First-Person Account Of Video Game Addiction 473
The Evil Couch writes "Jive Magazine, an entertainment magazine based in Atlanta, has just released a feature article that the editor has spent over a year investigating on gaming addiction. Starting from being on the outside of the gaming community, she has gone from being a somewhat normal person, to being one of the higher level characters in Anarchy Online. 'People have worse entertainment addictions than playing computer games. If I am going to be addicted to something, I would choose online gaming over drugs, bowling, gambling, television, or being a baseball fanatic easily. I don't have to wear ugly shoes, lose my hard earned money or do the wave next to someone I don't know and that just about makes it a no-brainer for me. It IS after all just a video game, like Neal describes in his great novel, Snow Crash. It is just another amusement park.' Sounds like a happy ending to me."
Addiction Social Interaction (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not advocating drug use or even sexual addiction, but just disagreeing on the issue of computer game addiction. I've gone through phases when I've spent a lot of time playing computer games, mostly offline but sometimes online, and the main benefit is the sense of escape, not skill development or interaction with others.
It can be a lot worse (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds pretty far fetched, but MUDs can be so damn enticing.
What Industry is THIS? (Score:5, Interesting)
After reading through the article, I fail to find what the first industry alluded to in that paragraph is. It doesn't seem to be gaming, or more correctly, online gaming. It does seem to be a "drug infested haven". Sounds like the U.S. Congress, or perhaps Big Business.
Sounds like the husband that... (Score:5, Interesting)
- Doesn't beat his wife.
- Doesn't drink.
- Doesn't do drugs.
- Doesn't sleep around.
But all he does do is sit in front of the TV and talk on Internet chat rooms. Just because you don't beat your wife doesn't mean you are a good person. And just because playing video games doesn't make you a bad person doesn't mean it is good for you.--Your sex [tilegarden.com]
Where's the line? (Score:4, Interesting)
When I do get a new C&C game, I normally spend the next 3 weeks playing that in my free time. I find myself staying up until 3 or 4 am, and my girlfriend gets hooked too, so that doesn't help things (is she an "enabler?"). After about 3 weeks, it doesn't give me as much of a "high" as it used to, so I don't play it as much. But then comes the expansion pack and another 3 weeks of my life.
So I ask you, when does this become an addiction and when is it just being a fan?
If you think about it... (Score:1, Interesting)
Addiction is Addiction (Score:4, Interesting)
The addiction to EQ and MMORPG's is very similar. There is a sense of community that is often lacking in our 'real world' For me, it was emotional support that my wife didnt have the energy to give me while dealing with our child.
It's easy to call people who get addicted to games losers, or deride them for their lack of character. But in the end, it's about finding something there we dont find elsewhere. I was on the beta for Earth and Beyond, and even ran a fansite in the days before it was even beta... but I got out when I saw myself going down the same road I had in 95. Not everyone can do that... and the sooner people realise the fact that these games are addictive for a reason and make the effort to break the cycle, the sooner there will be less Everquest Widows.
It's just a game, but you can Loose your Job (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah right. Just ask the two people I know who actually LOST THEIR JOBS because of game addictions. These statements are nothing but self-serving masturbation to give game addicts a false sense of security that they don't have a real problem.
Sure, game addiction isn't as bad as crack or alchohol, but I've seen it cause serious havoc in people's lives, including getting fired from their jobs, just like alchoholics and drug addicts.
Casual gaming is great, and maybe even constructive, just like social drinking. But when it becomes an addiction it can be as disruptive to your life as any other kind of addiction, and ignoring it or saying it is OK because it's not physically harmful like alchohol is doing a disservice to people with serious cases who may need help before they end up in the unemployment line.
Addiction (Score:2, Interesting)
My point is this however. Since then I've done and tried a variety of different drugs and while they're fun, they've never interfered with my life in any way, and I always felt like I got bored really quickly and it was just a pasttime. also I rarely drink and it doesn't really appeal to me most of the time.
I was really good about not playing games for a while. But I had to go cold turkey..
Then a year ago one day I was suppose to to meet up with this girl that I really liked and I ended up playing puzzle fighter for 8 hours straight and totally losing track of time. After that I wiped all my games and broke all my game cds and vowed never to return to video games.
So really for me games interfered with my life as much as a serious drug problem would, I disagree that it's 'better' than a drug addiction. Maybe somewhat more healthy physically I guess.
I am addicted to beautiful women. (Score:1, Interesting)
games shouldn't be referred to as "addictive" (Score:2, Interesting)
You don't call books you can't resist putting down, or movies you keep watching over and over addictive do you? You call them compelling. Addictive implies a physical addiction and being in a category together with crack. Compelling implies something being of so high quality, it naturally is something you don't want to stop (whichever medium applicable) playing/watching/reading/listening to/thinking about.
That's about as breif a summary as I can make of the (free subscription required) article.
games == all this life has to offer me (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been a gamer since the age of six. Eighteen years later I'm still saving the world, slaying dragons, and rescuing princesses. What did you do today?
Seriously though, gaming is all I have ever known. A broken home didn't offer much stimulation. Interaction at home was practically nonexistant. Unless you're the aggressive type. I don't feed on it, so it never really interested me. My sister on the other hand, seems to crave it.
School was no sanctuary either. Of course, I was the geek. In the entire school there was maybe 6 of us. Yes we spent our time playing Dungeons and Dragons, Doom, and whatnot. But can you honestly sit here and tell me that these are bad addictions that cause me to be anti-social, lazy, and a unproductive member of society?
You obviously have no idea what gaming can be about. Have you ever thought to look into how much effort goes into preparing for a weekend of D&D? And how much fun you AND YOUR FRIENDS can have together. Social interaction is NOT necessarily defined by hanging out at the mall, or at work long hours with coworkers - it could be in the comfort of your own home with some close friends). A lot of gamers are recluses because of the way they are stereotyped. This thread is dripping with it.
I can only argue with the ignorant for so long before I realize it's futile (hence rarely posting on
Try talking to a hardcore gamer about games. You'd be surprised how much more there is to it. Talk about what interests you. I bet (s)he can twist whatever you do for fun into an 'addiction' too.
Is it really an addiction if this is the only thing life really has to offer that is stimulating? If the outside world is dull and bland, why be there? Maybe it's not so wrong if the person can't break from time to time to deal woth work and such. Maybe that person realizes that what he is doing is more important to him/her than going to that crappy job again. Let me assure you that work and relationships are not the end-all-be-all of this world. If they are for you, I'm sorry. You're going to need a lot of help.
Sure, some people are weak willed and are late for work, miss a payment, or whatever because they were playing a game. How many times have you come to work late because you were up late drinking? Or on a date the night beore? Or reading a book all night that you've been dying to read? Or even working late the previous evening? My point being, you can twist anything in to an addiction. Nothing in this world is healthy for you. You might as well do something you enjoy and ignore people that have nothing better to do that stroke their egos by telling you you're useless because you enjoy something they can't even begin to grasp.
Oh I'm sorry, It's not addiction if it's your thing, right? Didn't mean to point any fingers. But for the purposes of this article, stop thinking about fishing this weekend for a second, stop typing your lures, and take that ridiculous hat off. Oh, but fishing is productive... I forgot. Because you do it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to bed. I'm up 2 hours past my bedtime because I was playing Baldur's Gate : Dark Alliance. I enjoyed every minute of it. I'll still be enjoying it at work tonight while I have to put up with the boss. I'll be half asleep thinking to myself while he drones on about what a pitiful man he is, what a worthless existence we all are really living, and how I'm going to save the world or slay a dragon later tonight. No respect I tell ya...
Re:Horse shit. (Score:2, Interesting)
The Nature of Addiction (Score:2, Interesting)
addiction
1a. Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.
1b. An instance of this: a person with multiple chemical addictions.
2a. The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
2b. An instance of this: had an addiction for fast cars.
Perhaps this source isn't reputable enough to support my upcoming claim, but I'd like to point out that the preceding definition makes no mention of the impact addiction has on one's social life. I'm pointing this out because the cited article, and public conciousness, tends to append "social desolation" to addiction's list of symptoms.
This bothers me. My roommate has a heavy, self-professed dependency on soda. My parents can't get started in the morning without a cup of coffee. My siblings will fall over dead (I kid you not!) if they miss "awesome tv show X." However, they all have healthy social lives; does this mean they are not addicted? Just because these habits don't separate them from society doesn't mean they aren't addictions, IMHO.
I, on another hand, have no social life; in fact, I'm generally loathe to interact with people. I would rather hack than "hang out" (::shudder::). Does this mean I am addicted to hacking?
I find that I am happiest hacking, that is why I choose to do it. I find that I dislike socializing, and it substracts from the time I have available to my personal pursuits, so I choose not to do it. These are concious decisions; neither compulsive nor habitual. I also vacation from hacking at intervals, and I indulge in many other hobbies and interests in addition to hacking; though it may be my primary occupation, it is not the sole proprietor of my livelihood. Therefore, I would conclude that I am not addicted to it.
On the contrary, it is those individuals who simply _must_ interact with each other in perpetuity that are the addicts
Note: I am aware that this post constitutes a form of human interaction. My aforementioned lack of a social life is in the traditional sense; I do manage to exchange information with other human beings through various mediums from time to time.
Re:Sounds worse than... (Score:3, Interesting)
Gotta do a Java assignment, I sit there, and reload Slashdot every 5 minutes when I'm supposed to stare at the code and think a bit. Sucks.
My name is netsharc, and I'm a slash-addict. Anyone else wanna share their story?
Look at the log in your own eyes (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's the real end of the story. People are responsible for the consequences of their own actions. Of the myriad positions made on this point, the ones that have been modded up appear to fall into one of two catagories.
1) These "gaming addicts" are worthless and spineless, without the self control the gods gave moths.
2) The games made me do it! I couldn't stop myself! They're dangerous! Keep away!
There is (at the very least) a third way to look at the whole "addiction" scenario. Maybe, just maybe, people have respsonsibly taken a look at the world around them, their lives, and sundry other things, and have chosen to spend a large portion of their time playing video games. Who gave any of you the right to pass judgement on another person's social situation? Hmm? I'm waiting. The world is a hellhole these days. Our government seems intent on passive-agressively stripping us of our rights, moving us inexorably toward the gods know what kind of war. People with a grudge against me because of a government I can't stand and have excercised my franchise against are out there looking to kill anyone who might happen to be around, and scare the fuck out of the rest of them. If you disagree with anyone, they want you marginalized or dead. I wouldn't wish this world on anyone. How can you be surprised that people would feel the need to form their own communities to try and insulate themselves. Why do you give a damn whether that community is online or person-to-person?
No one gets out of this alive, eh? So take a look at the log in your own eye before you worry about those around you. You techno-fetishistic, mysoginist, life-less circuit-heads. (Hit a little close to home? Good. No? Consider yourself suitably insulted, in whatever way fits.)
Re:Real addiction. (Score:3, Interesting)
While you have a good point about why, in general, FPS games are far less addictive / destructive than the more "social" games, I would like to add that here at the U of F I have a suitemate who, almost every other night, will stay up until six in the morning playing Counterstrike online. This often causes him to sleep in for the rest of the day and miss an entire day's worth of classes. He even dropped two classes this semester because of this problem.
So yes, while MMORPGs are generally more addictive than FPSs, even a seemingly innocent FPS has the capability to wreak havoc on one's "real" life. I suppose that this can only get worse in the future, with advanced system such as Xbox Live providing an even more social online gaming experience.
Re:Video game and technology addiction hurt[my sto (Score:4, Interesting)
I started p;aying games back when I was about seven years old. It all started with my NES, and man did I love it. I played it hard for a while, about 3 or 4 hours a day. Not much longer, we got a computer, and I started playing Dune 2, I lost so much time to those games. By the time I got to high school, I was the biggest gamer in my school.
I remember back in grade eight, the teacher had us all write something nice about each of us on a piece of paper. Out of about 25 people, 15 or so all said either, he is good at nintendo or video games. I never realised that this was bad. I am naturally intelligent, and I did no homework or notes or studying for tests. I was able to pull about an eighty average, while playing these games.
Once I got to high school, I started to get more advanced games, I had an N64, SNES, and a powerful computer (heck, I am typing this on that computer) I was playing hardcore my Command and Conquer and zelda on the nintendos. My marks were slumping a bit, but I was not challenged by the classes and I didn't care. Then in grade eleven we got the internet. I started downloading so much junk, and playing online games like a crazed heiena on crystal meth. My marks were about eighty because I was "learning" so much from the internet. Then I discovered pokemon, Final Fantasy, and a few other games that I hardcore played.
I was logging on about eight hours a day on those things, that and downloading music. I never did any homework, all I was doing was playing games of half-life, and Total Annihilation. It was about halfway through my final year, and I started to really think about what I had been doing.
I was by far the most intelligent person in the school, but I wasn't going to get any scholorship because I did not work in the classes and that brought down my grades. (I ended up second in the class by about 1%) I have never had a girlfriend. I was drastically overweight. I had spent tons of money on games and internet connections. I had never learnt how to do homework or to study. My grammer and language skills were degrading and as were my skills in the real world.
After that I entered university, and I made a promise to myself. No more video games. I packed up my nintendos and my computer games and left them at home, while I went off to the university. Now in my second year, I am faced with the aftermath of my life I had when I was younger. I have already lost about 50 lbs in the last year and a half. I have made numerous friends. My self-esteem has skyrocketed. I will freely admit that I was addicted, but I have worked with it and now have it undercontrol.
Like all addictions, one never gets over it. I have on this computer very few games, like solitare, and I catch myself playing them, even though I try not to. I surf the web far to much, like right now, I am typing on slashdot instead of studing for my econ final tomorrow that is worth 100%. They are hard to deal with, and when I first stopped the games, I felt strange.
I still to this day have problems stemming from the games I played in my youth. I have poor workhabits, and at university that causes failure. I have never had a girlfriend. However, I do have some good things that came from the video games. I am a CS major, learning how to program in C++ probably inspired from all my computer games. I can hold my head up high and say to all my friends that I am a better game player than them. When I hear them talk about everquest, I laugh inside because I can see their addiction and they can't. They still get to beat thiers. I don't have the added wasted time here in universtiy of playing games, unlike some of them. I never watch TV, because I never got into it, and since I don't play games anymore, I have more free time than ever before. My work ethic is slowly growing better here in the University. My collection of video games it worth a lot.
True games have cost me alot, financally, physically, and mentally, but I have started to get out of the hole. I feel that I have had to face obsticals that have made me stronger overcoming them. I must say that instead of getting scholarships, but working for tuition has made me work harder at school.
Video games are addicting, but it is possible to get out from their grasp. The road to recovery is long and hard, but also fufilling and filled with rewards. The hardest step to take is the first one, to get rid of the games and work to be a better person.
Thanks Kendric
How to break a video-game addiction (Score:5, Interesting)
You need to break the mental cycle. Everything in your mind and around you can draw you back in. Go somewhere interesting and different for a week and a half, and make sure it takes at least 8 hours to get there. You may bring a laptop, but have no games installed and avoid web browsing. Leave music at home, and avoid anything that will remind you of home.
Phase 2: Enjoy your vacation
While on vacation, treat yourself to something nice. Remember what it's like to feel alive. Take a tour. Start up some conversations (Especially if you're single). If you're shy, force yourself to talk to some people. Your brain is outside of your normal cycle. Thoughts will take new paths and flow more freely. Take some photos.
Phase 3: Examine your life
At the end of your vacation, spend some time thinking about your situation. Are you happy with your job/career? Do you feel secure at home? Have you accomplished or are working towards your dreams/life plans? Think about your age, how much time you expect to have left, and how you'd like to spend that time.
Phase 4: Getting home
Put a vacation photo on your desktop to help empower your mind. At this point you won't have a desire to play games. You can do one of two things:
a) Hard approach - Treat the games as mental parasitic poison. Uninstall all of them. Get out some scissors and destroy the CDs.
b) Moderate approach - Games are ok in small amounts but keep an eye on yourself. Spend a certain time each day evaluating yourself and how you want to seriously live life.
Either way, you will suddenly have an abundance of free time. Do not turn on the TV! Avoid too much music! Feels boring, doesn't it? That's the true nature of reality. Spend this time wisely. Avoid receiving the negative influences and criticism that got you in trouble before.
Congratulations! You are a new person.
Just an excuse for immature behavior (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't see you mentioning sex. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sounds like rationalization to me... (Score:3, Interesting)
Real? (Score:3, Interesting)
Your viewpoint is very 80's.
Nano-HOWTO: Non-addictive computing habits (Score:4, Interesting)
Remember there's a world outside the MUD. That's easy to say, I know it, but there are a few easy techniques you can use to make sure you never forget that.
1. Every few hours, force yourself away from the computer, and go take a walk. Yes, I do mean outside. Yes, I am serious. Go now. You won't need to be away for THAT long, 20-30 minutes is how long I usually spend when trying to make sure that my passions for programming, knowledge (everything2 is as addictive as any MUD) and mudding don't develop into addictions. Sometimes, when you're feeling particularly reclusive, force yourself to take your walk in a populated area, just to make sure that your subconscious still has a fresh image of what people look like.
2. Remember that the values of the MUD world are not real. You may be the guild master, have a wizard character and a billion XP on your main mortal, but that shouldn't give you satisfaction enough that you forget real-world values. When was the last time you visited a friend? Are you neglecting your {girl|boy}friend? If you're having difficulties keeping these things in mind, a simple way to make sure you don't forget that XP can't give you a hug when you need one is to take a long mudding break every now and then. I mean at least a couple of weeks. When you get back, some of the competition may have climbed to a higher experience level than you, but you should be able to see that this is not the end of the world.
3. A weak mind is more prone to obsessive behaviour and addiction than a strong one. The mind lives in your brain, and your brain is part of the complex system that is the human body. If you're an anti-social gamer/MUDder/noder/coder, odds are you feed on a strict diet of sugar, starch, spice, caffeine and nicotine, and never get any exercise. I know you don't want to, but you really have to change this. Keep a bowl of fresh fruit nearby instead of the bag of chips. Get some daily exercise. Keep in mind that your body is a system of which your brain is a part. As a computer geek, you should know that overall performance is improved if you eliminate bottlenecks. A possible explanation for the silly old adage that a healthy soul lives in a healthy body is that the supply of blood (with fresh, life-giving oxygen and other goodness!) to your brain possibly becomes more efficient if you keep your body more efficient. This will remind you that you HAVE a body, something computer obsessions make you forget.
4. Make sure you have at least one hobby not related to computers, and make sure you maintain it with the same zeal that powers your computing hobby. Learn how to paint, learn how to play a musical instrument or use your voice as one, take up martial arts, whatever. The point is to make sure you don't forget that your mind can do other things than play MUDs / write e2 nodes / write C code. Aikido and playing the electric bass worked for me, your mileage may vary. This will also give a rich quality to your hobby life / voluntary skill development that you wouldn't have gotten on computers alone. Nowadays I'm as likely to spend a couple of hours honing my slap/pop technique or learning a scale as I am to spend them hacking away on the computer.
5. See people who don't play MUDs. Ideally, people who don't like computers at all. No, they're not lamers. No, they're not ignorant. They just have different interests than you, and "different" does not necessarily imply "superior" or "inferior". Go to your local heavy metal bar, or hang out with your newfound band or martial arts buddies, or whatever. This will help you remember that other people have interesting lives too, which in turn will help you remember that there is a vast and interesting world with billions of rooms and the most well-coded mobs you've ever seen, right in front of you!
An alcoholic / drug addict can never become a social drinker / casual user, but an obsessed gamer, programmer or e2 noder most certainly can develop sane computing habits. Give it a try. Learning to appreciate the real world trains your mind and makes computing more enjoyable, not less. You're a human being, your mind makes you able to do lots of interesting things instead of just focusing on one single skill. Specialization is for insects.
I speak as someone who has been through both an alcohol addiction and a period of obsessive MUDding.
process addictions (Score:2, Interesting)
Interaction, bandwidth, and watching the box (Score:4, Interesting)
The first is that, for some reason which is never explained, interaction with humans by going out and meeting them in the flesh is somehow good, while interacting with their chosen images in an online world is somehow bad. There are many reasons why this argument is threadbare, and there are even counterarguments to favor online interaction, but I'll point out just one fallacy that undermines it all: so-called "direct" interaction is actually nothing of the sort, it's just better-integrated electronic interaction with those people in your physical proximity. Your eyes and ears (both electronic signal interfaces) provide you with most of that alleged "direct" interaction unless you're in sexual contact, and that's no different online. The difference is primarily one of bandwidth and degree of integration with your senses; it's early days in that respect online, admittedly, but if your anti-online argument relies on those underdeveloped aspects of it then you have to admit that your argument will lose validity in the future as those things improve.
The second fallacy relates to bandwidth of interaction and its importance. The signals we receive are merely hints to our perceptual machinery, as our minds perform an immense amount of interpretation on the data that comes in. The extent of this internal processing is so collosal that we are easily immersed in virtual worlds when reading novels, and the bandwidth of incoming data there is absolutely minute, a tiny fraction of today's typical modem bandwidth. In a modern online MMRPG, the bandwidths involved are much closer to those in so-called "direct" interaction that those involved in reading, so the low-bandwidth argument is not convincing. In any case, I've yet to hear anyone trying to claim that reading is not worthwhile owing to low bandwidth compared to "direct" interaction with people.
And finally, since the topic of so many contributions has been addiction and loss of time that could better be spent in worthwhile personal development, it is worth pointing out an unstated or forgotten insincerity on the part of many people that criticize online worlds. Something like 85 percent of people in the developed world that come home after work or school and begin some form of entertainment (as opposed to more work), do so by turning on the television. This non-interactive medium spoon-feeds them brainless addictive pap for the masses for hours each day, almost entirely bypasses their intellectual machinery, wastes their time while creating nothing in which they can take pride, and certainly involves no worthwhile social interaction. The concept of a TV watcher somehow finding fault with people that inhabit an online world full to the brim with an intense interactive social fabric is so incongruous as to be funny.
PS. I come to this from the perspective of where things are going in a few decades' time. It wasn't so long ago that family and friends used to be puzzled by my inhabiting Internet communities like this one and many others --- "That's not real life, just gazing at a monitor, you shouldn't be wasting your time" was their (usually unstated) view. Now several of them use the Internet, and even inhabit their own online communities without any encouragement from me. Apparently there is "life" online as well, it turns out, haha. Well, it's early days still, I'll be the first to admit, but anyone that thinks of online worlds purely in terms of addiction and waste of time simply does not understand what the future holds.
Re:Sounds like rationalization to me... (Score:2, Interesting)
I've smoked pot on and off for ten years, at some stages I've been a heavy smoker (about a half ounce a week) and at other times I've hardly touched it.
I'm quite fit, healthy, I love my job and I'm a very motivated person.
Personal stories are just that, stories about you, unless you get the chance to relive your live you'll never know if it was the choices that you made or something about your own makeup that determined how your life went.
On the other hand, I've known people who have been 'damaged' by it in the same way. It is something that can screw you up if you're susceptible, or that can cause no harm if you're lucky. I'd say that is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco which will always cause damage if you use them continually.
I've recently quit smoking entirely (hated the nicotine addiction that all joint smokers tell themselves they don't have). I now stick to baked goods only.
I find that the effects that are frequently reported (lethargy, lack of motivation, ill-health etc) are those that are caused by nicotine. Perhaps it is the joints doing the damage rather than the drug they contain. Smoking is a very dangerous habit.
Re:games == all this life has to offer me (Score:3, Interesting)
If you're happy with it and causing nobody else harm, then that is fine. If you have income, can hold your job, and want for nothing more, then fine. If you pull yourself away to work properly and don't skive at your job to do it, great. But if not, and your productivity is suffering, you will be sacked sooner or later. Plenty of us out here work fucking hard for our money, and cannot take a life of leisure and skiving to the extremes you suggest you have.
Heck I'd love to just play music all day, but I probably won't ever get paid for that.
Re:Sounds like rationalization to me... (Score:3, Interesting)
I personally don't smoke (anything), but my social circle is primarily artists and musicians, most of whom smoke pot at least once in a while. My personal drug of choice is caffeine and I've got some great addict rationalizations for it
I've also noticed the lack of motivation thing among some heavy pot smoking friends (with one exception - which happens to be the person with manic depression). The casual users don't appear to have this problem.
...some points from a former evercrack addict (Score:1, Interesting)
Ok. Here are a few points.
1. Addictions to drugs, bowling, gambling or TV are more socially acceptable than addictions to MMORPG's. This explains why MMORPG's are an embarassing topic and why computer illiterate people have trouble understansing this type of addiction.
2. Historically people have been addicted to gambling, drugs, bowling(hey, it's possible...), TV, etc but this list does not include all possible addictions. It is possible to be addicted to anything, even virtual people that virtually meet. If you alter your lifestyle to accomodate your hobby then you have an addiction. It is that simple. If your hobby is underwater basket weaving and you spent your rent money on scuba gear then you have an addiction. Classic symtoms include skipping responsibilities, class, non-essential meals or in my case, avoiding friends and altering my work schedule to fit into my Everquest schedule.
3. Get outside help so you can verify if you have an addiction. As they say, 'denial' ain't just a river in Egypt. Your opinion certainly does matter but an impartial test of your hobby/addiction/whatever is what counts.
I had a major addiction to Everquest. I put in 30+ hours a week for two years. That's 3360 hours in two years or 140 days played. I finally came to realize that an addiction by any other name is still an addiction. Good news is I just got a 25% raise, am going to the gym again and dating - in fact I blew off a date tonight because I plan on doing 16 hours today - next addiction to master will be this workaholic thing, hehe.