Addiction is lack of self control. Any form of entertainment or enjoyment can be obsessed over.
Video games by their design can be very addictive.
They are power fantasies that make any Average Joe become the most important man in the world if only in the confines of their home.
It seems that every year there is a new game coming out with more advanced graphic fidelity or gaming strategy that it’s no surprise that people would rather be shut ins then actually do activities that involve social contact with others.
Research shows that that only 10-to-15 percent of gamers actually get addicted to video games.
The American Medical Association defines heavy game usage as more then two hours per day. But lets be honest what true gamer only spends two hours gaming a day.
Gaming can be appealing to any average person being allowed to escape your regular life into a virtual world. They take you to places impossible to this world be it magic, elves and dragons or maybe an interstellar war between humanity and alien invaders.
Gaming allows a cathartic release of the daily stresses of life, of the responsibilities around you.
The need to balance jobs, family, and friends can be an overwhelming feeling of responsibility that stepping into an alternate reality can be like a home away from home.
Though sometimes gamers can over step there gaming sessions and play for hours on end.
Although gaming addiction doesn’t have some serious physical consequences such as drug and alcohol addictions, medical studies by CRC health group gaming can cause carpal tunnel syndrome from the overuse of a mouse or game controller, migraines for continually focusing on your computer screen or TV for to long.
For some people the social consequences can be neglect from other relationships out of the video game world.
But like all addictions you can kick them. And the only way to do that with video game addiction is to mediation on how long play.
I know the fact of “leveling up” continuously wants to makes gamers want to game on but the facts are gaming is the can be addicting just like comics, movies, music and alcohol but you just have to proportion your gaming time.
As Charles Dickens once said: “Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess”