online gaming addiction: a new disorder?
A great article by Nick Yee explores the foundations of "Internet Addiction Disorder" (IAD) and whether it actually applies to habitual online gaming. His conclusion is that it does not, and in fact attempts to disassemble the criteria established by Kimberly Young in a 1996 study to diagnose "internet addiction" in general. I really like how he compared gaming to what our society deems as acceptable timesinks: watching TV (annoyingly passive for a gamer), playing golf every weekend or working long hours. While he makes his own share of generalizations, the crux of his argument is that this "disorder" is not new, and actually stems from underlying problems the person usually possesses like low self esteem or depression - the same approach taken to address addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling.
By calling it "online gaming addiction", the media encourages us to think that we're dealing with a very new problem…If people can develop behavioral dependencies on any activity, then why are we surprised that some people develop dependencies on online games? Why is it news? I contend it is mostly because we've always used the word "addiction" to mark out deviant social activities in a way that treats them as unique predators, as emergent problems which we've never seen before. But once we shift our framework to one of general behavioral dependencies, then we have to abandon this view. What we're seeing is actually a very old problem.
After enjoying World of Warcraft for just under a year, I contend that I drifted dangerously close to the point of what may be considered "addiction", where I actually questioned my level of involvement with the game. I never played for more than 4 hours at a time, but it was the routine of it all - nothing else seemed to matter. I needed to log in every day to check my mail to see if I won auctions, or to journey to a new area so I can get some quests off of my list. In-game social activity was minimal, which was even more disturbing. On days where there was server maintenance or I couldn't log in, I occasionally felt listless and didn't want to do anything else - not even play other games.
I can appreciate the allure of MMORPGs, because they are dynamic in the sense that there is real-time interaction between actual humans. Whether it's trading goods or joining a pickup group, even if no actual words are exchanged, it's easy to get the feeling that maybe there is more to the game than originally thought. Sadly, there isn't, and it's no replacement for real life. One of my favorite mental checks for any game is to think about what was actually accomplished after each session. What did I really have to show for the past two hours? Though don't be alarmed - this is no different than sitting in front of the TV for hours on end. I would much rather engage in a series of inconsequential quests than passively subject myself to someone else's idea of what is entertaining or exciting.
All of this also makes me wonder about the term "addiction": should we really be using it as a favorable descriptor for games? Many reviewers like to fall back on calling a game "addictive" because there really is no other way to describe an immediately absorbing brand of gameplay. But we have to be reminded that society at large views this term in a wholly negative light, and as Yee points out in his article, is associated with "deviant social activities". With gaming enthusiasts eager to have their passion recognized as an art form, perhaps it's time to start viewing the games on their individual merits instead of wedging interchangeable words into a game's qualities, which only serve to perpetuate the negative reputation of the medium in the long run.
no sinister plague will poison us