Panorama - Addicted to gaming

[Nouda_EU]

As a DDO player for nearly 5 years *come april* This is fascinating...

playing 10 hours a day yep done that

currently play 1/2 hours a evening a smattering of evenings a week possibly up to 4/5 hours at the weekend. Still a lot! estimate is prolly 10-15 hours a week


I think that will all things its finding a careful balance knowing what comes first.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...cted_to_Games/

With the spread of more things like face book farmville which are more accessible this could lead to more and more addicted people


How much would you say you game and do you thing you have a healthly rl?

Why is it not 'pc' to have gaming as a hobby but if you watch 10-15 hours of tv a week (1-2 hours a day on average) that's perfectly normal?

I still spend an hour a night on the phone to my mum and as a teacher I an hour a night planning for the next day I cook every day soem cleaning is done and im always logged off by 9pm to give me time to faff

I realises that i am a person that could have an addictive personality and sure i could easily spend all day gaming and occasionally do but not at the cost of other people i also do lots of rl tasks while piking this is true ive written thread and watch tis program while in and epic von

maybe thats why i manage to balance heavy gaming with a life piking is the key!



Discuss

[Kriogen]

Quote from http://www.cracked.com/article_18461...-addicted.html

Video game designer Erin Hoffman said it perfectly: "Addiction is not about what you DO, but what you DON'T DO because of the replacement of the addictive behavior."

[Greyhawk6]

I work 8 hours a day - 10 if you include travel. I spend my time on what I want to. Its not up to programmes like Panorama to tell me what is good or bad. With all the serious problems in the world at the moment they choose this to "investigate".

Panorama used to be a world class programme. Now its just cheap journalism.

[English_Warrior]

Awww...you are taunting me....as a Brit exiled in the USA the one thing that drives me crazy is all the great BBC content I can no longer view due to regional restriction.


Its like trying to listen to Premiership football on the talksport website.

DAMMM YOU comercial rules and regulations!!!

[Paddycolver]

I don't think it matters how long you play, as long as the rest of your life isn't affected.
I must admit I may have been slightly addicted a few years back where I would try and leave work early just to come home to play some DDO before the wife got home. But now she only works 5 minutes away from the flat so no chance of that
I think DDO has less chance than other MMOs to be addictive as there is less grind (at least there was). I remember playing starwars galaxies and having to spend hours and hours crafting just to be able to make decent heals.

[darthtidgit]

simple answer, both me and the husband always played mmo's together, always had someone to lvl with and do quests with

[FuzzyDuck81]

I forgot this was on - will have to watch it later

Generally Panorama has a good reputation for examining both sides of an argument & leaving it to people to make their own decisions etc. though, so it should be interesting.

[BazzaAlpine]

I forgot this was on - will have to watch it later

Generally Panorama has a good reputation for examining both sides of an argument & leaving it to people to make their own decisions etc. though, so it should be interesting.

Did you watch this in the end? From what I've heard it was totally one sided and a disgusting piece of reporting from what used to be a good program. There have been no end of complaints about it including an open letter in response to this: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/12/07/open-letter/

[dunklezhan]

Did you watch this in the end? From what I've heard it was totally one sided and a disgusting piece of reporting from what used to be a good program. There have been no end of complaints about it including an open letter in response to this: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/12/07/open-letter/

This is not new for panorama anymore. Since the early 90s panorama has been dumbed down and down till its on a par with the Discovery channel. it certainly isn't unbiased anymore, it basically sets out with a premise then tries all manner of tricks to prove it, with dramatic music, 'new' revelations that are anything but new, selectively edited interviews and leading questions... its a tabloid science program now. Channel 4s cutting edge is way better.

From what little I watched, the program 'revealed' that games foster addiction by giving gamers small 'hits' of success/reward, that must be repeated over and over again to actually progress. I.e. grind. This is accepted business model of how MMOs keep players. The best ones do it without you noticing. They all without exception, do it by front loading - so its easy to progress at first then it takes longer and longer.

Just like original DnD, just like drugs... and just like every commercial long term 'deal' like mobile phone contracts that give you a free handset or other goodies up front, or buy now pay later deals, or... well, anything.

All companies want you 'addicted' to their products by the definitions of addiction that Panorama were using. More to the point if you get a large number of people all involved in a particular activity, some of them will become 'addicted' - you could get addicted to clubbing, to shopping, to almost anything.

This is not news, this is modern life. Shock freakin' horror. If you can't deal with it, then opt out and go live in a cave/mud hut/remote island somewhere.

/rant off.

Edit:

Quote from http://www.cracked.com/article_18461...-addicted.html

Video game designer Erin Hoffman said it perfectly: "Addiction is not about what you DO, but what you DON'T DO because of the replacement of the addictive behavior."

Kudos Mr Hoffman. Dead right as far as I'm concerned.

[bogart99]

Well I watched it that was interesting though the reporter came off as a biased as apposed to being impartial. You could sum up his entire attitude with his opening remarks about people queuing for the launch of sc2 "I don't understand why anyone would etc." The rest was doing what modern news media does to earn its money sell fear. Sure your kids can play games and be fine or will they dun dun dun....
shows like these make me wonder sometimes if some people need to have a special label on everything "Warning maybe addictive to mentally unstable people" with a secondary advisory bellow it "Don't drink the bleach Billy".

Did anyone else get the not so stubble Conform message tacked on at the ending. Go out and get drunk with taxable socially acceptable alcohol that kills millions of people each year.

Gamming is my TV, I gave up on TV when it turned into all shows about doing up and selling houses and oh god the endless cookery programs! Other than news a good murder mystery and nature documentary's I don't bother with it and those I mostly get online these days. Am I addicted no I do everything I set out to do in a day and then play if I wish, tbh I have spent more time recently browsing trash on YouTube than I have playing games that site should prb come with a health warning, just one more vid and will stop I swear :-)

[Miacorva]

A hundred years ago it was the literature that was being targeted at creating deviant behaviour, 50 years ago rock music was the source of the worlds young being led down dark paths.

Now we believe it is PC and console gaming? There will always be something for the fear mongerers to peddle.

Wish they would spend a little more time on those factors that remain with us; substance, domestic abuse etc. Fads come and go, generations will identify with them only for the next generation to move onto something else.

To much of anything can be dangerous, personally each person is responsible for moderating their behaviour.

Hmmm, can't spend to much time on the forums really need to go play Pac Man otherwise I will start to twitch again ;p

[Crystalizer]

i play most evenings at least for 3h, a bit more during weekends, but since recently i start to have some lil breaks like not logging some days, i think i have reached several steps in ddo, the most important is that now i want to play mostly one character, logging others is generally to farm ingredients. so raid timers stop me from logging more. i start to get bored of the game mechanisms which tend to get more & more simple. i also realized that high end-game as epic content is very boring, extremely repetitive and reduces a lot my game experience since you don't need a brain for epic but brute force & healing. so i have started to read "The Farseer Trilogy" and to check incoming mmos.

[Flicka.Irl]

A hundred years ago it was the literature that was being targeted at creating deviant behaviour, 50 years ago rock music was the source of the worlds young being led down dark paths.

Now we believe it is PC and console gaming? There will always be something for the fear mongerers to peddle.

Wish they would spend a little more time on those factors that remain with us; substance, domestic abuse etc. Fads come and go, generations will identify with them only for the next generation to move onto something else.

To much of anything can be dangerous, personally each person is responsible for moderating their behaviour.

Hmmm, can't spend to much time on the forums really need to go play Pac Man otherwise I will start to twitch again ;p

You should have added in "**** Catholic Church" condeming us forplaying Dungeons and Dragons in pen and paper format all those years ago. They called it evil and the devils game.... :-)

[Crystalizer]

a comparison between tv and video games is interesting, while watching tv is a "standard" behavior very much accepted, video gaming is still considered by a bit part of the population as a children/teenagers activity. i don't consider video gaming as a devious activity compared to tv, tv doesn't require any effort, video games stimulate a way more your brain and should help much video gamers to have a brain a way healthier than tv watchers when they get old.

[Lutebasher]

You should have added in "**** Catholic Church" condeming us forplaying Dungeons and Dragons in pen and paper format all those years ago. They called it evil and the devils game.... :-)

I dont think Rome can claim all the credit for Exposing D+D for its Real Worth....

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

OT.... It's all Balance.. and Yes Panorama lost the Plot many years ago... Last night for example was the Worthy Reporting of over sexualised Teens.. I played DDO instead..

all the best!

[selvetran2]

so i have started to read "The Farseer Trilogy"

Make sure you read the other Robin Hobb books as well Cryst,especially "The Tawny man" trilogy.Awesome writing

[Crystalizer]

Make sure you read the other Robin Hobb books as well Cryst,especially "The Tawny man" trilogy.Awesome writing

oki dok, i will

[The-Last-Wolf]

Hi All,

Just watched the program (thanks for the link).

First Disclaimer: I am not now nor have I ever been a parent.

What struck me was the how this program seemed to completely miss what I would say is the key element here. Parental supervision. There were 2 classic quotes in the report, the Korean mother with the "I used to hit him a lot, we never talked" and the English mother with the "I didn't realise he was playing 10 hours a day" (both paraphrased).

The thing that struck me both times was "HELLO!" do we see a bit of a root cause here? How can you not know your kid is staying up all night playing video games ALL THE TIME?

My parents (who were not saints in any way) did make sure I did my homework, got enough sleep, and encouraged me to take part in social activities. So despite being "into" computer games since I was 9 (and yes pong was there lol).

Is it really that hard to notice your teenager has become a freindless social recluse who never leaves his bedroom?

2nd Disclamer: I am not suggesting modern parenting is easy and asking the question not making a judgement

I would love to hear the opinions of parents on this.

Regards
Wolf

[Kreaper]

Why is it not 'pc' to have gaming as a hobby but if you watch 10-15 hours of tv a week (1-2 hours a day on average) that's perfectly normal?

Older generations used to say the same thing about watching tv back in the 60's-70's. Now, the tv generation from back then is saying that about gaming and surfing the net. It's just another cycle.

[Lutebasher]

Older generations used to say the same thing about watching tv back in the 60's-70's. Now, the tv generation from back then is saying that about gaming and surfing the net. It's just another cycle.

Pah.. It's the Wireless ye need to Watch... Alvar Lidell was the Anti-Christ!... (I'm sure i read somewhere.....may or may not be true.. your experience of alvar lidell may differ... etc etc and so on)