Video Game Addiction Is Real And The Government Loves It
January 25, 2012 by admin
Filed under KTRN Exclusives
By William Kitner
(KTRN Exclusive) Video game addiction is a serious problem. Don’t laugh, some people spend eight hours a day in front of their computers, pretending to be mighty warriors or wizards in fantasy on-line computer games every day. The problem has gotten so bad in South Korea that the government there has had to step in to create laws keeping underage gamers from playing too long. In July of 2011, a 21-year-old online-gaming addict was found dead in his home in Inchon, South Korea. He would play virtually non-stop, and rarely slept or even left his room. Two months prior to his death, he started complaining of difficulty in breathing but refused to seek help. This isn’t the only case either. In 2005, a 28-year-old man died from organ failure after playing for 50 hours straight. He even lost his job because of his online-gaming habit. But the sickest case has to do with a married couple from Suwon who let their baby starve to death after they were unable to get away from the game. In the US, the problem is getting just as bad. Author Ryan Van Cleave wrote a book called Unplugged: My Journey into the Dark World of Video Game Addiction. In the book, Ryan discusses his serious problem with on-line gaming. He lost his job, family, and his life due to the World of Warcraft. He even contemplated suicide one night as he stood on a bridge. Quitting the game was not easy either ; he had legitimate withdrawal systems like shaking, cold sweats, anxiety, and sleepless nights. When he called Blizzard Entertainment (the company that owns WOW), he pleaded with them to delete his characters forever. But Blizzard refused – even after Cleave told them about his attempted suicide. Apparently, making $15 a month from a man suffering is more important than helping him. Blizzard’s excuse was that deleting the characters permanently was virtually impossible with the massive back-up system they have in place (sounds fishy).
Have you ever played one of these on-line games? It’s easy to get sucked into a virtual world where you get to run around as a powerful paladin – fighting for honor and justice, saving the day while making virtual gold and gaining in strength and power. I personally had a slight problem with Warcraft too. I often found myself playing six hours a day and not even realizing how much time I was spending on it – and for what? At the end of the day, what is the reward? What is the ultimate goal? The kicker is that you don’t (and can’t) win these games. They are always changing, evolving, and growing – there is no way to win them – you just keep playing and playing and playing. Before you know it, you’ve lost your friends, wife, job, family, and kids. You haven’t showered in three days and you never leave the house. At this point, it’s no longer a game. However, World of Warcraft isn’t the only culprit out there. Many other games suck people in all the time – even cheesy ones like Farmville on Facebook. It’s easy to get addicted to these games – don’t fall into the same trap as Ryan Van Cleave. Once my account was hacked, I decided to no longer play the game. It was turning into work. It wasn’t fun. Every time I logged on, I would look at the list of quests I had to complete and felt overwhelmed at all of the stuff I had to do – it was like going to work. So I gave it up. Don’t think for a second though that I haven’t thought of playing again – it’s crossed my mind from time to time but I know it’s just not worth it.
While video game addiction is a real problem, the people in charge love it. It keeps the citizen’s minds away from the real issues. If you play video games for six to eight hours a day, you won’t have time to focus on issues of the world, you won’t stand up to protest the NDAA, and chances are you won’t follow the news or even care about the issues. Your main focus will be earning more fake gold and gaining experience points. These games dumb you down. It keeps you docile, unfocused, and unmotivated. It makes you even a bigger sheep than you already are. In other words, playing video games all the time makes you stupid. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the occasional video game. But if you’re not careful, it can easily spin out of control. Why not gather a group of friends together to play Clue, or poker, or Monopoly instead? It’s much more fun and you get to interact with human beings face to face. Moderation is key – even when playing video games.
Why not play classic arcade games instead? It’s pretty impossible to get addicted to Ms. Pac man. Plus, the only thing you’ll lose playing Donkey Kong is a quarter.
I’ll be following this website keenly as the information offered here has long been very useful and practical. : ). Especially because I’ve been trying to
get pregnant for quite a while now.
Hey Kevin Trudeau. Just because you’re jealous of all of Blizzard Entertainment’s fan base is no reason for sour grapes. I know you and all of your Illuminati buddies are angry that you are losing all of your control over the hearts and minds of “your flock”, but hey sometimes it’s just better to stick what made you popular in the first place. Natural Cures. This whole populist crusade against everything you dislike is getting kind of old.
Also I believe video games, along with everything else, have a vibration with them. There are low vibrational games and high vibrational ones. Although it’s true there are pentagrams crosses and other religious symbols used in diablo, WOW, and the standalone warcraft games, I do not believe that these games are evil in any sense of the word. In fact I have perceived them as very high vibrational myself. However due to the intense subject matter of their material (The devil, good versus evil, magic, etc.), they are an easy target for the media. While it’s true that some games are bad, I don’t think Blizzard Entertainment’s are. I will fight that point on many fronts.
Maybe if more people would take personal responsibility for their lives, they would not die of over gaming or whatever. I have heard this argument about how evil and bad video games are since 80′s. It pisses me off we are still having the same conversation today as then. Some of the people that are voicing their outrage against video games, make me believe that there must be something good about the games that makes them so indignant.
And by the way, no I would not vote for you either for congress or president. I will tell you why.
1.) I don’t believe you are a strict constitutionalist. (By some of the comments made in your books.)
2.) I don’t believe your brotherhood days are all truly behind you. To put it another way, I believe you have been infected and do not realize the degree in which they have influenced you.
But in the fairness of the 1st amendment you have the right to say whatever you wish on your blog. I still love your books and appreciate your stance for natural cures, I just hope it was done from the heart and not for some ulterior motive, (maybe to ease your conscience and set things right for some other bad stuff you have done.)
God Bless. (Where it applies)
P.S. (off subject) Another problem I have with G.I.N.is that the attitude there seems to be like: yes you can do be or have anything you want, but you have to go through us. Hate to break it to ya buddy but I can be do or have anything WITHOUT your help and without the help of G.I.N.
I smell a troll.
quote, “Hey Kevin Trudeau. Just because you’re jealous of all of Blizzard Entertainment’s fan base is no reason for sour grapes. I know you and all of your Illuminati buddies are angry that you are losing all of your control over the hearts and minds of “your flock”, but hey sometimes it’s just better to stick what made you popular in the first place. Natural Cures. This whole populist crusade against everything you dislike is getting kind of old.”
Anti-Kevin Ad hominem attacks, I see. Who are you? What are you? Where are you from? What is your purpose here, Troll! To make personal attacks (which you suck at, by the way)? YOU sir have ulterior motives written all over you.
And of course, you would believe some pseudo-scientific bullshit like “video games have a vibration” because you are a recovering (if not blithering) World Of Warcraft addict yourself; thusly you must defend the habit, the supplier, and the substance. It’s okay, I am also a fellow (former) WoW addict myself, no longer recovering and well past the stage of even remote fondness or like of video gaming itself, having actually done things in the REAL world and actually achieved real things, not fattening some bullshit fantasy cartoon bank account. You sound more and more like a Blizzard plant though, with comments like “Not Blizzards games!!!” … Hahahaha!!! Or, “I will fight that point on many fronts”. You in all likelihood know NOTHING about real warfare, or fighting ANYTHING on ANY kind of “front”. Your use of euphemisms just bespeaks your weakness in real life, but like most WoW garbage, you will defend your drug and your pathetic little world of cartoons and electronic fantasy to the death, all the while never really achieving anything of greatness, magnanimity or stature.
Gamers are gamers, they spend the 6-8 hours a day (or even more!) in a digital world, and they accomplish NOTHING!!! They don’t read books, they don’t start businesses, or grow empires, or create wealth, or travel the world. They are losers, they are pathetic, weak slaves of the New World Order. You, sir, have COMPLETELY missed the basic points of this fine article. You, sir, are probably malnourished due to your lack of wealth and thusly cannot afford to take all the Chinese herbs, supplements, neutraceuticals and juices that are necessary to have superhuman health. Instead, you settle for a superhuman Level 80 mage. Hahahahahaha!!!!
Also, I do not see that the author of this article was A), Kevin Trudeau, or B) that the word “evil” was used. You sir are delusional, ignorant, unable to accurately observe fine details, displaying total lack of analytical acumen. You, in fact, are worse than a troll … You are an orc!!! (Pardon my WoW parlance).
Not a strict constitutionalist, you say? Prove it!!! Post the actual page numbers from the actual books which you are defaming with your proofs, you poppycock!!!
As for Kevin’s “Brotherhood days”, I cannot speak, and I hope that as you say they are behind him and the influence of evil and corruption taint his soul no more. Kevin is a good man, and clearly one who has made more of himself than you. You are probably still broke, still in the rat race, and still trying to make sense of how the Universe actually works, judging by your defamatory comments against both Kevin and G.I.N as well as your wholly ignorant comments pertaining to the Law of Attraction. I doubt you possess any real wealth or any real accomplishments from using The Law, outside of perhaps your WoW account that is, or whatever small, daily “happenings” The Law might be bringing you in your infant understanding of it.
If you had any greatness of sense or genius of mind, perhaps you would realize the wealth that G.I.N. can offer, but, sadly, you do not.
What is your training balance scale? What is your teachability index? Seems damn negative to me.
That is all.
fringed_lunatic613@yahoo.com
Nintendo is wealthier than most if not all electronics and automobile companies in the world.
Then PLEASE DON’T JOIN!! We are working on helping each other to new levels of health, wealth, and well-being and we don’t need negative people like you gumming up the works!
Bu-bye now
Haha these MMO’s are the worst! I played WOW for what seemed like forever and it just never got old. I know more people who dropped out of college from WOW than any other reason.
Hell I about had to shoot smack for a few months to help come down off WOW.
“In 2005, a 28-year-old man died from organ failure after playing for 50 hours straight.”
That story was everywhere in S. Korea. There was a huge investigation in S. Korea about video games and there is literally kids who drop out of high school and became missing. Some reporters found out about a family high school student who was missing for a month and when the family did some serious, I mean serious searching. They found out there kid dropped out to work for a small business where there were 30 other kids sleeping in a house full of computers. They literally gave up there whole life just to gold farm in WOW.
This is a great article!!!
I have a little brother and we keep everything away from him – he gets addicted instantly! It’d be interesting to hear more on this topic and specifically why boys seem to get more addicted than girls? Also, my brother, is not only addicted to video games, but any electronics, even a digital camera or movies!!! He can sit in the same spot all day long, re-playing the same movie over and over and over again!
It is mind boggling!
Thanks for this article again!!! So grateful for Kevin Trudeau and everyone who works with him!!!!
Nice gravatar!
not to mention the programing symbols that are in all modern movies and tv shows are Very bad in video games
I once played many video games but then I read about buddhism waiting for my free Natrual cures books I almost never see tv or play video games what a waste of time when I could open my microcosmic orbit and start to become an Immortal in real life lol
Don’t forget video games are great for removing stress and very enjoyable when playing as a party.
that’s a completely different situation because of the social aspect of video games at a party, but even than, it would be better to play board games or card games.
Apples to Apples is quite a big hit with the age group generally associated with video games. Over/Under is also a very popular game, both of which are games with physical cards and in the case of Over/Under, that one comes with a game board and several decks of cards with different types of trivia questions.
I agree completely with the fact that games should teach you something and make you smarter. But there is also room for video games to be fun. I wanna get into developing games that make you smarter but also are fun and have a great presentation to them. To me video games are a form of artwork with the potential to educate so to discredit them because of a few freaks is wrong. They are great for people who are sick in bed recovering or those who are suffering from acute depression. Now with online gaming it’s also a great way for loners to meet people. Don’t forget a lot of video games are in fact card games within themselves just presented with video and audio (Pokemon for example).
Jafar maybe you should stay out of politics and just stick to the games.
These games aren’t a problem, even though I myself had a problem with them a few years ago. It’s the people who play them. All of these horror stories we hear are the worst of the worst. MOST who play are not like that, AT ALL.
The ones who are, however, are the ones who don’t have anything else in life. The ones with very bland lives and so forth. Its the excitement and other emotions they get from these games that keeps them playing and makes them addicts, because they lack those emotions elsewhere in their real lives.
Sources: Actual play time of 286+ days on World of Warcraft and rubbing shoulders with these folks. So I know what I’m talking about. Thankfully I was able to snap out of that trance over 3 years ago, and haven’t been back since!
In my opinion if you are convicted of murder or an equally serious crime than you should be tortured to death. Sorry just my opinion and I know I am right.
http://www.video-game-addiction.org/note2.html
I love videogames and I want to do it as a career. Nothing is wrong with games themselves just the freaks who play them non stop. Letting your baby starve to death because of a game? If torture isn’t a form of legal punishment than it should be. Maybe one day Ill run for congress and push that law into effect.
You can get addicted to anything, its quite simple really, your hypothalamus put out chemicals so that you can “feel” different emotions, so if your playing a game, and it excites you, or your excited about playing it, or you get scared or alerted when a monster comes, all these feelings come from your reaction to the outer stimulus, and the chemicals that your hypothalamus produces are stronger than heroin.
You can become addicted to any feelings, do you always get mad at work, this might stem from an addiction to those peptides that you get when you are mad!!
So what to do about this, get happy, play a song, be thankful, enjoy Kevin’s shows, put away the tv, go for walks, exercise, eat healthy, dance, laugh, sing, whistle, hum, do everything you can to just feel great.
What will begin to occur is that your going to switch from being addicted to a feeling of powerlessness and anger, and sadness, to being addicted to being happy!
Once your addicted to the happy peptides, your super brain will make sure you only notice things, and people that make you happy, you will find more and more ways of being happy, simply because your addicted to the happy feelings.
So check your feelings all day, journal them if you want, see how often you feel what, and then start to realize hey i have a habit of feeling this certain way, and then change the habit to feeling something better.
You can literally become addicted to anything, your ex’s keep breakin up with you and you miss them all the time, that’s an addiction and your brain will keep giving you your fix.
Your always getting fired from your job and you feel horrible, thats an addiction and your brain will keep giving you your fix.
Your always lucky and great things happen to you, thats an addiction and your brain will keep giving you your fix.
Your afraid, of something or some people, thats an addiction your brain will keep givin you your fix.
Your so thankful everyday for this beautiful life that unfolds exactly how you want it, and you control every detail, and whatever your chemical addiction is there is always people, events and circumstances to give you more.
Isn’t it wonderful, even if your addicted to being angry, isn’t it wonderful how you keep having things happen that make you angry, and the anger keeps getting stronger and stronger! Its like magic, you create your own life, any way you want it.
If you feel unlucky and unlucky things keep happening to you and everyday you get frustrated, isnt it wonderful how you have the ability to stay unlucky for as long as you want, you don’t even need to try it just happens automatically, and the bad feelings you get just keep coming stronger all the time, just so effortlessly!
Your brain doesn’t care if your addicted to being happy, or sad, either way, it will continue to feed your choice of emotion, and by this point it may seem you haven’t got a choice but you do.
Just imagine if its so hard to break free from your anger addiction, or sadness addiction, then just imagine how hard it will be to break free from your addiction to feelings of joy!!
Tony, your comment was so very well put that I think it should be part of the article itself. Great Information.
I agree! Excellent post, thanks!