Running away for Wi-Fi, violence, and theft: A look into a gaming addiction clinic

[midian182]

A hot potato: Dangerous addiction to video games among young people can be as destructive as any other addiction. It's led to the creation of a clinic in the UK designed specifically to treat gaming disorders, exposing some of the worst symptoms: violence, refusing to go to school, and even running away from home at night to find a Wi-Fi spot.

Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones had been contacted by relatives of young gamers asking for help while she was director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic. It led her to believe people were spending money on gaming products in an all-too-familiar compulsive and destructive manner.

It led to the UK's National Health Service setting up the first clinic designated to treat these addictions: The National Centre for Gaming Disorders, which saw its first patient in 2020. The clinic had expected to see no more than 50 patients per year, but it has about 800 referrals annually.

Bowden-Jones recounts some of what she's seen as head of the clinic in The Guardian. The most shocking are tales of children running away from home in the middle of the night in the hope of picking up an open Wi-Fi signal on the steps of random homes after their internet connection was switched off by their parents.

There are tales of children who told their parents that they would rather be dead than not game, and people getting hurt when doors and other objects are broken in fits of rage. This domestic violence is usually caused by arguments about money.

An interesting reveal is that almost nobody who seeks help has a gaming disorder and a gambling disorder. However, about a third of patients did borrow money from parents and used monetary gifts on loot boxes. If no money was available, the more impulsive gamers would steal it using their parents' bank cards.

Bowden-Jones notes that competition and ability are important to patients, so many refuse to use pay-to-win loot boxes.

Loot boxes have always been controversial, but they gained notoriety when Electronic Arts decided to implement versions with pay-to-win elements in 2017's Battlefront 2. It led to lawsuits, countries demanding bans, and the EU voting to take action against loot boxes (and gold farming and addiction) in January.

While most patients are male aged between 16 and 17, gamers in their 20s and 30s are seeking help. The oldest patient is a woman in her 70s. Adults with gaming disorder can risk their relationships, jobs, and may end up in excessive debt.

Back in 2018, the World Health Organization defined gaming disorder as a mental health condition. It is characterized by impaired control over gaming, giving games priority over other interests and daily activities, and continuing to game despite the negative consequences arising from the habit.

The WHO writes that gaming disorder can be identified by gaming that causes significant impairment to a person's functioning in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas, and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months.

One of the most well-publicized stories about gaming addiction arrived in 2018 when a nine-year-old girl was reportedly so addicted to Fortnite that she was placed into rehab after wetting herself rather than walking away from the screen to use the bathroom.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/99413-violence-running-away-wi-fi-theft-look-gaming.html

 

[toooooot]

I do not like talking about objects of obsessions as separate problems.
There are hundredth of things you can be obsessed with and that could ruin your life.
I think most people have a weakness, something they cannot reject, something that would most likely ruin their life at some point.
So, once you realize that something, you should either remove it from your life
or replace.

 

[error1984]

AI never goes to use a toilet and more important computer don't understand that in majority of countries working over the weekend is prohibited.
$1.6b or nothing............

 

[nismo91]

Ah this reminds me of the Pokemon Go when it first came out in 2016. I was working in sales so I had to travel across cities for work anyway and it was nice playing that game to kill time.

the kids from those era well... quite the opposite they had to get out of their house to play that game. headlines at the time were kids getting involved in accidents due to the game.

yes it's sad but it's no sadder than kids swallowing tide pods, overconsuming benadryl or following stupid tiktok challenge. what I mean was, there also should be social media addiction clinic.

 

[Hexic]

Parenting - the lost art.

 

[DavevaS]

I found the act in it's self is the problem but the build up to it has had a great effect on my gaming and social life. Things like Stardocks Windowblinds to make Windows my own, building a retro arcade while setting up fanart, wheel art and videos (launchbox and retro Pi).
Customizing your experience is why gaming is so addictive, making the character your own but customizing every aspect of the hobby means it is mine in it's entirety. I'm only gaming a couple hours a day if that between everything else in my life but when I do it's on a setup I like.
Ps. Steam Sales help a lot in saving funds for everything else. with websites dedicated to discounts like this, https://steamdb.info/sales/?min_reviews=500&min_rating=0&min_discount=75 I always find a kickass deal.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Perhaps if real life didn't suck so much people wouldn't try to escape it with video games.

 

[pan1c]

Perhaps if real life didn't suck so much people wouldn't try to escape it with video games.

For many, real life is challenging indeed.

But as long as you are healthy, and enjoy freedom, you really should not say that real life "sucks".

For many of us; being able to walk around outside freely and enjoy the sun, do what you want, get some exercise, and being free sounds like heaven. My brother is gaming addicted; unfortunately he does not realize all the good things and freedom he has, because he is locked up in a room playing games.

 

[Biostud]

Perhaps if real life didn't suck so much people wouldn't try to escape it with video games.

So in the most advanced time of history and life sucks. Maybe we should focus on actually acquire life skills and creating lives that didn't suck, instead of numbing it with games, TV and drugs. :/

 

[pcmapas37]

I think that blaming video games for their problems is a very poor argument. The real problem is the parents who let their kids develop these habits instead of being productive members of society. Having a proper family structure would help alot of these people who are "addicted" to video games

Video games are designed to be way more attractive to the brain than natural stimuli based on psychology research. I believe there are many people with certain psychologic conditions and traits who are at risk of developing gaming addiction (and other kinds of addictions of course) and developers do nothing to protect them; their weakness is actually being exploited to drive the profits of the industry using predatory tactics. Video game design is not the only culprit, but there's no denying it's a substantial part of the problem.