% of one youth counselor's caseload.
s caused directly by exhaustion from playing games for excessive periods of time.
There have also been deaths of gamers and/or others related to playing of video games.
after playing online games persistently for over 2 weeks during the Lunar New Year
holiday.
Later 2007 reports indicated that a 30-year-old man died in Guangzhou
after playing video games continuously for three days.
The suicide of a young Chinese boy in the Tianjin province has highlighted once more the growing dangers of game addiction, when those responsible do not understand or notice the risks of unhealthy play. Xiao Yi was thirteen when he threw himself from the top of a twenty-four story tower block in his home town, leaving notes that spoke of his addiction and his hope of being reunited with fellow cyber-players in heaven. The suicide notes were written through the eyes of a gaming character, so reports the China Daily, and stated that he hoped to meet three gaming friends in the after life. His parents, who had noticed with growing concern his affliction, weren't mentioned in the letters.
In March 2005, the BBC reported a murder in Shanghai, when Qiu Chengwei fatally stabbed fellow player Zhu Caoyuan, who had sold on eBay a dragon saber sword he had been lent in a Legend of Mir 3 game, and was given a suspended death sentence.
: 이승섭) visited an Internet cafe
in the city of Taegu and played StarCraft
almost continuously for fifty hours.
He went into cardiac arrest
, and died at a local hospital.
A friend reported: "...he was a game addict. We all knew about it. He couldn't stop himself."
About six weeks before his death, his girlfriend, also an avid gamer, broke up with him, and he had been fired from his job for repeated tardiness.
In 2009, Kim Sa-rang, a 3-month-old Korean child, died from malnutrition after both her parents spent hours each day in an internet cafe raising a virtual child on an online game, Prius Online
.
A local policeman was quoted as saying that the boy "...confessed that he needed money to play online games and decided to kill and rob..." the victim.
The article further related a police report that the murder by strangling netted the thief 100,000 Vietnamese dong (US$6.20).
because her son died after suffering seizures caused by playing Nintendo 64
for eight hours a day, six days a week. Nintendo denied any responsibility.
In August 2004, Troy Victorino and three accomplices entered a home on Telford Lane in Deltona, FL and tortured and murdered Erin Belanger and 5 other people who were in the home at the time of the attack. Victorino's motive for the attack was to retrieve his Xbox, which Belanger had failed to return after evicting Victorino from the home prior to the attack.
Press reports in November 2005 state that Gregg J. Kleinmark, 24, plead "guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter".
He "left fraternal twins Drew and Bryn Kleinmark unattended in a bathtub for 30 minutes, in order to go three rooms away and play on his Game Boy Advance
" while "in the mean time, the two ten-months old kids drowned".
A New Mexico woman named Rebecca Colleen Christie was convicted of second degree murder and child abandonment
, and sentenced to 25 years in prison, for allowing her 3 and a half-year-old daughter to die of malnutrition and dehydration while occupied with chatting and playing World of Warcraft online.
Tyrone Spellman, 27, of Philadelphia, was convicted of third-degree murder for killing his 17-month old daughter in a rage over a broken Xbox
.
Ohio teen Daniel Petric shot his parents, killing his mother, after they took away his copy of Halo 3
in October 2007.
In a sentencing hearing after the teen was found guilty of aggravated murder, the judge said, "I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever."
On 16 June 2009, Petric was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.
In Jacksonville, Florida, Alexandra Tobias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shaking her baby to death. She told investigators that the baby boy's crying had interrupted her while she was playing a Facebook
game called FarmVille
. She was sentenced in December 2010.
In November 2010 in South Philadelphia, Kendall Anderson, 16, killed his mother for taking away his PlayStation
by hitting her 20 times with a claw hammer while she slept.
15-year-old, ran away from home on Thanksgiving
Monday in 2008 after his parents took away his Xbox 360
due to falling grades and excessive play of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
.
He was last seen alive on a bicycle trail.
His body was found 3 weeks later, about three miles away, by a party of hunters.
An autopsy determined that he died when he fell from a tree.
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
and video game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s that interferes with daily life. Instances have been reported in which users play compulsively, isolating themselves from family and friends or from other forms of social contact
Social contact
Social contact can refer to:*in the sociological hierarchy leading up to social relations, an incidental social interaction between individuals....
, and focus almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than other life events. There is no formal diagnosis of video game addiction in current medical or psychological literature. Inclusion of it as a psychological disorder has been proposed and rejected for the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...
(DSM).
Possible disorder
Video game addiction is not included as a diagnosis in either the DSMDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...
or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems
ICD
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems is a medical classification that provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease...
.
However, some scholars suggest the effects (or symptoms) of video game overuse may be similar to those of other proposed psychological addictions
Behavioral addiction
Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction or non-substance-related addiction ) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences...
. Video game overuse may be like compulsive gambling, an impulse control disorder
Impulse control disorder
Impulse control disorder is a set of psychiatric disorders including intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, pathological gambling, pyromania , and three body-focused repetitive or compulsive behaviors of trichotillomania , onychophagia and dermatillomania...
.
According to Griffiths“all addictions (whether chemical or behavioural) are essentially about constant rewards and reinforcement”. Griffiths believed that addiction has six components: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse. Some scholars suggest that psycho-social dependence, if it occurs, may revolve around the intermittent reinforcements in the game and the need to belong. . Some scholars claim that the social dependence that may arise from video games occurs online where players interact with others and the relationships “often become more important for gamers than real-life relationships” . However this is not a view which is generally accepted among all scholars.
In 2007, the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
reviewed whether or not video game addiction should be added in the new DSM to be released in 2012. The conclusion was that there was not enough research or evidence to conclude that video game addiction was a disorder.
Public concern and formal study
A report by the Council On Science And Public Health to the AMA cited a 2005 Entertainment Software AssociationEntertainment Software Association
The Entertainment Software Association is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association and renamed on July 16, 2003...
survey of computer game players and noted that players of MMORPGs were more likely to play for more than two hours per day than other gamers. In its report, the Council used this two-hour-per-day limit to define "gaming overuse", citing the American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the major professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards. It currently has 60,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas...
guideline of no more than one to two hours per day of "screen time". However, the ESA document cited in the Council report does not contain the two-hour-per-day data.
In a 2005 Tom's Games interview, Dr. Maressa Orzack
Maressa Orzack
Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack is Clinical Associate in Psychology at McLean Hospital; Coordinator of Behavior Therapy Affective Disease Program, also at McLean Hospital and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She also holds private practice at...
estimated that 40% of the players of World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
(an MMORPG) were addicted, but she did not indicate a source for the estimate.
She may have derived the estimate from the informal survey managed by Nick Yee
Nick Yee
Nick Yee is an American researcher who studies self-representation and social interaction in virtual environments. Yee earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Haverford College and received his Ph.D. in communication from Stanford University in 2007...
at The Daedalus Project, who notes that caution should be exercised when interpreting that data. Other critics have satirized the idea of MMORPG addiction, illustrating that the genre has built-in mechanisms for burning-out players, which is contrary to the concept of addiction.
A 2006 lecture reported by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
indicated that 12% of polled online gamers reported at least some addictive behaviours.
The lecturer, Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University is a public teaching and research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as a new university in 1992 from the existing Trent Polytechnic , however it can trace its roots back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design...
, stated in another BBC interview that addicts are "few and far between."
In 2007, Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming for Parks Associates (a media/technology research and analysis company), said that "Video game addiction is a particularly severe problem in Asian countries such as China and Korea."
Results of a 2006 survey suggested that 2.4% of South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
ns aged 9 to 39 suffer from game addiction, with another 10.2% at risk of addiction.
A 2007 Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive , headquartered in New York, New York, is a custom market research firm, known for the Harris Poll. Harris works in a wide range of industries...
online poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
of 1,187 US youths aged 8–18 gathered detailed data on youth opinions about video game play. About 81% of youths stated that they played video games at least once per month. Further, the average play time varied by age and sex, from eight hours per week (responses from teen girls) to 14 hours per week (responses by teen boys).
"Tweens" (8–12-year-olds) fell in the middle, with boys averaging 13 hours per week of reported game play and girls averaging 10.
Harris concluded that 8.5% "can be classified as pathological or clinically 'addicted' to playing video games", but did not explain how this conclusion was reached.
Since the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
decision in 2007, studies have been conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine is a leading medical school located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California. Originally based in San Francisco, California as Cooper Medical College, it is the oldest continuously running medical school in the western United States...
related to video game play. Researchers found evidence that video games do have addictive characteristics.
An MRI study found that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video game play.
A 2009 survey by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is a consortium of mental health clinics at several sites in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its name in French is Centre de toxicomanie et de santé mentale...
(CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario of 9,000 students from Grades 7 to 12 showed almost 10% get "screen time" for seven (or more) hours a day. A little over 10% also reported having video gaming problems in the previous year. A recent article Pediatrics (journal)
Pediatrics (journal)
Pediatrics is an official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In the inaugural January 1948 issue, the journal's first editor, Hugh McCulloch, articulated the journal's vision: "The content of the journal is... intended to encompass the needs of the whole child in his...
found a mild association between watching television or playing a video game and attention issues in more than 1,300 children ages eight to 11 years old. Children who played video games or watched television for more than the normal two hours a day maximum, which is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the major professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards. It currently has 60,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas...
were 1.5 - 2 times more likely to show signs of attention issues, the researchers found. However, the study was further criticized in eLetters to the same journal for failing to use well-validated measures of attention problems or control for other important variables. A more recent study using the Child Behavior Checklist and controlling for family and mental health variables, found no link between video game use and attention problems. Also, a study in Pediatrics found problematic gaming behaviors to be far less common, about 4%, and concluded that such problems were the result of underlying mental health problems rather than anything unique to gaming.
Writing in the American Psychological Association journal Review of General Psychology's special issue on video games, Barnett and Coulson expressed concern that much of the debate on the issue of addiction may be a knee jerk response stimulated by poor understanding of games and game players. Such issues may lead both society and scholars to exaggerate the prevalence and nature of problematic gaming, and overfocus on games specifically while ignoring underlying mental health issues.
Media coverage
The press has reported concerns over online gaming since at least 1994, when Wired Magazine mentioned a collegeCollege
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
student who was playing a MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
for 12 hours a day instead of attending class.
Press reports have noted that some Finnish Defence Forces
Finnish Defence Forces
The Finnish Defence Forces are responsible for the defence of Finland. It is a cadre army of 15,000, of which 8,900 are professional soldiers , extended with conscripts and reservists such that the standard readiness strength is 34,700 people in uniform...
conscripts
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
were not mature enough to meet the demands of military life and were required to interrupt or postpone military service for a year.
One reported source of the lack of needed social skills is overuse of computer games or the Internet.
Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
termed this overuse "Web fixations" and stated that they were responsible for 13 such interruptions or deferrals over the five years from 2000-2005.
In a July 2007 article, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, parents stated that their 15-year-old son had abandoned all other activities to play RuneScape
RuneScape
RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...
, a popular MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
. The boy's father compared the condition to heroin addiction.
In an April 2008 article, Telegram.co.uk reported that surveys of 391 players of Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call is a fantasy MMORPG for Microsoft Windows-based PCs developed and published by Turbine Entertainment. It was published by Microsoft until 2004. Asheron's Call is set on the continent of Dereth and its surrounding islands on the fictional planet of Auberean...
showed that 3% of the respondents suffered from agitation when they were unable to play, or missed sleep or meals to play. The article reports that University of Bolton
University of Bolton
The University of Bolton is a university in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It has around 14,000 students across all sites and courses, with 700 academic and professional staff. Around 70% of its students come from Bolton and the North West region...
lead researcher Dr. John Charlton stated, "Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."
On March 6, 2009, the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
's national newsmagazine
Newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...
program the fifth estate
The fifth estate
the fifth estate is a Canadian television newsmagazine, which airs on the English language CBC Television network. The name is a play on the fact that the media are sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate, and was chosen to highlight the program's determination to go beyond everyday news into...
aired an hour-long report on video game addiction and the Brandon Crisp story, titled "Top Gun", subtitled "When a video gaming obsession turns to addiction and tragedy".
On August 2010, Wired Magazine reported that a man in Hawaii, Craig Smallwood, sued the gaming company NCsoft for negligence and for not specifying him that their game, Lineage II was so addicting. He alleged that he would not have begun playing if he was aware that he would become addicted. Smallwood claims to have played Lineage for 20,000 hours between 2004 and 2009.
Governmental concern
In August 2005, the government of the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, where more than 20 million people play online games, introduced an online gaming restriction limiting playing time to three hours, after which the player would be expelled from whichever game they were playing. In 2006, it relaxed the rule so only citizens under the age of 18 would face the limitations. Reports indicate underage gamers found ways to circumvent the measure. In July, 2007, the rule was relaxed yet again. Internet games operating in China must require that users identify themselves by resident identity numbers. After three hours, players under 18 are prompted to stop and "do suitable physical exercise." If they continue, their characters gain 50% of the usual experience. After five hours, their characters gain no experience at all.
In 2008, one of the five FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
Commissioners, Deborah Taylor Tate, stated that online gaming addiction was "one of the top reasons for college drop-outs". However, she did not mention a source for the statement nor identify its position in relation to other top reasons.
Possible symptoms
Excessive use of video games may have some or all of the symptoms of drug addiction or other proposed psychological addictionsBehavioral addiction
Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction or non-substance-related addiction ) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences...
.
Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives.
Players may play many hours per day, having late baths
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
and regarding personal hygiene as a waste of time, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play and suffer sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
as an effect, play at work, standing in the middle of nowhere looking into space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
for a considerable amount of time, avoiding phone calls from friends and/or lying about play time.
Other scholars have cautioned that comparing the symptoms of problematic gaming with problematic gambling is flawed, may introduce research artifacts and artificially inflate prevalence estimates. For instance Richard Wood has observed that behaviors which are problematic in regards to gambling may not be as problematic when put into the context of other behaviors that are rewarding such as gaming. Similarly Barnett and Coulson have cautioned that discussions of problematic gaming have moved forward prematurely without proper understanding of the symptoms, proper assessment and consequences.
Possible causes
Theorists focus on the built-in reward systems of the games to explain their addictive nature.In reference to gamers such as one suicide in China, the head of one software association was quoted, "In the hypothetical world created by such games, they become confident and gain satisfaction, which they cannot get in the real world."
Researchers at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
and Immersyve, Inc. (a Celebration, Florida, computer gaming Think-tank) investigated what motivates gamers to continue playing video games.
According to lead investigator Richard Ryan, they believe that players play for more reasons than fun alone.
Ryan, a motivational psychologist at Rochester, says that many video games satisfy basic psychological needs, and players often continue to play because of rewards, freedom, and a connection to other players.
Michael Brody, M.D., head of the TV and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is a 501 non-profit professional association in the United States dedicated to facilitating psychiatric care for children and adolescents. Established in 1953, the Academy is headquartered in Washington, D.C...
, stated in a 2007 press release that "... there is not enough research on whether or not video games are addictive." However, Dr. Brody also cautioned that for some children and adolescents, "... it displaces physical activity and time spent on studies, with friends, and even with family."
Dr. Karen Pierce, a psychiatrist at Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's Children's Memorial Hospital
Children's Memorial Hospital
Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois is a pediatric hospital. The main hospital is located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the north side of the city. With more than 1,100 physicians on staff and approximately 4,000 employees, Children’s Memorial focuses on 70 specialties in 17...
, sees no need for a specific gaming addiction diagnosis. Two or more children see her each week because of excessive computer and video game play, and she treats their problems as she would any addiction. She said one of her excessive-gaming patients "...hasn't been to bed, hasn't showered...He is really a mess."
Prevention and correction
Some countries, such as South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, have responded to the perceived threat of video game addiction by opening treatment centers.
Because few clinical trials and no meta-analyses have been completed, research is still in the preliminary stages for excessive gaming treatment.The most effective treatments seem to be, as with addictions or dependencies, a combination of psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior...
, psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and twelve-step program
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
s.
China
The Chinese governmentGovernment of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
operates several clinics to treat those suffering from overuse of online game
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
s, chatting
Online chat
Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet, that offers an instantaneous transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver, hence the delay for visual access to the sent message shall not hamper the flow of communications in any of the directions...
and web surfing. Treatment for the patients, most of whom have been forced to attend by parents or government officials, include various forms of pain or uneasiness. In August 2009, Deng Sanshan was reportedly beaten to death in a correctional facility for video game and Web addiction.
Netherlands
In June 2006, the Smith and Jones Clinic in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
became the first treatment facility in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to offer a residential treatment program for compulsive gamers.
Keith Bakker, founder and head of the clinic, has stated that 90% of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted. The clinic focuses on excess gaming being a result of social situations rather than an addictive dependency.
United States
McLean HospitalMcLean Hospital
McLean Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and ground-breaking neuroscience research...
in Belmont
Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census.- History :Belmont was founded on March 18, 1859 by former citizens of, and land from the bordering towns of Watertown, to the south; Waltham, to the west; and Arlington, then...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
has set up Computer Addiction Services. Elsewhere, gamers may seek services at generalized addiction support centers.
Online Gamers Anonymous
Online Gamers Anonymous
On-Line Gamers Anonymous is a twelve-step program for recovery from video game addiction established as a non-profit organization in the United States. OLGA was founded by Elizabeth Woolley in 2002 after her son, Shawn Woolley, committed suicide while logged in to EverQuest...
, an American non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
formed in 2002, is a twelve-step
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
, self-help, support and recovery organization for gamers and their loved ones who are suffering from the adverse effects of excessive computer gaming. The organization provides a variety of message boards, daily on-line chat meetings, a Saturday and Wednesday Skype meeting, and other tools for healing and support.
In July 2009, ReSTART, a residential treatment center
Residential treatment center
A residential treatment center , sometimes called a rehab, is a live-in health care facility providing therapy for substance abuse, mental illness, or other behavioral problems...
for "pathological computer use", opened in Fall City, near Seattle, Washington.
www.gamingaddiction.net, was formed in 2011 to promote responsible gaming including internet games, online gambling, and fantasy sports. They offer surveys for gamers and people that care about gamers. They advocate a simple three pronged approach to responsible gaming: Understand what gaming is; Solve problems that are created by excessive gaming; act out the solution and live a healthier life free of gaming addiction.
Canada
At a Computer Addiction Services center in RichmondRichmond, British Columbia
Richmond is a coastal city, incorporated in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Part of Metro Vancouver, its neighbouring communities are Vancouver and Burnaby to the north, New Westminster to the east, and Delta to the south, while the Strait of Georgia forms its western border...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, excessive gaming accounts for 80% of one youth counselor's caseload.
Notable deaths
Globally, there have been deathDeath
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
s caused directly by exhaustion from playing games for excessive periods of time.
There have also been deaths of gamers and/or others related to playing of video games.
China
In 2007, it was reported that Xu Yan died in JinzhouJinzhou
Jinzhou , is a prefecture-level city of Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the "Liaoxi Corridor" , which connects land transportation between North China and Northeast China. Jinzhou is China's northernmost seaport and the coastal economic center of West...
after playing online games persistently for over 2 weeks during the Lunar New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
holiday.
Later 2007 reports indicated that a 30-year-old man died in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
after playing video games continuously for three days.
The suicide of a young Chinese boy in the Tianjin province has highlighted once more the growing dangers of game addiction, when those responsible do not understand or notice the risks of unhealthy play. Xiao Yi was thirteen when he threw himself from the top of a twenty-four story tower block in his home town, leaving notes that spoke of his addiction and his hope of being reunited with fellow cyber-players in heaven. The suicide notes were written through the eyes of a gaming character, so reports the China Daily, and stated that he hoped to meet three gaming friends in the after life. His parents, who had noticed with growing concern his affliction, weren't mentioned in the letters.
In March 2005, the BBC reported a murder in Shanghai, when Qiu Chengwei fatally stabbed fellow player Zhu Caoyuan, who had sold on eBay a dragon saber sword he had been lent in a Legend of Mir 3 game, and was given a suspended death sentence.
South Korea
In 2005, Seungseob Lee (HangulHangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
: 이승섭) visited an Internet cafe
Internet cafe
An Internet café or cybercafé is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee. These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the café in the name...
in the city of Taegu and played StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
almost continuously for fifty hours.
He went into cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
, and died at a local hospital.
A friend reported: "...he was a game addict. We all knew about it. He couldn't stop himself."
About six weeks before his death, his girlfriend, also an avid gamer, broke up with him, and he had been fired from his job for repeated tardiness.
In 2009, Kim Sa-rang, a 3-month-old Korean child, died from malnutrition after both her parents spent hours each day in an internet cafe raising a virtual child on an online game, Prius Online
Prius Online
Prius Online is a Free-to-play 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game which revolves around a three character playing system. The 3C system consists of your main character, the Anima, and the Gigas...
.
Vietnam
An Earthtimes.org article reported in 2007 that police arrested a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering and robbing an 81-year-old woman.A local policeman was quoted as saying that the boy "...confessed that he needed money to play online games and decided to kill and rob..." the victim.
The article further related a police report that the murder by strangling netted the thief 100,000 Vietnamese dong (US$6.20).
United States
In February 2002, a Louisiana woman sued NintendoNintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
because her son died after suffering seizures caused by playing Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
for eight hours a day, six days a week. Nintendo denied any responsibility.
In August 2004, Troy Victorino and three accomplices entered a home on Telford Lane in Deltona, FL and tortured and murdered Erin Belanger and 5 other people who were in the home at the time of the attack. Victorino's motive for the attack was to retrieve his Xbox, which Belanger had failed to return after evicting Victorino from the home prior to the attack.
Press reports in November 2005 state that Gregg J. Kleinmark, 24, plead "guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter".
He "left fraternal twins Drew and Bryn Kleinmark unattended in a bathtub for 30 minutes, in order to go three rooms away and play on his Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
" while "in the mean time, the two ten-months old kids drowned".
A New Mexico woman named Rebecca Colleen Christie was convicted of second degree murder and child abandonment
Child abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...
, and sentenced to 25 years in prison, for allowing her 3 and a half-year-old daughter to die of malnutrition and dehydration while occupied with chatting and playing World of Warcraft online.
Tyrone Spellman, 27, of Philadelphia, was convicted of third-degree murder for killing his 17-month old daughter in a rage over a broken Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
.
Ohio teen Daniel Petric shot his parents, killing his mother, after they took away his copy of Halo 3
Halo 3
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...
in October 2007.
In a sentencing hearing after the teen was found guilty of aggravated murder, the judge said, "I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever."
On 16 June 2009, Petric was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.
In Jacksonville, Florida, Alexandra Tobias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shaking her baby to death. She told investigators that the baby boy's crying had interrupted her while she was playing a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
game called FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
. She was sentenced in December 2010.
In November 2010 in South Philadelphia, Kendall Anderson, 16, killed his mother for taking away his PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
by hitting her 20 times with a claw hammer while she slept.
Canada
Brandon Crisp, an OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
15-year-old, ran away from home on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
Monday in 2008 after his parents took away his Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
due to falling grades and excessive play of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter video game, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. A handheld game was made for the Nintendo DS. The game was released in North America, Australia, and...
.
He was last seen alive on a bicycle trail.
His body was found 3 weeks later, about three miles away, by a party of hunters.
An autopsy determined that he died when he fell from a tree.
In popular culture
- In the Step by Step episode "Video-Mania", Frank Lambert buys his son Mark video games to relieve his troubles of his "horrible" grades (which were A-averages instead of A-pluses). Quickly, he begins displaying indications of video game addiction. However, the conclusion was not a grisly as other examples. This would be the first showcase of video game addiction in popular culture.
- In the Boston LegalBoston LegalBoston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
episode "Word Salad Days", a mother sues a video game company after her 15 year old son dies of a heart attack due to exhaustion from playing a game for two days straight. - In L.A. 7L.A. 7L.A. 7 was the second series in the BBC television series starring British pop group S Club 7. The programme was shown every week on CBBC from April 6, 2000 to July 6, 2000 and starred all seven members of the band as themselves...
episode, Game Boy, Bradley becomes addicted to a game, forcing Tina, Hannah, and Paul to go look for Spike, the teen game designer who created the game. - The South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Make Love, Not WarcraftMake Love, Not Warcraft"Make Love, Not Warcraft" is the eighth episode of the tenth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 147th episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 4, 2006. In the episode, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny enjoy playing the popular...
" parodies many aspects of game addiction. - The South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Guitar Queer-oGuitar Queer-o"Guitar Queer-O" is episode 1113 of Comedy Central's South Park, which aired on November 7, 2007. The title and plot parody the video game Guitar Hero. The episode aired ten days after the release of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock in the US....
" features a made-up game called "Heroin Hero", to which people develop a drug-like addiction. - In The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Marge GamerMarge Gamer"Marge Gamer" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season, which was originally broadcast on April 22, 2007. It was written by J. Stewart Burns and featured a guest appearance from Brazilian football star Ronaldo...
", MargeMarge SimpsonMarjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
suffers from overuse of an MMORPG. - In The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Lisa Gets an "A"", LisaLisa SimpsonLisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
becomes addicted to a fictional video game called Dash Dingo (a parody of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes BackCrash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes BackCrash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a platform video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment, produced by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation...
). - In the CSI: MiamiCSI: MiamiCSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
episode "Urban Hellraisers", a suspect is found dead after playing a game for seventy hours straight. - The King of the HillKing of the HillKing of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
episode "Grand Theft ArlenGrand Theft Arlen"Grand Theft Arlen" is the 209th episode of the FOX animated television series King of the Hill, and was the 8th episode broadcast in the 11th season.- Plot :When Hank finds out that Bobby has been skipping P.E...
" features HankHank HillHenry Rutherford "Hank" Hill Age 50 animated series King of the Hill. Hank lives in Arlen, Texas and works at the fictional Strickland Propane selling propane and propane accessories. Hank's voice is provided by series creator Mike Judge. The Economist named Hank Hill as one of the wisest people...
addicted to a game. - In the iCarlyICarlyiCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
episode "iStage an Intervention", Spencer becomes addicted to a game called Pak-Rat (a parody of Pac-ManPac-Manis an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
), forcing Carly to take extreme measures to get him to stop. - In the Star Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode "The Game", William Riker brings a video game from Risa. It stimulates specific parts of the brain, and almost all of the Enterprise crew become addicted to it. - In The Big Bang TheoryThe Big Bang TheoryThe Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
episode "The Barbarian Sublimation", Penny becomes addicted to Age of Conan. - In the Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode "Tiptonline", Zack and Mr. Moseby are addicted to an MMORPG.
- In the Suite Life on Deck episode "Goin' Bananas", Woody becomes addicted to a game called Better Life, a parody of Second LifeSecond LifeSecond Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
. - In Pure PwnagePure PwnagePure Pwnage was an Internet-distributed, mockumentary series from ROFLMAO Productions. The fictional series purports to chronicle the life and adventures of Jeremy , a Canadian and self-proclaimed "pro gamer"...
, Jeremy becomes addicted to World of Warcraft and plays it continuously for six days before passing out and being taken to a mental hospital. He explains his character in the game to a psychologist, who appears to believe that Jeremy is psychotic. - In "Law & Order: SVU", a murder is caused by a video game addiction to a copy of "Grand Theft AutoGrand Theft Auto (video game)Grand Theft Auto is a 1997 action-adventure video game created by British games developer DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. The game allows the player to take on the role of a criminal who can roam freely around a big city. Various missions are set for completion, such as bank...
".
See also
- Social interaction in MMORPGs
- Computer addictionComputer addictionComputer addiction is a loosely used term for the excessive use of computers to the extent that it interferes with daily life. Excessive use may explain problems in social interaction, mood, personality, work ethic, relationships, thought processes, or sleep deprivation.The Diagnostic and...
- Information addictionInformation addictionInformation addiction is a condition whereby connected users experience a hit of pleasure, stimulation and escape and technology affects attention span, creativity and focus which has been referred to as pseudo-attention deficit disorder....
- Soft addiction
- Internet addiction disorderInternet addiction disorderInternet addiction disorder , or, more broadly, Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use, is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life...
- Online Gamers AnonymousOnline Gamers AnonymousOn-Line Gamers Anonymous is a twelve-step program for recovery from video game addiction established as a non-profit organization in the United States. OLGA was founded by Elizabeth Woolley in 2002 after her son, Shawn Woolley, committed suicide while logged in to EverQuest...