Are Video Games Addictive?

In 2005 Qiu Chengwei from Shanghai stabbed his friend to death when he found out that he sold his virtual sword on eBay for a little bit over 700 dollars. In the same year a boy from South Korea died after he played games for 50 hours without eating, drinking or sleeping. In 2009 Daniel Petric shot his mother and father because they took away his Halo 3 game. In 2011 Rebecca Colleen Christie let her 2 year old daughter die of malnutrition because she was playing World of Warcraft. Are these just some extreme cases or is gaming more dangerous than we like to imagine?

Research shows that about 0.5% of all gamers and up to almost 2% of kids experience symptoms connected to excessive gaming. Most commonly addictive games are online role playing games. It’s the kind of game where a person can gain a new virtual life, and that can be dangerous if a person’s real life isn’t very satisfying. The online status becomes more important, when you lack that status in real life. The other risky genres are shooting games and strategy games.

In the past parents usually believed their kinds would grow out of it sooner or later, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. If anything, early addictive behavior suggests a more likely addiction later on. A study also suggests that the addiction doesn’t come from parental neglect as people usually assume. Taking away the Playstation also doesn’t really work. What parents should do instead is to try and teach their kids about social skills, how to handle stressful situations better, and make them feel less isolated.

But there is a silver lining. There are many good things about video games. Video games can help develop the skills for problem solving and creativity. A study also shows that playing video games, even the violent shooter ones, may improve spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception. Even the simple games like Angry Birds can help with hand-eye coordination, not to mention they can improve your mood.

So as usual there is no easy answer. They say that everything is good in moderation. Too much of anything is bad for you. To help you understand it better, take a look at this infographic.

Infographic – Are video games addictive?

Source – [ClarityWay] via [Geeksaresexy]