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Puzzle Games (Games) Entertainment Games

On Online Backgammon And Gaming Addiction 42

Posted by simoniker from the detox-with-yahtzee dept.
Thanks to the New York Times for its article (free reg. req.) discussing game addiction as it relates to playing backgammon online. The author, who found "a deep, narcotic satisfaction in online backgammon" at sites such as Itsyourturn.com and DailyGammon, tries to discuss what gaming addiction is, and whether it's healthy. Dr. Eric Hollander, the director of the Compulsive, Impulsive, and Anxiety Disorders Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, argues with regard to this addiction: "Everyone has their own optimal level of arousal... If you're understimulated, you're bored, and if you are overstimulated, you're uncomfortable. This is a way of regulating that process." [However, Dr.Hollander did also say "I recently got a BlackBerry, and I have this compulsive e-mail checking [habit] now."] Can you relate these 'casual game' addictions to more often discussed MMO addiction, and if not, how do they differ?
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On Online Backgammon And Gaming Addiction More

On Online Backgammon And Gaming Addiction

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  • Animal Crossing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Sunday July 11, 2004 @07:11PM (#9670312) Homepage
    Animal Crossing is like crack!

    I've never been one to get hooked on anything, but after I discovered Animal Crossing a few years ago, I quick got hooked on it's charmed. I played it every day for months (very unusual for me), and I wouldn't be suprised if my highschool GPA would have been a little higher if I hadn't discovered it.

    Eventually it started to get boring and while I still liked playing, I didn't care nearly as much. When I eventually quit, while I didn't have a problem quitting, I felt this weird guilt that I left everyone in my town without me.

    I can't wait for AC 2 :).

    • Yes, I found that I was playing almost every day for a month or two. But then I'd discovered all the fossils and paid off my house, and there just wasn't the same desire to go back in.
  • I have a top-of-the-line (as of 3 months ago) PC, an XBox, a PS2, and a GameCube. I can get enough Freecell. I think it has to do with the fact that it takes some problem solving skills and you can start or stop a game on the drop of a hat (even come back to a game halfway into it).

    • Well, if you're so addicted to Freecell, you probably don't want to find out about NetCell [freecell.com] then. It's an online version of Freecell, but can be played with variations in cells and columns. It also has an online ranking system that compares everyone and their completed game streaks. You know you're one of the best Freecellers in the world if you can make it into the top 100 "all time" ladder. There are tournaments held regularly, where you compete against others in being the fastest. It even has a cust
      • >No, you definitely do not want to know about Netcell. So forget about what I said, and just continue your normal healthy addiction to Freecell.

        Damn you! Now I will never find time for online porn! ... oh, wait... :)

  • They have the internet on computers now? (Score:4, Funny)

    by vehn23 ( 684035 ) on Sunday July 11, 2004 @07:28PM (#9670424)
    What a terribly written and postulated article of what can only be a horribly bored person who just recently discovered that when you "wire" a "network" of computers together, it can be used to play games! Wake up the president!

  • Optimal Level of stimulation? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by LXAC08 ( 795996 ) on Sunday July 11, 2004 @07:31PM (#9670440) Journal
    It seems like over the centuries people's average "Optimal level of stimulation" has risen. The newest generation is the worst: Watching an online movie while playing a gaim and running instant messages with 30 people at once. Eventually people might be unable to focus long enough on anything in order to accomplish anything, but that's just my 2 cents.

    • Re:Optimal Level of stimulation? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'm not sure how the ability to tollerate or handle multiple sources of stimulation is a bad thing, and I don't think that this is something magical that has happened to those durned kids in last couple years either. I remember watching TV with my parents when I was a wee lad, and often times my brother and I would have toys, or books or otherthings that we did while watching television. My dad might thumb through a book, and my mother may have been doing something else. How is this any differnet than today
      • I don't think you can make the claim that kids of today are stupid because they can walk and chew gum at the same time.

        I'm not saying they're stupid for "being able to walk and chew gum at the same time" but the average attention span that people will give to any given subject could decrease to the point where they are incapable of making progress at anything, since they move on so quickly. They then cease to be valuable members of society, regardless of intelligence or lack thereof.
      • People don't really read and watch TV at the same time. That's a falsehood. They're either reading with the TV on in the background with the latter getting next to no attention or watching TV with a book open. The idea that people can somehow get full comprehension of both media at the same time (which is what you imply) is ridiculous.
        • With the low level of content in television, its quite easy to get full comprehension of both at once.
        • Personally I don't know whether people can do it or not; I haven't done any studies on it. However I do know that YOU shouldn't be assuming something is impossible just because you can't do it.

          There are quite probably a lot of people out there who are better than you and they might be able to do it.
          • I'm not really talking about whether or not I can do it. I mean it may become a problem in the future if the trend continues I guess people will adapt is the ultimate message here, besides the clear assertion of one's own superiority.
        • I'm afraid that you're wrong. I find it quite easy to sit and read a book whilst watching tv. As another poster has mentioned the actual content in tv is quite small and I get quite bored if just sitting and watching tv. I can quite happily sit with a book and flick backwards and forwards doing both at the same time. Films are harder, and you tend to end up mostly involved in one or the other with the other activity receeding into the background.

  • Whether it's healthy? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rufus88 ( 748752 ) on Sunday July 11, 2004 @07:34PM (#9670462)
    Since when has any addiction ever been healthy? It seems to me that the relevant question is not whether it's healthy, but rather, how unhealthy is it?

    • Re:Whether it's healthy? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      In order for a behavior to be labled "addiction" as per the DSM IV, it must include harmful or maladaptive behavior.

      If it isn't harmful, it isn't an addiction. And before you flame this down remember that the word addiction itself is a pretty diluted term at this point (I am addicted to chocolate!), but the techincal term addiction means something very specific.

  • Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)

    by complete loony ( 663508 ) <Jeremy.Lakeman@noSPam.gmail.com> on Sunday July 11, 2004 @07:39PM (#9670502)
    I suppose most of us would include reading Slashdot.

  • Backgammon Addiction (Score:3, Interesting)

    by moneymatteo ( 776324 ) on Sunday July 11, 2004 @08:20PM (#9670688)
    I've seen friends drop out of society for Online Backgammon. What's really addictive is when money and player to player instant transfers are at stake on backgammon sites like GamesGrid .. I've seen people up $50,000 in an evening and back down before sunrise. If you do persue this route consider picking up the neural network software package 'Snowie' which analyzes your opponent's skill. If you find one who consistantly scores less than you then you can play them for cash over a period of time and enjoy casino odds in your favor which can range from 55-75%.

    • Re:Backgammon Addiction (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Castaa ( 458419 )
      If you were playing online backgammon for money would one be worried that their oponent was using a computer backgammon program (on a second machine) to play nearly perfect backgammon to beat you?

      Backgammon seems to be a simple enough game were a computer could play very completively. Since the branching factor for backgammon seems to me to pretty low compared to say chess or go.
      • Frickin A, computer nothing. You can simply learn the optimal branches for back gammon. It's only a few steps beyond tic-tac-toe.
        • A few steps beyond tic-tac-toe??? That is the 'beauty' of playing backgammon for money. People who have the wrong belief that backgammon is but a simple game anyone could master with a couple of months are commonly refered to as 'piegons'..aka suckers. A great source of income. People who will continuely play masters and lose their life savings blaming it on bad dice rolls and not understanding the immense skill of an opponent who will consistantly win 60-70% of the time. If you are interested in the math
          • But backgammon is mathematicly grounded. At any point, there's 1 particular move that gives you the best odds of winning (taking into account thhe relative frequency of each die roll). Computer programs attempt to calculate that move each turn. And do fairly well, they can solve backgammon far better than they can chess. And only the best in the world can win versus the best chess computers.
            • Yes it it Mathmatically grounded, as with chess. The big difference is you can't mark skill by an individual win. A novice backgammon player could beat a grand master level program on a single game. However only the top .001 percent of players could beat that program in a money series to 100 or in any extended point play.
              • I'm the original person you responded to and I have been playing for years. I will look into the book you suggest, but really .... I guess I'm missing something because it doesn't seem to be nearly as complex as chess and at each given opportunity there is always a 'best' move that should not be incredibly difficult to at least memorize.
      • People are worried about playing against computers online. But most professionals analyze their matches with software and watch their back for fishy gameplay that is too perfect. http://www.bgsnowie.com/ is the best tool for analyzing gameplay. It's not trivial to have two computers running and pull of the perfect backgammon game because 95% of the game is played out so fast and organically, there is a certain look and feel to human gameplay. it could be emulated of course, but it's not a trivial scam.

  • Been there, done that (Score:4, Interesting)

    by solferino ( 100959 ) <hazchem AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday July 11, 2004 @08:31PM (#9670742) Homepage
    Signed up for a free three month trial of netgammon in 1997. Each day I worked an 8 hour day in front of the computer, came home, cooked and ate dinner, then sat in front of the computer and played backgammon till 4 or 5 in the morning. Was very addictive. As one of my first experiences of online culture I really enjoyed being able to chat with ppl from all over the world while playing the game.

    When the free three month subscription ran out I was happy to call it a day and go cold turkey on my addiction.

    Still love backgammon though. Such a beautiful game. Can't stand chess. Intrigued by go.

    • I am here to destroy your life. :)
      You can play for _free_ at fibs.org
      kbackgammon has a fibs backend, and there are Java and native Windows clients (like BBGT)
      There are some pretty good players over there.
      • Thanks for that help towards self-destruction.

        Actually I have read about fibs and it sounds great. In fact it sounds so good that I have decided to stay away, based on my previous debillitating experience. I congratulate you if you are able to keep yourself under control with an always-on-tap pool of really good players just waiting for a game. I know I can't.
  • Ever since I told my friend about how I used to play TetriNet a few years ago, he has been playing it day and night! He's literally addicted and has gotten several others addicted as well...he's an odd one anyway, he won't play any good FPS because they "give him headaches"...
    • re: FPS giving headaches

      not wierd at all, 1 hour of q3a or UT would give me an intense motion sickness / headache feeling, probably because I am trying to crawl into the screen / see around corners , and generally looking too hard and not blinking enough. This is why I switched to bzflag (i play at least 3 times a week.) it is a much slower less twitchy experience that leaves me headache free.

  • Yes, I suffer from this too (Score:3, Funny)

    by dancingmad ( 128588 ) on Sunday July 11, 2004 @09:54PM (#9671221)
    Reloading slashdot...over and over...
  • Can you relate these 'casual game' addictions to more often discussed MMO addiction, and if not, how do they differ?

    (cracking voice)
    Gee shucks mr. simon! I dunno, golly, that's a hard one! I'll need some time for that one!
  • Why is this even worth writing an article about?

    It's not like there's not backgammon addicts running around IRL, playing for $5-10 (or more) per point (potential of 3*x^2 points per game, depending on cube action) running around bars & coffee houses.

    Just because backgammon's not as popular as something like poker does not mean that it's any less of a gambling game (and, IMHO, it's the perfect blend of skill & random chance, making it a supreme gambling game). Gambling is a recognized addiction; d

  • Modern society... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @11:21AM (#9675731)
    ...has made us all neurotic bastards.

    Now excuse me while I go wash my sink faucet 10 times.

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