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drinkanddrugsnews
| February 2013
Cover story |
Gaming addiction
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
T
he video and online gaming industry is big business. The recently
launched video game
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
recorded sales of £324m
in the first 24 hours after going on sale and another,
Halo 4
, took more
than £150m in the same period. People ordered well in advance and
queued to be among the first to obtain their copy and start playing.
Such was the intensity and excitement that people in homes across the UK – most
of them young men – were up all night and into the next day playing virtually non-
stop, depriving themselves of sleep, food and attendance at school or work. Parents,
partners and siblings were left bemused, dismayed, dejected and angry – though for
some it has become an all-too-familiar and often-repeated pattern of behaviour.
We are in an age dominated by ‘screen’ technology; one that many younger
people have embraced and benefited from. Referred to by some as ‘screenagers’, this
group has grown up with the advances in information technology. They recognise it
as a core school subject, can apply for college and university courses in one of its
innumerable variants and ultimately seek jobs where computer skills are a core
requirement. But for a few young people the use of this technology, specifically
related to game playing, is a growing cause for serious concern.
*****
Game playing is not unlike the use of alcohol, where most people use within healthy
and responsible limits and benefit from its social and pleasurable aspects. Many
millions worldwide play video and online computer games and gain a considerable
amount of pleasure from doing so. However research studies indicate that as many
as 4.6 per cent of adolescents engaging in regular internet use do so to the point of
excess and will likely experience negative consequences as a result.
While discussion continues around accurate and suitable wording – including
such terms as excessive, dependant, addictive and pathological – terminology is
purely academic for those individuals and families where the problem is present. In
With big business behind it, the
hobby of computer gaming can turn
into an unhealthy obsession. The
addiction field is well placed to
offer support, says
Peter Smith
GAME
ON