Author:
Alex Gambler
Subject:
Public Relations
Material Type:
Case Study
Level:
College / Upper Division
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License:
Creative Commons Attribution
Language:
English
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Text/HTML

The psychology of gaming addiction

The psychology of gaming addiction

Overview

The short article about gaming addiction

Gaming addiction

In the modern world of new technologies and achievements, people are constantly dealing with various information systems. The computer has become an integral part of life for each of us, some use it for information purposes, others-for communication and Hobbies. Of course, the personal computer acts as an assistant, performing cognitive and communicative functions. But when the time spent near the computer exceeds the permissible norms, a person becomes socially isolated and is interested only in the virtual world, it makes sense to talk about computer addiction.

Among all types of computer addiction, game addiction is the most common. According to statistics, approximately 5% of people worldwide suffer from gambling and need psychological help. The gameplay itself is a natural occupation, the game is present in human life from birth. Everyone plays: football players on the field, a child in kindergarten, actors on stage. But with the birth of computers, much has changed, cyber-game Jackpot City review is radically different from the usual game, as a person is immersed in a different world, which is not like reality.

Gaming addiction

In its symptoms, gambling is similar to alcoholism and drug addiction. Symptoms of gaming addiction:

  •     pastime at the computer more than 5-7 hours a day;
  •     outbursts of aggression on the comments of others about gambling;
  •     the inability to escape from the computer game;
  •     eating at the computer;
  •     isolation from social contacts and society as a whole;
  •     agoraphobia;
  •     depersonalization;
  •     ignoring personal hygiene;
  •     use of psychostimulants;
  •     communication on themes exclusively s gaming themes;
  •     identification with the main character, complete dissolution in the game;
  •     state of euphoria during gameplay;
  •     investing money in the gameplay or on equipment for games.

Physiological symptoms of gambling:

  •     dry eye;
  •     pallor of the skin, anemia;
  •     back pain, curvature of the spine;
  •     headache;
  •     insomnia;
  •     exhaustion, starvation (in severe cases — dehydration);
  •     acceleration of metabolism;
  •     palpitations and pulse rate.

There is a large variety of computer games that are interesting in their own way gamers, but the most dangerous for the psyche are network games. The person at first simply identifies with the hero, then there is a complete dissolution in the virtual world and departure from reality. People live in cyberspace: fall in love, make friends, quarrel, and the emotional coloring of relationships in the network is much brighter than in real life. There are several important aspects to the psychology of gaming addiction:

  •     loss of sense of time;
  •     a constant sense of novelty;
  •     distorted perception of Self;
  •     change of consciousness;
  •     anti-social;
  •     a sense of virtual power;
  •     change of volitional aspect.

The addicted player is so passionate about the gameplay that he loses his understanding of the passage of time and the concepts of "here and now". Consciousness gradually ceases to distinguish the real from the virtual. There are cases when people addicted to computer games played for several days in a row, without sleep and rest.

Statistics and shocking data

The most prone to gaming addiction to computer games are teenage children, in particular boys. According to a survey conducted among American schoolchildren, 50% of girls spend more than 5 hours a day playing computer games. Boys, on the other hand, spend more than 7 hours in the game every day, and their number is close to 80%.

PC gamers

The largest percentage of gamers live in Japan and China. There is a case when a schoolgirl played a network game for more than three days and died of dehydration. One Russian man, spent on a network game almost a million rubles and sued the manufacturer, because of the " virtual theft of funds." One American young man was so fascinated by the virtual world that on his right hand, in which he held a mouse, clamping the carpal canal, a large difficult-to-treat tumor formed.

Often computer games are a catalyst for the development of congenital psychopathology. One of the terrible cases that shook the whole of Europe, occurred recently: dependent on computer games student shot his classmates and teachers. The boy's mental health was normal before the game, and after several months of gambling, he developed symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Known cases when avid players of the genre have become homicidal maniacs. A resident of the state of Louisiana for a week killed several people, as they seemed to him monsters from his favorite computer game. An eight-year-old boy living in the United States, killed his nanny, playing a fairly well-known game of the crime genre.

Gaming addiction to computer games can leave a heavy imprint on the human psyche. Personality becomes antisocial, aggressive, uncontrollable, and eventually completely degraded.