"Two Hours of Gaming Like Doing a Line of Cocaine?"

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
reply to post by jjkenobi

 

It could.

At least once a month there's a story about some kid beating another kid to death for a game or a kid shooting his mom in the face because she took away his Xbox.

edit on 10-3-2011 by thisguyrighthere because: (no reason given)

6 beaten to death for Xbox
Shoots parents over Halo 3

edit on 10-3-2011 by thisguyrighthere because: (no reason given)

Halo 3 wasn't even that good of a game.........

I think the problem is that kid's are getting access to games that they shouldn't be playing at their age level. The quickest way to get that annoying kid on xbox live call of duty modern warfare 2 to pipe down is to talk in a loud voice about the whole mature content thing and compare it to pornography. I remember the one time the kid's parent's heard it and then the lovely sudden disconnect hehe.

reply to post by korathin


Age has zero to due with maturity level, and therein lies the problem. I have been watching violent movies, and playing violent games for as long as I remember. But even as a little kid, I understood the difference between fantasy and reality. Not the case at all for a lot of people, even people over 18. The line between reality and fantasy has been blurred like crazy, and a lot of young people lack the parental guidance in the matter. Then again a lot of young people are not taught about important things like death and sacrifice. The girls I take care of know these things, they help me butcher my kills, from rabbits to moose.

reply to post by BadMagician


yhis seems kind of like idosing to me, and that does not work

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by korathin

 

Age has zero to due with maturity level, and therein lies the problem. I have been watching violent movies, and playing violent games for as long as I remember. But even as a little kid, I understood the difference between fantasy and reality. Not the case at all for a lot of people, even people over 18. The line between reality and fantasy has been blurred like crazy, and a lot of young people lack the parental guidance in the matter. Then again a lot of young people are not taught about important things like death and sacrifice. The girls I take care of know these things, they help me butcher my kills, from rabbits to moose.

"Age has zero to due with maturity level, and therein lies the problem"

Please read your statement. With age comes learning, experience and maturity, in different rates and levels. If age had zero to do with maturity level that means we can expect a newborn to have the average maturity level of a 21 year old, and vice versa. In my opinion your statement could use revision.

I find it unusual that even as a little kid you understood the difference between fantasy and reality. Were these lines clearly set for you by a teacher or elder that enabled you this understanding? I find your statement interesting as it is the opposite that I have heard from many adults in conversations. It seems like a very mature view of life for a child to have.

I remember as a child having difficulty understanding lengths of time. Fully catching on and feeling like I understood what a day and a week was, how long they took, was frustrating because it took so long before I caught on. And I recall a lot of childhood injuries between me and my playmates, many being based on the blurred line between fantasy and reality. One guy in particular, he would do the opposite of what he was told (the type that would try to jump from one roof to another) so he was usually sporting new stitches, bandages or a cast. His Mom would say "Peter is accident prone". LOL ! I knew Peter. He was an idiot!

Psychologists have lost touch with reality.. this is becoming more evident

Originally posted by warbird03
I really wouldn't use "addiction" with video games. I would say some people become obsessed with them, but definetly not addicted. I was guilty of it myself for a long time with WoW, but eventually my friends and I played less and less and eventually got to the point where we don't play anymore. I've never heard of a drug addiction that simply fades like that.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

It's called rehab, bro. People don't just quit when they're stuck on a game like that. I had a friend that was a great guy before he got into gaming. He was healthy, outgoing, had a GF, working full-time, was a man's man. He got into gaming and you know what? His GF left. He started declining to go out into town. Stayed home time after time. He started to look vapid, absent. But it got worse after 3 months or so. He started gaining weight. He didn't comb his hair anymore when we went out (on rare occassion). Then the biggie. He lost his job. He told me he was taking a break from work. But in reality he was playing his mmo. Things got real bad and I told him I didn't want to see him like htis anymore so I broke all ties with him and told him when he comes clean that I'll talk to him again.

So a couple months later I got a call and he said he had broke hte habit and was living with his GF. But a month later she kicked him out and he disappeared. I don't know what happned to him.

So anyway. MMOs, in my opinion, they destroy lives. I have never seen anything good come out of it. Ever. So this link in this thread is no surprise to me. People who do the drug are always in denial. They don't want to assume responsibility for what they're doing. They just 'shoot up' and exist in their fake highs. But it comes back to bite them later on when they miss the ball, get fired from their job, and are left with nothing. Don't play with fire or you'll get burnt.

Originally posted by WhizPhiz
reply to post by jaamaan

 

It was also in the news fairly recently in the news that playing video games releases the same amount of dopamine as a good hit of heroine i believe.

Yes, because feeling happy is such a dreadful, dreadful crime...tut tut...

Please go here:
Study on video game addiction: decline in dopamine receptors (like porn?)

You're in denial, my friend. I'll try to explain it. I've researched this topic over a period of time because of a friend I had that I lost because of his gaming addiction. Essentially, gaming releases massive amounts of dopamine into our brain. Dopamine release in the brain is a normal activity, however. In life we experience dopamine as a reward when we accomplish acitivities. The difference is that the release is smaller and separated. This is the key difference! In gaming the frequency and amount of dopamine release is simply outside the scope of what's healthy. This leads to a condition in the brain that resembles drug abuse or drug addiction or addiction. If you study the material out there you'll see for yourself what I'm saying. Don't play with the mind! Follow its rules! If you're going to ignore hte rules and go to extremes, you will pay a heavy price!

Life already gives us a reward pathway. Life already gives us everything we want in games but it does it better! It's pointless to go to a game for what we can get out of life. It should be clear to anyone that gets stuck on games, but sadly the gaming industry exploits them for financial gain. LIFE IS THE BEST GAME AND IT'S FREE. If you want health then play life. It's so much more rich.

To sum it up, games shortchange the reward pathways in life. They cheat. And they'll destroy you.

I also enrolled in a drug class in college. So I'm deriving some of this from what I learned there.

Now if you can play a game and make an income doing it to support a family, that's different. Many people are addicted to caffeine yet they lead productive lives. It's like a necessary evil sometimes. But as I've already, I haven't seen a single case for gaming leading to a productive career. Most of the time, like 99%, it leads to: a) more gaming in the gaming industry b) lost job, lost gf, etc. More gaming in the gaming industry doesn't count because that's like working in the gambling industry. I don't care if you make money doing it, it's wrong! The 1% I leave open for educational games.

But education isn't always fun. So people pick the purely entertainment games. Such is life. The difference between an educational game and a game is like night and day. In one the goal is to latch onto your reward pathways and exploit you like a coc aine addict. In the other the goal is to teach you RL knowledge and even skills that can be applied later to make you more productive in this world. The goal is not to exploit you anymore than a teacher would. This is the ideal but like I said pleasure seekers and money moguls always win because greed is king. Exploitation is rampant in our world.

Lastly, I grew up on computers. I even have a degree in computers. But games I've always seen as a negative contribution just like fast food, gambling, porn, and so on. We need positive contributors. My friend's losses only cemented in me the importance of being responsible with how we use computers. I hope what I have written here might help someone see through the BS.

It would have been more accurate to say that two hours of gaming is like doing a single line of coc aine over the course of two hours - not bumping it all in one go. This psychologist is not wrong, as far as brain chemistry is concerned the effects of gaming is "like" the effects of coc aine.


These two items elevate dopamine levels in different ways; nobody is saying coke and games are the same. Cocaine acts as a dopamine "reuptake inhibitor". I think video games act as a dopamine agonist - in other words they cause the release of excess dopamine. So they work differently, but have a similar result - elevated levels of dopamine available to dopamine receptors. I think this justifies saying that coke is "like" video games.

They both agonize dopamine to a similar level. Those who say video games can not be addictive are flat out wrong. Gaming may not cause physical dependence - but neither does coc aine - they are both psychologically addictive which is still very much an addiction. A person who develops a gaming addiction will likely have an underlying condition that lead to the addictive behavior ie depression, social anxiety, etc..

The body becomes used to the elevated dopamine release following the addictive activity - could be video games, drugs, playing music, gardening, SUGAR, exercise, anything that causes a release of dopamine can be addictive. With proper meta programming you can addict yourself to healthy activities.

I was taught at university that dopamine acts as a reward - that its release typically follows joyful behavior. This is a very simplified way of how the reward system works. The 3 min video at the end of this post describes it a little better. To put it briefly, the release of dopamine is actually highest during the anticipation of reward. Pattern recognition is boosted by dopamine - no doubt to help us figure out how to get the reward. With regards to video games; a game that is too easy (or too hard) where the player always wins (or loses) will not produce as much dopamine as a balanced game where the outcome is not easily predicted by the player.

To the poster that said (paraphrasing here) "I wasn't addicted to video games, but I had a short obsession. I started playing less and less and eventually stopped." That is exactly how you would break an addiction. You would not want to stop suddenly, otherwise you would feel withdrawal symptoms from low dopamine levels. But if you play gradually play less, your brain chemistry is changed more slowly making it a much easier transition.

This is a good video about dopamine.

Originally posted by KilrathiLG
ha thats a crock of nonsense im a pretty hard core gamer had a problem back with star craft 1 back in the day(was in a korean gaming clan

)and all that did was make me nocturnal for about a 3 months and that wasent due to any real addition just a complete lack of friends and a life but ive never had any kind of buzz off computer or console gaming...maby if your playing for money online or something i could see that but i highly dobut it kinda suprised about this blatant propaganda against video games on here least they keep some kids off drugs...

Legend of Zelda TP,Final Fantasy VIII or Doom 3 caused me to steal from people and sell my ass to buy more DVD/CD-ROMs and fulfill my habit.

I swear!

I think the adrenaline rush you get from certain situations in games make them addictive, but easy to quit if you have the will to.

It's just more mindless entertainment trash, that releases endorphines as you play. Either the visual/auditory stimuli will do it, or at the least getting a "win" will temporarily cause all of your brain regions to activate.

I'm actually a bad ass at most video games.. at least when I was a kid and actually played I was. I still pick up a controller once or twice a year and blow people away, but.... it's freaking retarded. I can't stand most video games. What kind of moron wastes their time doing absolutely mindless things like this? How does this benefit society?! It doesn't. Most games desensitizes the majority, and demoralizes quite a few. It's disgusting.

Originally posted by m0r1arty
I was banging 7 gram rocks that's how I roll. "Winning!" I have one gear; Go! "Epidermic". Are you bi-polar? I'm bi-"Winning!", Win here, Win there, Win everywhere!

I'm a total freakin' rockstar from Mars!

WIN WIN EVERYWHERE!

That is by far the best contribution you have ever made to ATS!

reply to post by BadMagician


I don't believe this crap is true, unless the game is called "who can do the biggest line of coke" i just don't see it happening.
Or maybe they are using the newest call of duty CD instead of a mirror (probably the only thing it is good fo besides doubling as a coaster)

reply to post by Darkk


This excerpt is from the abstract of a small study, there probably better studies out there. But, it is accepted knowledge that most (any?) activity that boosts the release of dopamine can cause a chemical imbalance. The comparison to coc aine, or in the case of the study I quoted ecstasy, stands as the end result is the same. Every rose has it's thorn bro.

Computer game playing may lead to long-term changes in the reward circuitry that resemble the effects of substance dependence. The brain imaging study showed that healthy control subjects had reduced dopamine D2 receptor occupancy of 10.5% in the caudate after playing a motorbike riding computer game compared with baseline levels of binding consistent with increased release and binding to its receptors. Ex-chronic "ecstasy" users showed no change in levels of dopamine D2 receptor occupancy after playing this game.

CONCLUSION: This evidence supports the notion that psycho-stimulant users have decreased sensitivity to natural reward. Ex-chronic "ecstasy" users showed no change in levels of dopamine D2 receptor occupancy after playing this game.

- Computer and video game addiction-a comparison between game users and non-game users.

reply to post by JohnnyTHSeed


Yes but that is all BS. They cannot demonstrate what the correct chemical balance is let alone know what a chemical imbalance is.All that shows is that chronic ecstacy users have a different reaction.

Originally posted by Darkk
reply to post by JohnnyTHSeed

 

Yes but that is all BS.

When you say "Yes" are you agreeing that video games stimulate the production and release of dopamine?

That is the similarity shared between coc aine and video games.

There are plenty of studies showing that chronic elevated levels of dopamine, whether through increased production or reuptake inhibition, will lead to a decrease in dopamine sensitivity. This is one of the main mechanisms of addiction - a lowered sensitivity means more dopamine is required to get the same "good" feeling.

This also means that the person's baseline for normal dopamine levels is lowered. If they don't get their fix of dopamine in some way - exercise, video games, drugs, sex, rock and/or roll, clinical depression may kick in. Over time the receptor sites can adjust. It is just a matter of controlling the person's level of dopamine stimulation.

You can not say that video games increase production of dopamine, and also claim they have no effect on dopamine sensitivity.

I am not saying that video games are as dangerous as coc aine, I am saying that coc aine is as harmless as video games. The key is moderation.

yeah i don't think coke and videogames are one the same danger scale at all. There are many things that increase dopamine levels. Jumping in front of a moving train and walking to the store are pretty much the same thing because they both use the leg muscles.

reply to post by Darkk


Oh I'm sorry, I thought you wanted to have a serious discussion. Take care.

You continue to ignore the fact that I am talking about chronic exposure to stimuli that elevate dopamine levels. Addiction and negative effects do not usually appear without chronic (ab)use.

You are right, many activities cause an increase in dopamine, and they can ALL become addictive. Eating, #ing, exercising, reading, watching tv etc. etc.... Pick your addictions wisely.